Kewaunee County History: An 1851 Wolf River Christmas

 

Manhattan Transfer’s “Christmas is a comin’ and the geese are getting fat……” is a popular take on a song arranged by Frank Luther and sung by Bing Crosby and others a generation ago. Even the Kingston Trio had a version. Youngsters recognize the music featured by John Denver in a Muppets’ special, in A Charlie Brown Christmas and more.

The founding residents of Wolf River – Ahnepee in 1859, Ahnapee in 1873, and Algoma in 1897 – no doubt wished they had geese, fat or not.

The Hughes and Tweedale families arrived in Wolf River at the end of June 1851. A few days later, on July 4^th, Orin Warner’s family became the third permanent family at the place. Orin and Jane Warner had three children, Harriet aged 9, and two boys, 7 and 3.

Being the first of the firsts was not easy. The three families had only themselves on whom to depend. It would be the following summer before Goodrich’s rickety old Citizen changed their lives when it dropped anchor in the lake, bringing supplies and people.

What was Christmas 1851 like? Years later, Harriet, then Mrs. Abraham Hall, remembered that first Christmas in an interview with the local paper, Ahnapee Record. There were no geese getting fat in that difficult winter of deprivation. Harriet mentioned the deer, ducks, fish, partridges and the partridge eggs they gathered, but Christmas dinner 1851 was a salt pork pie. Spring was a long way off and there were no eggs. Ducks and most birds had gone south. Deer were scarce, and thick river ice needed to be chopped to fish. More than likely, the salt pork pie was a feast that day. Laura Ingalls Wilder would later write that “Ma” got ready for Christmas by baking bread, crackers, pie, and cookies. Caroline Ingalls cooked salt pork too, but it was in the beans she made.

Had the Warners been in Waukegan where Jane’s parents, the Bennetts, lived, Christmas would have been far different. Over the years, Ahnapee’s Christmas celebration changed too.

If the Warner children received gifts, no doubt it was mittens or stockings that Jane had knitted, or possibly something that Orin got in Manitowoc on one of his trips walking down the lakeshore for supplies. If the small log homes were decorated, it was with green boughs adorned with pinecones, perhaps a ribbon or two, or maybe even strings of popcorn. Christmas trees would have taken far too much room in the log homes for years to come.

Twelve years later, Ahnapee (the name was respelled in 1873) had a new newspaper with merchants advertising wares for Christmas giving. Home-crafted gifts such as preserves, needlework and candies were popular while stores such as August Fromming’s on 4^th and Clark Street offered such things as confections, sachets, perfume, “Yankee notions,” sewing supplies, tobacco pouches, shaving soaps and slippers. William Perry’s Steele Street drugstore sold books and stationery. Logancrantz’s jewelry, at the northwest corner of 4^th and Steele, sold everything in silver – dishes, napkin rings, and cutlery. Mr. Logancrantz also pointed to his gold pens and holders, and all types of jewelry.

Ahnapee Record was in its infancy when it published its first Christmas edition. The editors, George Wing and Charles Borgman, reported seeing loads of evergreens on the street while churches smelled like pine and spruce. Parents were mysterious and children were expectant. Anthems and carols were joyful, sounding like angels singing. How much that Wolf River Christmas had changed in a mere 12 years! Even the community’s name changed twice in that time.

In that first edition, the paper wished readership “peace on earth and good will to men.” The paper talked of families gathering at the fireside while other who were gray thought of Christmas gatherings past. Some surely included Jane and Orin Warner’s family. Others were the Tweedale grandchildren. The Hughes family left the area around the time of the Civil War.

Sir Clement Moore penned A Visit from St. Nicholas on December 23, 1823. It caught on fast. Just over 25 years later, the paper echoed the poem, telling stories about the shoes and frocks that “old Santa” left in Ahnapee stockings.

On the 31^st, the paper said St. Mary’s services were of “an interesting nature.” The church Christmas tree was “illuminated by 110 burners for a beautiful emblem of Christmas teachings.” Young and old participated at St. Paul’s where a Christmas tree was beautifully laden with presents for the little children who had to wait patiently until the Lutheran school students sang and recited selections appropriate to Christmas Eve. Congregants at the German Methodist Church were said to have “enjoyed a season of rare pleasure.” Following devotionals, youngsters were enthusiastic about the books, toys and pretty items adorning the tree.

The Baptists did not observe Christmas Day with a service, however the next day was Sunday and the church – as the others in town – was filled to capacity. On the evening of the 26th, which was the Sabbath, Wilhelmshoe was the site of a grand ball. The only problem was that not enough tickets were sold to fund the grand prize which had to be postponed.

A few days later, the Masonic Lodge offered entertainment beginning with Maj. Joseph McCormick’s words on the tenets of Masonry and its relationship with Jesus Christ. Ahnapee Quadrille Band provided wonderful music after McCormick’s remarks, and a midnight supper ended a beautiful evening attended by many from Kewaunee, Foscoro, Forestville, Casco, Sturgeon Bay, Clay Banks, and even from Chicago.

Christmas celebrations differed over the years. The influx of Germans brought Christmas trees which turned into a business in December 1876. Each ethnic group brought its own customs and traditions, but it appears that salt pork pie was not one of them!

Sources: Ahnapee Record; An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River? Postcard is from the blogger's collection.