Thanksgiving is synonymous with turkey and pumpkin pie,
although history tells us those at the first Thanksgiving feasted on shellfish,
roasted venison and corn among other things. But, probably not pumpkin pie. Recorded
history says the settlers sent out a fowling party. Whether they brought back
turkeys that were in abundance or some other fowl, who knows for sure? Holiday cards and stickers reflecting smiling
turkeys are sent to those who smile as the oven door is opened on Thanksgiving Day.
In 1891 the Ahnapee Record agreed with that, saying it was a day of sore
distress to the turkey, but one of happiness to mankind. Some kick it up a
notch dressing as the Pilgrims wearing dark clothing, and shoes and hats with
buckles – the way they are depicted in books. While the clothing description is
not entirely factual, it adds to the fun on a special day.
According to The National Park Service, the Pilgrims were
actually continuing a tradition brought from Europe, a tradition Americans have
kept. George Washington was in his first term when he called for a national day
of thanksgiving and prayer. What sounded like a good idea didn’t catch on.
Thomas Jefferson felt such a day didn’t fit with a separation of church and
state, and apparently other presidents felt the same way. What we know today started
coming about in the 1840s when the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, Sarah Hale, started lobbying for a national
thanksgiving. However, it was Abraham Lincoln who declared the first official such
a day in November 1863. The country was in the midst of the Civil War and
Lincoln called for giving thanks for blessings. It was the 2nd
Thanksgiving that year. In August, Mr. Lincoln gave thanks for a Union victory at
Gettysburg, the bloodbath that took somewhere around 50,000 men.
Today many celebrate while watching the clock. Some to make
sure they won’t miss the Packer kick-off and others to snap up the deals at the
stores opening at 6 or earlier. Maybe that’s what Franklin Roosevelt had in
mind when he moved Thanksgiving to the 3rd Thursday of November
thinking that a few more days would make an impact on Christmas shopping. The
country was coming out of the Depression and the economy was still hurting.
Thanksgiving 1941 - days before Pearl Harbor - was back to being celebrated on
the 4th Thursday of November. And, that’s where it stayed.
It’s uncertain when Ahnapee saw its first Thanksgiving
observance, or how it was celebrated, though observed it was in one way or
the other. Lake Michigan captains weren’t giving thanks in the violent
lake storms in November 1874. The Milwaukee weather station said winds were
48mph, 12 miles greater than the station had ever recorded. At the same time
residents of Foscoro weren’t focused on turkey. They were out trying to capture
a bear that was near the hamlet. Four years later the Record seemed to apologize for a paper containing less reading
material because of Thanksgiving "work." The paper’s editor was not a woman! The
paper did mention its accomplishments though and gave thanks for more
subscribers, a new press and 15 different kinds of type.
Oysters used in turkey stuffing were in even bigger
supply in 1891 when the Ahnapee Ladies Union Society gave a Thanksgiving oyster
supper in James Dudley’s drugstore building. A day earlier Math Strutz hosted a chicken and turkey shoot. City residents were urged to test their
marksmanship skills at the event held along the lakeshore near the cheese
box factory, today near the foot of Clark.
It was not frivolity when the Methodist Episcopal Church
announced its evening services in 1898 saying there would be recitations, special
music and the address, or sermon. Such an evening service was anticipated to draw large crowds because everyone would be
free to attend at that time of day. The congregation invited others to “enter
His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.”
Scholars were given the day off a year later when Algoma
schools were closed the day following the holiday granting "students a day off
to overcome the effects of overeating turkey, cranberry sauce and plum pudding." The Record went on to say that some
of the elders needed to recover from over-doses of “brandy sauce.” An observation is that the traditional pudding wouldn’t be the same
without a dollop of the sauce, although there were always those who feel it is
better with a few more dollops.
While much of the county enjoyed Thanksgiving, Rosiere didn’t.
That part of the county celebrated kermis but not Thanksgiving, at least up to 1900 when the
paper noted the quiet day because most people of the area didn’t observe the
holiday. In 1901, Wisconsin’s Gov. Robert Lafollette issued a Thanksgiving
proclamation in grateful observance of the blessings of liberty, peace, health
and prosperity. The peace followed wars in Cuba and in the Philippines.
Perhaps Lafollette’s admonition caught on because a year later
the Record said feasters needed a day
to recover.
Wilbur and Kwapil Drug Store ran an ad for Kodaly, a product apparently
curing indigestion by “sweetening and cleansing the glands of the stomach.”
