Hitty Makes Pancakes with Little Bear!

Maple Sugaring, A Family Tradition!

Hitty makes pancakes on the old wood cookstove. The little bear looks on with eager anticipation!

An Ancestral Old New England House!

My great great great grandmother's great grandparent's old house in Rhode Island. I love this house with its wonderful stone walls and maple trees! It was my 6th great grandfather's house.
Buckets are hung on the old maple tree for collecting sap.

Hitty and Little Bear enjoy their pancakes with goat's milk.
Real Maple syrup is in the bird jug.

 

Little Bear likes sticky things, honey and maple syrup are favorites! Yum!
Little Bear has been a well loved little bear. He is worn and is missing an ear but all the dolls at Corgyncombe think he is adorable!

 

 

 

 

Maple Sugar

At the Corgyncombe Forget-Me-Not Fair, pancakes, maple syrup, old fashioned doughnuts and apple cider can be found at Hitty Maple's booth.

Quackenbush excitedly quacks and flaps his wings and hops atop the bench and indicates that pancakes and doughnuts are amongst his favorite things! He is so happy to bring Dilley Dibble Dabble to visit this booth!

 
Quackenbush and Dilley Dibble Dabble have been featured at the Corgyncombe Courant for years. 

  
The pancakes are made right in the booth on an old wood cookstove.

What a pleasant sight it is to see the old buckets hung on the maple trees!

With the coming of spring, with freezing nights and warming days, the sap in the old sturdy maple trees starts its journey up the trees. For generations my family has harvested the sweetness of the maple tree. When I was a little girl I remember peeking into my grandfather's sugar house at night to see my grandfather and uncles tending the fires and skimming the foam from boiling sap pan.

Maple sugaring is a tradition in my family!

Some of the photographs and some of the writings on this post are from previous Corgyncombe Courant posts that can be found here on the Corgyncombe Courant and from our web site and our previous postings elsewhere on the internet.

Please do not "Pin" our photographs.
Please do not post our photographs on facebook.

Our email:
atthecottagegate@yahoo.com
If you receive an email you think is from me from this email, please make sure it is atthecottagegate@yahoo.com, and not just something that sounds similar.

Photographs, images, and text copyright © 2000-2025 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson.
All rights reserved. Photographs, images, and/or text may not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson.

https://corgyncombecourant.blogspot.com/2025/03/hitty-makes-pancakes-with-little-bear.html
copyright © 2025 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tasha Tudor's Historic New Hampshire Farm, The Old Gerrish Homestead!

The Old Gerrish Homestead!

In "Drawn from New England" Bethany Tudor wrote about how her mother, Tasha Tudor, found a delightful old house and farm in New Hampshire. Even though the house was in disrepair Tasha could see beyond it and her artist's eye could see how wonderful it could be! Tasha bought the old house and farm from an old man named Ed Gerrish in 1945. Ed Gerrish's great grandfather Moses Gerrish built the house about 1789. I was thrilled to discover that the Gerrish family that built and owned the New Hampshire house and farm was related to me!

 

The old photograph shows the Gerrish Homestead (built about 1789 by Moses Gerrish) in about 1869. The house was later owned by Tasha Tudor. Ed Gerrish was born in 1867. Perhaps he could be the little child in the photo standing by his mother. Photograph courtesy of the Webster Historical Society.

 

Moses Gerrish's father Col. Henry Gerrish was 2nd cousin to my 6th great grandfather John Hale. Both Henry and John served in the Revolutionary War. Col. Henry Gerrish and John Hale were first cousin and second cousin, respectively, to Nathan Hale the great American patriot.

We found that Moses Gerrish's grandmother was Joanna (Hale) Gerrish. 'Tis no surprise that her name would have been Joanna! In my branch it is a well known Hale family name. The first Hale of the line in New England was Robert Hale and his wife was Joanna. The name Joanna appeared in every generation of Hales down the line in my family (except for one generation which only had sons). Each generation of Hales had a sister Joanna. Nathan Hale, too, had a sister named Joanna.

