Still newsworthy

In the Sunday edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer on August 29, 2010, a journalist wrote an article on the anniversary of women's suffrage. Lucretia Coffin Mott (1793-1880) is mentioned in the article as her work pertained to the women's suffrage movement. I notice that she must still be considered revelant as I'll see her mentioned in today's magazines and textbooks. Wikipedia.com is a good starting place if you want to learn more about this amazing woman.

I see Lucretia Mott as a person who was way ahead of her time. I've read articles about her and one biography and I wonder how many other women during her lifetime gave speeches and traveled as much as she did? She also had the support of her husband which would have been critical at the time.

I think Mrs. Mott must have been something of an enigma in the 1800's. Several years ago, I looked up her details in the 1860 U.S. Census and noted that the space next to her name listing occupation was blank. Many women at the time of that census were "keeping house" and men were farm laborers, merchants, or bricklayers. I've wondered if the census taker had no idea what to write and so he didn't write anything. On the other hand, it's not like there was enough space to write abolitionist, social reformer and women's suffragist.

Due to her life's work she is recognized in having a village named after her (La Mott) and marker honoring her memory here in Pennsylvania.

Ellwood Ivins Tube Works Company

In the 1920 U.S. Census, I noted that several people in La Mott, including members of the Fields family, worked at a place called the "Tube Works." A couple of years before his death, I spoke with Mr. Fields about this business as I thought he would be able to give me some insight as to what this company was all about. The complete name of the company was the Ellwood Ivins Tube Works. It was built in 1993 and first put in operation in 1894 according to the Directory of Iron Steel Works of the United States (1939).

Mr. Fields recalled how the company was located at the corner of Valley Road and Coventry Avenue in Melrose Park. After doing a bit of research at the Old York Road Historical Society, the local libraries and some archival work for the Cheltenham Twinning Committee, I found additional information about the company to support what I learned in that informal interview with Mr. Fields.

According to an ad by the Ivins Company, appearing in an anniversary book about Cheltenham Township, three inch tubes were made and stretched and then were used to make helicopters, instruments, aeroplanes, refrigeration equipment, fishing rods and more. Mr. Fields' father worked at the furnaces (there were three) and Mr. Fields, himself, worked the soap tubs. All employess had to find new jobs when the Ivins Company filed for bankruptcy and closed in 1962.

Discovering Soda Recipes

My maternal grandmother and a great-aunt made root beer soda decades ago. After posting that story, I saw some soda recipes that seemed worth trying, although I think that recipes from from the 1930's and 1940's may have been more involved.

Reading this article and the accompanying recipes made me wonder what other beverages or other special recipes were made 'back in the day.' Maybe I'll find something worthy of a 'post.'

One of the last Fathers

On Saturday, July 10, a funeral was held for Mr. Patrick Henry Christopher at Salem Baptist Church in Jenkintown. Mr. Christopher died in his 80s. He was buried at Fairview Cemetery in nearby Upper Dublin. Generations of people from La Mott, Germantown and many other neighborhoods were buried there as well.

Mr. Christopher was the father of fives sons, but one son predeceased him. He had three daughters-in-law, several grandchildren and a boatload of relatives. He was married for 57 years which seems amazing in this day and age. While I knew who he was, I really didn't know much about him. I learned that day that he worked in construction for decades, was always willing to lend a helping hand and didn't like talking on the telephone.

I think of him as being one of the last Fathers in La Mott. Like many of the men of his generation he was the kind of man you looked up and admired. You knew he had a strength about him and raised his sons to be strong men as well. Each of his sons is admired just as he was.

He will be missed, but at the same I think he led a long and fruitful life.

Fourth of July

La Mott had a parade that marched around all the streets in the neighborhood. My mother recalls that it was held by the American Legion. Mom's family stood on the corner at Cedar Lane and Willow Avenue and watched all the pomp and circumstance of several bands going by. Many of the residents marched in the parade themselves.

Cousin Stelle echoes my mother’s memories about the parade on the Fourth of July. She added that people came from South Philly to see the bands march from street to street. One of the residents even sat in the back of a convertible waving to all her family, friends and neighbors.
After the parade, the families might have their own gathering or participate in one of the block parties with a full spread complete with ribs. At my mother's house several members of the family gathered together for a fare that included fried chicken, potato salad, string beans, sliced ham, spinach and a pie, possibly apple. Grandmom Adelaide Jones would 'put up' root beer as the beverage for the day; the drink was prepared in really big pot. She got root beer extract and bottles about the size of a ‘Pepsi Cola’ bottle from the store as well as other ingredients. My mother recalls it as a several day process from cleaning the bottles, making the drink, pouring it into the bottles and waiting until it was time to drink it. About 3 dozen bottles were filled. Grandmom Adelaide had some sort of 'contraption' which put a lid on the bottles. They would sit for about a week or two and then be ready to drink. She had a place in the kitchen or the shed where she kept the bottles until they were ready.

My concept of root beer is a drink purchased at the grocery store and enjoyed over ice or with vanilla ice cream. It's so cool to think that both my Grandmother and my Great-Aunt prepared root beer in their own home I hope your 4th was filled with plenty of family, friends and good eats!

La Mott AME Church

According to www.cheltenhamtownship.org/lamott/lamott3.htm, the La Mott A.M.E. church began as a Sunday School meeting in the old wooden schoolhouse with prayer meetings in various residences.

The church building has been in existence since 1888 after Edward M. Davis, son-in-law of Lucretia Mott, donated the property. The first building was erected in 1888 at the intersection of School Lane and City Avenue (now Cheltenham Avenue). It was made of second-hand materials acquired from the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. When the congregation outgrew the facility, the current building was constructed in 1911 at the same site.

The building is more than stone and mortar, it is the place where my great grandparents worshipped and where my parents married. It is also the place where my mother's aunt Bertha Jones sang in the choir and taught Sunday School. My mother sang with the 'Cheery Travellers,' a choir led by her sister-in-law Alice W. Jones.

The above photo was taken in May 2010.

La Mott Fire Company Turns 100!

"Stop, drop and roll" is one of my first memories of the La Mott Fire Company. When I was a Girl Scout Brownie, we were given a demonstration by some of the volunteers which included safety tips like the one mentioned.

Many people have devoted their time to fighting fires in the past. Volunteers have included my younger brother who served at La Mott until he moved out of the area as well as several other people from the neighborhood and nearby Lynnewood Gardens. Many a night he was awakened by his pager going off announcing that the fire company was called into service.

Founded in August 1910, La Mott's Fire Company is one of Cheltenham Township's five volunteer fire companies. It was formed by the sons of the early white settlers and now boasts a multicultural membership. Although many of us grew up with the knowledge of the fire company, the book 'Cheltenham Township' explains a bit more about its history including the equipment that was purchased through the years. The first location was on Willow Avenue and stored a two-wheeled hosecart. It was about the size of a small one-car garage. The first actual firehouse was a stone and mortar building that built in the same block on Willow Avenue in 1914 and used until 1957 when the current building opened on Penrose Avenue.

Congratulations La Mott! Keep up the fine work! And to you the reader...have you checked your smoke detector batteries lately?