On This Day in… 1842…Anna Elizabeth Dickinson by Donna Schlachter

Anna Dickinson, c. 1855-1865 -- Wikipedia

 

 

 

Anna Elizabeth Dickinson was born on this date in 1842 in Philadelphia. Her parents were Quakers and abolitionists, John and Mary Edmundson Dickinson. Her ancestors emigrated from England, settling with other Quakers near Evanston, Maryland in the 1660s. She was the youngest of three brothers and another sister. Their family went through difficult times and much poverty following her father’s death when she was two years old. Her mother opened a school in their home and rented rooms to boarders to support her family.

Anna was an avid student, hardworking, and whatever money she earned, she used to purchase books. When she was 14, she converted to the Methodist Church, remaining active throughout her life. It was in this same year that her first essay about slavery was published in The Liberator.

When she was 15, she worked as a copyist, replicating legal documents, letters, and more. At 17, she became a teacher in Pennsylvania, and at 19, she became a clerk at the US Mint, one of its first female employees. However, when she spoke out against General George McClellan in a public meeting, she was fired from the mint.

While today we consider the Quakers a conservative denomination, they encouraged women to speak in public at a time when such behavior was frowned upon by most Americans. Anna toured the country, speaking for the Sanitary Commission on such topics as abolition, reconstruction, women’s rights, and temperance.

Her first major speech, a two-hour discussion on women’s rights, occurred in 1861 in Philadelphia. Her mentor, Lucretia Mott, arranged a lecture tour sponsored by the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, and Anna’s speeches are credited with helping the Emancipation movement.

During the Civil War, Anna visited hospitals and camps, speaking to the soldiers. During the 1863 US Senate elections and with the Civil War deepening all around her, Anna campaigned for several Republican candidates, speaking eloquently and powerfully in support of that party’s anti-slavery platform and for preservation of the union of the country. She spoke to coal miners in Pennsylvania, convincing many of her abolitionist views.

At a lecture in New York City, she held her 5,000 attendees captive for two hours, and earned a standing ovation for her impassioned speech in 1864 in the US House of Representatives, where President Lincoln was in attendance. She was the first woman to appear before Congress.

Interpines Mansion, where her mother lived, supported by Anna -- Wikipedia

 

Following the Civil War, Anna continued speaking, earning the equivalent of half a million dollars a year and giving most of it to charity, friends, and relatives. It was during this time that she expanded her repertoire of topics to now include African-American rights, venereal diseases, and polygamy. And while she continued to support women’s rights, she did not speak about the suffrage movement.

Mark Twain wrote of her in a letter in 1867: “She talks fast, uses no notes what ever, never hesitates for a word…and has the most perfect confidence in herself.”

Fine praise, indeed, from a similarly famous orator himself.

Anna, c. 1870 -- Wikipedia

 

Unfortunately for Anna, times changed but she didn’t. Audiences were less prone to listen to a lengthy lecture, preferring to be entertained. By 1875, she struggled to support herself through her speaking, and following one performance where she waved a bloody shirt on stage to make her point, bookings dried up and former supporters questioned her sanity.

In 1876, in an attempt to revive her career, she accepted the invitation by Ralph Meeker to visit Colorado, where she promptly climbed Pikes Peak and other mountains, often using mules or horses. She joined an expedition to survey Longs Peak, but when the Boulder County News reported her scandalous donning of trousers, her popularity dropped. However, she was the first white woman on record to climb Gray’s Peak, Lincoln Peak, and Elbert Peak; the second to summit Pike’s Peak.

Boston Music Hall -- Wikipedia

 

As her speaking career declined, she decided to try writing, and in 1868 published the novel, What Answer? that tackled the current opposition to interracial marriage. In 1876, she penned A Paying investment: a Plea for Education that promoted technical training for workers, better treatment of prisoners, assistance for the poor, and education for all children. And, in 1879, she wrote A Ragged Register of People, Places, and Opinions. She wrote several plays, even acting in several, but her performance wasn’t received with favor in New York.

