The American Frugal Housewife, part 2

By Anna Kathryn Lanier

In her 1832 book, The American Frugal Housewife, Lydia Maria Child passed along “interesting recipes and remedies, advice on parenting and [a] myriad responsibilities of housekeeping.” The American Frugal Housewife remained a popular book for decades and, undoubtedly, many copies of the book made their way west with young brides and experienced mothers alike.

 Some of her advice to the would-be frugal housewife:

Make your own bread and cake.  Some people think it is just as cheap to buy from the baker and confectioner; but it is not half as cheap…your domestic, or yourself, may just as well employ your own time as pay them for theirs.

An ounce of quick-silver, beat up with the white of two eggs and put on a feather, is the cleanest and surest bed-bug poison….

It is a good plan to put earthen ware into cold water, and let it heat gradually, until it boils, —then cool again. Brown earthen ware, in particular, may be toughened in this way.  A handful of rye, or wheat, bran thrown in while it is boiling, will preserve the glazing, so that it will not be destroyed by acid or salt.

The oftener carpets are shaken, the longer they wear; the dirt that collects under them, grinds out the threads.

Feathers should b thoroughly dried before they are used. For this reason they should not be packed away in bags, when they are first plucked.  They should be laid lightly in a basket, or something of that kind and stirred up often.

After old coats, pantaloons &c. have been cut up for boys, and are no longer capable of being converted into garments, cut them into strips, and employ the leisure moments of children, or domestics, in sewing and braiding them for door-mats.

Cream of tartar, rubbed upon soiled white kid gloves, cleanses them very much.

Do not wrap knives and forks in woollens. Wrap them in good, strong paper. Steel is injured by lying in woollen.

Where sweet oil is much used, it is more economical to buy it by the bottle than by the flask.  A bottle holds more than twice as much as flask, and is never double the price.

The neatest way to separate wax from honey-comb is to tie the comb up in a linen or woollen bag; place it in a kettle of cold water, and hang it over the fire. As the water heats, the wax melts, and rises to the surface, while all the impurities remain in the bag. It is well to put a few pebbles in the bag, to keep it from floating.

Mrs. Child was a fascinating character of her time, and I thought I’d done a previous blog on her, but I can’t find it.  I do know I investigated her life, which was not an easy one. So, not sure what I did with the information after I found it, but if you have a few minutes, look up Lydia Maria Child on the internet.  And if you write in the 1800’s, look up her books, too.  They are great insights for that era.

Oh, I see that I’ve already passed on some of Mrs. Child’s tips (including some repeated here…I must have really liked those).  Check out more of her tips HERE.

Hubris Plus Inexperience Equals Fatal Irony

By Kathleen Rice Adams

William J. Fetterman, Capt., U.S. Army

“Give me eighty men and I’ll ride through the whole Sioux Nation.”

So said Capt. William J. Fetterman in late 1866 as he assumed command of a U.S. Army detail tasked with defending a woodcutting expedition against Indians in the Dakota Territory. A fellow officer had declined the command after mounting, and failing to sustain, a similar effort two days earlier.

Fetterman overestimated his abilities and severely underestimated his opponent.

Born in Connecticut in 1833, William Judd Fetterman was the son of a career army officer. At the age of 28, in May 1861, he enlisted in the Union Army and immediately received a lieutenant’s commission. Twice brevetted for gallant conduct with the First Battalion of the 18th Infantry Regiment, Fetterman finished the Civil War wearing the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel of volunteers.

After the war, Fetterman elected to remain with the regular army as a captain. Initially assigned to Fort Laramie with the Second Battalion of the 18th Infantry, by November 1866 he found himself dispatched to Fort Phil Kearny, near present-day Sheridan, Wyoming. Since the post’s establishment five months earlier, the local population of about 400 soldiers and 300 civilian settlers and prospectors reportedly had suffered 50 raids by small bands of Sioux and Arapaho. In response, the fort’s commander, Col. Henry B. Carrington, adopted a defensive posture.

