Ice Cream? Yes, Please!

I love ice cream, but I never put much thought into its origin story until now. It turns out people all over the world have had a taste for frozen treats since ancient times. I’m talking as early as 400 BC. The Chinese indulged in a dish made of milk poured over cooked rice and flavored with spices, then frozen. The Persians created a treat made of rose water, lime juice and delicate noodles. In India, kulfi came about as a slow-frozen milk dessert with flavoring.

                                                               

              Claudius Ceasar                                Kind Charles I                                 Alexander the Great

 Alexander the Great enjoyed snow and ice flavored with honey and nectar. During the Roman Empire, Claudius Ceasar would send runners into the mountains for snow which was then flavored with fruit and juice. A thousand years later, Marco Polo came back to Italy from the Far East with a recipe that closely resembled what we call sherbet. Historians believe it became “ice cream” in the 16th century. By the 17th century it was called “cream ice” in England and appeared regularly on King Charles I's table. In 1660, a Sicilian, Procopio came up with a recipe using milk, cream, butter and eggs. He sold it at Café Procope, the first café in Paris.

                                      George Washington           Thomas Jefferson                          Dolly Maddison                             

  

Ice cream was a dessert for the elite. Ice and snow were needed to make it. Someone had to harvest the ice and storage was needed to keep the ice frozen. The wealthy had access to those things. Ice Cream made its way to America through different people. Thomas Jefferson fell in love with it while he was in Europe and brought home a recipe. In New York City, confectioner Philip Lenzi began making ice cream to sell. He put an ad in the New York Gazette on May 12, 1777 announcing it was available “almost” every day. George Washington enjoyed it so much he spent $200 on it during the summer of 1790. That would be thousands of dollars in today’s market. Dolly Madison served a spectacular strawberry ice cream creation for her husband’s second inaugural dinner in 1813.

                               

By 1800, insulated ice houses were invented. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Tudor Ice Company harvested ice from Walden Pond, Fresh Pond and other lakes in New England from early 1800s to the 1890s. Later, Cambridge was a natural location for ice cream manufacturing.

We can all be thankful for Nancy M. Johnson, who patented the first ice cream maker in 1843. People could now make ice cream at home. By the late 1800s, soda fountains and ice cream parlors began popping up. They were wonderful gathering places. By 1890, customers just had to keep in mind that they couldn’t have a soda on Sundays. The religious community felt carbonated water was a sinful indulgence, so shop owners invented ice cream Sundays, later renamed “sundaes.” By the mid-1900s, soda shops began to disappear.

                      

                       

                                                    

We can’t talk about ice cream without mentioning the ice cream cone. It sprang into popularity at the 1904 St. Louis World Fair and never looked back.

If you couldn’t go out to get ice cream, it could come to you. First, by horse-drawn cart, then by motorized vehicle.

                          

I think ice cream has a place in most of our lives, whether it’s a celebration, a consolation, or just because. There’s a flavor for everyone, although vanilla is America’s favorite. In the second book of my "Heart’s Desire" series, "Heart’s Journey," the family has an ice cream maker they use when Julia makes her famous cherry pie.

Since we're in the Autumn season, I thought you might be interested in a recipe for homemade Pumpkin ice cream.

HOMEMADE PUMPKIN ICE CREAM

In, 1880, after narrowly escaping an arranged marriage, Julia marries Jacob, the man of her dreams, and they move to Iowa to buy a farm. Upper-class Julia has never been in a kitchen, let alone on a farm. How will she manage? Joys and sorrows find them along the way including a personal loss for Julia which triggers a disagreement leading to estrangement. Can their faith in God bring forgiveness and reconciliation?

Heart's Journey is on sale through October 31st for $1.99.

HEART'S JOURNEY

Linda, a retired librarian, lives in west central Ohio with her husband and grandson. An avid reader and writer since childhood, she began her publishing career writing columns and a middle-grade serial for the South Charleston Spectator. Her desire is to entertain, but more importantly, to encourage readers with God’s faithfulness.

You’re invited to visit her website. Browse the pages to learn more about her and her books. Stay in touch when you sign up for her newsletter. You’ll receive a free novella as a thank you.

LINDA HOOVER BOOKS

Pictures found on Public Domain. Articles researched on Museum of Ice Cream, International Dairy Food Association, History Cambridge

When the President Became a Firefighter on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve of 1851 proved to be a devastating day for the Library of Congress, and the sitting U.S. President helped to save the Capitol building.

