Thatcher Magazine - April 2010

FAMILY HISTORY
Jennie May Thatcher and Her Flowers
Quotes & summary of "Growing Flowers for Market" by Forrest Crissey
Jennie's cliping Book I, dated March 17, 1906 (newspaper source unknown)
"There are several choice and valuable building lots in LaGrange, Illinois - a residential suburb about sixteen miles from chicago - which are owned by a woman and were paid for from the output of her flower beds." So begins an interesting look into the life of our Aunt Jennie Thatcher.
The story of how Miss Jennie M. Thatcher became the pioneer of ameteur flower-growers for the Chicago market is like a chapter from a quiet New England romance ... a charming tale of thrift, persererance and industry, according to Forrest Chrissey, news reporter.
Jennie's father was Nathaniel Thatcher, a partner with Lewis Ellsworth in a flourishing and profitable nursery business for twenty-five years. In an unfortunate 1874 business venture, they met a decided reverse, Thatcher finding himself the possessor of mere remnants of the tree nursery - a commodity he was at liberty to take or leave, as he might choose. Miss Thatcher's reaction was that of true New England spirit as she was determined that those 'remnants' of a liflong business were no way of settling a partner's "bad debts."
She had worked as a seamstress, at the prosperous wages of $1.50 a day and had put aside quite a snug little sum. She at once informed the family that she would spend every cent of her savings to move the nursery stock from the Naperville business to LaGrange, een if they had to make a bonfire of it, rather than leave it behind. A homestead was bought in LaGrange and a small amount paid down on it with the balance being secured by a mortgage. All the energies of the family were instantly and fully dedicated to the lifting of the mortgage - and Miss Thatcher's nimble needle was reckoned quite as able an aid in this warfare as the strawberry bed or the blackberry patch. There was no bonfire. Instead, every tree, bush, vine, shrub and bulb was carefully planted and nurtured.
Early in the spring, as Miss Thatcher took a Sabbath stroll about the place, she saw that the Deutzia gracilis had burst into prodigal bloom. Its sprays of delicate white blossoms seemed all the more welcome because there were almost no other blooms in sight to offer rival charms.
"How nice they look!" she remarked to her father. "They are just as pretty as anything you can see in the window of a flower store in the city." Her own words contained the seed of suggestion which flowered into a rather daring determination. Very quietly - almost secretly - she cut a big basketful of the beautiful sprays and, next morning, put it upon her arm and took the cars (CB&Q or streetcar) for the city.
There were no wholesale florist shops in those days - only four years after the great Chicago fire - and so she went into the first retail flower store that came in her way. Lifting the cover of her basket, she displayed her wares to the proprietor.
"Those do look nice and fresh," he remarked, "but of course, there isn't very much demand for them. Besides, we have so much spoil on our hands, you understand, that we can't afford to pay what it's really worth to grow them."
Miss Thatcher, unfamiliar with the discouraging statements of the florist, heard many variations on this theme in the thirty years since then. However, the florist offered her two dollars for her blooms. She accepted eagerly and went her way rejoicing - and figuring on a new and unheard-of line of attach upon the mortgage. Her fare in and out had been thirty-five cents, but she concluded the returns were better than those to be had by sewing ten hours; and the work pleasanter. Next day, she was again in the city with another basket of gracilis sprays and a determination to learn how to turn all the "flower stock" from the old nursery to good account.
By going to another store, she learned that she had parted with her ware at too cheap a price, and that she must play the game of barter and trade. Her next offering was in the form of great clusters of peonies - the very early red variety.
Although her first season's experience in flowers did not leave Miss Thatcher with a bank account of sensational proportions, she saw clearly that there was something substantial to be made from this pleasant avocation, and she began to plan for the next spring so that every salable blossom should be marketed. The first of these was the fragrant plumes from the luxuriant clumps of lilacs - a part of the old nursery remnant that was not expected to yield anything but gratuitous springtime perfume. The choicest clusters of these white and purple blooms were cut and carried to the city, bringing the plucky vender ten cents a bunch for the white and five cents for the purple. Though they were bulkly and did not command a large price, they yielded so abundantly that the total revenue from the lilac busines was very satisfactory.
The peony beds also brought a fair return, particularly as they required very little labor or attention beyond being covered in the fall. For the early reds she secured a 'fancy' price and the late pink and white blossoms also sold well. Altogether, the peoonies averaged at least fifty cents a dozen and yielded generously. Year after year she worked to have the early ones earlier and to hold back the late varieties until they had little competition in the market.
The common snowball was in full bloom on Decoration Day and met a ready sale for that occasion with a single order bringing $7.50. In earlier years when "set pieces" were in greater favor, the globe of the snowballs were torn into pieces and the fragments used in a popular kind of decorative work. Now, however, there is little demand of this kind, and Memorial Day was about the only time when there is a reliable call for snowball blooms.
