The Early Home of Miss Louise B. Hannon and Louise B. Hannon’s Chocolate Fudge
“Surrounded by cherished mementoes and furniture, accumulated over several lifetimes in her family, Miss Hannon continues to enjoy daily living in a home built to withstand generations of living.”
-The Saginaw News, March 23, 1966.
Six decades ago, when Louise B. Hannon’s home at 727 North Michigan was featured in The Saginaw News, the house was already 115 years old and had been moved twice. 727 N. Michigan had been her family’s home for decades – she still resided in one of the homes of her childhood youth.
The following month, after the piece about her cherished home at 727 North Michigan, The Saginaw News published a story exploring Miss. Hannon’s childhood – she was 85 when the article was written in 1966.
The author of the article opens by explaining the setting of her interview and how patiently Louise Hannon paused for the interruption of traffic noise passing in front of her home on North Michigan Avenue. The writer notes:
“There is grace of good silver about Miss Hannon, Even the whiskered, rough-handed lumberjacks used to call her ‘the little lady’ when she was a tot living with her parents during winters in Saginaw Valley lumber camps.
She lived with them in a special, one-room cabin, built for her parents; at a distance from the big bunk house which sheltered the fabled ’Shanty boys,’ commonly called lumberjacks.
Her father, Thomas Burns Hannon, was a native of Canada and log scaler by profession. The scaler was a key man in any logging camp. His job was to measure the number of board feet in each log and record it. Then he struck both ends of the log with a heavy hammer, stamping his company’s brand mark into the end.”
After exploring the reason for marking logs, the article continued, noting:
“Although she and her parents lived apart from the rugged and quick fisted woodsmen, she saw their life and lot in the timber lands.
‘They were all young able bodied men,’ she said, ‘’and they had to be. After a big breakfast, they left camp before five in the morning while it was still dark. They came back from the woods, in the evening when it was still dark.[‘]
After describing the quantity and quality of food in camps and noting that the only fresh meat in camp was pork – pigs were kept to provide meat. Also, “The pigs solved the garbage disposal problem.”
She described the train trip she and her mother took to the camps and then detailed the cabin in which they made their home during the winter months”
“The one room cabins built for her parents were cozy she recalls, and made more so by her mother’s handiwork in sewing flounces and covers for the bunks and chairs made from barrels and stuffed with straw.
The cabin walls were built of logs still clad with bark. They were chinked with plaster.
‘There was a lot of reading matter on those walls, Miss Hannon chuckled, “because mother papered walls with copies of the newspapers of Saginaw City and East Saginaw.”
After detailing everyday life. She continued
“In the woodland camps, she remembers, they were a disciplined lot for the most part. This all changed when the winter’s work was done and spring drives down river were over.
Many of her girlhood chums were daughters of the mighty among Saginaw City lumber barons. She remains their lifelong friends.” (The Saginaw News, April 15, 1966.)
With the end of Saginaw’s lumber boom, Miss Hannon’s father frequently worked in camps far from Saginaw. However, she and her mother led lives centered in Saginaw, and by the early 1890s, the 1851 home in which the Hannons resided in 1966 was their home–the clumsy, complicated wording of that sentence is a clue to next week’s story and recipe. Before we delve into our recipe, we provide one more clue:
“Mrs. T.B. Hannon is moving the old Ripley house, which for so many years has stood at the corner of Hancock and Michigan avenue, to Michigan avenue, between Mackinaw and Lyons street, where it will be converted into a colonial cottage.” (The Saginaw News, November 20, 1905.)
The Recipe: Louise B. Hannon’s Chocolate Fudge
2 Cups Granulated Sugar
1 Cup Milk
1-4 Cake Baker’s Chocolate [we used 12 ounces of Baker’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate – 56 percent cacao. Coarsely chopped]
1 tablespoon butter
Boil sugar and milk together until quite thick, add chocolate and stir constantly while melting. Try in cup of cold water, when it holds together in a soft ball, take off stove and add butter and whip with egg beater, pour onto buttered plates.
Back to Kitchen with Lakeside Cooks: [Saginaw, Michigan], Lakeside Association, [circa1920].
Note: The title page of book Back to Kitchen with Lakeside Cooks, notes it was available through members of the Lakeside association or at the home of Miss Louise B. Hannon – 727 North Michigan.
CTK Notes: We were terrified by this recipe - and also of making fudge. However, when we started to “modernize” it, we realized we were creating a new recipe – one that really wouldn’t be Miss Hannon’s. So, with great trepidation, we made a crude calibration of the amount of Baker’s Chocolate to use and followed Miss Hannon’s narrative. Note: Research failed us, we were unable to determine what was implied by “1-4 Cake Baker’s Chocolate” We went with 12 ounces. Other than that adjustment, we simply followed Miss Hannon’s instructions. And it worked wonderfully.
The results were spectacular – the CTK test cook nearly fainted and fell into a tray of cooling–setting–fudge. Although it may have been more luck than skill, he survived – jubilantly.
The only thing we note – be prepared to move quickly. Keep a cup of cold water near the range ready for testing. Have plenty of spoons and spatulas within easy reach – also towels for spills. And please have everything ready for the pour – plates buttered or buttered foil-lined cookie sheets.
CTK Taste Testers throughout the Museum can attest--the fudge was quite wonderful. Perfect for your Christmas treats.