Anna, c. 1901 -- Wikipedia

 

Anna’s final years were no easier than her early growing up had been. At one point, she exhibited signs of paranoia, and her sister had her committed to an insane asylum. After several years, Anna won her freedom and her court case alleging her illegal kidnapping, then she lived with a married couple for more than forty years.

She died in 1932 following a stroke, and is buried at State Hill Cemetery in Goshen, New York.

However, she left a legacy of boldly speaking out against societal wrongs, no matter how unpopular that made her. During the second world war, a Liberty ship was named after her, SS Anna Dickinson. 


 

About Donna:

A hybrid author, Donna writes squeaky clean historical and contemporary suspense. She has been published more than 60 times in books; is a member of several writers' groups; facilitates a critique group; teaches writing classes; and judges in writing contests. She loves history and research, traveling extensively for both, and is an avid oil painter. She is taking all the information she’s learned along the way about the writing and publishing process, and is coaching committed writers eager to tell their story.

www.DonnaSchlachter.com

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Resources:

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The Etiquette of Engagements in the Victorian Era

Victorian etiquette fascinates me, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. Every emotion, from courtship to marriage, was carefully wrapped in custom and propriety. Behind the strict rules, however, were the same emotions we know today—love, uncertainty, and the thrill of being chosen.

In the late Victorian era, few announcements caused such flurries of excitement, or scrutiny, as an engagement. Once a promise of marriage was exchanged, etiquette swiftly stepped in to guide the proper behavior of all involved.

The first duty was clear: inform the relatives. Both families were expected to hear the news directly, and as promptly as possible. It was then the place of the groom’s parents and relations to call upon the bride-to-be. If distance made that impractical, they were to write her a letter of welcome, extending every courtesy as she was received into their circle.

When word of the engagement spread through the neighborhood, friends and acquaintances of the young woman’s family would come to offer congratulations, while those farther away sent notes of good wishes for her happiness. The bride-to-be was expected to reply to every message without delay, for prompt correspondence was a mark of both good manners and gratitude.

Next came introductions of the groom to the bride’s family. Her relatives were expected to invite the couple to visit or stay with them, allowing everyone to become better acquainted with the man soon to join the family. 

A young woman could never, under any circumstances, ask for an engagement ring—it was the gentleman’s duty to bring up the subject and to present it without undue delay. The ring, once given, was worn on the third finger of the left hand, a small but powerful symbol of devotion.

Victorian society had clear boundaries for courtship conduct, even if the couple had decided to marry. Engaged couples might attend entertainments together, such as concerts, dinners, or the occasional garden party, but always “within the bounds of moderation.” Public displays of affection were frowned upon, and even prolonged gazes were best avoided.

Neighbors often celebrated the engagement with a small dinner or evening at home. At such events, the newly promised pair were usually seated side by side, a charming acknowledgment of their future unity. The young woman was expected to prepare her trousseau—her clothing and personal items for married life—while the groom took responsibility for furnishing the home and providing household linens.

Even with all this delight, the Victorians recognized that an engagement was not entirely without strain. It was meant to be a season of joy, but often brought its share of nerves, especially for the bride-to-be, who found herself balancing the expectations of family with the emotions of a deepening attachment. “A time of perfect happiness,” the etiquette books called it, though perhaps one touched with anxiety as she learned to navigate her new place between daughter and future wife.

Still, for all its delicate rules, the period of engagement was considered a sacred promise. And whether celebrated with a ball, a quiet dinner among friends, or the simple gleam of a ring in candlelight, it marked the beautiful beginning of two lives joining in hope.

Kimberly Keagan is a former corporate financial writer (not very romantic) who now crafts historical romances filled with strong heroines, swoon-worthy heroes, faith, and a touch of humor. Her debut novel, Perfect, released in May 2025.

Mourning in Fashion by Cindy Regnier

If you’ve read Gone with the Wind or even seen the movie, you know what mourning clothes are. But how did this tradition get started? Apparently, its beginnings had nothing to do with the Civil War, but date all the way back to the Middle Ages.

In the Middle Ages both men and women wept openly after a close loss and chose to wear white clothing, the color of mourning at the time. They chose white as it was the most affordable fabric color, and one most people already had. Some of the more affluent people, especially royalty, often chose purple for their mourning garments making them stand out from the crowd by letting it be known they could afford the expensive dye.

