The Mystery of the Red Bank Cherokee Gold

by Denise Farnsworth

I first learned of the legend of the Red Bank Cherokee gold while working as a historical interpreter, preparing a county summer camp for kids called History Mysteries. Later, I lived in the area which serves as the setting for my novel releasing this month. The names of creeks, rivers, and long-vanished Indian towns showed up on road signs and swirled in my memory, and eventually, The Maiden and the Mountie wove that golden legend into the story of the Cherokee Removal during the Georgia Gold Rush.

In 1829, a resident of Red Bank, John Wright, told General John Coffee that his town had been founded around 1784 on both sides of the Etowah River (then called the Hightower), six miles above the Cherokee town and mine of Sixes and two miles below Hickory Log. This location differs significantly from the one provided by Forest C. Wade in his 1969 book, Cry of the Eagle. Wade was born in 1914 in Cherokee County and learned trail sign and lore from his grandfather, a part-Cherokee and gold miner from the gold rush boomtown of Auraria. Wade claimed the Red Bank tribe lived a mile north of Hightower along Red Bank Creek (later known as Bannister Creek). Maps in the Cherokee Footprints three-book series by Rev. Charles Walker clearly show Red Bank Village in the location John Wright testified, although Red Bank Creek detailed off the Alabama Road is of interest. For my novel, I went with the former location as best recorded by historical record.

So how did the tiny Cherokee village of Red Bank come to figure into North Georgia legend?

Rising Fawn

In 1835, after the Treaty of New Echota signed away Cherokee land, it was said that Hightower-area Chief Rising Fawn called a meeting of over a dozen lower chiefs. Since the Cherokees would not be allowed to take the gold they had mined for many years with them on their forced journey west, Rising Fawn crafted a plan to hide it until the families or their descendants could return. He asked Jacob Scudder, a local tavern and mill owner and blood brother to the Cherokees, to become guardian of the treasure.

A secret tunnel would be constructed at night, two hundred feet long, with slab doors to conceal the square vaults of depositors. An overhead deadfall was devised to release a large stone by a trigger. Each tribe was to create a network of sign trails using ancient symbols on trees and rocks. Pull trees, knee trees, saddle and humped trees were also formed.

In addition to personal deposits, it was rumored that in January 1838, a shipment of gold bullion coming from the U.S. Treasury to the new Dahlonega mint on the Federal Road was diverted by five masked riders. The cargo of seven gold bars weighing fifty pounds each was never found…and may have been added to Rising Fawn’s tunnel.

Scudder was to take a tenth toll when the Cherokees returned to fetch their treasure.

Only the Red Bank chief protested the plan, not trusting a white sub-chief. Instead, the thirty or so families buried their gold in 25 locations along the hillsides of Bannister and Bruton/Brewton Creek and in a smaller tunnel. The clay pots of gold dust varied from six to 40 pounds.

According to legend passed down by O.P. Orr of Cumming, who spent time with his grandfather in Cherokee County in the early 1900s, a caravan of Cherokes camped in the Heardsville and Frogtown areas for about a month in the summer of 1909. They were said to be descendants of the Red Bank Cherokees returned to recover their wealth. We can hope it was so.

However…an April 3, 1935 Georgia court case, Groover v. Tippins, gives the most credence to the fact that there indeed might have been Cherokee treasure left in North Georgia that was not recovered. The appeal records the fact that 37 pounds of gold dust and bullion with a value of $15,540 was found forty feet south of the public road leading from Frogtown to Silver City and 250 yards southeast of a large rock “containing various markings and circles.” It was otherwise said that three boys (presumably, including the plaintiff, Roy Tippins) found the treasure on Farmer F. R. Groover’s land. Groover was allowed to keep the prize.

What is legend? What is truth? Those questions are enough to inspire a unique twist to a story.