Red Cloud, ca. 1880
(photo by John K. Hillers, courtesy Beinecke
Rare Book and Manuscript Library)

Fetterman immediately joined a group of other junior officers in openly criticizing Carrington’s protocol. Although the 33-year-old captain lacked experience with the Indians, he didn’t hesitate to express contempt for the enemy. His distinguished war record lent credence to his argument: Since the Indian raiding parties consisted of only twenty to 100 mounted warriors, the army should run them to ground and teach them a lesson.

Fetterman’s voice and continuing raids eventually convinced the regimental commander at Fort Laramie to order Carrington to mount an offensive. Several minor scuffles, during which the soldiers proved largely ineffective due to disorganization and inexperience, merely bolstered the Indians’ confidence. Carrington himself had to be rescued after a force of about 100 Sioux surrounded him on a routine patrol. Even Fetterman admitted dealing with the “hostiles” demanded “the utmost caution.”

Jim Bridger, at the time a guide for Fort Phil Kearny, was less circumspect. He said the soldiers “don’t know anything about fighting Indians.”

On December 19, an army detail escorted a woodcutting party to a ridge only two miles from the fort before being turned back by an Indian attack. The next day, Fetterman and another captain proposed a full-fledged raid on a Lakota village about fifty miles distant. Carrington denied the request.

On the morning of December 21, with orders not to pursue “hostiles” beyond the two-mile point at which the previous patrol had met trouble, Fetterman, a force of 78 infantry and cavalry, and two civilian scouts escorted another expedition to cut lumber for firewood and building material. Within an hour of the group’s departure from the fort, the company encountered a small band of Oglala led by Crazy Horse. The Indians taunted the army patrol, which gave chase … beyond where they had been ordered not to go.

Fetterman and his men died here. The site
now is known as Massacre Hill. (public domain photo)

The great Sioux war leader Red Cloud and a force of about 2,300 Lakota, Arapaho, and Northern Cheyenne waited about one-half mile beyond the ridge. In less than 20 minutes, Fetterman and all 80 men under his command died. Most were scalped, beheaded, dismembered, disemboweled and/or emasculated.

The Indians suffered 63 casualties.

Among the Sioux and Cheyenne, the event is known as the Battle of the Hundred Slain or the Battle of 100 in the Hands. Whites know it better as the Fetterman Massacre, the U.S. Army’s worst defeat on the Great Plains until Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer made a similar mistake ten years later at Little Big Horn in Montana.

Whether Fetterman deliberately disobeyed Carrington’s orders or the commander massaged the truth in his report remains the subject of debate. Although officially absolved of blame in the disaster, Carrington spent the rest of his life a disgraced soldier. Fetterman, on the other hand, was honored as a hero: A fort constructed nearly 200 miles to the south was given his name seven months after his death. A monument dedicated in 1901 marks the spot where the officers and men fell.

Kathleen Rice Adams' short story "Peaches" appears in Wishing for a Cowboy: Running a ranch and fending off three meddlesome aunts leaves Whit McCandless no time, and even less patience, for the prickly new schoolmarm’s greenhorn carelessness. The teacher needs educating before somebody gets hurt.

Ruth Avery can manage her children and her school just fine without interference from some philistine of a rancher. If he’d pay more attention to his cattle and less to her affairs, they’d both prosper.

He didn’t expect to need rescuing. She never intended to fall in love.

Winter Weather

This past weekend we had a severe winter storm that swept through many states and crippled large areas from snow, ice, and sleet. In North Texas, the storm dumped 1 to 3 inches of sleet late Thursday and early Friday. Throughout the night, I listened to the sleet hitting the windows on the north side of the house and woke to a beautiful winter scene. While my husband and I looked out the window at the ice encrusted tree limbs, our power went out.

Now power outages aren't a rare occurrence where we live, due to the number of large, ancient oak trees in our area, but winter temps can be unpleasant. Right away I called Oncor to add our name to the list of customers and then set about getting ready for the duration.

