Category Archives: Let’s Talk About

Let’s Talk About: SUOENALLECSIM! Spell it backwards!

by Donna Phillips

I was so happy to learn that I was not the only one crazy for Rubber Duckies! I just learned that in Point Roberts, Washington, is the world’s first Rubber Duck History Museum!!!!!! Krystal and Neil King opened the museum in 2024 and have had many visitors so far. Krystal reported that her favorite comment from a visitor so far was “Oh My G(osh). Why?” The Kings say they won’t charge admission; they just want people to come in and leave happier. (This is part of my collection.)

Polish Pickle Soup: Just what you want for dinner!  Known as Zupa Ogorkowa, or Sour Cucumber Soup, here’s the recipe:

In large soup pot, add broth, celery, parsley, carrot, onion into 5 cups of water. Add bay leaf, dab of allspice, peppercorns and salt. When boiling, add 3 medium chopped potatoes or pasta or rice, 2 cups of chopped dill pickles and 1/3 cup cream. Simmer 2 hours and enjoy. I’d love to hear from you how you liked it……… IF you make it. 

History of Envelopes:  In 1952, the Envelope Manufacturers Assn of America published a little 5×8, 80 page book titled The History of Envelopes. The book opens with this quote from the Cosmopolitan Art Journal, 1860: “The little paper enclosure which we term “envelope” sustains such an important relation to our social, commercial political, and moral world as to render it eminently worthy of notice as our hands. It has now become the vade mecum of thought transportation….. crossing seas, threading rivers, chasing up railways, exploring the solitary paths of the forest and plains, pursuing expresses and telegraphic messengers; it is almost everywhere doing, for rich and poor alike, its good offices and trusty services.” I rescued this little book from a Goodwill bin and found it a really fun read. Wanna borrow it? Be happy to loan it. But it is available as a used book on various websites. 

Let’s Talk About: Ships They Came On

by Donna Phillips

ShipIndex.org is a website like no other. Last post I highlighted the emigrant port of Antwerp; for this post I’ll tell you where to learn about the ships on which the immigrants sailed to America.
Peter McCracken is a librarian by profession and founder of www.ShipIndex.org. This is a free database “of any named vessel mentioned in an English speaking source.” The database can include vessels to/from other countries IF the source is in English. Currently, there are nearly 1300 resources in the database, with over 600,000 named vessels there. 


McCracken (through the website) recently offered a free webinar. He opened the lesson with “How to do maritime history research?” He then explained that most Americans have immigrant ancestors and he rightly guessed that most would love to find information on the ship that carried their ancestor to America. “ShipIndex offers that sort of help,” he proudly explained.


Folks might use the database for other than immigrant research. “Wouldn’t you like a picture of the ship your parents honeymooned on? Or vacationed on? Or did military service on? Or was transported to war on? Or maybe took a ferry ride on? 


You must know the NAME of the ship in order to find information. 

My husband served on the nuclear submarine SSBN Alexander Hamilton, 617. Cool, eh???  Thank you, ShipIndex and Peter McCracken!!

Let’s Talk About: Red Star Line, 60 Years of Immigration

by Donna Phillips

In spring of 2024, on my Viking trip to The Netherlands, we did visit Antwerp in Belgium. Our riverboat was moored steps away from the Red Star Line Museum and I could NOT wait to walk through those doors! 

The several floors and rooms of the museum were so well done and informative; I realized that the emigrant experience explained there could be considered parallel to many such immigration ports in Europe. 

Of course I visited the gift shop and of course I purchased the above 240-page book and happily hauled all three pounds of it home. The opening sentence speaks:

“On 1 December 1934, the ships of the Red Star Line were making their last voyage. Over the previous seventy years, they had transported an estimated 2.5 million passengers, both rich and poor alike. They had enticed emigrants from all over Europe to come to Antwerp and take a boat to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.”

These are the chapters in the book:

  • Millions of people, one dream
  • Story of a shipping company
  • Story of a place (Antwerp)
  • A Belgian story
  • A European story
  • An American story
  • A universal story (“migration, the great human story”)

I’d be happy to loan you my book or Amazon and other used book websites offer copies. If you want to better understand European emigration and immigration, this book is your read. 

