Ever heard of “mug books?” These were commercial enterprises, and comprise the earliest histories written about a county. They are so called because individuals paid a fee to have their biographical sketches and photographs included in such books…….. and so of course the biographies in these books were often embroidered histories and compiled with laudatory language. Ever man was a pillar of society, sober and kind, a great husband and father, and dealt fairly with every man. Sure.
But such books also provide fairly accurate information about occupations, family origins and backgrounds, descendants and the dates people moved into an area. So despite the biased personal slants, these Mug Books contained important information on events, transportation, agriculture, commercial enterprises and population.
Think “county history” and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what a mug book was. And we’ve all used them, right?
Reading about my Swedish grandfather, John Olson, in Ottertail Co. MN, I found that his father Ola Anderson hd also immigrated. My mother did not know this, so I never would have learned this,he died within two years of coming to the USA.
The book put together for Leonard, Texas, unfortunately left my family out. My great aunt had been the 3rd grade school teacher for literally generations. The family lived there for almost 100 years. The town is populated by approximately 700 people – probably 95% of them knew her and her sister. She died in the 1970s and the book was compiled later. I feel that several folks knew how to reach a family member, but no one did. Alternatively, it would have been reasonable if someone else had written a ditty for them. Sad that the family has been left out of that town’s history.