Church Record Sunday: Historic Paxton Church Cookbook

You have to love a cookbook that has so much rolled into it. Not only does the cookbook, Historic Paxton, Her Days and Her Ways 1722-1913. Family Recipes Contributed by The Women's Aid Society of Paxton Church have recipes but it also has a comprehensive history of this Paxton, Pennsylvania  church. This history includes not only the church, the ministers, and the attached school but even the history of the graveyard.  This is my kind of cookbook! There is 144 pages of historical content before you reach the recipes section.

To get to the recipes you will need to forward the book to page 145 which begins the cookbook portion with bread recipes. The names of the women who provided recipes in this cookbook are largely listed by their husband's names.  While this does happen occasionally in early cookbooks it still provides information on when your family lived in a certain area and what organizations they belonged to. Names of those who submitted recipes in this book include:

Mrs. Marshall Rutherford
Mrs. J. E. Rutherford
Mrs. Bellett Lawson
Mrs. Thomas Lyter
Mrs. F. O. Tayler
Mrs. J. Q. A. Rutherford
Mrs. S. F. Barber
Mrs. W. Franklin Rutherford
Mrs. Charles Smith
Mrs. John Y Boyd
Miss. Eliza E. Rutherford
Mrs. J.A. Lutz
Miss Margaret S. Rutherford
Miss K. Virginia Ruhterford
Mrs. Charles Forney
Mrs. James Boyd
Mrs. Edgar Martin
Mrs. J. F. Myers
Miss Janet Elder
Mrs. S. Gray Bigham
Miss Keziah Rutherford
Mrs. Arthur Bailey
Mrs. Alison Mayhew
Mrs. H. F. Kramer
Mrs. Howard A. Birchall
Mrs. John Wensell
Mrs. Thomas Smallwood
Mrs. John Elder
Mrs. Wm. Sourbur
Mrs. Ricker
Mrs. S. H. Rutherford
Mrs. Donald I. Rutherford
Miss Eleanor G Rutherford
Mrs. George C Martin
Mrs. Hudgins
Mrs. J. H. Sheesley
Mrs. Harry Holmes, Jr.
Mrs. George Sheaffer
Miss Isabella Rutherford
Mrs. A. P. L. Dull
Mrs. Kochenderfer
Mrs. H. A. Rutherford
Miss Helen Rutherford
Mrs. Daniel Ricker
Mrs. J. C. Wensell
Mrs. John Schuster
Mrs. William Kunkle
Mrs. Harry Fitting
Mrs. Joshua E. Rutherford
Miss Matilda Elder
Mrs. Harry Holmes
Mrs. S. Ralston Dickey
Miss June Rutherford
Miss Mary B Rutherford
Miss Martha K Rutherford
Mrs. Howard A Rutherford
Mrs. Robert C Welsh
Miss Margaret Brown Rutherford
Mrs. E. M. Mulock
Mrs. Darwin F. Pickard
Miss Eva Kunckle
Miss Caroline Smallwood
Miss Inda H Kauffman
Mrs. J. S. Rose
Mrs. J. A. Rose
Mrs. Francis W. Rutherford
Mrs. David Martin
Mrs. Kochenderfer
Mrs. Matthew B. Elder

Women are also acknowledged in the beginning pages by the editor for their contribution to this history.  This cookbook is rich with detail and if you ancestor is listed, you will learn much about their time and their religion as well as what they ate.