Mrs. McBride
Great Hinckley Hunt. 1818.
Pioneer family moving to the Western Reserve.
Pioneer Home
Spinning. Note the rifle above the fireplace.
Pioneer kitchen
Ann Julia McBride came to Wooster with her husband Alexander and three small children in 1813 from Westmoreland, Pennsylvania.1 She was an intelligent woman, and quick to act when her family was in danger, two qualities essential to the survival of her family. On one occasion, Mrs. McBride woke in the dead of night to discover a venomous snake had taken up residence under the floor of their house. Waking Mr. McBride, Ann ran to fetch a steel shovel. While Alexander pulled up the floorboard, she brought the shovel down and cut the snake’s head off. Another time, Mr. McBride was away when a rabid dog ran into the family’s house and began to gnaw on the bed where Mrs. McBride’s one-year-old daughter, Margaret, was asleep. Mrs. McBride quickly gathered all of her children outside and locked the dog inside her house. She went and got the family axe, opened the door and hit the dog over the head, killing him immediately.2
1 Ben Douglass. History of Wayne County, Ohio. Indianapolis, Ind: Robert Douglass, 1878. 744.
2 Ibid.