Let’s Talk About: Quaker Records & Research

by Donna Phillips


At a fall 2024 meeting of EWGS, Lori Lee Sauber taught us the basics of “Finding Friends in Early American Quaker (Records).”  Explaining we first should understand Quaker beliefs, she cited the website www.Quaker.org from which the following quote comes: 


What Do Quakers Believe? There are two fundamental aspects to Quaker faith. First, Friends believe that all people are capable of directly experiencing the divine nature of the universe—which is known by many names, God or the Holy Spirit or simply Spirit being among the most common. You don’t need a priest or any other kind of spiritual intercessor; you don’t need to perform any kind of ritual. When you need to hear from God, you will. When Spirit has a message for you to share, you should share it.
That leads us to the second key principle, our belief in continued revelation. In the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, we read many stories of God communicating directly with people. Friends believe God’s revelations have never stopped, and that God might reach out to any one of us at any time. When Quakers come together to meet for silent worship, we participate in a shared space in which we strive to become better able, and help each other become better able, to recognize such divine messages.


The best resource for doing Quaker genealogy is the 15 volumes of Encyclopedia of Early American Quaker Genealogy, 1607-1953. All are digitized and available online. Each volume points to a specific group of “meetings” (congregations) in various states. She told us that FamilySearch and Ancestry offer these digitized books. 


Her handout also listed many books with the topic of Quaker records, history and research. Today, 1 Nov 2024, I Googled “Books on Quaker records history” and had a dozen good hits. Another good resource is the FamilySearch WIKI: Quaker. 


If you have Quaker ancestry, you have hit the jackpot for there is a plethora of teaching aids and resources right at your finger tips. 

Let’s Talk About: Better Baby Contests

by Donna Phillips

 In Jim Kershner’s column, 100 Years Ago Today, 5 Sep 1923, had this bit:  “Carol Mahoney, age 20 months, was declared “Grand Champion Baby of the Inland Empire” at the Interstate Fair. Judges gave little Carol a score of 99.875%…..yes, babies were judged…. while her closest competitor scored only 99.75%. She won $120 in gold after “four days of grueling examination by the corps of doctors and nurses.” 

I did some follow-up research on “little Carol Mahoney.” Born on Christmas Day in 1922, Carol Arleigh Mahoney was born to William and Ruth (Hoffman) Mahoney. She married Robert Hepker; she died on 22 Dec 2010. No children were listed. (Information from Find A Grave.)

If you find the idea of judging babies to be wild and weird, Google this article and read on: 

‘Better Babies’ Contests Pushed for Much-Needed Infant Health but Also Played Into the Eugenics Movement

Contests around the country judged infants like they would livestock as a motivator for parents to take better care of their children

Francine Uenuma

History Correspondent, Smithsonian Magazine, January 17, 2019

Better Babies gathering Minnesota

Let’s Talk About: Geiger Field—now GEG

by Donna Phillips

Spokane played a unique part in the history of aerial warfare in the World War II days and afterwards. Called Sunset Airport, the facility was taken over in 1939 by the Army Air Corps for a training base. Eleven of the twenty groups of B-17 bombers stationed in England during World War II were trained in part at Geiger Field.

The history of aviation in Spokane began in 1911when a daredevil pilot flew across the country from Ohio to win a bet. In 1912, aviators were flying in and out of Glover Field (below Monroe Street bridge). After World War I, a Flying Circus staged stunts and took customers up for $5 ($81 today). Another new landing strip was created in the near valley and dubbed Parkwater Field (now Felts Field since 1927). 

Geiger Field was named in honor of Maj. Harold Geiger, an aviation pioneer and war veteran who, incidentally, never was in Spokane. 

After the war, personal air travel burst upon Spokane. Commercial airlines used Felts Field but soon found that was an inadequate location. In 1938 the city purchased 1280 acres of land west of town for a new airport to be named Sunset Airport (soon Spokane International Airport). Sunset Airport was renamed Geiger Field in 1939. 

So why is the Spokane airport designated GEG?  Easy answer. There are dozens of airport designations beginning with “S” and very darn few beginning with “G.”  So Spokane became GEG. 

(If you’d enjoy reading more on this history topic, read “From Geiger To Glory,” by Marshall B. Shore, in the 1996 Vol. 40, No. 4, The Pacific Northwesterner….. can be accessed at the Eastern Washington Historical Society archives at the MAC.)

Let’s Talk About: Surviving Multi-Course Dinners

by Donna Phillips

 The holidays are nearly upon us and family dinners are likely being planned. Will you be using “mom’s antique china” dishes and/or fixing a multi-course dinner?? Likely a resounding NO!

Antique and thrift shops these days seemingly always have “grandma’s old china set.” And these dishes end up in such shops because people don’t “eat like that” any more. The day of 16-course dinners is long past. 

Dinners in days of yore were dress-up affairs (eating in a corset for hours??) and lasted a very long evening. Up to sixteen courses could be served on fancy china, fancy linens, fancy flatware, fancy glassware, etc. etc. All of which had to be hand washed and carefully stored away. (They had maids in those days.)