During the Victorian era, mourning became more defined with rules and requirements that must be followed by the royalty of the time. They recognized two phases of mourning, the whole process lasting as long as three years. Black was the designated color or mourning and hats or veils often accompanied a woman’s attire.

By the Georgian era, black became a mourning color not reserved for only the royals. First, the wealthy commoners tried to imitate the royal family showing clearly that they had the means to do so. The less affluent soon followed suit, black being the customary color in all classes, largely because Queen Victoria wore black clothing when her husband Prince Albert died in 1861. She wore only black for the remaining 40 years of her life.

Mourning clothes were one of the first items to become available as ready-to-wear attire because of a lack of enough black dye amongst dressmakers to create every piece needed for every woman. The black clothing began to appear in catalogs and was then advertised throughout Europe. Mourning items that could be purchased from catalogs included not only dresses, but hats, veils, handkerchiefs and jewelry. Jewelry was often a black locket that would hold a piece of their loved one’s hair.

Demand across Europe expanded and was met through extensive manufacture of socially acceptable mourning attire. Often, in the death of a royal family member, rules were made for all to follow. At the death of the queen in 1738 instructions were given not only for clothing but decoration as well. Part of the instructions say that “Coaches and Chairs” should be covered in black cloth, servants should wear “Shoulder-Knots of Black Silk Ribbon…” and that deep mourning should last six months, followed by another six months of second mourning. Second mourning was less strict, consisting of black dresses, trimmed with fringed or plain linen, white gloves, black or white shoes, fans and tippets and white necklaces and earrings. 

Mourning customs extended to America and became very commonplace during the Civil War when many families experienced loss. The period of time a woman was expected to wear mourning clothing depended on how close she was to the person who died. Advice on timing was widely available in women’s books and magazines. Widows were expected to mourn for two and a half years. Mothers mourned a child for one year. They started in a period of “deep mourning,” during which they could only wear plain black dresses. After this period, women were allowed to add white details or tasteful mourning jewelry to their outfits. Women then progressed to wearing lilac, before they could finally return to wearing other colors. These steps were intended to mimic the emotional journey of grief, from deep sadness to acceptance. Some widows chose to wear black for the rest of their lives to signify their loss.

Today, most people will wear dark clothing to a funeral, but then go back to their regular clothing. If you’re like me, you’re thankful for colored clothing and its acceptability in today’s world. What do you think? Was wearing black a fitting tribute to a lost loved one or simply a social standard that had to be upheld?

Scribbling in notebooks has been a habit of Cindy Regnier since she was old enough to hold a pencil. Born and raised in Kansas, she writes stories of historical Kansas, especially the Flint Hills area where she spent much of her childhood. Her experiences with the Flint Hills setting, her natural love for history, farming and animals, along with her interest in genealogical research give her the background and passion to write heart-fluttering historical romance.

The First Transcontinental Line

By Jennifer Uhlarik

 

I’m sure, if you’re a student of American history or you’ve read the Heroes, Heroines, and History blog for any length of time, most of you have heard of the Transcontinental Railroad, which united the East and West coasts of this nation on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Point, Utah. However, did you know there was a different transcontinental line that connected the east and west coasts of our country before the railroad? Any guesses what it was?

 

It was a telegraph line!

 

Communication From A Distance

 

From the earliest days of history, man needed a way to convey messages across a long distance quickly. So various forms of communication were created. Past civilizations used drums or musical instruments that could be heard from a long way off, with different rhythms or notes conveying different messages. Other cultures used torches, signal fires, or puffs of smoke to communicate across some distance. Militaries and navies have used flags to carry important messages to the view of others afar off. But each of these methods was greatly hampered by the limitations of how far sounds could travel—or how far the human eye could see. 

Nautical Flag Alphabet

In the late 1700s, Claude and Ignace Chappe, a pair of French brothers, built a semaphore signaling device that consisted of a rotating post, placed on high ground, with two moveable arms. Depending on how the arms were positioned, different messages could be depicted, similar in nature to the old semaphore flag alphabet. One of these towers would be placed every three to six miles and people would use telescopes to watch for movement and incoming messages from the next nearest tower. Obviously, for its time, it was a great advancement, but as things progressed and people spread across continents, better forms of communication were needed.

