Farmers Weekly Review

By Sandy Vasko

It has become a holiday of gluttony, but oh what glorious gluttony! And it has been so for centuries. Today, we look at the history of giving “official” thanks.

The roots of the holiday are in the harvest festivals in the 1600s in New England. The first official government mention of an official Thanksgiving Day was the charter given to a group of English settlers in 1619. That charter required the day of their arrival, December 4th, be put aside every year as a day of thanksgiving to God.

Soon the custom spread to all the New England colonies. During the Revolutionary War, eight special days of thanks were observed for victories and for being saved from dangers. In 1789, President Washington issued a general proclamation naming November 26 a day of national thanksgiving. The same year, the Episcopal Church announced that the first Thursday in November would be a yearly day for giving thanks.
For many years, the country had no regular national Thanksgiving Day, but some states had a yearly Thanksgiving holiday. In 1830, New York had an official state Thanksgiving Day, and soon all the northern states followed suit. In 1855, Virginia was the first southern state to adopt the custom.

It was in 1863 that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November a day of “thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father.” For 75 years after that, presidents gave out a yearly proclamation declaring the last Thursday as a holiday of thanksgiving.

In 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt set it one week earlier to extend the holiday shopping season and promote business during the Depression. Many did not like this idea, and celebrated the old Thanksgiving, while some went with the new only to find they did not get paid for the day off. Finally, in 1941 Congress ruled the fourth Thursday of November would be observed as Thanksgiving Day and would be a legal federal holiday. We have newspapers from Thanksgiving Day of 1864, the second official one. The Civil War was still raging, and in Wilmington Thanksgiving was all about the soldier boys. We read in the November 16th Wilmington Independent:

“Arrangements are being made by our patriotic ladies (which includes all this part of the county) to have a Donation for our soldiers in connection with the service of the day. Citizens from the adjoining towns are requested to make note of it, and prepare their donations. Anything which farmers or others have, which will comfort our boys in the field will be acceptable, and is solicited – such as vegetables, fruit, etc.

“In the absence of the above, money will purchase substitutes, and will be as readily received. Please not forget the day and the call. An imminent speaker from abroad has been written to, and will undoubtedly accept the invitation to deliver the Thanksgiving Day discourse. Remember the winter campaign is upon us. Supplies are needed. The demand is an imperative duty.”

The end result was cash contributions of $170.50 (about $3,325 today) and $30.10 ($580) worth of produce.

The 39th Illinois Infantry during that same day, also feasted, thanks to a group of other kind ladies. We read: “The boys of the 39th return thanks through the eastern papers to the ladies of New York and New Jersey for a huge supply of roast turkeys, geese, chickens, mutton, sausage, apples, pies, cakes, and lots of other good things, over which they had a good old-fashioned Thanksgiving.”

In 1875 in Channahon, the writer takes exception to an article printed in the Joliet Sun, which described all the religious services held there on Thanksgiving Day. We read in the Sun: “The last issue of the SUN, replete with information of how Thanksgiving was observed in Joliet and surrounding villages, put us upon our mettle to say a word as to its observance at this place. If our residents are a little behind hand, set it down as one of the peculiar characteristics of Channahon. As our minister remarked the other evening, ‘Some people are three handed, right-handed, left-handed, and behind handed,” we cannot speak of the day as being observed religiously, with the exception of prayer meeting, Thanksgiving evening. Our people believe one day in the week is enough to devote to church going.

“The prayer meeting was well attended and said to be interesting; but as we are not troubled with scruples about eating or the time devoted to that pleasant employment, we enjoyed the day as giving to an appropriation of good things and so evinced our thanks.”
In 1879, we read of a special Thanksgiving in Wilton: “The Catholic element in Wilton have at last a church edifice of which they can feel a just pride. In shape it is quite similar to the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Braidwood.

It is built upon the site of the old church there and is pronounced one of the coziest and neatest country churches in the diocese. Everything about it is new; curtains, carpets, altar, statues, fount, are neat as a new pin and arranged with becoming taste. On Thanksgiving Day St. Patrick’s – for such is the name – was solemnly dedicated to the worship of God.”

In 1917, when the world was at war, a young Wilmington lad, Robert Jardine, who was serving as a medic with the British in France, wrote home” “When I arrived at the mess hall at 12:30, there was a line about a mile long (more or less). When the mess call was blown the cheering mob pushed its way inside and was seated.

After the chaplain had offered prayer the mess sergeant, followed by our orchestra, marched down one aisle and up another with a big turkey decorated with holly. It was a “very impressive appetizer.
“We had oyster soup and crackers, pickles, roast turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes, green peas, apple sauce, celery, crab salad, tomato catsup, bread and butter, pumpkin pie, mixed nuts, coffee and cheese.”