As I said, we've had power outages before. In February, 2010, we were in the dark for five days from the heaviest snow fall I've ever seen. Our total was eighteen inches. That year we settled into the living room with a Dearborn heater retrieved from the barn, quilts and blankets and each others company.



Our House 2010



Our Front Yard 2010

This past Friday, December 6, 2013, we settled into the living room with quilts and blankets and each other. BUT, this time we used our newly installed gas fireplace. We had heat and ambience. Our stove is gas, so we cooked and had coffee. After eight hours our electricity was back on and stayed on the remainder of the weekend.

                                                Our Tree and Ice Covered Porch 2013


We are so much luckier than many thousands of others and I'm very grateful. The roads across Texas and the surrounding states are still treacherous to travel but, with rising temperatures today, should begin to thaw. The power has been restored to the majority of people and life is slowly returning to normal. I pray the folks in the eastern states, who are now in the midst of this storm, are able to stay safe and warm.

Now, if I may, I'd like to share with you a short story I've published. It is a modern day romance that takes place in the Texas Panhandle during the snow storm of the century called, Lilah By Midnight. 

Blurb for Lilah By Midnight: 

Lilah Canfield's career as a country music performer is on the line. It's New Years Eve and she has one last chance to save her career with a performance in Forth Worth at Billy Bob's Texas. Bad thing is the worst snow storm in a century has hit the Texas Panhandle making passage on the highways dangerous at best and closed at worst. When her motor coach slides off the road into a snow bank outside her hometown of Mistletoe, Texas, will Lilah make her gig and save her career? Or will she give it all up for a second chance with her high school sweetheart and first love? 

It's been two years since his wife passed away and Jack McCommas is ready to move forward for himself and his eight year old daughter. When he and a friend stop to help the folks in a stranded motor coach, he can't believe Lilah Canfield's standing in front of him and is literally shocked to realize the old spark is still there when they touch. If she chooses her career, will he be able to let her go a second time? Or will he try to convince her to stay in Mistletoe?

Lilah By Midnight, is available at Amazon for Kindle here:    http://tinyurl.com/opgrccg

Thanks for stopping by today, and if you'd care to share your memories of snow and ice storm experiences with me, I'll give a copy of Lilah By Midnight to one lucky commenter.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Carra


Find me on my website: http://carracopelin.com
Facebook: http://facebook/carracopelin
Twitter: http://twitter/CarraCopelin

WISH FOR THE MOON--How a Ghost Town in Texas Inspired a Novel

By Celia Yeary



LINK FOR THE 99CENT COPY
FOR THE KINDLE-
http://tinyurl.com/n5gh5xz

WISH FOR THE MOON: Because it's Christmas, and because I'd love readers to have an eBook copy that originally sells for $5.49, I have asked my publisher to lower the Kindle price to 99cents until the end of December. I invite you to take advantage of this generous offer from the publisher and read "Wish for the Moon."

Blurb:

At the dawn of the Twentieth Century, sixteen-year-old Annie McGinnis wishes for a chance to see more of the world, since all she’s ever known is the family farm in North Texas. A mysterious visitor arrives who will change not only her life, but her family’s as well. To save Max Landry from a bogus charge, she follows him and the Texas Rangers back to the coal-mining town one county over where a murder occurred. The short journey sets Annie on a path of discovery—new horizons, an inner strength, and quite possibly…love.
~~*~~*~~
This is the only novel I've written in which I used a family location, including a house, a farm, and two characters created from real people.

The house in the 1901 North Texas fictional farm is my grandparent's home that I remember from an early age. They lived then as their ancestors had, with no indoor plumbing, a wood cook stove, and a potbelly stove for heat in one room--to the day they passed away.
I've spent many happy times visiting them, for no one on earth loved us as our Granny and Papa did.

In the story, the fictional McGinnis Family lives on a North Texas farm: the parents; an older son who is smarter than the others, and born handsome, too; and the next son who is a big hulking young man, slow in thinking and talks very little--but is sweet-natured, and obeys orders very well.

