Christmas on the Plains and Molasses Candy

A footnote from history by Stephanie Grace Whitson

Here in Nebraska, we nearly had a white Thanksgiving. The  snow melted before "Turkey-day," but winter storms never fail to set me to thinking about what winter was like for pioneer settlers. And they always make me thankful I live in a day of central heating where all it takes to keep warm is a setting on a thermostat. 

In December of 1866, troops sent to aid the survivors of the Fetterman Massacre "waded or dug their way through snows, knee deep, and often waist deep, while the mercury ranged from 25 to 40 degrees below zero." They arrived at

their destination with frostbitten hands and feet. In January, when some of the women were transported to safety, the mercury on their only thermometer froze in the bulb, so they no longer knew how cold it was. They "sliced" frozen bread with a hatchet. 

Residents of sod houses often mentioned how much warmer the three-foot-thick sod walls kept their homes. In fact, some lamented the loss of that insulation when they moved into their first farmhouse with only boards, plaster, and lathe to hold in the warmth from the wood stove in the kitchen. 

In 1913, when Bert Snyder went for more coal during a blizzard, "his eyes were frozen shut before he'd gone half a dozen steps, and the snow was so fine and thick that he could barely breathe." After the storm when Bert saddled his horse to see about the cattle on his ranch, the drifts were so high and frozen so solid that he rode right over the tops of fences.

What was Christmas like for those pioneers? Jessie Short Segard, author of From Dugout to Mansion wrote this about Christmas, 1886: "...some Christmases we had nothing at all. One Christmas Mother had made sorghum taffy and made some into rings and other things of the taffy. That was the extent of our gifts that year. Here's a recipe I found for molasses candy. Let me know if you try it! 

MOLASSES CANDY

from Nebraska Pioneer Cookbook 

compiled by Kay Graber

Two cups of molasses, one cup of sugar, tablespoonful of vinegar, small lump of butter. Boil rapidly until it drops brittle into cold water, pour into buttered tins, and when cold pull till it is white.

Jessie's memoir continues, "Another Christmas Aunt Sally had received a barrel of apples from Iowa and brought one apiece for us. What a treat that was, a whole apple for each of us."

When Jessie's family moved from Kansas to the village of Brainard, Nebraska, her father had an idea for decorating a Christmas tree. "Before Christmas that year Father told us children to save all the tissue paper we could find in the street. Everybody was a litterbug then and it was easy to find white, yellow, red and blue tissue where stores tossed their rubbish. Father got a branch limb of a tree. We covered it with strips of those papers and he nailed it to the wall and that was our first and only Christmas tree we ever had. We thought it was very beautiful.

Christmas morning we found on that tree overshoes for Father, I don't remember what for Mother, a wool cap for us two girls, and I forget what for the boys except that we all got a little pocket mirror and a sack of hard candy. The aid society had given us those things and Father had not let us children know about it. Oh! You see, it takes very little to make a real poor family happy."

At Christmas in 1884, Jessie was fourteen and a half. "I wanted so much to buy a Christmas gift for mother but only had one nickel. The only thing I could think of to get her was a spool of sewing thread but to her it was a good useful gift."

What about you? Do you have memories of "lean" Christmases? Do you have a favorite gift that was inexpensive and yet cherished because of the sacrifice made to acquire and give it? 

May God grant us all an attitude of thankfulness for the abundance He supplies. Merry Christmas!

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My heroine in Mended Hearts, a novella included in the collection at left, has gone through a rough year. She's felt shunned and abandoned, but as Christmas looms, she hopes a change is on the horizon. 

Learn more here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D8HR2V8/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

https://www.christianbook.com/christmas-stitches-historical-collection-through-holidays/judith-miller/9781683227151/pd/227153?event=ESRCG

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/christmas-stitches-judith-mccoy-miller/1129252608?ean=9781683227151#/

To win a free copy of Christmas Stitches, 1) share the link to this blog post with a friend and then  2) e-mail stephanie@stephaniewhitson.com with topic line SHARED and your shipping address in the body of the e-mail. I'll select and notify the winner on December 15. Merry Christmas!

The Quilt That Started a Story

A footnote from history by Stephanie Grace Whitson

“A quilt is not just a quilt. It is not an inanimate object only to be spread on a bed or hung on a wall. It is the repository of special memories … It is a time recalled—an event of huge proportions such as a birth or death, or the hardly earthshaking memory of having the children use it as a tent over the card table. A quilt is not just a quilt.” (Judy Schroeder Tomlinson in Mennonite Quilts and Pieces)

Do old quilts speak to you? While I don’t hear actual voices, I will admit that over the years more than one quilt has suggested a question that led to a story. 

Years ago, as a docent at the International Quilt Study Center and Museum, I learned about a unique group of Mennonite women who lived in Strasburg, a town in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. In the late 1800s, these women dressed just like their Victorian neighbors. But a tragedy in 1896 set off a revival that changed things. 

Young Barbara Hershey and her escort, Enos Barge, were returning home from a Saturday night party, talking with friends in a buggy behind them, when they approached a railroad crossing. A train emerged suddenly from around a sharp curve and struck the buggy. Both Barbara and Enos were killed.

At the time of the tragedy, young people held off joining the church until later in life, sometimes until they were in their thirties or forties and had a few children. In the aftermath of the deaths of Barbara and Enos, preachers began appealing to young people to "stop sowing their wild oats" and join the church. Hundreds not only responded and joined the church but they also exchanged their fancy, Victorian clothing for a distinctive Mennonite dress style. Photographs in the book pictured above illuminate that time. Young women who’ve joined the church are dressed plain, while friends who haven’t yet joined wear typical Victorian dresses. 

The book on the right includes a photograph of a trunk belonging to a Lancaster County Mennonite woman named Anna whose life was affected by the Strasburg Revival. Anna's daughter remembered being forbidden to open the trunk as a child. When Anna passed away and the daughter inherited the trunk and opened it, she found her mother's pins, beads, gold rings, and fancy clothing--and quilts. I find it intriguing that Anna kept her fancy clothing.  

 "Bleeding Heart" the exquisite quilt on the cover of the book, features over 1,000 perfectly round berries along with expertly appliqued wreaths and leaves and a lovely swag border. It also suggests a story. Made for Molly Grove’s hope chest, the quilt was never used because Molly's boyfriend rejected her before their marriage. Molly (who never married) stored the quilt away. It was eventually purchased at a public auction of Molly’s belongings many years later.

Do you sometimes wonder about the stories behind the treasures people leave behind? How would you have reacted to the drastic change in dress required of the Mennonite women in Strasburg in the 1890s? Why do you think Anna kept her fancy clothing? Would you keep an exquisite quilt that was a reminder of a lost love? 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

God often takes us through times of disappointment and brokenness before planting us where we belong. Molly Grove’s “Bleeding Heart” quilt combined with my research into the Strasburg Revival inspired my story about Rachel Ellsworth, an artistic young woman struggling, not with the idea of “plain dress,” but rather with the challenges of the “plain life” that isn’t anything like the life of her dreams. You can read about Rachel in the novella Mending Hearts, which is part of the collection Christmas Stitches recently released by Barbour Publishing. Find it here:

 https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Stitches-Historical-Collection-Holidays/dp/1683227158/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541283734&sr=8-1&keywords=Christmas+Stitches