Book Two of The Twenty-Niners of the Georgia Gold Rush, The Maiden and the Mountie, releases February 17. A marriage of necessity. A secret buried deep. In Georgia’s gold country, love may be the most dangerous treasure of all. https://www.amazon.com/Maiden-Mountie-Twenty-Niners-Georgia-Gold-ebook/dp/B0FNYFLLJ3/

Denise Farnsworth, formerly Denise Weimer, writes historical and contemporary romance mostly set in Georgia and also serves as a freelance editor and the Acquisitions & Editorial Liaison for Wild Heart Books. A wife and mother, she always pauses for coffee, chocolate, and old houses.

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The Amazing Writing Machine

By Suzanne Norquist

Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1440. It made mechanical printing possible. However, it took over four centuries for typewriters to become an office staple.

Many inventors are credited with developing early drawings or prototypes. Those ideas went through numerous iterations, each improving on the last, before the machine we know as the typewriter finally emerged. Then the Industrial Revolution brought them to the masses.

Francesco Rampazetto documented the first version of the typewriter in Italy in 1575. His machine pressed ink into paper. In 1714, Henry Mill filed a patent in England for something that could be a typewriter. It impressed inked letters one after another.

A very early version was the Columbia Typewriter. Instead of a keyboard, the user would turn a dial to the desired letter and press a button—a slow process. (Think label maker.) This kind of device found some commercial success among users who had limited printing needs.

People with visual impairment also found it helpful. It is said that in the 1810s, Italian Pellegrino Turri designed and built one of the first of this kind of typewriters for his blind friend Countess Carolina Fantoni da Fivizzano.

In 1829, William Austin Burt, an American, patented the Typographer. It operated on a similar concept but was bigger.

Numerous others worked on the idea, but the Hansen Writing Ball was the first commercially produced typing machine. Rev. Rasmus Malling-Hansen invented it in 1865, and it went into production in 1870 with several enhancements over the next ten years. The ball looked like a giant brass pincushion with fifty-two keys.

The typewriter we recognize today was invented in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1868, and began production in 1873. Christopher Latham Sholes, Frank Haven Hall, Carlos Glidden, and Samuel W. Soule collaborated on the effort.

Sholes, the primary inventor, was a newspaper editor. He had spent time in a machine shop and liked to tinker. His prototype included random parts like piano wire, a telegraph key, and part of an old table. The user typed on piano keys to operate the machine.

Before production, the inventors made improvements. They created mechanisms to regulate the carriage's movement, hold the paper, and rotate the ink ribbon.

The resulting typewriters were beautiful with flowers painted on the front. They resembled sewing machines of the day.

The patent was sold to Remington Arms, which produced them in its sewing machine factories.

The QWERTY keyboard, the design used by computers and cell phones today, was one of the machine's main features. The name QWERTY is a list of the first six letters across. Rumor has it that this layout slowed down typists to prevent keys from jamming.

Others have tried to introduce different keyboard layouts. However, so many people learned touch typing with this arrangement that it was difficult for anyone else to break through.

Not everyone embraced this new technology. Typed documents seemed impersonal or could be easily forged. Typewriters were considered luxury items.

Early machines only typed in capital letters. One solution to this problem was to include two complete sets of keys, one uppercase and one lowercase. The Caligraph machine is an example.

The Remington 2 employed a “shift” key that literally shifted all the keys to a different location.

Another problem was that typists couldn’t see the document while typing. The paper was hidden below the line of sight. The Underwood typewriter remedied this problem by moving the roller up to where the typist could see it, and others followed suit.

Electric typewriters followed. And word processing machines. And computers. And cell phones. When I took typing class in the seventh grade, my dad said typing was only for secretaries. He had no idea how the skill would serve me in the computer age.

The typewriter was more than a machine. It also served the cause of women’s suffrage. Women could find work in offices and even own a business with its help. They aided novelists. Mark Twain was one of the first to use the “new-fangled writing machine.”

We’ve come a long way since the invention of the printing press and the development of the QWERTY keyboard. I still write longhand sometimes, but this blog wouldn’t exist without the machine.

***

 

Love In Bloom 4-in-one collection

“A Song for Rose” by Suzanne Norquist

Can a disillusioned tenor convince an aspiring soprano that there is more to music than fame?