The close of Miss Thatcher's first full year in the business left in her hands a net profit of fully one hundred dollars and stronger determination to master the problem of growing flowers at home for the market. Although her bed of native Lilies-of-the-Valley had been decidedly profitable, she learned that the 'bells' of the imported variety were much larger and more numerous. Consequently she secured a thousand of the imported plants. The dainty sprays from these brought her as high as three cents apiece. All the leaves that went to market with the blooms were cut from the old bed of native plants. The first cuttings of Lilies-of-the-Valley were generlly made about the middle of May. The newly planted "valleys" do not bloom freely until at least three years of age when the harvest increases in volume for several years.
Indirectly, the bed of 'native valleys' led Miss Thatcher to one of her most signal triumphs. She became ambitious to grow "Jac" roses and, by dint of considerable inquiry, found a man who was willing to trade her a quantity of "Jacs" for an equal number of "valleys" taken from the original bed. These, however, did not meet the measure of her ambition, and she paid cash to another dealer for more plants of this favorite rose.
Upon her bed of "Jacs" Miss Thatcher lavished an amount of care, labor and tenderness that could not fail of a generous reward, and they gave her of their rich and fragrant blooms in a measure that fully satisfied her expectations. At first she tried to carry the blooms to market in boxes, but finally her father had an inspiration which solved the problem in a most original and satisfactory way. One morning he came into the home with his arms loaded with huge burdock leaves. Taking a cluster of the roses, he wrapped them in the folds of the cool, damp burdock leaf - the stem sticking out below the old armor which protected the blooms. This ingenious wrapping interested the florist, and when the burdock leaves were removed, the roses were invariably found to be in excellent condition - better than those handled in any other manner. The prices which she secured for the first-fruits of her investment in "Jacs" brought her fifty to seventy-five cents a dozen and she gradually increased the stock until she had not fewer than two hundred in blooming condition.
The climax of Miss Thatcher's experience as a grower of "Jac" roses came most unexpectedly. It was back in '88 before the modern American Beauty had crowded every other display rose to the wall. It was the day before the Derby was to run at Washington Park. Her beds of "Jacs" were at their best and she had never carried into the city so heavy a cutting from them as loaded down her baskets that day.
Most unexpectedly, however, she did not meet with a ready buyer for them. Either the florists to whom they were offered did not want them at all, or else the prices at which they would take the roses were too low. This was a keen disappointment to her, and not in her whole experience had she felt more discouraged than when she waslked down the steps into the flower shop kept by "Mike" Gallagher, one of Chicago's pioneer florists. She told herself that if he did not want them she'd ask him to put them in his refrigerator over night.
The moment he lifted the covering of the basket and saw the green stems of the roses - their heads hid in the hoods of burdock leaves, he exclaimed, "Just the thing! I've got the order for decorating the winner of the Derby tomorrow, and I'll make the saddle of Jac roses, that I will. But it will take a heap of them. And I'll need five dozen with long stems to do the bridle. Can you get me a lot more?"
Every available bloom was taken from the bushes the next morning, the two days' cuttings amounting to sixty-five dozen in all, for which she received $23.50. The "Duke of Norfolk," owned by "Lucky" Baldwin and ridden by "The Black Archer," was the winner. As the dusky jockey was lifted from his mount, a saddle of "Jac" roses was thrown upon the back of the big bay and nodding clusters tied upon his bridle while thousands of spectators yelled themselves hoarse at the spectacle. Even Lucky Baldwin, himself, almost wild with delight over his triumph, took little more quiet and abiding satisfaction in the event than did the woman who had grown the roses so cleverly massed into the shape of a saddle. She did not see the flourish of hats, parasols and handkerchiefs in the grand-stand.... The conclusion of this article could not be found in Jennie's Clipping books - believe me, we looked and looked for the missing words! Ntc
Editor's note: We descendants, both male and female, of Nathaniel and Lydia Carpetner Thatcher, do often, and with some rgularity, exhibit traits of thrift, ingenuity, creativity and industry - along with determination, perseverance and outright stubbornness - all in a polite manner - with respect and grace. (Some of us even have green thumbs) Thank you for DNA we can be proud of!
As a young girl and teenager, I remember Aunt May and Maud's side lot garden, under ancient oak trees, as a carpet of tall, pointed green leaves and the bigtest, most fragrant Lily-of-the-valley ai have ever seen. There were breen areas of round-leafed Violets - violets with blooms as large as a quarter; a big patch of them grew in my Dad's garden in Congress Park where we picked them and Mother showed them off in a beautirful vase set in the middle of our dining table. There were beautiful, fragrant flowers on our dining room table almost every season of the year.
Did I mention that Jennie May Thatcher was a red-head? Could that genetic trait be the overriding reason her obvious and apparent stubborn traits mentioned above seem more apparent, visible, obvious and blatant in those Thatcher descendants with red hair? My mother was a bit wary and concerned at the fat that I arrived with red hair (and I could never understand her apprehension). She seemed to think red hair made me unpredicatable - or some such thing. somehow she feared I would be just like Jennie ....
As for myself, I was fascinated by my great-aunt Jennie. I heard a lot about her from
dad and Mother, May and Maude, and learned more about her by reading her notebooks and clippings, discovering the things that interested her. I would love to have met her and talk with her. In my mind's eye, Jennie was a combination of the qualities of Dad and Mom, May and Maude - perhaps a bit more dynamic and definitely more colorful than any one of them. Not a bad combination - red hair or not! Nancy Thatcher Cerny 01 April 2010 \\

