Monday, November 26, 2018

Nathan Tyson's patented flour drying process - 1831

Nathan Tyson (1787-1867) married George Ellicott's daughter Martha Ellicott (1795-1873) in 1815 at the Quaker Meeting house in EC.  They lived in Baltimore city and at 'Jericho' by his family mills on the Gunpowder.  He was on the Board of Directors of the B & O Railroad, and historian Scharf wrote after his death that he was "one of the ablest and most honorable merchants of Baltimore."

Monday, November 19, 2018

Thanksgiving Day county fair... IN... the Patapsco Hotel

The Howard County fair began on Thanksgiving Day, 1907, and probably took place in the old Patapsco Hotel, by the train tracks and across the bridge from the railroad station.  The hotel was originally a passenger station for the new Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. A past post HERE.  Ponies, poultry, pumpkins, 'Pekin ducks,' turkeys and more filled all the four floors.

Monday, November 12, 2018

Kiln-dried corn meal

Drying corn in a pan-kiln (patents by 1812, 1816; British patent 1824 at left) for corn meal was said to have been invented at the Lea owned Brandywine Mills (Wilmington, Del).  George Ellicott's daughter Elizabeth Ellicott Lea married Thomas Lea, the son of the founder.

Monday, November 5, 2018

Revolutionary War rations - bread with water

Lea flour mills along the Brandywine near Wilmington, Del. provided flour for Washington's soldiers.  Thomas Lea married George Ellicott's daughter.  Soldiers received a pound of flour per day ration, but bakers could add more water to make a pound loaf of bread, and keep the excess flour.