“Holly & Ivy” by Mary Davis

At Christmastime, a young woman accompanies her impetuous younger sister on her trip across the country to be a mail-order bride and loses her heart to a gallant stranger.

“Periwinkle in the Park” by Kathleen E. Kovach

A female hiking guide, who is helping to commission a national park, runs into conflict with a mountain man determined to keep the government off his land.

“A Beauty in a Tansy”

Two adjacent store owners are drawn to each other, but their older relatives provide obstacles to their ever becoming close.

Republished from Bouquet of Brides

Buy links: https://books2read.com/u/bOOx8K

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Bloom-Mary-Davis/dp/B0FPLFYCXR/

 

 

Suzanne Norquist is the author of two novellas. Everything fascinates her. She has worked as a chemist, professor, financial analyst, and even earned a doctorate in economics. Research feeds her curiosity, and she shares the adventure with her readers. She lives in New Mexico with her mining engineer husband and has two grown children. When not writing, she explores the mountains, hikes, and attends kickboxing class.

 

Keeping Atlantic Ocean Barrier Islands Safe

     _By Tiffany Amber Stockton

From lighthouse keepers to childhood stories, here's a look at the Assateague Lighthouse through the lens of history and coastal life.

A Look Beyond the Lighthouse

When I was a little girl, my parents would take us down to Chincoteague to visit Pop-Pop who owned a barbershop on the island. Sitting in his apartment above the shop, perched on his knees alongside my older brother, I learned early that history and imagination often shared the same chair.

Pop-Pop was a master storyteller. The ocean was always involved, and so were the many storms. Somehow, in every single tale, he was the hero who came to rescue us. Looking back now, he wouldn't have had it any other way.

We’d build the stories together—layer by layer—until they became grand adventures. In one of my favorites, we were lost at sea in a small boat, waves crashing around us, when Pop-Pop appeared as the lighthouse keeper, high above the water, making sure the light shone bright enough to guide us safely home.

And that was my first introduction to the famous lighthouse on the barrier island across the inlet.

The Assateague Lighthouse has stood watch since 1833, built to guide ships past the dangerous shoals off the Virginia coast, after shipwrecks piled up along the coastline. Located halfway between the Delaware Bay and the Chesapeake Bay, its red-and-white bands are unmistakable, and you can see them today from many parts of Chincoteague. Now, it's a place people climb for the view, but at one time, it was a place where people lived and a beacon that saved lives.

One of those people was David Watson, the lighthouse’s first keeper. Watson and his family moved into the lighthouse and the attached home shortly after construction completed. At that time, the lighthouse consisted solely of red brick. Every evening, the eleven oil lamps set in fourteen-inch reflectors had to be lit. Every morning, they had to be extinguished, cleaned, and prepared again. Weather didn’t matter. Illness didn’t matter. Those lights could not fail.

Keeper logs and service records tell us the facts of the lighthouse—dates, duties, years of service—but they leave out the quieter truths. Watson's wife lived that life alongside him. Lighthouse wives often acted as unofficial assistants, managing households in isolation, raising children far from neighbors, and stepping in when their husbands were sick or away. Other than a small village to the northeast, the keepers remained quite isolated.

I imagine evenings after the lights were set, the tower humming faintly with wind. Children asleep. A simple meal shared. Conversations about storms, supplies, or the long stretch of winter ahead. The bridge connecting Assateague to Chincoteague wasn't built until 1962. That's a lot of years to live so cut off from everyday life with friends and other people.

The lighthouse remained active until 1933, when it was decommissioned and replaced by automated aids powered by electricity. When I look at it now, I don’t just see brick and iron. I see my grandfather’s stories. I see keeper families like the Watsons, living ordinary lives in extraordinary circumstances. I see a steady light meant to guide others home.

Maybe that’s why Pop-Pop chose that role for himself in our make-believe adventures. Because a lighthouse keeper doesn’t conquer the sea. He simply stays where he’s supposed to be, doing his job, night after night, so others can find their way.

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN:

* How do you think lighthouse life shaped marriages and families compared to mainland communities?