A typical Very Fancy Dinner might include these courses:

  • raw oysters
  • soup, a thin or cream soup
  • hors d’oeuvres
  • fish
  • vegetables (asparagus, artichokes or corn)
  • sorbet
  • hot roast
  • “entremets” a half-way mark, likely to be sweets
  • game (wild birds or beasts)
  • salad
  • pudding
  • ice cream
  • fruit
  • cheese

Guests were not supposed to eat everything; it was like picking from a buffet. (Think of all the hours of preparation and wasted food.) And the portions served were usually small. (And, I’d guess, not very hot.)”Turning the table” meant turning first to talk to the person on your right and then, when the hostess switches, to the person on your left.
AND, all of that dressed like this (in a dozen layers) and having had maids spend hours on your hair just for one dinner! Would you???

Let’s Talk About: 1913 Rules of the Road, Pt 2

by Donna Phillips

Want to know more about the history of traffic lights? Ask “Grandma” Google! Click to Wikipedia!

Continuing the Digest of Traffic Ordinance, City of Spokane

SPEED LIMIT

Speed must not exceed 15 miles an hour inside of fire limits. In other parts of the city 20 miles an hour may be maintained. NOTE: State Law provides that outside of thickly settled or business portion of any city or town speed must not exceed 24 miles per hour.

In crossing or turning, speed must not exceed one-half the legal speed limit.

In proceeding by inertia or momentum of car, the feet of the driver must be on both pedals. 

PENTALTIES

Violation of ordinance subjects the offender to a fine of not less than one dollar nor more than 25 dollars, or in default of payment imprisonment in city jail not exceeding ten days.

Hummm…… how fast to you drive when heading east or west on I-90 through the fairly straight and empty (but beautiful!) part of our state????? At 25 MPH, getting to Seattle would take 14 hours. Ouch. 

Let’s Talk About: Manresa Castle

by Donna Phillips


Port Townsend, Jefferson County, Washington has a castle! Did you know? Have you been there?
Manresa Castle, as it’s commonly called, sits high on a hill overlooking Port Townsend and was completed  in 1892 as the home of Charles and Kate Eisenbeis. He was a prominent member of the community and in 1878 had been elected the first mayor.


First referred to as the “Eisenbeis Castle,” the residence consisted of 30 rooms (and only three bathrooms) and was reminiscent of the Eisenbeis’ native Prussia. The walls were 12 inches thick and the roof was slate. Tiled fireplaces and finely crafted woodwork were installed by German artisans.  
Charles died in 1902 and Kate remarried a few years later; the Castle was left empty for almost 20 years except for a caretaker. 


By 1928, the Jesuits had purchased the Castle for use as a training college. They added a large wing housing a chapel and sleeping rooms and also installed an elevator. They named the complex “Manresa Hall” after the town in Spain where Ignatius Loyola founded their order. 
The Jesuits left in 1968 and the building was converted into a hotel. The elements “Manresa” and “Castle” were taken from the two previous owners to create the current name. 


You may vacation-stay at Manresa Castle for just under $300 per night. Ghosts perhaps included. 

Let’s Talk About: 1913 Traffic Rules

by Donna Phillips

The Digest of Traffic Ordinance, City of Spokane (1913)

LAW OF THE ROAD

Keep to the right, near the right hand curb.

In meeting other vehicles, pass to the right. (sic)

In overtaking other vehicles, pass to the left. 

Before starting on street, give an audible signal.

On turning to the left into another street pass to the right of and beyond the center of the street intersecting before turning.

In turning to the right into another street turn the corner as near the curb as practicable.

In crossing from one side of street to the other, turn to the left so as to head in the same direction as the traffic on that side.

Do not stop with the left side to the curb.

RIGHT OF WAY

All vehicles going in a northerly or southerly direction have the right of way over any vehicle going in an easterly or westerly direction. 

In slowing up or stopping with other following, signal by raising the hand vertically.

A signal or request from a person riding or driving a restive horse or driving domestic animals requires that the automobile should be stopped or remain stationary until animals have passed.

In moving slowly keep close to the right hand curb to as to allow faster moving vehicles to pass on the left. 

In 1913, Spokane published the “Automobile Guide and Directory.” This booklet listed by license number each business or person owning a car or truck and the brand owned. A few representative pages were reproduced in The Pacific Northwesterner, Vol. 43, Issue 2, October 1999. Just glancing through the list, I noticed these makes of cars: Packard, Rambler, Buick, Ford, Winton, Franklin, Lozier, Reo, Chalmers, Brush, Cadillac, Mitchell, Elmore, Overland, Midland, Indian, Pierce-Arrow, Baker Electric, Maytag, Flanders and many more. Very few of those names are recognizable today!