Author: EvaAnne

Writing the Drake Family Cookbook

Over the past year, I’ve taken a break from blogging in order to write a cookbook for my family. In the book, I compile many of the recipes from my grandparents and write about our family’s culinary history. I’m so proud of the way the book turned out!

I wanted to write a cookbook for our family to preserve our cherished family recipes, and so everyone would have a copy of our favorite recipes. Whenever I was away at school, and wanted to make a family recipe, I’d have to call up my mom to give me the recipe. I had a few family recipes written in a blank spiral recipe book, but I enjoyed using original recipe cards that were written in my Nana’s or aunt’s handwriting. A cookbook with scanned recipe cards gave all of us access to those original recipes without having to further divide the original collections. It also gave me the opportunity to share special family stories and photos with the whole family. I’m so glad I took on this project, and I’m proud of this new family heirloom that I created!

This was a wonderfully rewarding project, and I encourage you to write a family cookbook of your own! Here’s some tips for writing your own family cookbook:

It will take a lot longer to write than you think! I recommend taking at least a year to compile and write the book. This allows you to take photos of dishes at particular holidays throughout the year as you make them, and time to allow family members to locate and contribute their recipes. I spent over two years to write the book, taking photos and collecting recipes over time, testing some of the recipes, and then taking about six months of concentrated writing and editing.

Continue reading “Writing the Drake Family Cookbook” →

After the Fire: the Chicago Brickmakers

Chicago in Flames
Chicago in flames: Scene at Randolph Street Bridge. Lithograph from Currier & Ives. (Image from Library of Congress Digital Collections.)

Chicago, October 8, 1871. Fire!

On the evening of Sunday, October 8, 1871, a fire breaks out in Chicago, just to the southwest of the city’s center. It had been a dry fall, and the fire quickly spread. Over the next 30 hours, the central area of the city burned, spreading across roughly 3.3 square miles of the city, leaving over 100,000 people (1/3 of the city) homeless, and about 300 people dead. Much of the city was left smoldering in ashes and rubble. The fire was known as The Great Chicago Fire, and today marks the 150th anniversary of the blaze.

In 1871, my 3rd great-grandfather, Johann Adolph Wilhelm Mueller, was a brickmaker in Lake View, and had owned his own brickyard for about six years. While it is a populous Chicago neighborhood now, at that time, Lake View was a rural township just north of Chicago city limits, with about 2,000 residents, and was known for its celery fields and emerging brickyards. Thomas Moulding had established the first brickyard in the township in 1863 on Southport Ave., and started using the clay along the Chicago River to make bricks. Very soon, others, mostly Germans like my 3rd great-grandfather, set up brickyards nearby. After the Great Chicago Fire, their bricks literally helped rebuild the ravaged city. This is the story of my brick-making ancestors. Continue reading “After the Fire: the Chicago Brickmakers” →

A Family Tree: Drake Maple

This is the story of a special tree in our family: the Drake Maple.

Drake Maple
Millie Drake in front of her Drake Maple, 2013. (Photo credit: Britni Michael Photography, 2013)

In 1986, my grandpa, Ed Drake, decided that he wanted to spruce up some of the landscaping at his house. He went to a nursery, and with the help of his horticulturally-trained son-in-law, picked out some bushes for the front of his house. They picked out some yews and spireas, and bought a pretty lilac bush to plant by the front bedroom window. As they were walking around the lot, the salesman learned my Papa’s last name, Drake. He said, “I have a tree with your name on it!” He convinced my Papa to also purchase a small maple tree, the Drake Maple.

The Drake Maple is a variety of Acer rubrum, and has brilliant fall colors. A U.S. patent for this new variety was filed by Virgil James Drake (no known relation to our Drake family) in January 1973. This variety is particularly unique in its fall coloring. It is described as “having distinctively colored leaves turning from green to a colored border through shades of blue violet to red and yellow,” and was discovered by V.J. Drake in Van Buren County, Michigan in September 1967. V.J. Drake was able to propagate seedlings through cuttings of the original tree. By the time my grandpa acquired one in 1986, it was available at a few nurseries throughout the United States.

Leaves of the Drake Maple
In the fall, the Drake Maple leaves show a variety of colors. Often the edges turn red and then violet, and the centers change from green to yellow and then red.

My Papa planted his new tree in a place of honor, directly in front of his house. Every fall, it shows off its brilliant colors. The edges of the leaves turn red, and often the middle of the leaf turns from green to yellow. At different times, the tree may look red or orange from afar, and the variety of color in its leaves becomes apparent at close range. My grandparents loved to watch it change colors every fall, and it was often the backdrop for family photos. I have never seen another one in person. In more ways than one, this “family tree” is quite special.

If you’d like to see this cultivar in person, to my knowledge, there are Drake Maples planted at Hidden Lake Gardens at Michigan State University and Home & Garden Information Center at Clemson Cooperative Extension, South Carolina.

Drake Maple
Our family tree, the Drake Maple.

Sources:

  • U.S. Patent Office, Plant Patent 3,542, Maple Tree by Virgil James Drake. (External link to full patent text.)
  • Images are personal family photos, taken by the author or Britni Michael Photography.

Hidden Heroes of WWII (Part V): DeKalb County Volunteer Nurse’s Aide Corps

DeKalb County Volunteer Nurse’s Aide Corps

Red Cross volunteer nurses aide poster
Recruiting poster for Volunteer Nurse’s Aides. (Image source: University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries)

Shortly after the start of the war, hospitals nationwide were facing a severe shortage of nurses and nurse’s aides. Many of the highly skilled young nurses were recruited into the military nurses corps, leaving a dire shortage of staff at civilian hospitals. To help fill this need, the American Red Cross worked with the Office of Civilian Defense to train 100,000 volunteers to be nurse’s aides. In DeKalb County, Mrs. Ulla May Schreck and a committee began training Volunteer Nurse’s Aides in June 1942 under the instruction of Elaine Fisher, R.N. Other instructors and coordinators included Nancy L. Hennis, Katherine Kane, Ruth E. Lankton and Bernice E. Schwirtz.  Continue reading “Hidden Heroes of WWII (Part V): DeKalb County Volunteer Nurse’s Aide Corps” →

Papa’s Centennial Birthday

Emma Medine holding Ed Drake
Emma Medine holding her son, Edwin Drake, in 1920.

This week my Papa would have turned 100 years old. My grandfather, Edwin William Drake, was born on May 2, 100 years ago in Genoa, Illinois. He was welcomed by his parents, Charles and Emma (Medine) Drake, and an older brother, Charles. He grew up on a farm near Genoa, and graduated high school during the Great Depression. He met and fell in love with my grandma, Millie Kaiser, just before she joined the WAVES during WWII. After she left the service, they were married in June 1946. They had two daughters and four grandchildren. He lived in the Genoa area for his whole life. He was a farmer, business owner, public servant, and foreman. He accomplished many things during his life, but his family was everything to him. Papa loved his family dearly, and loved to spend time with them whenever he could. Continue reading “Papa’s Centennial Birthday” →