Their ad said heavy eating was the cause of such indigestion and that its repeated
attacks inflamed mucous membranes leading eventually to catarrh of the stomach. A
Google search indicates catarrh has more to do with the sinuses. As for
indigestion, it was in 1928 when St. Louis pharmacist Jim Howe developed Tums
while treating his wife’s indigestion. “Tums for the Tummy” came much later,
but by then Wilbur and Wail had faded from Algoma’s list of drugstores.
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| Bottkol's, right |
Dances were the places to celebrate in some years. Those
giving thanks at Albert Gaulke’s Rio Creek hall in 1907 did so with Algoma Star
Band. The Transit House in Luxemburg held a Grand Thanksgiving Jubilee the same
year. The Record opined that Transit
house landlords, Mr. and Mrs. Duquaine, offered entertainments not to be
missed. Casco residents reported celebrating Thanksgiving “gloriously” in 1908.
A huge audience crowded into the grade school for a program topped off with
feasting on Casco women’s finest recipes before villagers filled Defnet’s hall for the best
dance in years. Defnet expected large crowds when he advertised that Junion’s band
would play for the event on November 30, 1911. The popular Junion band had also
been engaged to play at Bottkols in Euren the night before. Euren isn’t far
from Rosiere so perhaps Bottkol attracted the young who were beginning to
celebrate the day, or perhaps just enjoyed the dancing. November 30 was a
popular night for dances. Maybe it was because it was a year for bright spots. Alaska
Band played at Alaska’s Lawrence Meunier’s hall while the Carnot Brass Band
played at Joseph Neville’s hall in Maplewood also on the 30th. In a
time of horse transport, the populace got around.
When President Woodrow Wilson issued his Thanksgiving
proclamation in 1914 he said he was dwelling on the peace in the United States
while much of the rest of the world was at war. For those who thought Wilson
was keeping them out of war, it would be a little more than two years before the
U.S. was enmeshed in the war "over there." On April 6, 1917 the U.S. entered what became
World War l and Thanksgiving that year was a day for weddings, including that of Ruth
Pautz and Emmanuel Holt who were married at Immanuel Lutheran in Kewaunee.
Residents were able to forget the war for a few hours during the two Algoma-Mishicot
basketball games. Afternoon and evening games were played in Algoma. Mishicot
creamed Algoma 31-7 in the afternoon, but the Algoma team came back to save its
image in the evening.
As Algoma residents blissfully celebrated Thanksgiving 1941,
they had no way of knowing that little more than a week later FDR would be declaring war following the
December 7 attack on Pearl Harbor.
Geraldine Detjen and Jeanette Melchior were students home from Milwaukee
State Teachers College. George Ackerman, Frank Knipfer, Jim Kohlbeck, Stanley
Fulwiler and Betty Jerabek were part of the contingent home from the university
at Madison. As they enjoyed the company of family and friends, they had no idea
how next year’s Thanksgiving would be part of a world turned upside down.
The Thanksgiving that began in 1621, or 1624 depending whose
history one accepts, is still going strong nearly 400 years later. While all is
not good, there is still much for which to to be thankful. Some menu items remain the
same, but preparation hasn’t. History tells us there were games at the first
Thanksgiving, but it wasn’t the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears. History
remembers William Bradford, William Brewster and Myles Standish, and Wisconsin honors the legendary Bart Starr and Brett Favre. Favre finally joins
Starr in the Packers Hall of Fame.
Recent prompts to “Buy Local” harkens back to 1914 when the Record proposed a Kewaunee County menu
that would be patriotic while demonstrating to the world that the county could
depend on itself by supplying its own needs. The paper advocated Kewaunee
County made flour. The Bruemmer mill at Bruemmerville could have supplied it.
Sugar from county sugar beets was to provide the sweet. The paper wanted
Badenzer cheese – made only in Algoma by the Schwendermanns - and fresh butter.
Peas would come from Algoma’s Van Camp’s cannery. Commercial fishermen would
supply the trout and turkey would come from one of the farms. Potatoes, squash,
cucumbers, dill, pumpkin and more were grown in gardens all around the county.
Baumeister in Kewaunee, the Algoma pop shop, and Garot Brothers in Luxemburg
were there to provide the soda, and the county’s dairy cows were able to
provide all the milk and cream anybody wanted.
Today, as then, women all over are preparing sumptuous feasts
that will include Belgian pies and kolaches. Here and there men are deep
frying turkeys in the backyard. Others have it all packed for their tailgate at
Lambeau. Others will be out deer hunting, glad that it's a late game so they can get it all in. Still others will be kicking back with a blackberry brandy to soothe
the stomach while others search for the Tums.
Sources: Ahnapee Record, Algoma Record, Algoma Record Herald, Google, National Park Service website.
Ad and menu from the Record; pictures and the postcard are from the blogger's collection.
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