The youngest sibling is Annie, sixteen years old, who adores her brothers, especially Clifford. Even though he is several years older, they played together as though they were the same age.

Two characters were created from real people:

Max Landry, a young newspaperman who lost his entire family in the Galveston Hurricane, and in losing his family, he almost lost his way. He wanders, homeless and alone for a year or more, but finds himself on the doorstep of the McGinnis farm. Max has been working in a coal mine in Erath County, one over from Palo Pinto County where the McGinnis family lives. Max looks like my Papa did as a young man--dark, wiry and lanky, with a quick mind and a strong body, and who actually worked in the coal mine in Erath County.

Old Blind Jerral, who lives in a shack far behind the McGinnis farm. He is patterned after my blind Uncle Reeves (Uncle Brother.) I loved my uncle, and can easily recall his way of moving around, the way he did chores, even though blind, and all other daily tasks.
Old Blind Jerral plays a big part in Annie's life as she matures.
~~*~~*~~
The coal mine where Max worked and is accused of murder was a thriving town in 1901. It's called Thurber--now a coal-mining ghost town in Erath County, Texas, located 75 miles west of Fort Worth.

(This is the link to the website for the location of the town. It's an historic site, and this website has some wonderful vintage photos. Because Thurber also made bricks, the one remaining structure is a tall smokestack, which now marks a restaurant and gift shop.) http://www.thurbertexas.com/

By researching Thurber, I found an amazing story of a thriving coal-mining town in the Nineteenth Century, now a ghost town with little remaining of the once-thriving populated area. Almost all signs of life are gone, including all the buildings.
Established as a company town and built by the Johnson Coal Company, Thurber was later bought out by The Texas and Pacific Coal Company in 1888. Its mining operation provided the fuel for coal-burning locomotives of numerous railroads, including the Santa Fe, the Southern Pacific, the Texas & Pacific, and the "Katy." By 1920, conversion of locomotives from coal to oil reduced demand which lowered prices.

Miners left the area through the 1920s, leaving it virtually a ghost town. The railroad company bulldozed the entire town.

Thurber had a population of approximately 8,000 to 10,000, from more than a dozen nationalities, though Italians, Poles, and Mexicans predominated.
It was the largest town between Fort Worth and El Paso.

 

Thurber was a pure company town. Every resident lived in a company house, shopped in a company store, drank in a company saloon, attended a company school, danced at the company opera house, and worshipped in a company church.

 

During its heyday, Thurber was the first city in Texas to be completely electrified and amenities included refrigeration and running water. It did, however have an abnormally high child mortality rate that still puzzles historians.

Armed guards patrolled a huge fenced perimeter around Thurber, not to keep workers in, but to keep union organizers out. The mostly immigrant workforce was by and large pretty content, but why take chances?
The union eventually infiltrated and won. Thurber became a union town in 1903.

*~*~*~*

"In 1901, Annie McGinnis becomes involved with a young man who wanders to their farm. He had worked as a miner in a town one county away, but when a big fight broke out among the miners over unionization, someone killed a guard. Max Landry walks away from the town. Later, he is accused of the murder, and the Texas Rangers transport him back to the mining town. Pretty Annie and her big, slow-witted brother, Clifford, follow the men.

Annie hopes to find a way to rescue Max."

*~*~*~*

Excerpt:

“So,” he said, as he mimicked her actions. He linked his fingers over his stomach and scooted down a little more than she did. “Ahhh,” he whispered. “Your family sure works hard.”

Annie giggled. “They do, don’t they?”

“So, tell me, Miss Annie, what all do you do? Besides work in the fields.”

“Well, I went to school, first off, but I’m all finished now.”

“Really?” he asked with surprise. “How old are you anyway?”

“I’ll be seventeen at the end of the month. Mama’s going to make me a chocolate cake. She’s been saving the tin of cocoa powder to do one for me.”