On the morning of Dec. 24, the captain of the Capitol Police discovered a fire in the Library of Congress, which was then housed in the Capitol building. The fire spread rapidly, destroying thousands of books and documents, and even some priceless paintings.

According to White House historians, President Millard Fillmore was enjoying the holidays with his family when he heard the calls of “Fire! Fire! The Library of Congress is on fire!” He rushed to join the eight fire wagons loaded with water barrels and hoses, pulled by draft horses, and he was joined by some cabinet members and members of Congress. The president also gave orders to a bucket brigade formed by Marines from the local navy yard. The bucket brigade worked until noon Christmas Day, with Fillmore at the head, “flames flickering near his thick head of snow white hair.”

At the time, the library contained about 55,000 volumes, including Thomas Jefferson’s complete library which Congress had purchased in 1815. An estimated 35,000 books were destroyed. Those saved were located in an adjoining room separated by a thick wall.

The library room was “a beautiful specimen of Corinthian architecture,” according to one newspaper description. Located in the Capitol on the same level as the houses of Congress, it was 92 feet by 34 feet, with an arched ceiling 36 feet high with three sky lights. On each side were alcoves supporting an upper gallery.

The cause of the fire was later found to be a faulty chimney, and when wood was burned in the furnaces below, sparks escaped through holes in the chimney.

But the Christmas Eve fire was not the first time the Library of Congress had been destroyed by fire. The library had been established in 1800 with an appropriation of $5,000 to purchase “such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress.” By 1814, the collection, housed in the Capitol, had grown to 3,000 volumes. They burned along with many government buildings when the British invaded the Capitol city during the War of 1812.

Retired President Thomas Jefferson offered to sell his extensive personal library to replace the Congressional Library. In January 1815, Congress and President Madison agreed to purchase 6,487 volumes for nearly $24,000. About two-thirds of those books were among the ones lost in the 1851 fire.

The new, fireproof Library of Congress room built in 1853

Recognizing the significance and importance of protecting the collection after the second fire, the Capitol architect designed and built a cast-iron structure in 18 months. Called by the press the “largest iron room in the world,” it was encircled by galleries and filled the west central front of the Capitol.

Congress initially provided funding only to replace the books lost. Over time, however, more funds were added to expand the library. Copyright law required two copies of every book published in the U.S. to be housed in the Library of Congress, so the collection grew. By the 1890s, the need for a separate, more spacious, building became evident, and on Nov. 1, 1897, the library opened in its new home.

The Thomas Jefferson building housing part of the
Library of Congress today

Today, some 170 million items held by the library include books, maps, manuscripts, photographs, films, audio and video recordings, prints and drawings. The Library now occupies not only the 1897 building, named after Thomas Jefferson, but two additional buildings on Capitol Hill, named after Presidents John Adams and James Madison.

Additionally, the Packard Campus in Culpeper, Virginia, houses the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, a state-of-the-art facility where the Library of Congress acquires, preserves and provides access to the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of films, television programs, radio broadcasts, and sound recordings.

The Library’s Director of Special Collections has said, “You can find answers to anything you’re curious about here. What is your question?”

Sources:

Fire ravages Library of Congress | December 24, 1851 | HISTORY

The True Story of the Fire That Destroyed the Library of Congress

What Sparked the 1851 Fire That Devastated the Library of Congress?

The White House Library: A Twice Told Tale - Our White House | Looking In, Looking Out

Library of Congress

The Other Fire at the Library of Congress

The Burning of the Library of Congress

Multi-award-winning author Marie Wells Coutu finds beauty in surprising places, like undiscovered treasures, old houses, and gnarly trees. All three books in her Mended Vessels series, contemporary stories based on the lives of biblical women, have won awards in multiple contests. She is currently working on historical romances set in her native western Kentucky in the 1930s and ‘40s. An unpublished novel, Shifting Currents, placed second in the inspirational category of the nationally recognized Maggie Awards. Learn more at www.MarieWellsCoutu.com.

When the lights of Broadway dim, Delia leaves the city behind. But will her family welcome her home again?

The historical short story, “All That Glistens,” was included in the 2023 Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction collection and is now available free when you sign up for Marie's newsletter here. In her newsletter, she shares about her writing, historical tidbits, recommended books, and sometimes recipes. Soon she'll be sharing a historical romantic short story set in Scotland.