* What details of everyday life do you wish historical records preserved more often?

* Are there stories from your childhood where imagination and family history blended together?

Leave answers to these questions or any comments on the post below.

** This note is for our email readers. Please do not reply via email with any comments. View the blog online and scroll down to the comments section.

Come back on the 9th of each month for my next foray into historical tidbits to share.

---

BIO

Tiffany Amber Stockton has embellished stories since childhood, thanks to a very active imagination and notations of talking entirely too much. Honing those skills led her to careers as an award-winning and best-selling author and speaker, while also working as a professional copywriter/copyeditor. She loves to share life-changing products and ideas with others to help them get rooted in truth and live a life of purpose.

Currently, she lives with her husband and fellow author, Stuart Vaughn Stockton, along with their two children, two dogs, and five cats in southeastern Kentucky. In her 20+ years as a professional writer, she has sold twenty-six (26) books so far and has agent representation with Tamela Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. You can find her on Facebook and GoodReads.

John Finn, A Hard Man to Kill

image by @zapomicron, deposit photos

John William Finn was awarded the very first Medal of Honor during World War II, and for his actions he earned the nickname “A Hard Man to Kill.” At age ninety-nine, he stood (with the aid of walking sticks) beside President Obama as a wreath was laid at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. He lived to be one hundred years old, proving his nickname to be fitting.

But what did he do during the attack at Pearl Harbor?

Finn talked about that day in interviews that can still be found on YouTube. In one, he recalled the moment he suddenly realized what was happening.

“The war is now there, right now. One minute I’m warm in bed with a pretty blonde” (his wife) “and the next minute I’m down there.”

Finn was not stationed at Pearl Harbor itself. Instead, he was at Kaneohe Bay, a base on the northeast side of Oahu, across a narrow stretch of the island from Pearl Harbor. In the fog of war, it is not absolutely certain that Kaneohe Bay was hit before Pearl Harbor proper, though many believe it was. At the very least, it was struck in the first wave.

He mentioned that he and his wife had only recently moved into their new quarters and had not yet put up curtains. That meant he saw a plane flash past his window. Instantly, his mind began working. By this point, he had already been in the Navy for years, and most of his assignments had involved working around planes.

He saw the plane and knew immediately that it was not a PBY—the planes used by his squadron. His first thought was practical. "It’s Sunday. Who is flying low over the quarters and not following the flight pattern? Then he noticed the planes were single-engine. And that the machine guns were firing too slowly." (Japanese aircraft machine guns fired at a slower rate than American ones.)

A sailor’s wife pounded on his door and told him he was wanted down at the hangar.

image from deposit photos

Finn jumped into his old Ford, but did not immediately speed. The posted speed limit on base was twenty miles per hour. About halfway around a hill, he heard a plane roaring up behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the red “meatballs” on the wings. It was a Japanese plane.

“I threw that old Ford into second gear,” he said, “and from then on I broke every speed law that was ever set.”

Finn was a Chief Petty Officer, with about thirty-five men under his command. When he arrived at the armory, two of his men were already manning machine guns. He also realized that depth charges, each containing around five hundred pounds of TNT, were stored in the building. He immediately ordered one of his men to get those depth charges out of the building. Then he went out to take over the .50-caliber machine gun.

When describing the events later, Finn said simply that he dragged the machine gun away from the hangar so he could see over it. He did not dwell on the fact that this placed him completely out in the open, with no cover. He manned that position for the next two and a half hours.

When asked if he shot down any planes, he laughed and said, “You can’t shoot down a plane with a .50-cal.”

When asked whether he hit the first plane he saw, he replied, “I’d be a liar if I said I hit it…but I’d be the worst shot in the world if I didn’t hit some of them.”

Finn later said he suffered 21 shrapnel wounds. His Medal of Honor citation states that he was “painfully wounded many times,” and some sources also note gunshot wounds to his shoulder and foot, though in this particular interview he did not mention those injuries. Despite his wounds, he continued to command his men. Only when the attack was over, and under direct orders, did he leave his post. He did not report to sick bay until the following day and spent the next two and a half weeks there recovering.

