I didn’t see those glorious times, but I remember from stories that bitcoin were bought directly eer-to-peer (P2P). There were no exchangers back then and people used bitcoin (for buying and selling) exactly as it was created. You know that bitcoin is a peer-to-peer electronic cash system. Therefore, transactions took place, for example, in a cafe, where they received bitcoin for cash (and vice versa). At that time, bitcoin cost mere pennies, no one believed in the future of this system, which means there were few people willing to get it illegally (robbery, theft, etc.). Consequently, they were not afraid to make such p2p trade. By the way, such an exchange can be made today. For example, in BestChange there is a trade function Bitcoin-Cash (in addition to many other exchange directions), which is offered by exchangers with many years of experience and a good reputation (any deviations from the norm become immediately known). This is the answer to your first question in the post.