Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 80, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 April 1919 — COST OF LIVING BACK IN 1846 [ARTICLE]

COST OF LIVING BACK IN 1846

AUCTION REPORT SHOWS THAT MONEY WAS VALUABLE AT THAT TIME. \ ■ S. D. Wells, a farmer living east of Macon, Mo., has the age-yellowed schedule of an auction sale held in Rand Grove township in the spring of 1846 —twelve years before Macon Was laid out, says the Kansas Cky Star. The war with Mexico then had the stake. Mr. Wells was the grandson of James Smith, whose personal Sroperty was sold following his eath. The items sold were recorded on parchment, hand ruled, evidently a quill being used. The writing is in a small plain hand and is easily read, although the paper is yellow and considerably spotchfed. For his day’s service the clerk received $1 and the acutioneer -50 cents. An auctioneer today selling the same sort of articles would have made from $25 to S3O and<he clerk would have been paid $lO or sls. The sale was at a time when money was very scarce. Furs were the principal legal tender. Spanish or Mexican dollars, chiseled into four or five pieces and each piece called a “bit” or 12% cents, formed the principal cash in anmy sections of the country. Personal notes were given for thesmallest purchases and they passed from man to. man as money if the maker was known to be good. y As a rule a good man’s credit was good and he could settle a debt when he felt like it. In the rural sections it was "a breach of courtesy to ask a man to pay a to do so would often cause a bitter estrangement. It was taken as a matter of course a man would settle a debt as soon as he could, and to insist on immediate liquidation was like a reflection on his honor. At the sale of Smithls personal effects Washington Surber paid $7.25 for a “pieded” heifer. A “pieded” heifer was a sort of mottled or spotted animal, the term being well understood by the early settlers. That “pieded” heifers would probably have fetched SSO today. Richard Johnson gave a note for $2 for a “pieded” yearling steer. John D. Smith bought a red heifer for $2.37%. . A note for 28 cents was given by Charles Foreman for a crock. Andrew Mote gave his note fbr 37% cents for a set of doubletrees. •Nathaniel Richardson probably surprised the actioneer by paying 37% cents in cash fqr a hammer. John D. Smith bid in a curry comb and a rope for “a bit.” •Hog raisers today will smile to note that the auctioneer in this sale knocked down to William Griffen “40 first choice pork hogs for $40.55.” Sarah Smith paid $2 for a side saddle. She would have paid $25 for the same article today, but for the fact that she would probably own a motor car. Because he didn’t have “two bits” about him William Faulkner had to give his note, for 25 cents for “one stew pan, in good order.” Henry Grubs gave $1.30 for a bee stand, while C. P. Davis gave a $1 not, signed by himself, for a pig. Today the pig would probably be worth S2O and the stand 30 cents. The clerk notes that “1 half the wagon” was sold to John D. Smith for sls. There is rio record as to what became of the other half. The same bidder got five acres of corn and stock feed for $3.75. If there had been a modest estimate of 30 bushels to the acre that meant 150 bushels of corn, which, at today’s average of $1.50 a bushel, would have brought $225. James W. Surber paid $6.25 for “five first choice sheep.” It looks as if the bidding on some articles was advanced a cent at a time, for David Kincaid was the successful bidder at 43 cents for a bucket—and gave his note. 'Compared with other articles the family dock fetched the royal price ’Of $7, but it was bid in by the widow of the owper. The widow also bought back into the household one bureau” for $5 and a looking glass for 25 cents. Benjamin F. Elsea gave his note for 12% cents for a pair of horseshoes and Gen Robuck seems to have gotten a still better bargain in the purchase of “one saddle, bridle and martingale” for 10 cents, for which he also gave his note. The total sale footed up $447.94. Smith was an unusually well to do man for his day, but this sale represented about all the personal property he had. Based on today’s values of the same articles probably a fair average would be to multiply by ten, giving $4,479.40.