Book/Printed Material The bark covered house, or Back in the woods again; being a graphic and thrilling description of real pioneer life in the wilderness of Michigan (Illustrated.)

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About this Item

Title

  • The bark covered house, or Back in the woods again; being a graphic and thrilling description of real pioneer life in the wilderness of Michigan (Illustrated.)

Other Title

  • Bark covered house
  • Back in the woods again

Summary

  • This first-person narrative of a pioneer boyhood is intended as a tribute to the author's parents, who emigrated to Dearborn, Michigan, from Putnam County, New York in 1834. William Nowlin describes his father's frustration with subsistence on a small, debt-ridden fruit farm and his mother's anguish at leaving her friends, church, and relatives. He recounts the family's adventurous journey on the Erie Canal, the dangers of a public house in Buffalo, the perils of their steamship voyage across Lake Erie during a storm, and the trials of establishing a new home. Wishing to memorialize the challenges of converting wilderness into what he sees as a prosperous and civilized community, Nowlin describes building roads, clearing the land, building a home, fishing and hunting, handling cattle, and warding off mosquitoes, snakes, and wild animals, all in careful detail. He remembers uneasy relations between the white community and Native Americans, and discusses the social, legal, and moral complexities of dealing with the fugitive slaves and free African Americans who flowed back and forth across the Canadian border in search of freedom or job opportunities. Nowlin is conscious of the impact of modern technology, especially the railroads, and discusses both what was raised on the family farm and where and how it was marketed. He describes his father's long-range strategies to enhance the family's material welfare, and shows how family members collaborated as an economic unit.

Names

  • Nowlin, William, 1821-1884

Created / Published

  • Detroit, Printed for the Author, 1876.

Headings

  • -  Nowlin, William,--1821-1884
  • -  Dearborn (Mich.)--History
  • -  Frontier and pioneer life--Michigan--Dearborn

Notes

  • -  LAC scc 2019-06-10 update (1 card)

Medium

  • 3 p.l., [xi]-xiv, [15]-250 p. illus., plates. 20 cm.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • F574.D2 N9

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 13002622

Online Format

  • online text
  • image
  • pdf

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress is not aware of any U.S. copyright protection (see Title 17, U.S.C.) or any other restrictions in the materials in the Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910 materials. The Library of Congress is providing access to these materials for educational and research purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or other rights holders (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Credit Line: Library of Congress, General Collections and Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

Further copyright information is also available at American Memory and Copyright.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Nowlin, William. The bark covered house, or Back in the woods again; being a graphic and thrilling description of real pioneer life in the wilderness of Michigan Illustrated. Detroit, Printed for the Author, 1876. Pdf. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/13002622/.

APA citation style:

Nowlin, W. (1876) The bark covered house, or Back in the woods again; being a graphic and thrilling description of real pioneer life in the wilderness of Michigan Illustrated. Detroit, Printed for the Author. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/13002622/.

MLA citation style:

Nowlin, William. The bark covered house, or Back in the woods again; being a graphic and thrilling description of real pioneer life in the wilderness of Michigan Illustrated. Detroit, Printed for the Author, 1876. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/13002622/>.