“Seventeen? You look twelve,” he said with a teasing sound in his voice.

Annie used her right hand to reach across her own body to punch him on the arm. “You’re mean,” she said and laughed. “Why do you think I look twelve?”

“Because you have braids and you’re little.”

“Oh. Well, I have two dresses, and they’re made for a woman, not a girl.”

“Is that right, missy? Tell me about your two dresses.”

“One is made from flour sacks. It has pink and blue flowers and is quite plain. It’s my town dress. The other one is of bleached muslin, but Mama put lace around the collar. It has pretty, white buttons down the front, and I have two different sashes, a pink one, and a blue one. They’re made of sateen ribbon. I wanted a red sash, but Papa wouldn’t allow it. Said young women shouldn’t wear red. But I like red.”

“Well, both your dresses sound very pretty.”

“What about you, Max? You talk more citified than country. Like you had more schooling than secondary. Did you, Max? Go to a college?”

“Umm, well, yes, I did. I went to the university down in Houston. When the big storm hit, I was looking for a job.”

Annie leaned forward and turned sideways a little to see his face. “A job doing what?”

“Not really sure,” he said with a dismissive tone to his voice. “I guess I’m not finished wandering just yet. Now, I’m glad, because I came here and met a pretty little girl.”

Grumbling, she moved back to her original position. “I wish you’d stop calling me ‘little girl’ and ‘missy.’ My name is Annie, and I’m near grown. Most of the girls my age are already married and a couple of them have babies.”

“But you? Have you ever had a beau?”

She shook her head and picked at bits of straw on the ground. “Nope. Well, there was Otto Schneider, but I decided in the end that I didn’t want him forever. Oh, he was funny and good, but I couldn’t see living with him. So, I’m stuck, I guess. Not too many young men around. Anyway, he married Caroline Fletcher.”

“I think you ought to go on back to the house,” Max said very softly. “You’ve been out here too long as it is.”

“Oh, I suppose I should,” she said with a sigh.

Max stood first, grasped Annie’s hands, and pulled her to her feet.

“There you go, Annie.”

Annie didn’t move, and she noticed that Max didn’t either. So, they stood together in the almost dark barn, close together, faces near, and Annie could feel his warm breath on her forehead.

Max placed his hands on her shoulders and very gently turned her toward the door. He leaned forward and with her back to him, whispered into her ear. “Goodnight, sweet Annie girl. Sleep tight. Now, go.” And he gave her a little push.

***

Alone once more in the barn, Max walked to the far end where a kerosene lantern sat on the floor. All eight of Grover’s horses and both his mules stayed outside in the corral tonight, so he had the barn to himself. He found a tin of matches on an up-turned bucket next to the lantern. He struck one match and lit the lamp, but turned it as low as he could. Max used the upside down bucket to sit on and threw the matches on the floor.

From inside his shirt, he reached into a spare pocket and pulled out a small tablet wrapped in oilcloth. He had a stub of a pencil there, also, and he studied the lead, close to worn down. But he decided to write just a little and sharpen it later with his one good possession, a pocketknife.

He began to write.

M. Delano Landry, News Reporter, Houston Herald

North Texas

LABOR UNION INTENT ON ORGANIZING COAL MINERS

Tensions ran high during a September 10 meeting of the coal miners. A majority coalition of the Italians and Polish were pro-unionization, but a segment of the Irish, English, and Negroes were against the proposal. Union Organizers have held secret meetings with the majority because the North Texas Coal Mining Company has forcibly denied organizers entrance by posting armed guards inside the barbed wire fence that completely surrounds the company town.

A fight erupted after the meeting when the minority group loudly voiced its opposition. The miners from both sides threw racial slurs about. When the owners sent in security guards, the violence increased, resulting in the death of one guard.

The lantern began to flicker. Max thought he had a good beginning to his article, so he doused the lantern flame, stood, and placed the matches where they had been. Besides, he was bone-tired, and tomorrow promised to be another hard day. At least here at the McGinnis farm, he enjoyed good food.

