Kewaunee County & Oysters: A 1900 Era Delicacy & the Libido

Oyster Boats' Dock, Apalachicola, Florida

 On the day before Valentine’s Day 2017, the Smithsonian Magazine carried an article entitled “Are Oysters an Aphrodisiac?” There was a subtitle: “Sure, if you think so.” The same article said oysters’ reputed properties dated to the Roman Empire. It also echoed the sentiments of several online articles in saying it was the lover Casanova in the 1700s who ate fifty oysters for daily breakfasts and, according to his memoirs, seduced one hundred women. Whether or not science agrees depends on the sites one reads.

 Kewaunee County’s first permanent settlers arrived in Wolf River – today Algoma – in early summer 1851. Its first newspaper, The Enterprize,* was published in Kewaunee in September 1859. Two months later, Editor Dexter Garland was invited to an oyster supper at the home of the newly married Seth and Mary Meisner Smith. Garland described the oyster supper as “sumptuous” and hoped the newlyweds’ life was as happy as the supper. Hmmmmm.

From then on, the Enterprize and the Ahnapee Record, founded in 1873, were full of oysters, advertising in most months of the years. Given the “notoriety” of oysters, one understands how they were popular at saloons such as Rod Berrio’s White Front Saloon on Ahnapee’s Steele Street. Rod said any kind of oysters were available at all times. Ladies could enjoy oysters at Berrio’s, however they were relegated to upstairs rooms. Decent women did not enter saloons although they could enjoy an alcoholic beverage in the separate ladies’ parlors. Reidy’s Billiard and Sample Rooms on Ellis Street in Kewaunee offered oysters, herring, and other such delicacies

But, with its connotations, one wonders about the popularity of church oyster suppers that were generally offered near Christmas. In mid-December 1874, Ahnapee’s Baptist Women’s Christian Association held a fair in the new church. Proceeds from the sale of oysters and other refreshments, and fancy articles were designated to the completion of the meeting house. In December 1880 it was advertised that. “A good dish of oysters can be had at the church fair tomorrow.”

It seems as if the county’s small and ethnically diverse population ate a lot of oysters.

Kewaunee County is situated on Lake Michigan, waters that had, and still have, the best fish around. Lake fish were fresh. Oysters came from the East. How were they kept fresh in the years before the railroad came to Kewaunee County in 1892?

Both fresh and canned oysters were for sale at restaurants and at places selling groceries. E. Young offered fresh oysters in his Steele Street restaurant in the Sachtleben building during the 1880s and brought in 1889 with an oyster supper featuring the best brand of oysters, brought in twice weekly. Young said he could supply customers with “anything in that line.” Anton Detloff, George W. Warner, and Algoma Restaurant were all advertising bulk oysters in any quantity. M. Erichsen offered fresh, select oysters for Christmas 1887 at his Kewaunee Steamboat House for only 25 cents a pint. Erichsen also sold by the quart or gallon.

Moses Teweles  advertised Booth’s oysters, sold fresh or in the can, at “rock bottom” prices. Teweles and Anton Leiberg advertised oysters for at least 20 years. Leiberg sold them in his 4^th Street store and, in 1900, said he would “thereafter” keep a full supply of the choicest fresh oysters. Pistor, on Ellis Street, was a Kewaunee merchant who sold canned oysters and mackerel in addition to other ocean products.

Fred Detloff announced in late October 1888 that he made arrangements for all kinds of fresh oysters and would sell at “the lowest figures.” Fred said folks could always find a good supply of cove oysters at his confectionery. While fresh oysters seem to be an odd item to stock at a confectionary, P.A. Nelson was advertising oysters, cigars and confections in his 1920 Christmas advertising. Kewaunee County residents were able to purchase oysters at a variety of businesses.

That oysters were especially popular before the advent of 1900 is not in doubt, but in some instances, oysters were described in humorous instances. When Enterprise Editor A.C. Voshardt put out a January 1889 edition, he described finishing the paper about midnight when several “traveling agents” (salesmen in 2021) and captains came in. The men arrived somewhat inebriated. and when they left, Voshardt had a bottle of Hostetter’s and a can of fresh oysters. It worked for him!

