Montgomery County History Center | Dave McFarland
The dictionary defines “artifact” as any object made by human work. It is a fairly good definition, perhaps a little stuffy, but I think it falls short. An object made by human hand is often so much more; the object represents a story, who made it, when, why, and even how. The History Center is full of artifacts and even more stories.
Today, I offer you several examples. The first is a simple lump of clay. It would not warrant attention except for the unusual shape and where is it was found. The shape is a lump clearly formed by someone simply squeezing a lump of clay in his or her hand, marked by four fingers and a thumb. It was found in Red Oak, made from native soil, but is now nearly hard as stone. I am sure by now you are asking what it is and why is it noteworthy.
It is a wadding. What is that? I found it and recognized it was not random. But I, too, had to ask to find out what it was. A wadding is simply a spacer used in firing pottery. What makes this one special? It came from the Red Oak Pottery Works, which operated here in Red Oak from the 1870s through the early 1900s. The man who made it had larger hands than mine. He is long gone now, but has left his mark, fingerprints as it were, on history.
People will probably think I am crazy, but I am fascinated by fingerprints in history. One day, my wife and I were exploring the ruins of an old stone house in the county. Its walls had been covered with plaster. It was the coarse kind that used to be so common, filled with sand and horse hair. It had been raining for several days and when we visited the house, the plaster was flaking off. Under it was exposed a much earlier layer of plaster. This layer was a much finer texture, made from crushed limestone and baked in a kiln. The result was a fine, white plaster that was worked into the spaces between the stones. In this freshly-exposed area of original plaster were finger prints – an artifact to be sure, but moreso, they are part of a special story.
What is the story? This stone house was built in the winter of 1865 by Jason and Cornelia Packard. The Packards left a deep mark on the history of Montgomery County and Red Oak. They came to the area before there was a Red Oak. The settled first in Frankfort, the old county seat. When Red Oak Junction became the new county seat, the Packards moved to the area of Stennett, building this unusual stone house. They then moved to Red Oak. Jason was a lawyer and our first county treasurer. He and his family helped build Red Oak. This stone house and its finger prints are the stuff of local legend. To begin with, the house has six sides, which has led to many a story in itself. As I like to tell people, there are a hundred stories about Jason and Cornelia and their house, but 99 of them are untrue. This is one of those circumstances where the truth is better than the legend.
As I stood there looking at those fingerprints, all those stories raced through my mind. Then something occurred to me and I placed my fingers in the impressions. My fingers were way too large. This artifact had been left by long, slender fingers. The fingers of a woman – Cornelia.
Dave McFarland is director of the Montgomery County History Center. Contact him at mchsociet@qwestoffice.net