His looming problem now was the possibility of lawmen looking for him. Max felt correct in thinking he had been the only man to leave the town. If he were the law himself, he would most likely go after the runaway. Maybe he should keep on moving. The longer he stayed in one place, the more likely they would find him.

On the other hand, the entire episode could already be over. Possibly, the judge ruled the death accidental and the owners would leave it at that. Maybe.

Max knew he was under obligation to the paper to write the article, and to finish it or write another, he would need to learn the outcome, one way, or another.

~~*~~
Published by Willow Moon Publishing

Celia Yeary
~~*~~
Sources:
Website for Thurber, Texas
Coal-mining towns in Texas
Ghost towns in Texas
Wikipedia
History of Palo Pinto County

Let's have Chili with this cold weather

 

I was inspired by several previous blog posts involving food. Tonight as I sit and write this, the cold front is rolling in and the temperatures are dropping. This morning it was about 66 degrees and right now at 9:00 PM central time it’s 36 degrees. When it’s cold, we resort to our favorite standby recipe – chili, so I thought I’d share my chili recipe with everyone.

But first, I looked up the history of chili and found a very comprehensive article. I always knew it wasn’t a Mexican dish though a lot of folks assume its origins to be Mexico, but this article offers several possibilities for the origin of chili including one in which Texas cowboys came up with the dish as a way to feed a lot of hungry men a satisfying meal while on the trail. To read more, go to History of Chili, Chili Con Carne.

Flavorful Chili

1 lb ground beef

2 cloves garlic (chopped fine or pressed)

¼ cup chopped onion

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp brown spicy mustard

Salt to taste

1  15 oz can ranch style beans

2/3 cup water or beer (I like Nigra Modela)

1  15 oz can tomato sauce

1  4 oz can green chilies

¼ cup diced fresh tomatoes (optional but it adds additional flavor)

In a skillet, brown meat, onion and garlic together over medium heat. Drain off excessive grease. After meat is brown, add spices. Add beans, water (or beer), tomato sauce. Stir. When bubbly, add green chilies and tomatoes.  Let simmer at least 15 minutes to allow flavors to blend.

Christmas Feasts From our History

With the Christmas season fast approaching, I thought I'd look into some of our early holiday customs in different areas of the country—mainly the food. Settlers coming from Europe brought their customs and food likes with them. Some stayed and others were discarded. 

Reference:  The Food Timeline--Historic Christmas dinner menus. The Accomplisht Cook, Robert May, facsimile 1685 edition [Prospect Books:Devon] 2000 (pages unnumbered)

In early American, it's important to remember, that in Plymouth, the pilgrims did not celebrate Christmas. But, it's nice to use this menu to compare with the food served later in our history. 

The menu below might have been served in 1685 Europe in a noble man's home.

"A Bill of Fare for Christmas Day, and how to set the Meat in Order.

Oysters. 1.

A collar of brawn. 2.

Stewed Broth of Mutton marrow bones. 3.

A grand Sallet. 4.

A pottage of caponets. 5 

A breast of veal in stoffado. 6

A boiled partridge. 7

A chine of beef, or sirloin roast. 8

Minced pies. 9

A Jegote of mutton with anchovy sauce. 10

A made dish of sweet-bread. 11

A swan roast. 12

A pasty of venison. 13

A kid with a pudding in his belly. 14

A steak pie. 15

A hanch of venison roasted. 16

A turkey roast and stuck with cloves. 17

A made dish of chickens in puff paste. 18

Two bran geese roasted, one larded. 19

Two large capons, one larded. 20

A Custard"

In 1790, over 100 years later, at the , we see more of the traditional foods we're familiar with appear on the menu.