FAMILY NEWSLETTER
from Nancy in Mountain Home, AR
Since we didn't hear much family news for this April 2010 Blog, I'll just mention we have two cats living with Carol and me.
Daphne-Dum-Dilly has lived here twelve years. Then, last fall, a sneaky feline began cozying up to Carol. (Cats have a tendency to do that with her.) After some investigation, nobody claimed ownership of this odd-looking stray. A neitered male, he made strange noises - not like meowing or purring. He was quite thin with a very long body and lets, standing head and shoulders above Daphne and 1/3 more in body length.
Carol, of course, thought we should keep him. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of another cat - especially an indoor-ourdoor cat, but she persuaded me.
We took him to the vet who listed him as 7 years old but she would not speculate on what breed of cat hemight be. In spite of living in the woods, he had no ticks, no fleas, no worms or other disagreeables. He was healthy enough to allow in the house with my 'fat' cat.
I named him Galaxy Star Chaser because his spots are stars tht change shape as he moves. The two cats are learning to tolerate one another.
Since he has a look about him that is tall, long, lean, strange, odd and different from any other cat, I recommend you look him up on line at: www.Most-Expensive.net/Cat-Breed. That's our Galaxy! ntc \

THE SISTERS - by Marjorie
With April just around the corner, Nancy and I prepare for a new journey.
We will take a bus tour to Washington DC. We are calling to get each others opinion on hat we are taking, what we think we need, what will the weather be like? We are used to jumping in the car and having plenty of room to take all we want and need, leave when we want, stop where we wnt and, in general, we are very independent. This is a new experience for us and it is with great anticipation for a fun, eventful and interesting trip. I can sit back and leave the driving and planning to someone else and Nancy can sit back and not have to read the maps or program Rhoda, my GPS (On-the-Rhod-A-gain). We are allowed one suitcase tht will be in the luggage compartment and one carry-on to keep with us. Now we are questioning what size carry-on. I will ring one of my old ackpacks for it sips closed to throw overhead and has plenty of room. I just need extra shoes, snacks and a sweater near as well as water to drink. We are expecting a fun time together - We'll let you know how things go. Marjorie
We'll meet in Springfield, MO on Wed., April 7; board the Sunnyland Tours and Travel bus in the wee hours of April 8th, and hope to arrive in Washington DC in time for the Cherry Blossoms and the Festival. Our return date is april 15th. Ntc

INSPIRATION
"If ever a time should come, ,when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." ---Samuel Adams ----- 1776

SPRING THOUGHTS
First a howling blizzard woke us,
Then the rain came down to soak us.
and now before the eye can focus - Crocus
--Lilja Rogers

BED IN SUMMER
In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light
In summer quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people's feet
Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
to have to go to bed by day?
---Robert Louis Stevenson

STORIES TO SHARE
Jennie's Clipping book #7, transcription nktc May 2003
ERECT A HANDSOME CLOCK
LaGrange State Bank Putting Up
Large Illuminated Clock on Corner of Fifth and Burlington
LaGrange is to have a large, illuminated clock place so conspicuously that it will be visible to commuters hurrying to and from Fifth avenue station, for which thanks are due to the LaGrange State Bank people who are leaving nothing undone that will contribute to the attractiveness of the new building or be an accommodation to the public.
The new clock stands about seventeen feet high on the southeast corner of Fifth and Burlington avenues, far enough out so it is not hidden by the trees and the large dials can be seen for considerable distance in all directions. It will be illuminated at night so that time can be read as easily after dark as at noonday.
It is a Seth Thomas clock and is guaranteed to accuracy so that hyrrying suburbanites can depend upon it. The company is putting it up with the guarantee that it will not vary a minute a month for five years and as the company's manager, W. J. Miller, lives in LaGrange, he will doubtless see to it that the clock is "on the dot."
The clock will be operated by weights and rests on a handsome iron standard that will make an ornament to LaGrange as well as a great utility.

NOTE: Being no date on this clipping (not unusual in Jennie's Clipping Books), I emailed the LaGrange Area Historical Society for help. Here is the response I received the following day:
The Seth Thomas Tower clock installation recorrds indicate that the clock was manufactured for the LaGrange bank in 1912. An article appraring in the Life newspaper on April 1, 1987 noted that the clock was installed in 1913 at the northeast corner of Burlington avenue and LaGrange roads and then moved to its present location in 1928. (I have no idea where its present location is....?) ntc \

BLOG
This BLOG is intended as a magazine of monthly editions with five major categories: Family History, Family Newsletter, The Sisters, Inspiration, & Stories to Share.
Family members are welcome to contribute to the blog, Thatcher Magazine, by accessing the editor through either 'comment' space on the blogsite or by emailing nktcerny@suddenlink.net or phoning (870)425-8264. (You can use snail mail if you prefer.)
To date I know little about managing a blogsite, but I learn something new each month. Thank you for your patience...

OK, I'M JUST SITTING HER WAITING TO HEAR FROM YOU! Nancy y Te