Gilpin observer., 1908-11-19


you and yours forced VyW
INTO the spotlight of
puohcity because you gave thanks in too
uearty manner Indications a few davs
Deiore the memorable holiday suggested
" nei IN the turkey market in the
West ana Tor that reason the king
pm Oh the Thanksgiving meal was attain.
w aoie among those who perhaps year
ago were not fortunate when the
birds were higher in price
with over SO,O0OOOO persons giving
thahks perhaps 100000 don't know
"hy-ln these United States there are
',ooo'ooo turkeys consumed on Thanks
eNins oay. Inc preparation of the birds -
" 'ie eaole is one OF the countrys great
INDUSTRIES Tor several months before the
grubfest takes place. Roast mig duck g
geese and chickens are also sandwicbed
In as Thanksgiving delicacies. and their
preparation for market and the festive
BOARD Is also big proposition tn tho
men who do the work -
SiAly-seVen years ago the Both of No l..
vember was the first THANKSGIVING dov
ever appointed Tor and observed in Chi.
cago' observed, be 1t said. by the people
seheraiiy' There probably were in the
population Of between 1000 and nm
souls as many New Englanders as tbaro n.
were New Workers Pennsylyanfans or -
ohioans or southerners and some amona -
those from New England remembered =
the old home custom of giving sneciaI -
thanks and spreading an extra bountifuI roo
on the last Thursday in November and pri
Vateiy observed 1t. But by the large maiorit,
OF the Inhabitants 1t was entirely ipnorod -,
possibly by the most 1t was wholly mnlno,,n -
The New England influence however wo. th.
most active OF any and soon was the controIlins
element. In 1S41 1t was sufficiently yiriIe IL
introduce and establish the annual Thanksgiy
ing as an institution
sixty-four years are but few in the life of tht
ihsututions OF city or country. but in thi.
case the period carries one back to within a
years or the incorporation OF Chicago.
In 1S41 the fifth mayor. Francis C. Sherman
was in the chair of municipal state .nativ,
OF Connecticut. he was OF Puritan ancestr,
ana mad been brought up in reverence of the
religious and social customs of New England
He came to Chicago In 1884, when the legal,
organized town was one year old and at once
started in the business OF keeping a board
ing mouse. The first year he was in this bust
ness he observed the Connecticut THANKSGIVING
by giving his boarders the first Thanksgiving
dinner ever provided In Illinois
To facilitate matters he had not the best O,
education-he betimes sent to Buffalo for q bar
rel OF good apple cider, which was frequently
used on this occasion.
But this humble occupation of boarding
uoupe ADohiiaCe ulu HOt COHtenL MIN Tor long
He had worked at brickmaking in Connecticut
and just then good bricks were much needed
in Chicago. and he was just the man to supply
them. There was available clay without going
farther for 1t than to where Adams and Market
streets now cross each other and there he sci
up his kiln. The first good house made Of his
bricks was his own. 1t was built in Lake
street. near Clark He had now become q
leading citizen. He took a good citizens In
terest in public affairs and had political infu
ence.
This Puritan born, this giver of the FIRST
Thanksgiving dinner In Chicago, waited but
four years till he took his turn in the mayor
atty.
And he made his occupancy OF the office
memorable by ordering his official clerk, Thorn.
as Hoyne. to draw up the first proclamation
of public Thanksgiving ever seen in the west
mayor Sherman's Thanksgiving" as the
majority of the citizens derinively called 1t.
was gladly observed by every New England
family in the place. but that was the extent
of its observance Christmas was already a
greater day in New York than Thanksgiving.
and in the other Atlantic states out of New
England and In the southern states Thanks.
giving wa mostlv unknown. Settlers from