"Christmas Dinner at Mount Vernon: Onion Soup Call'd the King's Soup

Oysters on the Half Shell

Broiled Salt Roe Hering

Boiled Rockfish

Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding

Mutton Chops

Roast Suckling Pig

Roast Turkey with Chestnut Stuffing

Round of Boiled Beef with Horse-radish Sauce

Cold Baked Virginia Ham

Lima Beans

Baked Acorn Squash

Baked Celery with Slivered Almonds

Hominy Pudding

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Cantaloupe Pickle

Spiced Peaches in Brandy

Spiced Cranberries

Mincemeat Pie

Apple Pie

Cherry Pie

Chess Tarts

Blancmange

Plums in Wine Jelly

Snowballs,

Indian Pudding

Great Cake

Ice Cream

Plum Pudding

Fruits

Nuts

Raisins

Port

Madeira"

The American Heritage Cookbook and Illustrated History of American Eating & Drinking, American Heritage Magazine [American Heritage Publishing Co.:New York] 1964 (p. 420) [1790] Christmas at Mount Vernon/George Washington

19th Century Pioneers

The food served by the pioneers reflected the foods of their culture (people cook what they know) but they also reflected the area in which they lived (cities vs rural outposts), their economic status (wealthier families were able to afford better quality goods, for ex. fine white flour vs coarse brown), and their situation (those in homes/villages vs those in camp-like quarters).

Popular Christmas foods were roast beef, turkey, ham, potatoes, fine white break, pickles, fruitcakes, cookies and pies. Those who could afford them, served tinned oysters. Chocolate and tea were imported and valued commodities which weren't always available. 

Much of the information found about the pioneer meals was gleaned from journals, old letters and household inventories.

I thought the Plum Pudding was interesting. The ingredients are very similar to fruitcake, are baked in small tins before Christmas (just after Thanksgiving or possibly sooner), removed from their pans, wrapped in cheese cloth and placed in a large jar. Then brandy is poured over the top and the cakes are stored until Christmas.

Many cooks prepare fruitcake in the same manner—storing them wrapped in brandy soaked gauze until Christmas. Personally, I don't like fruitcake as moist as the brandy soaked cakes. I like mine with an even amount cake vs the citron. I have an excellent recipe listed on my personal blog at

Here is my recipe:

Texas Fruitcake

1/2 lb. candied pineapple

1/2 lb. candied cherries

1/2 lb. raisins1/2 lb. chopped dates

4 to 5 oz. candied orange peel or sliced candied orange slices

2 lbs. shelled pecans

1/2 lb. shelled walnuts

5 C. flour

1 & 1/4 lb. oleo

2 C. white sugar

1 C. brown sugar

6 eggs

3/4 t. soda

1/2 C. molasses

3/4 C. apricot preserves

3/4 t. cloves

3/4 t. allspice

3/4 t. nutmeg

3/4 t. cinnamon

Cut fruit; dredge fruit and nuts in 1/2 C. flour. Cream oleo & sugars; add eggs, and beat. Mix soda and molasses; stir into sugar mixture with preserves. Add flour and spices (sifted together); add nuts and fruit. Grease two tube pans; line with waxed paper. Grease paper. Turn batter into pans; put pan of water on bottom shelf of oven. Bake 4 hours at 250 degrees.

I use my turkey roaster to mix this all together as it's the largest thing I have. Nothing else seems big enough.

Note:  Once I tried replacing the oleo with butter. It was too greasy so I’ll not use butter again.

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment.

Linda LaRoque

www.lindalaroque.com

Eilley Oram - The Lady of the Mansion

By Paisley Kirkpatrick

Last September Tamera Buzick, the curator of Bowers Mansion, contacted me after she read my first post about Eilley Oran. She asked if I would mind reposting the article with the correction of several facts. Tamera and I have worked together to put out a proper accounting of this remarkable lady's life.

As a young girl, Allison "Eilley" Oram realized she was destined for a life of success and riches. She knew it as she ran over the grassy moors and climbed the craggy ridges of her homeland in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Eilley had a rare gift. She could see the future with the help of a glass sphere she called a peep-stone. Eilley, however, saw only a part of the things to come. Her crystal ball showed a vast fortune and a mansion, but it did not reveal the personal grief she would encounter.

