In the old days, most everyone wanting to build themselves a house, barn, etc., would make themselves a story-stick, house-stick, barn-stick, measuring stick, whatever, ….. because all the building materials were “hand-made” right on the job site except for any sawed lumber they might have purchased. And it didn’t matter what the length of the “stick” was, be it 2 feet to 6+ feet by today’s measurements. The person would make themselves a “stick” and then “mark” their stick for ½ stick, ¼ stick, 1/8 stick, etc. They would then stake their building site to be “x” sticks long, “x” sticks wide, etc, and then cut and hue the timbers/logs to those dimensions. He would keep adding “marks” on his stick as needed for door sizes, window sizes, room sizes, etc. Carpenters employed to do the building probably had their own “stick”.
The 6’ folding wood ruler wasn’t invented until 1851 and even then most people didn’t have a “length” measuring device like a 36” yard stick. Actual inches and feet measurements were of no importance until the Industrial Revolution and Mail Order Catalogs arrived on the scene.
Just my rambling thoughts on the subject, ….. so take them with a grain of salt.