Finn summed up his actions this way, “My deed was inconsequential the way I see it. Some of the guys, you just cannot believe what they did.”

Pearl Harbor is often remembered as a single catastrophic morning, but it was experienced in thousands of fiercely individual moments. John Finn’s was just one of them.

There is a television show I enjoy called Major Dad. In one episode, a character asks, “So the Marines reward stubborn officers?”

The reply: “They name ships after them.”

image by photowrzesien, deposit photos

It is fitting, then, that the modern U.S. Navy includes the USS John Finn.

There were many men at Pearl Harbor, and many left their stories behind. If you’d like to read another account by a Pearl Harbor veteran—and hear how a single postcard shut down an entire post office—you can learn more here.

Women Homesteaders: Polly Mulhollin by Izzy James

 Land ownership has fed the imagination of many a heart. When tamed, acreage provides a means to live and thrive. Left untamed it feeds dreams. 

commons.wikimedia.org

Women have never been immune to the siren song of adventure. In the course of my research I have come across the stories of many of them. No matter what timeframe you read about you will find women breaking the molds we have been taught to believe. From land grants of the colonial times to the more modern Homestead Act, women actively pursued dreams of land ownership. Sometimes they were alone, often they came with brothers, other family members, and even friends.

Rebecca Boone  https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/journalpatriot.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/34/c34dfc8c-050c-5f82-8776-7a9db3dfbc2a/63b46a531630f.image.jpg

Land in colonial Virginia was doled out by the Crown through men like Lord Fairfax or the Royal Governor. Parcels of land were granted to pilgrims willing to create farms and pay the quitrent. A quitrent was similar to a tax on the land that was due yearly. 

Sir William Gooch, Governor of Virginia 1727-1749

https://www.pinterest.se/pin/225039312603056136/

A story is told of a young Irish indentured servant who came to the Virginia colony in the 1740s. After meeting the conditions of her contract she blazed out on her own into the wilderness of the Shenandoah Valley. Her understanding was that if she placed a cabin on a piece of land the one hundred acres surrounding it would be hers in a “cabin claim”. 

https://www.britannica.com/place/Appalachian-National-Scenic-Trail

Polly Mulhollin did this thirty times. 

When the heir of Benjamin Borden, Sr. came to provide deeds to his father’s settlers he reportedly found Miss Mulhollin and her cabins. History is silent as to whether he honored her claims with deeds or not. What is reported is that she married and her descendants still live near the Wilderness Road. 

I discovered Polly’s story when researching for my Wilderness Road series. Polly’s example is inspirational to Beti, who is venturing out for a future in Kentucky.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CS4GPDQY/

About The Road Home: The Wilderness Road Book 1

A Cinderella story about a pirate's daughter on the Wilderness Road to Kentucky.

Beti Boatman, pirate's daughter, long dreamed of traveling to a place where no one knew her name. When looters showed up on the day she buried her father her choice was made. Leave her home or allow the only two people in the world she loves to live in constant danger.

When Zeke and what's left of his regiment organized a wagon train west, they did not expect to encounter a woman traveling alone. Beti insists she doesn't need his help, but Zeke knows better and the strong need to protect her runs deep. Things get complicated when looters track Beti down. And emissaries from her mother’s country claim Beti is a real princess. Now Beti must choose: the hardships in Kentucky or a throne.

Izzy James lives in the traces of history in coastal Virginia with her fabulous husband in a house brimming with books. Born with a traveling bone and an itch to knit. Izzy travels to every location where her books take place, from Williamsburg to Wyoming, popping in yarn stores along the way.

Connect with Izzy through her website at izzyjamesauthor.com and sign up for her monthly newsletter.

