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This was wonderful. I'm from the North, Illinois to be exact and your post was a learning experience.
My Irish family came from Omro/Poygan, Wisconsin and my grandmothers died before I could remember them. I've heard some stories, this is one.
Omro/Poygan is still rural and the first home's were two log cabins that Denis and Michael O'Reilly built each straddling one side of the stream. Their sons enlisted in the Civil War because then family could buy the property for $.50 an acre. Denis and Michael had huge families and had to supplement their profit from farming by working on the railroad. That meant that the women were left alone for long stretches. Great Grandma Margaret was fetching water from the stream and encountered a female bear with cubs. The bear charged and she just made it into the house in time. But the bear was pawing at the door and so great gran crawled out the window with a shotgun and killed the bear. Family lore says she grieved over the bear cubs. She and the rest of the family skinned the bear, butchered the meat and added to the family larder.
Our family always had huge meals at holidays and I remember all the vegetables that you have to hunt for now, ie, turnips, parsnips, colrabe. The home baked bread was the best and even used for Turkey and Chicken or Pork stuffing. My grandfather was English and married into a huge Irish family incorporating his Mother's Pasty recipes which we use to clog our arteries to this day. The mayonnaise, cranberries and jellies and pies, ( Oh the pies ) were always made from scratch. Frugal, Aunt Mary always chopped the coleslaw/cabbage in one half of a wooden bowl. Aunt Mame never did buy another, or let any of us replace it. She said if it wasn't broken why fix it? Dishes were always washed by hand and they were beautiful, all toted over on the boat and then by ox cart to Omro/Poygan. They still exist, only some cups are gone. Even the packing case was saved to make the family cradle. It still had the name of the ship burnt into the wood.
The women in my family are all very short in stature and from the photo's I've seen she could not have weighed more than 90 pounds. Most of the women traveled alone with several children to come to America from Ireland.
Thanks, I have to smile when I remember. It is such a comforting feeling.
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