Tasha Tudor encouraged my daughter and I in our genealogical pursuits and she wrote to us:

"That fine red envelope full of photographs and the pages of Family names, was no end impressive."

 

"Have fun with your genealogical researches. What fun!!"

 

 

The house built by Moses Gerrish about 1789 was lived in by several generations of the Gerrish family, including Moses' grandsons: brothers Henry H. Gerrish and James L. Gerrish. Henry and James both had wives named Sarah, who were referred to in a written family history as "Sarah Henry" and "Sarah James", to note which Sarah was being spoken of. They all lived in the old Gerrish house. James Gerrish was the father of Ed Gerrish who later sold the farm to Tasha Tudor in 1945.

James Gerrish served for the Union during the Civil War as part of the New Hampshire Volunteers. Tasha Tudor's dolls Captain Shakespeare and Lieut. Thaddeus Crane both also served in the New Hampshire Volunteers. The wedding of Lieut. Thaddeus Crane and lovely Melissa was held at the old Gerrish house and was featured in "Life" Magazine. Melissa was Tasha Tudor's model for the doll in "A is for Annabelle".

James Gerrish was engaged to Sarah Chandler just before he left for service in the Civil War. They were then married in 1864.

James Gerrish's daughter wrote about how although his responsibilities to care for his family as a farmer meant perhaps he could not pursue another career, he was artistically inclined and he appreciated and found beauty in his life. He raised dairy cows and sheep. He built stone walls. Whilst he was doing work about the farm James made up poems for his daughter. He planted a row a mile and a quarter long of maple trees by the road for tapping and for the pleasure to the senses. He thought this would be a long lasting remembrance of him after he was gone. I remember even as a child appreciating rows of big old maple trees along both sides of the road and also old stone walls, how special!

James Gerrish's brother Henry H. Gerrish's wrote diaries in which he described work and happenings about the farm. In reading them, one can see that they collected sap and did maple sugaring, attended sugaring parties, harvested their own ice and packed it in sawdust, did haying, grew apples, potatoes and other crops, as well as many of the old fashioned tasks that my families also did.

It is interesting to see the perspective from the previous generations' experiences in the same house that Tasha Tudor lived in and experienced some of the same things, too.

James L. Gerrish's daughter Mabel (Ed's sister) wrote down her recollections and stories of the farm and her family.

One can follow through Tasha Tudor's Around the Year and other books and illustrations and see similarities. Tasha Tudor drew many things done on the farm in previous days. "Becky's Birthday", "Becky's Christmas", "Adventures of a Beagle", and "Biggity Bantam" all have Tasha's illustrations of the New Hampshire farm.

 

Mabel wrote of coming home from school to her mother's "cozy kitchen" through the pantry, which was filled with wonderful things to eat such as pie, doughnuts, cake or cookies. Her description makes me think of Tasha Tudor's detailed illustrations of the pantry and butt'ry with the many things stored there.

Mabel also mentioned that raspberries and blueberries were picked on the farm and made into pies. In Around the Year folks are shown picking berries and having a picnic in July with a pie in the border.

 

Mabel wrote that her aunt visited her mother's kitchen especially during the time that the peaches were ripe. Around the Year shows a busy kitchen with the ladies putting up peaches.

One year at Thanksgiving when the Gerrishes had many relatives there for dinner in the old kitchen, there was a big snowstorm and some folks had to stay overnight. Mabel spoke highly of the pumpkin pies that were made in the brick oven. During part of the party the children dressed up in old fashioned clothes.

 

Mabel enjoyed coasting and skating in the winter. Each year a different family in the school district would have a large Christmas tree and everyone would come to the party with gifts, there would music and treats. In Around the Year Tasha Tudor, of course, featured coasting, skating, and a family gathered around the Christmas tree.

Mabel fondly remembered the attic and mentioned some of the old things found there: spinning wheels, cheese presses, old foot stoves, and the big wooden loom. Also in the attic were items related to fashions of the past: hoop skirts and "Godey's Lady's Book" fashion magazines. Perhaps some were of the same time and style as Tasha Tudor's illustrations in the miniature fashion magazines and catalogs that she made for the dolls and critters. The old things in the attic sound like things that Tasha and I would both get excited about!