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Website: https://izzyjamesauthor.com

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Izzy-James/author/B08DRW4JY3

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/izzy-james

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9815799.Izzy_James

Resources: The Wilderness Road, Robert L. Kincaid, Bobbs-Merrill Company Publishers, Copyright 1947; Kessinger's Legacy Reprints Edition

Women of Resistance: Sarah Goldberg

Born on January 1, 1921 in Warta, Poland, Sarah Goldberg was one of ten children. Unfortunately, four of her siblings died in infancy, and her mother passed away from typhus when Sarah was less than a year old. Shortly, thereafter, her father moved the family to the Jewish quarter of Lodz. He eventually remarried and relocated to Brussels, Belgium to escape the antisemitic pogroms going on in Poland.

Her father ran a hosiery and haberdashery shop, but several sources indicate the family had trouble making ends meet and were very poor. According to several sources, in 1936 she joined the left-wing Jewish sports club that was run by communist militants who used the organization as a cover. Deeply ingrained in the communist philosophy, she took part in solidarity campaigns, sold pins to raise money for the International Brigades fighting in the Spanish Civil War.

The Germans invaded Belgium in May 1940, and Sarah fled to Revel, France with her sister Estera and brother-in-law Marcus. Sarah found work as an assistant to the town’s police commissioner, and one of her duties was to create lists of republicans who had fought in the Spanish Civil War and subsequently escaped the French internment camps. Before leaving the job and moving back to Belgium, Sarah warned several escapees.

Back in Belgium, she jumped into the resistance with both feet. Initially joining the Jeunes Gardes

Socialistes Unifies, she distributed clandestine leaflets. She then joined a group the Abwehr would eventually nickname Red Orchestra, in which she took on the name Lily and learned Morse code and how to operate a radio, so she could send messages. After the organization disintegrated and many of the fellow members were killed, Sarah changed her name to Denise and joined a group of armed partisans. She acted as a courier, participated in rescue operations for imprisoned colleagues, and was involved in the “elimination of collaborators and snitches.”

A hair-raising incident occurred during which she was spotted by a known informer. Two police officers were in front of her, and she inserted herself between them saying, “Please keep going.” They wanted to know what was happening, so she explained, “I am a Jew and there in front of us is an informer.” Proving that some segment of the Belgian police force sympathized with the resistance, they acted as if they were escorting her.

Sarah managed to avoid capture three times until she was arrested on June 4, 1943. After a series of stops, she was eventually sent to Auschwitz where a nurse helped her avoid selection for extermination. Months later, she survived the Ravensbrück death march, and upon arrival was selected as a forced laborer. Her response was to join the camp resistance, a group that shared food, protected vulnerable prisoners, developed internal communication networks, and performed acts of sabotage.

On April 23, 1945, the Red Army liberated the camp, and Sarah was released. Weak but determined, she returned to Belgium where she discovered that all but two sisters and her brother-in-law had perished. She married Jacques Icek in 1949 and obtained Belgian citizenship in 1953. The two became active members of associations of former resistance members and deportees. Recognized as a political prisoner, Sarah received medals for the wartime activities. She passed away in 2003 at the age of 82.

_________________________

Love’s Rescue:

A prostitute, a spy, and the liberation of Paris.

Sold by her parents to settle a debt, Rolande Bisset is forced into prostitution. Years later, shunned by

her family and most of society, it’s the only way she knows how to subsist. When the Germans overrun Paris, she decides she’s had enough of evil men controlling her life and uses her wiles to obtain information for the Allied forces. Branded a collaborator, her life hangs in the balance. Then an American spy stumbles onto her doorstep. Is redemption within her grasp?

Simon Harlow is one of an elite corps of American soldiers. Regularly chosen for dangerous covert missions, he is tasked with infiltrating Paris to ascertain the Axis’s defenses. Nearly caught by German forces moments after arriving, he owes his life to the beautiful prostitute who claims she’s been waiting for the Allies to arrive. Her lifestyle goes against everything he believes in, but will she steal his heart during his quest to liberate her city?

Inspired by the biblical story of Rahab, Love’s Rescue is a tale of faith and hope during one of history’s darkest periods.

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/mKwLAv

Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about second chances and women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she explores the history of this great state and immerses herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors. Visit her at http://www.LindaShentonMatchett.com.