How much money John Kieweg made on a pearl was not known, but that pearl made for big business at Adolph Schuch’s Kewaunee meat market. It was November 28, 1924  when John B. Kieweg planned to use oysters with his Thanksgiving turkey and bought a pint at Schuch’s meat market. Kieweg’s purchase made news after he found a pearl the size of a pea. His plans were to have the pearl analyzed and made into a Christmas gift. Schuch wasn’t the only one selling oysters. Joesph Miller advertised the Badger Brand oysters which he sold in any quantity. Nepil and Panosh, and Edward Schneider’s Palace Meat Market were also advertising Christmas oysters, but if customers found pearls in their oysters, it didn’t seem to make news.

A December 2018 forbes.com carried an article about oysters and how the stew became a Christmas favorite. The article said that while New Englanders served oysters for Thanksgiving, those in the southeast served oyster stew for Christmas. Oyster stew was so common that it is thought that’s how oyster crackers got their name.

When the colonists arrived in the U.S., they found shell mounds that were, years later, said to date back thousands of years. Indigenous people of the Northwest also fed on oysters. Oyster bed fishing grounds were part of treaties.

The versatile oysters were eaten by all classes of people and in 1880, 700 million oysters were harvested along the east coast alone. Oysters do not last long, and most were harvested in the Chesapeake. By the 1840s canning methods brought oysters to cities along the coast. Railroads made it possible to ship oysters, packed in ice, to the Midwest. Prior to 1892, it would seem that the fresh oysters either came to Green Bay via train and then were brought to Kewaunee County by stagecoach or were brought on steamers from cities served by railroads. (Oyster boat on the Apalachicola River.)

Innovations in oyster harvesting by dragging nets across the ocean floor brought up massive quantities of oysters yielding up to 160 million pounds a year. Oysters were overfished and the methods used created substantial environmental damage. Oysters were so abundant that in 1909 sold for half as much as a pound of beef. Inexpensive as they were, oysters were used in other dishes to “stretch” them. Because of the cost, they were sold in saloons to enjoy with alcohol and were as popular as burgers and fries today. Algoma had numerous places serving oysters, while in larger cities there were oyster lunchrooms and oyster bars much the same a sushi bars today, and just as trendy.

Author David C. Murray wrote in 1861 https://www.onlinebooks.library that, “After having eaten oysters we feel joyous, light and agreeable – yes, one might say, fabulously well.” Whether or not Murray was thinking of love in 1861, there are many in 2021 who would say oysters enhance the libido. What made the things popular over 100 years ago? They weren’t just for Christmas.

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Note: Kewaunee’s newspaper was The Enterprize until 1865 when its spelling changed to Enterprise. The community now called Algoma was called Ahnepee from 1859 to 1873 when its spelling changed to Ahnapee.

When Editor Voshardt referred to Hostetter’s, it was bitters and considered a nostrum, or medicine. Developed for sale to Civil War soldiers, the product was said to protect soldiers from the impurities in water in southern swamps, rivers and bayous. The popular Hostetter’s was 47% alcohol, or 94 proof. The so-called tonic was sweetened with anise and other aromatics, but vegetable bitters gave the product a more medicinal flavor.

Cove oysters come from Prince Edward Island while Booth’s oysters came from Booth fisheries, a Chicago company that had cold storage buildings.

Sources: Ahnapee Record, Algoma Record Herald, Kewaunee Enterprise, https://www.forbest.com/sites/priyashuka/2018/12/23.

Photos were taken by the blogger.

Kewaunee County & the Pandemic: Masks Come "Full-Circle"

 

Whether or not to mask, who should be masking, and where and when masks should be worn are questions of millions of Americans in the Covid-19 era. It isn’t the first time questions were pondered. Americans wore masks during the Spanish Flu era, 1918-1920. One-hundred years later, masking is not without controversy and has come full circle.

Merriam-Webster online dictionary says, “full circle” is an adverb meaning “through a series of developments that lead back to the original source, position, or situation or to a complete reversal of the original position – usually used in the phrase ‘come full circle’.” Masks have come full circle.

Uncle Sam was providing advice on the epidemic and issuing health bulletins as early as October 1918. Surgeon General Ruppert Blue said that the infection was “probably” not Spanish in origin and that people needed to guard against “droplet infection.” He continued saying whatever the germ might be, it was spread through the air, and no doubt spread as dust coming from dried mucous, coughing and sneezing, or from the carless who spit on the floors and sidewalks. It was pointed out that while one might have a mild attack of disease, his germs could cause a severe attack in others.