Born with a special gift, Eilley could look into her peep stone and see the future. Peering into the mystical stone, she saw a vision of a green valley with a blue lake surrounded by large mountains. She knew this was the special place where her fame and fortune would be found.

Born in Scotland in 1826, Eilley was a high-spirited young woman who was filled with ambition and a burning desire to achieve fame and fortune. Unfortunately, Scotland, in the 1800s had little to offer. Eilley’s chance for adventure came when her first husband, Steven Hunter converted to Mormonism. She did not share his beliefs and never converted, but she did agree to travel with the hundreds of converts bound for America and the Great Salt Lake Valley. Soon after arriving, the Hunters parted ways.

She married again. Her second husband, Alexander Cowan took her farther west and nearer her vision when he agreed to move to a Mormon settlement in western Utah. Alexander was very ambitious. He was a hard worker and very faithful to the church. They quickly settled into their new home at Mormon Station (Genoa).

The following spring, the Mormon mission moved to Washoe Valley. It is here Eilley found the valley she had seen in her crystal ball when she was just a child. Eilley now envisioned a mansion with many rooms, gardens and flowing fountains. She also saw happy children. The Cowan’s purchased an existing ranch with a small dwelling house and coral. The only thing missing was money to build her prophecy.

They had stayed in Washoe Valley for two seasons when Brigham Young recalled the mission. Alexander left immediately with their wagons and livestock. Eilley saw pieces of gold, miners, and wagons in her peep-stone. She felt there was money to be made in western Utah and chose to stay behind.

Eilley moved to a mining camp called Johntown and opened a boardinghouse. She took in laundry as well as boarders. With the discovery of larger deposits of gold, she and the rest of the camp moved to a new town they named Gold Hill.

The boarding house flourished, but she was not getting rich. She began buying and selling mining claims, but that was not enough. One of the miners offered her his claim for an unpaid bill and Eilley accepted. The claim beside it belonged to Lemuel Sanford “Sandy” Bowers, a young teamster who had recently arrived in Gold Hill. They soon fell in love and joined their lives and their claims when they married.

They never took a honeymoon. They stayed at the mine and worked it. The black streaks of sand Eilley had seen in her peep-stone were silver and together their claims made them two of the richest mine owners in Gold Hill. Eilley now had the money to build her mansion in the valley on the land she had acquired from Alexander in the divorce settlement.

With illusions of grandeur, the couple went on a European shopping trip to fill the mansion. During the excursion, they came across a motherless child who they adopted as their own. When they returned, Little Persia Bowers completed Eilley’s vision of a happy home in the valley.

It was the happiest time in Eilley's life. She had everything she'd seen in the peep-stone. Unfortunately, her happiness didn't last. While Persia was still a young girl, Sandy moved back to Gold Hill to help save the failing mine. Lung disease took his life less than ten years after he struck it rich. He was 35 years old.

With the mine no longer a source of income, Eilley opened Bowers Mansion Resort. People came from far distances to swim in her pools, dance in her hall, and picnic under her shade trees. With Persia getting older, she went to Reno to go to school and live with friends. When only twelve, Persia became ill and died unexpectedly. Two years later, Eilley lost the mansion at public auction in order to pay her ever increasing debt. Eilley was left homeless.

After the losses of her beloved husband, daughter and her beautiful mansion, Eilley began spending more time with her peep stone and spirit friends. She wandered the area as the Washoe Seeress telling fortunes for small change. Eventually the visions in her peep-stone vanished, and in 1903, at the age of 77, she died poor and alone. Her remains were returned to her mansion where she was laid to rest under the tall pine trees that shade her mansion from the setting sun.

Attached is a photo of Eilley, provided as a courtesy from the Nevada Historical Society. The Bowers Mansion is located on old 395 between Reno and Carson City, Nevada. For more information visit the Washoe County Regional Parks and Open Space web page.