How Old Were They? Experience and our Nation's Founding Fathers

 

There's an awful lot of fuss going on about who the incoming president is selecting for his cabinet. While various degrees of mud is dug up and slung, one of the biggest and loudest complaints by the opponents of his choices has been that they are either too young or lack experience, which seems to mean they aren't politician enough. The old guard sure doesn't like being shaken up!

So, let's take a look back at the ages of our founding fathers when they wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence. Let's think about their experience or lack thereof. Consider that most of them weren't politicians at all, but farmers, soldiers, lawyers, printers, and usually held more than one type of vocation.

 

Finally, let us ask ourselves whether or not they knew what they were about. I say that rhetorically, as I believe they clearly did know what they were about, and we've now 250 years behind us as the greatest nation in the world to prove it.

The Declaration Committee, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston, John Adams - Library of Congress

HOW OLD WERE THEY?

Signatories of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, by Age Group

20s and 30s: 

Thomas Lynch, Jr., 26
Edward Rutledge, 26
Thomas Heyward, Jr., 30
Benjamin Dr. Rush, 30
Elbridge Gerry, 32
Thomas Jefferson, 33
Thomas Stone, 33
James Wilson, 33
Hooper William, 34
Arthur Middleton, 34
Samuel Chase, 35
William Paca, 35
George Walton, 35
John Penn, 36
George Clymer, 37
Thomas Nelson, Jr., 37
Charles of Carrollton, Carroll, 38
Francis Hopkinson, 38
Carter Braxton, 39

40s:

John Adams, 40
John Hancock, 40
William Floyd 41
Button Gwinnett, 41
Francis Lightfoot Lee, 41
Thomas McKean, 42
Robert Morris, 42
George Read, 42
Henry Richard Lee, 44
Samuel Huntington, 45
Richard Stockton, 45
Robert Treat Paine, 45
William Williamson, 45
Josiah Bartlett, 46
George Ross, 46
Joseph Hewes, 46
William Whipple, 46
Caesar Rodney, 47
William Ellery, 48
Oliver Wolcott, 49

50s:

Abraham Clark, 50
Benjamin Harrison, 50
Lewis Morris, 50
George Whythe, 50
Lyman Hall, 52
John Morton, 52
Samuel Adams, 53
John Witherspoon, 53
Roger Sherman, 55
James Smith, 57

60s+

Philip Livingston, 60
George Taylor, 60
Matthew Thornton, 62
Francis Lewis, 63
John Hart, 65
Stephen Hopkins, 69

Benjamin Franklin, 70

As to their backgrounds, there were merchants, shippers (including a sea captain), farmers, at least one printer, one iron master, and doctors. While some of them were land owners and landed gentry, one of them came to America as an Indentured servant.

Many were trained in the law, but did not all become lawyers. Also, many were trained in theology, and four became ministers. Although there was one Catholic and a few Deists in the group, nearly all of them were Protestants.

Only Samuel Adams pursued politics as a vocation.

To satisfy our curiosity, let's take a look too at the signers of the Constitution, eleven years later.

Signatories of the U.S. Constitution, Sept. 17, 1787, by Age Group

20s and 30s:

Jonathan Dayton, 26

Richard Dobbs Spaight, 29

Charles Pinckney, 29

Abraham Baldwin, 32
Alexander Hamilton, 32

Rufus King, 32

Nicholas Gilman, 32

David Brearly (Brearley), 32

James McHenry, 33

Jacob Broom, 35

Gouverneur Morris, 35

James Madison, Jr., 36

Jared Ingersoll, 37

William Few, 39

40s:

Gunning Bedford, Jr., 40
William Paterson (Patterson), 41

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 41

Thomas Fitzsimons (FitzSimons; Fitzsimmons), 41

Pierce Butler, 43

Thomas Mifflin, 43

Richard Bassett, 45

James Wilson, 45

John Langdon, 46

John Rutledge, 48

Nathaniel Gorham, 49

George Clymer, 49

50s:

Hugh Williamson, 51

Robert Morris, 53

John Dickinson, 54:

George Read, 54
John Blair, 55

George Washington, 55

Daniel Carroll, 57

60s+
William Samuel Johnson, 60

William Livingston, 63

William Blount, 63

Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, 64 (approximately)
Roger Sherman, 66

Benjamin Franklin, 81

I find the youth of our forefathers amazing to consider. It really makes one pause to think about the value and what kinds of "experience" belong to great achievements. 