Blue urged communities to prevent any public gatherings as a means of stopping the spread of disease, however it was each municipality that needed to act on its own. Blue called upon single women and the wives of soldiers to serve in Army camps and for others to serve on the home front. The Student Reserve Nurse Corp was born. Carlton’s Anna Mae Kocmich was among the 7 Kewaunee County women applying to the nursing program and was the first to be called. Anna Mae died at Fort Green Greenleaf at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, within weeks of entering government service. Anna Mae is the lone Kewaunee County woman listed as giving her life for the war effort.

During 1918, a top military physician touted another of the advantages of masks in a contagious situation: the wearer has a tough time getting his hands to his mouth thus remembers safety and does not soil his hands. The doctor pointed out that until one can make masks of several layers of fine gauze, a handkerchief will do for safety. It was stressed one should take care not to turn the mask inside out or the blunder would be like the man who washed cherries in a glass of water, and then drank the water after eating the cherries.

Additionally pointed out in 1918 was that those with the contagion needed bed rest. If the caregiver flitted around too much, the patient was affected. Such unnecessary movements also increased the chance of picking up more germs and carrying the infection to others. If one took care of a patient, the caregiver was advised to wear a gown or apron to cover one's clothes, and immediately remove it for washing after leaving the patient.

When Algoma Record Herald published on December 18, 1920, it continued warning about hand sanitization, pointing that hands needed frequent washing, and immediately after handling the sick, the bedding and the handkerchiefs into which one sneezed, coughed or spits. Disposable tissues had yet to be invented and cloth handkerchiefs were used, as were sleeves. The handkerchiefs were to be burned or put into a covered container until they could be boiled for 15 minutes, washed, and dried to be used with safety. Were sleeves immediately sanitized?

Just as in 2019 - and it was repeatedly called to attention - few realized how many times a day one’s hands touched one’s face, nose, or mouth. Those habits were hard to break and frequent handwashing was called for.

It is estimated that during World War l, at least 50 million people died in the world-wide pandemic. Army medical staff worked to control the spread by requiring “victims” to wear masks. Military physicians felt that civilians who cared enough to practice disease prevention could profit by wearing masks “without being forced to do so at the point of a soldier’s bayonet.” Since contagious diseases are spread by sneezing, coughing and spitting, Army surgeons felt if they could catch the spit and destroy the germs before it reached the uninfected, they would be safe. Army hospital staff wore masks to prevent incurring infections themselves or carrying their own germs to patients. Surgeons felt since they could control spit in the operating room through the use of masks, mothers and other caregivers could do it too.

Mothers were advised to make their own masks, using 3 or 4 layers of fine gauze, cut into 7” squares. A piece of tape was to be sewn to each corner. The tape from upper corners were tied behind the head while the lower tapes were to be tied behind the neck. When the masks became moistened, they were to be replaced by dry masks.  Wet masks needed 15 minutes of boiling after which they could be handled, dried and worn again.. Masks of the 2020s are generally disposable, however many wear washable masks.

The website https://www.businessinsider.com says, “The face mask is a political symbol in America, and what it represents has changed drastically in the 100 years since the last major pandemic.” The same site says that masks during the Spanish flu pandemic were symbols of patriotism for many but not for all. Most objectors were men.

Public health officials called attention to personal hygiene as being patriotic while featuring men and boys in ads and cartoons. It was said men did not practice a high level of personal hygiene and men felt masks were too feminine. Where mask wearing was enforced, many refused to do so while citing civil liberties. Men were also shown in ads calling for an end to the spitting on the floors and streets, something quite common in 1918. Spitting was also thought to spread tuberculosis and other contagious diseases. Ad from www.businessinsider.com

As silly as it seems in 2021, the high numbers of men in the 1918 ads pointed toward a time in history in which it was considered indecent to show women in activities such as coughing or sneezing.

According to https://www.history.com/news, that although the methods of 1918 were followed again in 2020-21, there are differences. The electronic devices of today did not exist in 1918, when few even had telephones. Newspapers and posters spread the news. Streetcar signs in Philadelphia touted “Spit Spreads Death.” New York enforced no-spitting ordinances and encouraged coughing into handkerchiefs. The health department even warned against kissing except through a handkerchief. How much did that happen, and who enforced the kissing regulations? San Francisco Chronicle called those who did not wear masks “dangerous slackers.”

Abraham Lincoln said, “We cannot escape history.” That was in 1862. History repeats itself and often goes full circle.

Sources: Algoma Record Herald, Kewaunee Enterprise; https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com; https://www.history.com/newsWikipedia