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Chapter 9:- The Shortleg Family
Joseph Shortleg was an Indian of the Lenni Lenape tribe. They had always lived in the area until the white men drove them out. Many moved south to the Cherokee when the white pressure became too great. Others moved West to join with their relatives, the Cheyenne. The languages were similar and the Cheyenne honored the Lenni Lenape as “the First People.” Some Lenni Lenape stayed and tried to live in the white man’s world. Joseph’s wife Merry was Irish/Susquehannock by birth. They fit in well with the people of our small valley.
The Shortleg house was ample, made of hand-hewn chestnut logs, squared with an adze, then set tightly together and fastened with pegs. The logs were so precisely fit, no chinking was needed. A large, low sloping porch roof with cedar shakes and a wooden floor about eight inches off the ground made it ideal for hot summer days. To the right of the house was a second building for cooking and storage. A roof connected the two of them. The house was solid and tight having a stone fireplace which had a smoke-shelf and a mantle, all made of slabs of sandstone. The floor was hand joined and rubbed smooth and pegged to beams underneath. Merry, Joseph’s wife, kept their home immaculate. Two lofts spanned the eves. The two boys slept on one side and some day the daughter would sleep in the other. For now she slept with her parents. The adults slept down below on a rope bed with a straw tick mattress.. This was the style home used by the Lenni Lenape people for over a hundred years.
Joseph worked hard for my father as a charcoal burner. The Rohrer Lumber Co. was the largest in the area. Not much was ever wasted in the mountains. Large logs were dragged to the sawmill and cut into rough boards to be stacked, air dried and sold for building. Smaller sections of the trunk and large branches were sawed and gathered about a year later to be made into charcoal. This was a very specialized task. Forest fires could not be risked in the mountains.
Joseph Shortleg was an Indian of the Lenni Lenape tribe. They had always lived in the area until the white men drove them out. Many moved south to the Cherokee when the white pressure became too great. Others moved West to join with their relatives, the Cheyenne. The languages were similar and the Cheyenne honored the Lenni Lenape as “the First People.” Some Lenni Lenape stayed and tried to live in the white man’s world. Joseph’s wife Merry was Irish/Susquehannock by birth. They fit in well with the people of our small valley.
The Shortleg house was ample, made of hand-hewn chestnut logs, squared with an adze, then set tightly together and fastened with pegs. The logs were so precisely fit, no chinking was needed. A large, low sloping porch roof with cedar shakes and a wooden floor about eight inches off the ground made it ideal for hot summer days. To the right of the house was a second building for cooking and storage. A roof connected the two of them. The house was solid and tight having a stone fireplace which had a smoke-shelf and a mantle, all made of slabs of sandstone. The floor was hand joined and rubbed smooth and pegged to beams underneath. Merry, Joseph’s wife, kept their home immaculate. Two lofts spanned the eves. The two boys slept on one side and some day the daughter would sleep in the other. For now she slept with her parents. The adults slept down below on a rope bed with a straw tick mattress.. This was the style home used by the Lenni Lenape people for over a hundred years.
Joseph worked hard for my father as a charcoal burner. The Rohrer Lumber Co. was the largest in the area. Not much was ever wasted in the mountains. Large logs were dragged to the sawmill and cut into rough boards to be stacked, air dried and sold for building. Smaller sections of the trunk and large branches were sawed and gathered about a year later to be made into charcoal. This was a very specialized task. Forest fires could not be risked in the mountains.