 

Tasha Tudor delighted, as we do, in refined, simple elegance, in a country way, and the combining of the every day old fashioned tasks as our ancestors did, with artistic skill that could be seen by the beauty in their accomplished results... such as baskets, clothing, gardens, pottery, textiles, furniture, food preparation, architecture, and even their tools.

Mabel learned to read from her mother and her older college aged brother Ed. When one of Ed's professors came to visit the Gerrishes, he saw that Mabel, a little girl at the time, was reading books that he considered advanced for her age, he sent her the book "Mother Goose". Mabel cherished this "Mother Goose" for many years to come! Later, Tasha Tudor illustrated her version of "Mother Goose" (1944) and used the money she made from it to buy the old Gerrish home.

Henry H. Gerrish's diaries and Mabel (Gerrish) Page's stories can be found at the Webster Historical Society.
Photograph of the Gerrish homestead about 1869 courtesy of the Webster Historical Society.

 

 

Some of the photographs and some of the writings on this post are from previous Corgyncombe Courant posts that can be found here on the Corgyncombe Courant and from our web site and our previous postings elsewhere on the internet.


Please do not "Pin" our photographs.
Please do not post our photographs on facebook.


Our email:
atthecottagegate@yahoo.com
If you receive an email you think is from me from this email, please make sure it is atthecottagegate@yahoo.com, and not just something that sounds similar.


Photographs, images, and text copyright © 2000-2024 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson.
All rights reserved. Photographs, images, and/or text may not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson.

 

http://corgyncombecourant.blogspot.com/2024/03/tasha-tudors-historic-new-hampshire.html
copyright © 2024 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dreams of Scotland!

Scottish Heritage and Spinning!

 

 

The spinning wheel was made in Scotland. Draped on the chair is a Colquhoun tartan shawl.

Click Here for Lovely Music

 

 

 

My 10th great grandfather was William Cahoon (Colquhoun) from Scotland, said to have come to New England as a Prisoner of War after the Battle of Dunbar in 1650.

The Colquhoun family was historically from Loch Lomond, Scotland.

 

 

 

Flicked wool in the grease, ready for spinning.

 

Tasha Tudor wrote to us:

"That fine red envelope full of photographs and the pages of Family names, was no end impressive."

 

"Have fun with your genealogical researches. What fun!!"

Draped on the chair is a shawl of the Colquhoun tartan.

We have also included some of the references to sheep, wool, and flax and the fiber related processing tools including spinning wheels and looms, etc., in the wills and inventories of my direct line ancestors with ties to Scotland.

In these old documents the spelling of words is often different than today. For instance, wheel is sometimes spelled wheale, or woolen is sometimes spelled wooling. We have retained the original spelling of items.

 

My 9th great grandfather Nathaniel Cahoon was the son of William Cahoon (Colquhoun) of Scotland.

My great wheel in the garret. The great wheel is also called the walking wheel or the wool wheel.

 

 

Heather from Loch Katrine, Scotland
From an antique Herbarium with many pressed flowers and plants gathered during a European Tour.
The flowers have all been sewn in place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The old shepherd who had the flock of sheep in the above photograph lived to be 98 and for years kept sheep on the hillside a ways down the road from my ancestral family cemetery. The old shepherd was related to me through an old family line. The trees in the hillside beyond the pasture show lovely shades of violet, pink, and green.

 

 

The spinning wheel and lazy kate were made in Scotland.

A specimen from Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott.

Cheviot Sheep

A lazy kate made in Scotland, used to hold bobbins whilst plying.

 

 

My handspun wool yarn.

 

My 7th great grandfather Nathaniel Greene mentioned several pieces of spinning and weaving equipment in his will. Nathaniel Greene, son of Rebecca (Cahoon) Greene, was named after his grandfather Nathaniel Cahoon, who was the son of William Cahoon (Colquhoun) of Scotland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scottish Highland Cows

The greens and blues of the Colquhoun tartan mimic the colors of the landscape!