Sources:
https://portal.ehri-project.eu/units/be-002157-kd_00580
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Goldberg_(spy)
https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/collections/5/collection_resources/2044/description
https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Brzesko/brz170.html
https://lilith.org/articles/partisanas/
https://www.cegesoma.be/sites/www.cegesoma.be/files/Publications/201904_NEWSLETTER46_TM-merged.pdf
https://fortunoff-testimonies.be/goldberg-sarah/

Photo Credits:

Sarah Goldberg: By User:MiGoldberg - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Sculpture commemorating Red Orchestra: By OTFW, Berlin - Self-photographed, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Sarah Goldberg: https://fortunoff-testimonies.be/goldberg-sarah/

Josephine Garis Cochran - 1880s Inventor of the Dishwasher

By Mary Dodge Allen 

How did a widow with no formal education in mechanical engineering - successfully design, manufacture, market and sell an innovative dishwashing machine in an era when a woman managing a business was rare? 

Josephine Garis Cochran (Public Domain)

Early Life and Marriage:

Josephine Garis was born into a prominent family on March 8, 1839 in Ashtabula County, Ohio. Her father was a civil engineer who operated mills in Ohio and Indiana.

When her mother died, Josephine moved to Shelbyville, Illinois to live with her sister. She soon met William Cochran, a successful businessman who ran a dry goods business. In 1858, at the age of 19, Josephine married William, who was nine years older. They had two children - a boy, Hallie, who tragically died in childhood, and a daughter, Katharine.

In 1870, William moved his family to a mansion in Chicago, and they joined the city's high society, hosting many elegant dinner parties. Josephine enjoyed using her family's 17th-century heirloom china at these events. But she was frustrated when the servants who washed the dishes often chipped and broke her prized china. When Josephine tried washing the china herself, she found she also chipped the dishes.

Vintage photo of a servant washing dishes (Public Domain)

Josephine knew there had to be a way to automate the chore of dishwashing and vowed, "If nobody else is going to invent a dishwashing machine, I'll do it myself." She began drawing sketches of a machine to effectively wash dishes without damaging them.

Her husband William, who had become a violent alcoholic, died suddenly in 1883. He left Josephine with $1,500 (the equivalent of $47,000 today) along with mismanaged finances and unpaid debts. While paying off these debts, she realized she was in financial trouble. She began devoting all her energy to developing her dishwashing machine.

Her Business Begins:

Josephine hired a young mechanic, George Butters, to help her build a working prototype from her detailed sketches. Day after day, they worked together in a woodshed behind her house. Butters always entered the shed through the back door because Josephine worried her reputation might be ruined if neighbors saw him coming to her house every day.

On the day after Christmas, 1886, J.G. Cochran was awarded patent no. 355,139 for her "Dish Washing Machine."

J.G. Cochran's U.S. patent no. 355,139 (U.S. Patent & Trademark Office)

Although Josephine was not the first to invent a dish washing machine, she was the first to use water pressure, rather than scrubbers to clean the dishes (the process that is still in use today). And her machine had specialized racks to hold the dishes and flatware in place.

Josephine called her invention the Garis-Cochran Dish Washing Machine. She enlisted financing from wealthy investors and used established manufacturing firms to build her dish washing machines. But finding competent employees proved frustrating.

Male workers who were aware of Josephine's lack of mechanical training, often tried making 'improvements' to her machine, which disrupted the manufacturing process. Josephine complained, "I couldn't get men to do the things I wanted in my way, until they had tried and failed on their own. And that was costly for me."

Through her wealthy friends and contacts, Josephine began to sell her dish washing machines to wealthy households with enough money to pay the high price (over $100) and with home water heaters large enough to run the machines.

To expand her sales, Josephine began selling a much larger model of her dish washing machine to restaurants and hotels. In 1887, a friend introduced her to the manager of Chicago's Palmer House, one of the most famous hotels in the country. Her sales pitch impressed the manager and resulted in her first large order.