 

The Electromagnetic Telegraph

 

As the world began to experiment with electricity, things progressed beyond the old, manual semaphore signaling devices. In 1837, two electromagnetic telegraphs were patented at almost the same time—one by Sir William Fothergill Cooke and Sir Charles Wheatstone of Britain…and one by art professor Samuel Morse, here in America. The former sent electric currents through a series of wires, which would cause several needles to point at letters and numbers to spell out words. The latter used a key-type transmitter to emit a series of short and long taps, now famously known as the dots and dashes of Morse Code. 

 

Britain picked up the invention of Sirs Cooke and Wheatstone and ran with it in their nation, despite its complex design. Meanwhile, Morse gave a private showing of his simpler telegraph’s uses and abilities to his friends early in 1837. Within a few years, the American government had funded his invention. They set up a 35-mile-long demonstration line between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, MD, which ran on poles beside an existing railroad line. The first telegram sent between the two was just four words. “What hath God wrought!” But with those four words, a new era began. 

Samuel Morse, creator of Morse Code and
the telegraph.

 

The Telegraph Era

 

Morse’s telegraph took off. By the end of the 1840s, miles of wire was stretched across the landscape, connecting the eastern United States, with offices and trained telegraphers interspersed between. At first, the telegraph’s main use was in railroad traffic control, but new companies quickly popped up in conjunction with Morse’s new invention, and people began sending telegraphs to family and friends. Over fifty small telegraph companies popped up after the invention’s debut.

 

Of course, as often happens, so many small, independent telegraph companies couldn’t make a living alone, and several of those companies consolidated, first under the name of the New York and Mississippi Telegraph Company—and in 1856, switching names to the Western Union Telegraph Company. It became the largest and most influential telegraph company in America.

Morse's Telegraph Key

 

Another interesting result of the telegraph era was that newspapers began to join forces, finding a way to pool their telegraph expenses. During this time, the Associated Press came about because four daily New York newspapers each needed to obtain and relay information on the Mexican American war. They combined their resources so that they all could get the information they needed for reporting on the war. 

 

Reuters, a telegraph company in Paris, France, also got its start, the brainchild of Paul Julius Reuters. He did everything from sending commercial telegraphs to disseminating political material to other countries. He also coaxed newspapers to subscribe to his service so that he could report to them on important events happening around the country—and later the world—which they could then write about in their newspapers.

 

 

Western Union Makes Its Mark On America

 

The telegraph lines continued to grow and expand, though not fully across the country…yet. The new state of California began adding telegraph lines to connect their towns and cities up and down the state, but there was no line that connected east and west coasts of the country. So, throughout the 1850s, California dangled a carrot of sorts, encouraging telegraph companies to make such a countrywide connection by offering the first company to do so $6,000 per year for their efforts. Two companies in California began such an endeavor, one following the Central Overland Trail through Nevada, and another to the south along the Butterfield Overland Mail route. However, neither completed their lines.

 

The United States government also saw a need to be able to connect the military forts throughout the country from coast to coast. Government representatives spoke to Western Union, encouraging them to take on the project. However, investors with the company found the project too risky. How could they manage the cost of upkeep on such a massive project? So, in June 1860, President James Buchanan urged Congress to pass the Pacific Telegraph Act, which would make a transcontinental telegraph lines, giving government priority on the line over people’s private telegrams, as well as offering the Smithsonian Institution and other such organizations free use for scientific purposes. The act was passed, and the government took bids on the project, which would net the winner $40,000 a year for ten years (for building and upkeep). 

 

Though plenty of companies initially put in bids for the job, all but Western Union withdrew their proposals before the application period was done. As the last man standing, Western Union got the job—and began working with other companies out west to complete the cross-country telegraph line. Work began on Independence Day in 1861, with crews working from opposite ends of the divide. On each end, an advance crew would go out to survey and mark the path, and a second crew would come behind, digging holes, putting in the telegraph poles, and stringing the wire. Depending on the terrain, the crews were able to cover anywhere between three and eight miles per day.

