Creating a farm on Prock Hill in the 1830s

The Colebrook Historical Society owns a ledger book kept by Daniel Sears of Sandisfield, Mass. One of his customers was James French of Colebrook. By following along with the entries concerning French, a window opens that allows us to envision the creation of a farm. It is a saga of hard work, done at a time when money was a rare commodity and barter was the most common form of payment.

Daniel Sears began this ledger in April 1793 and maintained it until the late 1830s, when his son, Henry, took it over. Sears was a cobbler, blacksmith and farmer. By the nature of these entries, it appears that French had recently moved into Colebrook and bought a house and property on what is today known as Prock Hill Road.   Indications are these: French purchases two fields of standing hay and he uses trees for barter. He has Sears build him a barn. When the barn is completed, French pays for the keep of his two cows and two sheep for approximately the duration of the construction period.

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Another point of interest is that the monetary system, although officially dollars and cents since 1787, was not fully incorporated until nearly the middle of the 19th  century. The same situation exists today in the change from yards, feet and inches to meters, centimeters and millimeters. Sears figures in pounds (£), shillings (s) and pence (d) until 1825. There were no further transactions until 1830, when he resumes using dollars and cents.

To give you an understanding of the comparison between pounds and dollars, the following may be of help. Keep in mind, however, that the values changed slightly from time to time, but this is fairly representative: 2d was equal to 5¢; 3 1â�„2 d = 10¢; 9d = 25¢; 1 shilling 6d (there were 12 pence in a shilling, therefore 6d = half  a shilling) = about 45¢; 3s = $1 and £1/ 10 / 0 (read that as 1 pound, 10 shillings, 0 pence) was about $10. With that out of the way, let’s proceed.

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Aug. 30, 1822, one sheep and two lambs to pay three days work and 13 1â�„2  lbs. flax, 19s, 3d ($8.42); Dec. 28, 1822, one ash tree, price agreed for two-and-a-half days work planting and hoeing, 7s 6d ($2.50); April 18, 1823, 100 lbs. of hay, $1. [This figure was arrived at by figuring 10 cubic yards of meadow hay weighing 1 ton.] May 10, 1823, 7 quarts of flax seed, is 4d [10¢] [Flax seed was an ingredient in animal and chicken feed. It was also pressed to produce linseed oil. There is a possibility here that at least some of this was scheduled for planting, as May 10  is about the time to plant flax seed.]

July 2, 1823, 7 bu. potatoes at your house carried, l0s 6d ($3.48). Aug. 1, 1823, 1 qt. brandy, 9d (25¢).  May 4, 1824, four cords of Hemlock bark on the trees, £1 4s ($6.78). [This was used in the tanning process of leather.]

Then came the barn: June 1835, four sticks of timber for your barn ... $1.33.  4 gallons of cider, 33¢.  June 26, 1835, carting boards from Couche’s mill, $3. July 6, another four gals. cider.  July had a total of 12 1â�„4  days work on the barn, with an added cost of 25¢ for dressing stone for the underpinning. On Aug. 10 another 2 gallons of cider. [Dry work, building a barn in August!] In August, another three-and-a-half  days work on the barn, plus two days laying the floor [for which Sears charged $1.90].

Finally, on Aug. 23, 1835, an entry states that a pitcher of rum was purchased (25¢). This indicates the completion of the barn, as rum was traditionally served at the completion of a building.

Two final entries on Aug. 26, 1835, relate to Sears boarding two cows 16 weeks at 25¢ per week ($8), and boarding 2 sheep 17 weeks at 2¢ per head (68¢). This gives a grand total of $20.96 for the complete cost of the barn.

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It would have been helpful if dimensions had been mentioned, but I grew up on a two-cow, one-horse farm, and our barn was about 25 by 40 feet. The size of a barn in those days was based on the amount of hay storage needed. It was at the time before bailing, which compresses the hay, allowing for a far greater amount to be stored in the mows, thus the high roofs on the old barns, which gave the needed volume.  My feeling is that the red barn known as the Hale Barn, owned by the Colebrook Land Conservancy and located at the intersection of routes 182 and 183, is probably very similar to the French barn. The Hale Barn was built in 1797.

One more piece of information on Mr. French and his new bar: His cattle had been kept by Sears on Sears’ property in Sandisfield, and they had to be driven to the new facility, thus the last entry: one bridle, 25¢.

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The cellar hole for the house Mr. French lived in can be seen today on the left-hand side of the road when heading north past 143 Prock Hill Road, just before coming to the new addition to the road that connects with the Massachusetts end. The farm, created on virgin land, survived a very few years, then failed. As can be seen, all the cleared land that had comprised the farm has gone back to nature, as the area is now covered with mature forest.

The French family left town and moved back to North Canaan, whence they had come. This scenario was by no means unusual, as the failure rate for small farms in the pioneering period was quite high.  Generally they picked up the pieces and started over again.

Walt Landgraf had a broad knowledge of the French family locally, and he felt that they soon returned to Colebrook, this time taking up residence in the Colebrook River area.

Bob Grigg is the town historian of Colebrook.