Lucy Washington Cookbook, ca. 1840-1880 , A&M 3212

West Virginia and Regional History Center

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Morgantown, WV 26506-6069
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Staff of the West Virginia & Regional History Center

Abstract

Lucy Washington Packett's collection of handwritten recipes for (1) foods and drinks: including apple dishes, beef, brine for curing bacon, biscuits, breads, cakes (including a recipe for an eggless cake), cake fillings, candies, tomato catsup, cookies, cordials, doughnuts, calf's head dressing, cole slaw dressings, gingerbreads, hash, jellies, lemon bake, lemon ice, macaroni, mango, marmalade, mince meat, meatballs, citron mellon, muffins, omelettes, pickles, pies, quince, curing pork, puddings, puffs, puff paste, punch, sauces, calf's head soup (or mock turtle), sage tea, waffles, wine, and yeast, and (2) household recipes: pink wash for walls, durable ink, and lard candles. Includes home remedies for a poultice for soreness in stomach after confinement and gathered breast, diarrhea, piles, sores; cure for bee and wasp stings, remedy for bed bugs, bleeding; itch ointment for ringworm; chaffe; eye wash; and more. Also includes brief bibliographies on Biography, Divinity, Voyages and Travel, Poetry and Plays, Periodicals, Reference, Arts and Sciences, Agriculture and Horticulture, and Serial Works; instructions for dressing and shipping poultry, a price current of the Produce Market issued by J.B. Myers, General Produce Commission Merchant, Wholesale Commission of Seeds, Produce, Butter, & Eggs; four published Royal Baking Powder recipes; a copy of the printed pamphlets: The Amusement Question: Some Principles That Underlie It by Minot J. Savage (4 pages), and The Presidential Vote, 1789-1880, presented by J. Rice Smith (Broadway, NY: Equitable Life Assurance Co.); and an American Book Exchange list of Standard Books.

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Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Lucy Washington Cookbook, A&M 3212, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Biographical / Historical

Lucy Elizabeth Washington Packett (ca. 1823-1881) was the daughter of Dr. Samuel Walter Washington (1797-1831) and Louisa Clemson Washington. A house named "Locust Hill" was built for her near Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia) as a wedding gift in 1840. The Locust Hill property was the site of a skirmish and battle during the American Civil War.

Lucy Washington Packett's paternal grandparents were Lucy Payne Washington and George Steptoe Washington, who was the son of Samuel Washington (1734-1781). That Samuel Washington moved from Frederick, Maryland into his home "Harewood" in the Charles Town, [West] Virginia area in 1770. Samuel Washington was a younger brother of President George Washington (1732-1799), and inherited his land from George Washington's older half-brother, Lawrence Washington (1718-1752). The connection of the Washington family with the Shenandoah Valley and Jefferson County is due to an influx of wealthy planters from the Tidewater region of Virginia seeking lands that could be farmed when their Tidewater farm lands were "worn out".