Telegraph poles alongside a railroad line.

 

As you might imagine, supplies had to be shipped long distances to complete the western portions. The wire and insulators were manufactured back east, shipped around Cape Horn, and arrived in San Francisco by boat. The logs for telegraph poles were sourced from Salt Lake City, Utah, since the Great Plains had no trees to offer. All items were placed on oxen-drawn wagons and carted out to the end of the line where the crews were working.  

 

On October 24, 1861, the crew building the line from San Francisco westward finally reached Salt Lake City, a few days after the eastern crew had arrived. The transcontinental telegraph line was complete—and Brigham Young sent the first telegraph to San Francisco, announcing its completion. The first telegraph message, sent by a California Supreme Court Justice to President Abraham Lincoln, left San Francisco on 7:40 PM on October 24—and reached the President in Washington, D.C., the following morning at 11:30 AM. Less than 18 hours for a message to travel from coast to coast. This was a huge improvement over any other means of messaging in that day.

 

The telegraph continued as a viable means of communication through the early half of the 20^th Century.

 

It’s Your Turn: Had you ever given thought to what it took to create the network of telegraph lines that connected America? What did you find most interesting about this piece of America’s history?

 

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered western novels at twelve when she swiped the only “horse” book from her brother’s bookshelf. Across the next decade, she devoured westerns and fell in love with the genre. While attaining a B.A. in writing from the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. She has finaled in and won numerous writing competitions and appeared on various best-seller lists. Besides writing, she’s been a business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, a historical researcher, a publisher, and a full-time homemaker. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband and fur children.

 

Love and Order: A Three-Part Old West Romantic Mystery

Wanted: 

Family, Love, and Justice

One Old West Mystery Solved Throughout Three Short Romantic Stories

Separated as children when they were adopted out to different families from an orphan train, the Braddock siblings have each grown up and taken on various jobs within law enforcement and criminal justice.

 

Youngest child, Callie, has pushed past her insecurities to pursue a career as a Pinkerton agent. Middle child, Andi, has spent years studying law under her adoptive father’s tutelage. And the eldest and only son, Rion, is a rough-and-tumble bounty hunter. 

 

When the hunt for a serial killer with a long history of murders reunites the brother and sisters in Cambria Springs, Colorado, they find themselves not only in a fight for justice, but also a fight to keep their newly reunited family intact. How will they navigate these challenges when further complicated by unexpected romances?

Children of a Doomed Voyage: the SS City of Benares PART 4: John Baker

By Terrie Todd

John Baker was only seven years old when he boarded the SS City of Benares with his 12-year-old brother, Bobby, and 88 other British children. Together with their adult escorts, they would sail to Canada to avoid the bombings occurring almost nightly back home. They set sail on the evening of Friday, September 13, 1940, after two days and one night waiting in the Liverpool harbor for conditions to be safe. 

The SS City of Benares

Aboard the former luxury liner, John quickly earned the nickname The Lost Boy. “The thing was,” he explained in later years, “I found the ship a very confusing place. It was huge as far as I was concerned. I wanted to explore, as kids do, and the number of times I got lost was unbelievable.”

Fortunately for John, his brother Bobby had been instructed by their parents to look out for him. Bobby did so with such dedication that when the ship was torpedoed on the night of September 17, he made a life-altering decision.

John recalls being the first in his cabin to hear the alarm bells and wake up. The children had been told that drills can happen at any time, and he assumed it was a drill. “I had my blankets wrapped round me Navy-style in a sort of cocoon, so I was trying to kick my bedding clear,” John remembered decades later. “I fought my way out of bed and ran around, waking everybody up. There were four of us in the cabin, and I woke my brother up and the boys in the other bunks.”

Alarm bells and chaos continued as the boys made their way out into the corridors and up onto the deck. Only then did John realize, despite knowing the correct procedures, that he’d forgotten his life jacket.

