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Mrs. Fannie Wickes’ Cornbread

Mrs. Fannie Wickes’ Cornbread


2 cups cornmeal 1 cup flour 2 tbsp butter 2 tsp sugar 3 tsp baking powder 2 eggs 1 cup milk Salt to taste


Mix and sift dry ingredients. Add milk, well beaten eggs and butter. Bake in shallow butter pans at 375 for 20 minutes.

This corn bread was easy and went well with the chili I made for dinner. Sunday is a lazy day at my house so to quickly mix this up and bake it in 20 minutes was just perfect for a cold winter’s day.

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We started to write a brief synopsis of Fannie [Fanny] Hamilton Wickes's life and then our colleagues from the Local History and Genealogy collection located a copy of her obituary. As it is much more eloquent than anything we are able to supply, we are publishing it instead. May we suggest that you bake a batch of cornbread using her recipe and then read this account of her life. [Cornbread is great with chili and it is fantastic warm from the oven with butter and honey.]


Death of Mrs. H. T. Wickes

A Life Rich in the Joys of True Womanhood Suddenly Cut Short.

Friends of the family were shocked and deeply grieved this morning to learn of the death of Mrs. Harry T. Wickes, which occurred at her home, 324 North Jefferson avenue, about 10:30 today, the result of complications arising from an operation performed several days ago. Her demise was sudden and unexpected till within a few hours of its occurrence and the family and intimate friends were stricken with the most profound sorrow.


Fannie Hamilton was born Feb. 25, 1865, in Piqua, O., a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Hamilton. She came to this city with her parents in her early girlhood, and has lived here ever since. She studied at the East Saginaw High School, was well known in social circles from her first coming and her friends were many and close. She was united in marriage with Harry T. Wickes, October 25, 1885, and was the mother of five children, Arthur Hamilton, Harvey Randall, Elizabeth, Frances and Helen Louise, all of whom together with her husband, survive her. Her father died in August, 1891. Her mother and one brother, Frank P. Hamilton, of Seattle, Wash., also survive.


Mrs. Wickes was a woman of sweet and beautiful character. She was known and loved in a circle of friends who held her dear for the noble qualities of womanhood she possessed. She was a prominent figure in the social life of Saginaw, and equally as a worker in some of the city’s charities. She was an ornament to the circle in which she moved not less for her true womanhood than for her amiable and cultured disposition.


Mrs. Wickes was possessed of all of the superior qualities that are the attributes of the model daughter, wife and mother. She was lovable in the home circle, charming in social life and admirable in the worthy relations of charitable efforts which mark the woman who lives for others as well as for herself. The loss of such a woman to her family is of course inestimable and the grief of relatives and intimate friends seems likewise inconsolable.

Saginaw Evening News May 3, 1901, page 1


In Loving Memory

The Immortal Body of Mrs. Harry T. Wickes Was Laid at Rest.

The funeral services for Mrs. Harry T. Wickes were held Sunday afternoon at the family home, 324 North Jefferson avenue, and were attended by a large circle of sorrowing friends, who had known the beautiful spirit that had passed from the earthly realm, only in love and respect. The casket was almost covered with a profusion of nature’s choicest gifts in the shape of roses, violets and pansies and the remembrances of friends fairly filled the parlor of the home. The Episcopal service was read by Rev. William H. Gallagher of St. Paul’s church, and at its close the more intimate friends of the family accompanied the cortege to Forest Lawn where a short service was held in the chapel, which had also been beautified with a wealth of roses laid by the hands of the dearest and closest friends of the deceased. The internment was deferred until a later day awaiting the arrival of Mrs. Wickes’ brother from the far west. The pallbearers were Thomas A. Harvey, George E. Morely, Edward C. Ewen, Charles B. Mershon, Stuart Morrison and J. Will Grant.

Saginaw Evening News May 6, 1901, page 1



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