Right, my dad never mentioned anything about corn oil, as far as I remember him saying lard and grease were the only things they were using back then.
My father helped build the car road that went by our farm, they did it with horse and mule and pick and shovel. The little trading posts back then were service by horse and wagon. You traded your eggs and chickens for sugar and coffee, and your ground your floor and mill down at the local water wheel mill. You raised hogs for lard and grease. But you could buy lard at the little country store are trade chickens and eggs for it. People made maple syrup and maple sugar and molasses.