“So I said to Bobby, ‘I must go and get my life jacket,’ and off I went like a rocket. Fortunately, Bobby very sensibly grabbed hold of me and kept me close. He restrained me forcibly from going down there and getting lost again,” John said. “Instead, he gave me another life jacket. Now, whether he gave me his own life jacket in place of the one that I left behind, I do not know, and I shall never know. But he knew the drills, and it was drilled into us every time, to bring your life jacket and to put it on. So he put a life jacket on me.”

A WWII Kapok Life Vest

 

 

 

 

After a horrendous ordeal wherein the boys’ lifeboat mislaunched, plunging them into the sea, they had to climb rope ladders back onto the sinking ship. Their lifeboat was pulled up and loaded a second time. All of this was taking place during a vicious storm, with the crew and passengers scrambling for their lives, many screaming and dropping into the freezing waters of the North Atlantic. In the pandemonium, John lost track of Bobby.

Some 20 hours later, the HMS Hurricane rescued those remaining alive. Once names were collected, little John knew for sure his brother was not among the survivors, though his tender heart was too young to process the truth. He returned home to his parents, the only survivor of the nine children from Southall, Middlesex, who’d been aboard. In a time when it was believed that not talking about trauma was the healthiest directive, only in later years, when the survivors held reunions, did John allow himself to think or speak about the tragedy.

“Bobby gave a great gift to me,” he said in 2005, “and I shall forever be grateful. Because of that life jacket, he has given me 65 years of life that he didn’t have. So I’m grateful.”

Source: Menzies, Janet. Children of the Doomed Voyage, John Wiley & Sons, 2005 

Even If I Perish releases November 5, 2025. It is Terrie’s novel based on the sinking of the SS City of Benares and on the heroism of escort Mary Cornish and the six boys she cared for in a lifeboat for eight days. Terrie is the award-winning author of ten historical and two split-time novels, most of which have won Word Awards through The Word Guild. Her 2023 release, April’s Promise, was a finalist in the ACFW Carol Awards. She lives with her husband, Jon, on the Canadian prairies. 

 

 

“If I perish, I perish.” A sermon based on Queen Esther’s famous words spurs music teacher Mary Cornish to action. She volunteers to escort a group of 15 girls from England to Canada as part of Britain’s World War II child evacuation program.

All is well aboard the SS City of Benares until September 17, 1940. With a storm brewing in the North Atlantic, a German U-boat releases its torpedo and breaches the ship’s hull. Do the Nazis know ninety children are on board?

In the scramble to save as many lives as possible, Mary lands in a crowded lifeboat as the only female among crew members, passengers, and six young boys. In the storm’s aftermath, two things soon become crystal clear: that Lifeboat 12 has become separated from all the others, and that Mary has been placed here for such a time as this—even if she perishes.

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NO ONE CAN EAT JUST ONE

By Mary Davis

 

Ah, the potato chip—salty goodness or aphrodisiac?

 

When were these irresistible treats invented?

 

As the story goes, they date back to the summer of 1853 in the restaurant of Moon’s Lake Lodge in Saratoga Springs, New York. The cook there, a man by the name of George Crum who was half Native and half African American, had a disagreeable customer. Railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt complained the French fries served to him were too thick and soggy, and didn’t have enough salt. Crum cut some thinner, cooked and salted them, and sent those out to the man. Still too thick.

 

Annoyed, Crum cut several potatoes as thin as he possibly could and fried them until they were brown and crisp, too crunchy to be eaten with a fork. He topped them off with an overload of salt to teach Vanderbilt a lesson. Well, the joke was on Crum. Vanderbilt loved them, and Saratoga Chips soon became a big hit, not only at the restaurant but in the entire area.

Crum and his sister Kate

However, this story, though entertaining, isn’t true. For one, Vanderbilt was touring in Europe that summer. Two, the Moons didn’t purchase the resort until 1854. And finally, Crum’s sister, Kate, claimed to have fried and invented the Saratoga Chips. To top it off, potato chips weren’t unknown in this area. A woman named Eliza, in Saratoga, had a reputation for her fried potatoes, as early as 1849.

 

So, who owns the claim to fame? George or Kate or Eliza? None of them.

An 1817 cookbook the Cook’s Oracle by William Kitchiner, published in London, had a recipe for potato chips. Which means, the recipe was around before that. They were also in the 1822 edition. A British book about French cookery in 1825 had a similar recipe.