So don't let the white wigs fool you! Think of a 33-year-old Thomas Jefferson drafting our marvelous Declaration!

From the Library of Congress view:

Thomas Jefferson's Rough Draft of the Constitution of the United States

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Courting the Country Preacher is almost a month old! I am grateful for every one of you who have read and reviewed our sweet stories of new preachers gaining their first pastoring experiences--and finding love.

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Thanksgiving Through the Years

 By Sherri Stewart

 

As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, I thought it useful to consider how our modern-day traditions correspond to those of the first Thanksgiving and even the Thanksgivings of the first few centuries. It is easy to celebrate when everything is going well in one’s life, but if any of us have experienced losing a loved one before a major holiday, the word thanksgiving doesn’t flow so glibly off the tongue. Indeed, in that first Thanksgiving of 1621, only four women of the original eighteen who’d reached the new world survived to cook the three-day celebration for the remaining fifty men and children, and the Wampanoag. The disparity in numbers may have been due to the fact that the women had to remain on the Mayflower while the men went ashore to build shelters. Susan Hardman Moore. Yale Books. November 2014  

www.history.com

While Washington and Adams (the first two presidents) were in favor of celebrating the national holiday of Thanksgiving, Thomas Jefferson was adverse to the idea of the government legislating a national holiday. In his letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802, he said there should be a “Wall of Separation between the Church and State.” Note that this was in a letter, not in the Constitution, but because of a bigamy case, Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145 (1878), the Supreme Court ruled that Jefferson’s letter should be used to interpret the First Amendment of the Constitution. For the next sixty years, Thanksgiving was relegated to the jurisdiction of the state or the colony.

www.monticello.org

It wasn’t until 1863 that Abraham Lincoln instituted Thanksgiving as a national holiday, in part because the president wanted to unify a country that was badly broken after the Civil War. He was also moved by an impassioned letter written to him by Sarah Josepha Hale, who was editor of Godey’s Lady Book, a ladies’ magazine. She also wrote, “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Her lobbying effort to make Thanksgiving a national holiday can be traced back to a passage of her 1827 novel Northwood. “We have too few holidays,” she wrote. “Thanksgiving like the Fourth of July should be a national festival observed by all the people … as an exponent of our republican institutions.” Olivia B. Waxman. Time. Nov 2016

Although most Americans consume turkey on Thanksgiving Day, the first Thanksgiving in 1621 most likely featured deer or fowl (partridge, quail), due to the fact that chickens, turkeys, and cattle were not  slaughtered because of their ability to produce eggs and milk. Advertisements, menus, and cookbooks show that the traditional turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie meal hasn’t changed much since the early part of the twentieth century.

whatcomtalk.com

Many of the origins of Thanksgiving’s modern traditions may surprise the reader. While Thanksgiving may be a huge day for food consumption, it’s also the most popular day of the year to run in a race. “Turkey trots” have been around since 1896 when the Buffalo YMCA hosted their first holiday 8K. These days, more than 14,000 runners will run in turkey trots all over America. For those Thanksgiving revelers who prefer to play “armchair quarterback,” the first official Thanksgiving NFL game took place between the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears in 1934, but playing football on this particular holiday can be traced back to 1869.  Although the dismal origins of Black Friday go back to 1869, only in the last decade have stores begun to open on Thanksgiving Day. Erin Johnson, MakeItGrateful.com So, what traditions do you keep with your family? Your answer, please.

peachridgeglass.com

Selah Award finalist Sherri Stewart loves a clean novel, sprinkled with romance and a strong message that challenges her faith. She spends her working hours with books—either editing others’ manuscripts or writing her own. Her passions are traveling to the settings of her books and sampling the food. She traveled to Zürich for Secrets Dark and Deep. A widow, Sherri lives in Orlando with her lazy dog, Lily. She shares recipes, tidbits of the book’s locations, and other authors' books in her newsletter.

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An Uncommon Gift

Ella Davis’s papa always told her there’d be no class difference in Heaven, but Ella has years to live on God’s green earth until she reaches her reward. She’s content to be a maid on the Huntington Estate, as long as she has her books and her kitten. But when her ladyship, Amberly Huntington, coerces Ella to take her place on the Mauretania, the fastest ocean liner in 1910, Ella’s worst nightmare has come to pass. She must pretend to be nobility for the eight days it takes to reach New York. In other words, she must live a lie—and this just before Christmas! https://bit.ly/47MTvYX