jrbakerjr  Genealogy   
 
  
Dinnertime, Clear Creek Township, Vernon County
Missouri in 1844
 
This information is the results of my own research. Some information is documented and some is not.
As with any information on line, you should verify it yourself before accepting it as fact.
 
 
 
 

Dinnertime, Clear Creek Township, Vernon County, Mo.

Dr. Badger relates, as portraying the character and mode of living of some of the first settlers of this quarter of the State, that in the fall of 1844 he went to the house of Phineas Packard, in what is now Clear Creek township, to borrow a cross-cut saw, belonging- to Alanson Packard, of St. Clair. Accepting an invitation to dinner, the Doctor seated himself on a three-legged stool at a clap-board table. Surrounding the family board were the Doctor, Mr. and Mrs. Packard, and their eight children, grown up boys and girls, some standing and some sitting on stools. The table furniture consisted of two-thirds of an iron kettle and three battered tin cups. The kettle contained a boiled chicken and a quantity of thick soup, while on one corner of the table were piled three pones of corn bread, constituting the bill of fare.

The host drew from his belt, which upheld his leather breeches, a hunting knife, and severing a leg of the chicken and filling a cup with sonp he placed them before the Doctor; the corn pone was next handed round. There were not cups enough to go around. The boys and girls understood this, and each formed from the soft part of the bread a miniature fort or bastion on the board, and into this enclosure a ration of soup was poured, and "sopped" out with another piece of bread at will. Occasionally a little crevasse, or break in the levee, occurred and a small stream of gravy would trickle forth, but it was soon suppressed by the swift motion of a finger, and the rift in the embankment closed. The host and Dr. Badger ate with their pocket knives; the rest used their fingers.

Phineas Packard, though a poor, rough man, was a worthy one and reared a respectable family. He was a sincere Christian, and Dr. Badger testifies that the Packard family was one of the happiest he ever knew, even if they were without knives and forks or plates and spoons.

History of Vernon County Missouri (1887)

 

Phineas Packard, was born in 1801 in Marlboro, Windham County, Vermont, a son of Josiah Bruce Packard and Eunice Manley. He married Elizabeth Fickle 1 May 1825 in Marion Co., Ohio.
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1840 census
name: Phineas Packard
residence: Scott, Marion, Ohio
----
name: Phineas Packard
event: Census
event date: 1850
event place: Bates county, Bates, Missouri, United States
gender: Male  age: 49
birthplace: Vermont
estimated birth year: 1801
Household        Gender Age Birthplace
Phineas Packard    M   49  Vermont
Elizabeth Packard  F    49  Kentucky
Calfina Packard      F    17  Ohio
Forester Packard   M   15   Ohio
Justice Packard     M   13   Ohio
Sarah Packard        F   11   Ohio
Horatio Packard     M    8    Missouri
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1840 census
name: Alanson Packard
residence: Scott, Marion, Ohio
----
Alonson Packard
event date: 1850
event place: Cedar county, Cedar, Missouri, United States
gender: Male  age: 55
birthplace: Vermont
estimated birth year: 1795
Household          Gender Age Birthplace
Alonson Packard     M    55  Vermont
Nancy Packard         F    54  Pennsylvania
Adelia Packard         F    18  Ohio
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Note due to Vernon Co. being formed in 1855 and county lines changing, both families were probably in what became Vernon county.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
James R. Baker, Jr.
 
 
   jrbakerjr  Genealogy