The Palmer House, 17 E. Monroe St. Chicago, IL, circa 1920s (Chicago History Museum)

The second hotel she visited was the Sherman House, and she needed to make a sale without the benefit of a formal introduction. In the 1880s, an adult woman of her social class rarely left home unless accompanied by a man. 

Walking alone into the hotel, Josephine recalled, "was almost the hardest thing I ever did. You cannot imagine what it was like in those days... for a woman to cross a hotel lobby alone... the lobby seemed a mile wide. I thought I should faint at every step, but I didn't - and I got an $800 order as my reward."

The Chicago World's Columbian Exposition of 1893:

Josephine Cochran's big break happened at this huge event, which took place during a six month duration in 1893. It was considered the event of the century and was attended by more than 27 million people.

Machinery Hall at the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition, 1893, (Public Domain)

The large-sized model of her Garis-Cochran Dish Washing Machine - the model sold to hotels and restaurants - was showcased in Machinery Hall, along with many other innovative inventions. Of all the devices displayed in that massive hall, hers was the only device invented by a woman.

Her dish washing machine worked with amazing speed. Over 200 dirty dishes could be loaded in the dish racks. Pulleys and gears then transported them inside the machine. Minutes later, after being washed by soap and hot water pressure, the dishes emerged, sparkling clean.

The Garis-Cochran Dish Washing Machine won an award at the Exposition. It was declared the "best mechanical construction, durability, and adaptation to its line of work."

Josephine's Dish Washing Machine wasn't just on display, it was also being used by the World Exposition's many restaurants.

Advertisement touting the award at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and that the Garis-Cochran Dish Washing Machine was used by the Exposition's restaurants. (Public Domain)

The publicity her dish washing machine received at the World's Columbian Exposition led to more orders than ever before. In addition to hotels and restaurants, she began selling to hospitals and colleges.

Her Own Factory:

In 1898, Josephine established her own factory under the name, Cochran's Crescent Dish Washing Company, with George Butters as factory manager. Sales continued growing across the country, and as far away as Alaska and Mexico.

Josephine wasn't the type to sit back and rest. She was always involved in the business, and she constantly looked for ways to improve her dish washing machine. 

Josephine Cochran in her later years (Public Domain)

In August 1913, Josephine passed away in her Chicago home, at the age of 74. The cause of death was said to be a stroke, brought on by nervous exhaustion.

Josephine received a second, posthumous patent in 1917 for an improved version of her dish washing machine.

Cochran's second posthumous U.S. patent no. 1,223,380, 1917 (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office)

In 1926, the Hobart Company bought Cochran's Crescent Dish Washing Company, and went on to manufacture dishwashers under the KitchenAid brand. Sixty years later, in 1986, KitchenAid was purchased by the Whirlpool Corporation.

Josephine Garis Cochran was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006.

Shortly before her death, Josephine made this statement in an interview:

"If I knew all I know today, when I began to put the dishwasher on the market, I never would have had the courage to start. But then, I would have missed a very wonderful experience."

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Mary Dodge Allen is currently finishing her sequel to Hunt for a Hometown Killer. She's won a Christian Indie Award, an Angel Book Award, and two Royal Palm Literary Awards (Florida Writer's Association). She and her husband live in Central Florida. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Faith Hope and Love Christian Writers. 

Website: www.marydodgeallen.com

Recent release, anthology devotional: El Jireh, The God Who Provides

Mary's story, entitled: A Mother's Desperate Prayer, describes her struggle with guilt and despair after her young son is badly burned in a kitchen accident. When we are at the end of all we have, El Jireh provides what we need. 

Click the link below to purchase on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/El-Jireh-God-Who-Provides/dp/1963611608

Mary's novel: Hunt for a Hometown Killer won the 2022 Christian Indie Award, First Place - Mystery/Suspense; and the 2022 Angel Book Award - Mystery/Suspense.

Click the link below to buy Hunt for a Hometown Killer at Amazon.com:

Hunt For A Hometown Killer: A Novel: Allen, Mary Dodge: 9781952369704: Amazon.com: Books

Link to Mary's Spotlight Interview:   Mary Dodge Allen Author Spotlight EA Book