Hospitality in the 1800’s depended very much on supply. You could not give what you didn’t have, even if it was Thanksgiving. One of my favorite characters from that time is a woman known only as Mrs. Gay. She was only about 15 or 16 years old, a new bride coming to the wilderness with her new husband and a 14 month old baby but she was very spunky!
Mrs. Gay’s house on the Lake Michigan side of Leelanau, had only walls at first, no roof, floors, doors or windows. A lean-to, or open shed with a floor of hewn planks had been built for a temporary kitchen against one side of the house. Inside this unfinished kitchen a tent was then constructed of some spare sails. It was not a place where she wanted to entertain guests, lonely as she was.
Expert Trapper
Her husband, Mr. Gay, was an expert trapper and spent some of his time trapping. One day while he was out looking after his traps, none in the house except Mrs. Gay and her baby, a Native American came to the house and, seeing none of the men about, asked where Mike was. Mrs. Gay told him he was out visiting his traps, whereupon he promptly demanded that she should give him something to eat. When Mrs. Gay informed him she had nothing for him, he threatened to kill her unless she complied with his demands.
Fortunately there was an ax standing in the house only a few feet away from Mrs. Gay. The threat was no sooner made than Mrs. Gay “sprang for the ax and raised it to strike the Indian , who, realizing that his threat to obtain a meal had failed, thought discretion the better part of valor, rushed out the door and left hurriedly.”
Later, Mrs. Gay took the Indian “to task” for his actions, he claimed that he did not intend to harm her, and only did it as a joke, which is probably true. He probably thought he could scare her into giving him dinner, but when he found it out wouldn’t work, he was glad to escape with “a whole skin.”
Maria Dougherty
Maria Dougherty also had to fend off uninvited guests. Dougherty wrote “The young men will stop around and make it more difficult keeping our children in and quiet. They remain after church and Sabbath school and expect to share in the midday meal. This could not be done without considerable additional expense and Sabbath labor.”
But Maria, being the good soul that she was and a good cook as well, no one went away from her house hungry. The Manse eventually became the social center of not only the Mission community, but of the whole Traverse region. On many a winters evening the Dougherty’s table was groaning with Pigeon Pie swimming in its golden gravy, and Maria’s famous tea biscuits. And guests who dropped in, according to Ruth Craker., had a genuinely good time….and of course stayed for dinner, Thanksgiving or not.
Thanksgiving continued to become popular
In the 1800s, the popularity and festivity of Thanksgiving Days increased. Most communities counted on celebrating the holiday every fall. Although the dates still varied from year to year and state to state, by 1825, the holiday of Thanksgiving had become a firm ritual of family life in New England.
Gov. Lewis Cass declared Michigan’s first official Thanksgiving in 1829, long after the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving. In prior years there had been little cause for celebration in the Michigan territory. According to Donald L. Wilcox, curator of books at the University of Michigan Clements Library, food was scarce. There was an epidemic of cholera going around and morale was low. But by 1829 things had begun to improve, and Michigan’s larger cities were celebrating Thanksgiving. Up in the Leelanau however, it took a while longer.
Rev Smith mentions Thanksgiving in his diary in 1850, not in November, but in January
November 28, 1850. “We have had an Easterly wind since Monday. Last night it rose to a terrific gale from the N.E. a gloomy time for those on the water we could scarcely sleep for anxiety”
No mention of Thanksgiving at all there, however the previous January he was all set to celebrate Thanksgiving. In January, 1850, Rev Smith mentioned a Day of Thanksgiving, but decided not to have it after all because his wife was sick. Without Mrs. Smith, who would cook?
From his diary
“Jan 17, 1850. The day is stormy – but the Indians go their usual rounds to give & receive their usual Salutations & marks of kindness . I intended to have had a meeting & regard the day as a Thanksgiving but Mrs. Smith’s illness forbids it – She is about the same.
Thanksgiving becomes official
Sarah Hale Mother of Thanksgiving
During the mid-nineteenth century, New Hampshire native Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey’s Ladies Magazine, led a campaign for many years for the national adoption of Thanksgiving. Finally, Hale, when she was 74 years old, penned an impassioned plea to President Abraham Lincoln to set aside a specific day for annual Thanksgiving celebrations nationwide. “It now needs National recognition and authoritative fixation to become permanently, an American custom and institution.” Hale wrote a similar letter to Secretary of State William Seward, who may have been the one to convince Lincoln it was a good idea. In 1863, after more than three decades of lobbying, Sarah Josepha Hale (and the United States) had a national holiday.
The association of Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims and the Indians did not occur until late 19th and early 20th centuries however.
Thanksgiving Tradition
The tradition has changed a lot from that time, and many people who have Native American heritage now despise the holiday and refuse to acknowledge it. Others choose tho embrace it as a way for family to reunite for the weekend and prepare for the holidays.
Among the Native Americans, Ghost suppers are now held all over northern Lower Michigan instead of Thanksgiving. In parish halls and in private homes, from Cross Village to East Jordan, from Peshawbestown to Petoskey, in Charlevoix, Harbor Springs, and Burt Lake, families are honoring their ancestors and keeping sacred fires burning. The people come by the hundreds to visit each other, tell stories, and honor the ancestors. They are teaching their children the old ways while preparing to walk with pride into the future.
Annishinabek Community
In northern Michigan Anishinabek communities, ghost suppers can occur over the course of several days, sometimes weeks, with multiple suppers being held in the same area. Typically feasts are prepared in a family’s home during the first week of November, before the snow falls and the earth quiets.
Food for the feast is prepared in the early morning, and ranges from traditional Anishinabek food like wild rice, venison and corn soup, to more modern foods that recently deceased family members enjoyed. Tables are then set with spots dedicated solely for the guests, with doors often left open to welcome in the spirits. The days that surround the ceremonies start with a sacred fire that will remain lit and tended to by a firekeeper until the ending of the feast. Food and asemaa (tobacco) will be offered to the fire to nourish visiting ancestors. Guests upon arriving go to the fire to offer prayers and be smudged before joining in. Ghost suppers are more than just a fall feast, and they’re definitely not related to Thanksgiving. It is a ceremonial time dedicated to honor the past and those who have walked on.
However you celebrate, Omena Village Preservation Association wishes you a Happy Thanksgiving!