 

In the US, early recipes are in Mary Randolph’s Virginia House-wife (1824) and in Cook’s Own Book (1832) by N.K.M. Lee. Both of these cite Kitchiner.

All of these predate Crum from the story at the top of the article. He did, eventually, open his own restaurant in 1860, featuring Saratoga Chips.

 

For a long time, potato chips were restaurant-only offering because they were laborious to make, peeling and slicing all those potatoes by hand. Also, there was no way to keep them fresh beyond the exit.

 

Ohio entrepreneur William Tappenden created a way to keep them stocked in grocery stores. He shipped the potato chips by wagon in barrels. Then they would be weighed out at the store and sold that way. The problem came near the bottom of the barrel where the chips had become stale and broken into little pieces. Others copied his method.

 

The salty snack had a major breakthrough in 1926. California businesswoman Laura Scudder came up with the idea to fuse two pieces of wax paper together, which kept the potato chips from crumbling as well as fresh and crisp. Her packaging had a freshness date and boasted “the Noisiest Chips in the World.”

 

The following year, Chicago chef Leonard Japp started mass-producing the snack for Al Capone who thought they would sell well in his speak-easies. Japp also started cooking his chips in oil rather than lard.

 

The inventions of the mechanical potato peeler and the continuous fryer in the 1920s made processing large quantities of potato chips possible.

 

Also, in the 1920s, Herman Lay started selling potato chips and became so successful that he could mass-produce them.

 

And in the 1950s, we started having flavored chips.

 

In 1963, Lay’s marketing firm came up with the popular trademark slogan “Betcha can’t eat just one.” Bert Lahr, Wizard of Oz’s cowardly lion, featured in a series of commercials, which helped make them even more popular.

As a side note, I found this interesting. In colonial times, New Englanders relegated potatoes to pig food. They believed eating these tubers would shorten a person’s life—not because of the things we do to them today—but because they were believed to have an aphrodisiac, which could induce conduct that would shorten one’s life. Hmm, what conduct might that be?

 

I, for one, am glad this isn’t true. Even if it was, I would live dangerously, because I love potatoes, anyway you want to cook them.

Author Photo

THE DAUGHTER'S PREDICAMENT (Book 2 in the Quilting Circle series )

Can a patient love win her heart?
   As Isabelle Atwood’s romance prospects are turning in her favor, a family scandal derails her dreams. While making a quilt for her own hope chest, Isabelle’s half-sister becomes pregnant out of wedlock and Isabelle--always the unfavored daughter--becomes the family sacrifice to save face. Despite gaining the attention of a handsome rancher, her parents are pressuring her to marry a man of their choosing to rescue her sister’s reputation. A third suitor waits silently in the wings, hoping for his own chance at love. Isabelle ends up with three marriage proposals, but this only further confuses her decision.
   A handsome rancher, a stranger, and an unseen suitor are all waiting for an answer. Isabelle loves her sister, but will she really allow herself to be manipulated into a marriage without love? Will Isabelle capitulate and marry the man her parents wish her to, or will she rebel and marry the man they don’t approve of? Or will the man leaving her secret love poems sweep her off her feet?

MARY DAVIS, bestselling, award-winning novelist, has over thirty titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her latest release is THE LADY’S MISSION. Her other novels include THE DÉBUTANTE'S SECRET (Quilting Circle Book 4) THE DAMSEL’S INTENT (The Quilting Circle Book 3) is a SELAH Award Winner. Some of her other recent titles include; THE WIDOW'S PLIGHT, THE DAUGHTER'S PREDICAMENT, “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection, Prodigal Daughters Amish series, "Holly and Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection, and "Bygones" in Thimbles and Threads. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Rocky Mountains with her Carolina dog, Shelby. She has three adult children and three incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at: Books2Read Newsletter Blog FB FB Readers Group Amazon GoodReads BookBub

Sources

Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things by Charles Panati, p. 388

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato_chips

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/curious-history-potato-chip-180979232/

https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-potato-chips-1991777

https://daily.jstor.org/story-invention-potato-chip-myth/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/potato-chip