 

A newspaper contest for school children requested "a short answer to the question", "Why is Nature's Prevailing Color Green ?" They chose two entries which shared first place.

My grandmother's answer, written when she was a schoolgirl:

 

My Grandmum was the 5th great granddaughter of Nathaniel Greene, the 6th great granddaughter of Rebecca (Cahoon) Greene, the 7th great granddaughter of Nathaniel Cahoon, and the 8th great granddaughter of William Cahoon (Colquhoun) of Scotland.

 

 

My Grandmum as a girl.

 

 

Wren on a mossy log.
A Wren family had a nest house in the apple tree next to the mossy log.

"The wee birdies sing..."

 

 

 

 

A thistle with the Colquhoun tartan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A hatchel for combing flax.

 

 

Another of my Scottish ancestors:

One of the things listed in the inventory was a cosset sheep. A cosset was a motherless or rejected lamb hand fed by people; a pet sheep.

 

In a genealogy published in Boston in 1874, Ebenezer Weaver Peirce b. 1822, who was likely related to several of our ancestral families, wrote this story of his cosset sheep:

"The writer of this genealogy, when a small boy, was made happy as the recipient of a present from his father; that acceptable gift being a cosset sheep, that like "Mary's lamb" followed, if allowed, wherever I went, in doors and out, and even up and down stairs. That sheep I loved almost as I loved my own life, and was made to feel exceedingly wretched by an injury that it received, being hooked by an ox so as to tear the skin in a manner shocking to behold. Mrs. Howland happened to call at my father's, and witnessing my grief and sorrow desired to see the sheep; and on examining the injuries, pronounced them curable, and then sewed up the wound and dressed it so nicely that it healed ere long. I never thought of that woman afterwards but with feelings of gratitude for the wound she also healed in my lacerated young heart."

 

 

A shawl that I am knitting with my handspun yarn, naturally dyed with goldenrod.

It is done in seed stitch as I prefer it to garter stitch. I find it more pleasing to the eye and more interesting to knit.

In the garden is Iris Florentina.

Orris root is a ground powder from the rhizomatous roots of Iris Florentina. The orris root smells delightful! I think it has a smell like sweet violets. I love it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A pat of Corgyncombe Butter stamped with a thistle print.

 

 

Butter churned at Corgyncombe Dairy using the cream from Corgyncombe Dairy goat Carmella Lucille's milk. My butter churn is a reproduction of a churn Tasha Tudor had. My husband planted cosmos in the vegetable garden at my request, for cut flowers to be arranged in bouquets.

 

Tasha Tudor illustrated two versions (1947 and 1981) of "A Child's Garden of Verses" written by Robert Louis Stevenson who was Scottish. In the 1981 version are several little boys wearing Scottish kilts and a little girl wearing a tartan frock with a Scottish cap.

 

Tasha Tudor had a Scottish Nanny when she was a little girl. Tasha wrote on the dedication page of her illustrated version of "Mother Goose": "To Mary Denny Burnett", who was her Scottish Nanny. The words are surrounded by Tasha's illustration of thistles.

Also in "Mother Goose" Tasha Tudor illustrated a Scottish bagpiper playing to a cow.

 

Beatrix Potter went to Scotland on holidays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scottish Highland Cows

 

 

Cahoon waters

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the photographs and some of the writings on this post are from previous Corgyncombe Courant posts that can be found here on the Corgyncombe Courant and from our web site and our previous postings elsewhere on the internet.

 

Please do not "Pin" our photographs.
Please do not post our photographs on facebook.

 

Our email:
atthecottagegate@yahoo.com
If you receive an email you think is from me from this email, please make sure it is atthecottagegate@yahoo.com, and not just something that sounds similar.

Photographs, images, and text copyright © 2000-2023 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson.
All rights reserved. Photographs, images, and/or text may not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson.

http://corgyncombecourant.blogspot.com/2023/07/dreams-of-scotland.html
copyright © 2023 Diane Shepard Johnson and Sarah E. Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~