Thanksgiving, as a holiday, has a long and very complex history. Most of us associate the holiday with early Thanksgiving celebrations and festivals of the pilgrims of Massachusetts. Colonists also held similar celebrations in Virginia in the early years of the 17th century. Virginia and Massachusetts both laid claim to having celebrated the first Thanksgiving in what would become the United States; however, as a little-known fact, Texas did as well! In 1598, an exploring expedition by Juan de Onate held a Thanksgiving celebration on a stretch of land in the Rio Grande Valley.
Throughout most of the history of this country, Thanksgiving didn’t have a fixed date. It wasn’t until 1942 that a joint resolution of both houses of Congress set the date for the last Thursday in November.
Thanksgiving is a time for family, friends and feasting, as distant family members travel home for the holidays and catch up with family. A beloved tradition in many homes, and the meal is just one of the many highlights of the day!
Turkey is often the main course, sometimes accompanied by ham, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and a sundry assortment of other delightful eats. Many families passed down the recipes used from generation to generation.
Thankfully, many of these recipes have been preserved in various forms, especially in cookbooks published by local churches throughout the county.
Today we turn to “The Cook’s Friend and Home Guide” printed by the Ladies Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Jollytown PA in 1906. A wealth of amazing recipes fill this book, but one stands out as something many families might have enjoyed at Thanksgiving many, many years ago, and perhaps even still today!
Pumpkin Pie
Mrs. Dora Phillips, Hoovers Run PA
Take one tinful of pumpkin, to which add six eggs, half a cup of sugar, one-half gallon of good milk, flavor with nutmeg and bake slowly.
This recipe assumes, as do many others, you already have your own recipe for a crust, and I would imagine this recipe would make more than one pie, but imagine how tasty this 1906 recipe would be, especially if it baked in an old wood or coal fired range on a chilly November morning, just waiting to be eaten by a loving family later in the day. Such a pie even may have been baked in an old gas range as seen in the photo!
Through the late 19th century and a good portion of the 20th century, even up to the present time, many of the small community churches in our region published periodic cook books and home guides. They sold these to church members and the local community, often as a fundraiser for the church.
This month, we turn to Jollytown PA, for the 1906 Edition of the Methodist Episcopal Church Cookbook entitled “The Cook’s Friend and Home Guide”, compiled and published by the Ladies Aid Society.
This is a smaller bound book with cardboard covers and is about 150 pages. The book is broken down into sections such as Eggs and Fritters, Confections, Canning, Butters and Jellies, Meats, Cakes and other organized classifications of meals in dishes. In the back is a section consisting of advice for the homemaker. Tips such as how to use milkweed cotton to make cushions abound.
One particularly interesting piece of advice by Rose Mariner states that, “If you wish to shut off a view through a window, dissolve in a little hot water as much Epson’s salts as the water will absorb. Paint this over the inside of the window and you with have an air imitation of ground glass.” It’s also mentioned you can clean straw hats with lemon juice and a toothbrush!
Another section is about the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and its work to rid the world of alcohol and other such harmful vices. There is even a lengthy set of instructions on how to set up a local WCTU group!
Many cookbooks like this had advertisements from local merchants or vendors of items useful for one taking advice from such a book, but the 1906 Jollytown Cookbook is different. It has only two advertisements in it, one for The Perfect Separator, a turn of the century cream separator, and a business ad for the store of Frances A. Gynne of Washington PA that states “I have in my store at 833 Jefferson Avenue in Washington PA, a fine assortment of hand painted mottoes suitable for the home, church and school room which can be had at reasonable rates. Mail Orders Promptly Filled.”
Please keep an eye out on social media for information on our Christmas Open House and for the 100th anniversary in 2025!
