Rush Reunion Recap

Our family reunion day dawned pleasant, cool, and fair. Actually it wasn’t too bad under the shelter at the park. It helps when there is a little breeze, however, I heard that the pool numbers were down from the previous years. And I’m sorry about the miscommunication about the time. Hope it didn’t spoil your fun!

The attendee that came the farthest drove straight through from California. Also, the cousin who introduced David to me via a blind date was there. We were delighted to see all who attended!

And yes, I did write the reunion invitation poem. I’ve had several poems published, mostly in literary magazines in my youth. I decided this year I would crank up the creaky writing skills and get to work. It took me awhile without a rhyming dictionary, but I’m glad to say, I believe the poem came out all right! It said what it needed to say! *smile*

I must say though, I don’t know what happened to all the picnic tables (must make note to self = remind folks to bring lawn chairs and card tables next year). There wasn’t enough seating to go round. Hey, family, if you are reading this, call or write Eldon, MO’s Chamber of Commerce and urge them to purchase or build more picnic tables or get up the 4-H’ers, Boy Scouts or a high school shop class to make and donate some more. I’m sure they would appreciate it! We will!

Did you get to visit our table at the reunion? We had “Rush Report” order forms and copies of each of Gaynelle Moore’s books for your viewing pleasure as well as many ancestral photos to view. Also, I think the neatest thing was Rev. Alexander Sullen’s certificate, signed by the President of the United States, for his service in the Civil War which we received when David ordered his veteran tombstone from the government. Alexander is buried at the Spring Garden, MO. cemetery where the Christian church once stood. 

There was electricity at the shelter. David had his laptop hooked up to it. 

In regard to the Reunion invitation address list – I do not share it with anyone except those members of the family directly involved in the reunion planning. And we are often the last ones to know when family members move, pass away, or get married. In the past few years, I’ve sent out directory update forms but few have been returned. IF you are interested in receiving a notice to the next reunion, please try to remember to contact us when your situation changes. I especially need your descendants’ (grown children who move out) addresses. And even if your last name isn’t RUSH, but you are descended from a RUSH, or are related to one through marriage, you are welcome to come! The more the merrier!

And for your information, only dead relatives are allowed on our blog, unless we get your permission to relay your personal data such as in the “Family Links” for research or advertising purposes (at our discretion, see side menu) or if you make a comment under an article. If you wish to comment or ask a question and feel uncomfortable about leaving your full name, please leave your first name and I will answer underneath yours via the pop-up contact post (return to blog for answer after a couple of days or click notify box) or leave your email address (again I state I will not publish it; it's for my eyes only) and I will answer you via our reunion email. Use whichever method that suits you best.

David and I tried to get to the Miller County Museum before they closed, but didn’t quite make it. One or two family members headed over to Rush Chapel Cemetery to check it out! Then at suppertime, a large group gathered at Lehman’s Mennonite Restaurant (permanently closed) over in Versailles for the best open-faced roast beef sandwiches with mashed potatoes and brown gravy (they also have a dinner/salad bar w/ dessert; Yum!) and a few split off to go miniature golfing in Osage Beach. There was worship at the Eldon Nazarene church the next morning and shopping at the local flea markets in the afternoon with lots of visiting in between. I enjoyed myself, did you?

Rush Reunion_2012

Family Picnic

By Dolores J. Rush

Mother on a summer day

Put on her apron of gingham gay

Cooked a dish of home-dried fruit

And pressed her husband’s Sunday suit.

Washed the dishes, made the bed

Boxed up fried chicken, loaves of bread

A cake or pie, the butter and jam

Deviled eggs and a bit of ham.

She tied up the dog and fed the cat

Gathered the kids; their ball and bat

Grabbed lawn chairs; a quilt to sit on

Directed daddy to load the wagon.

Putt, putt to the picnic at the park

To see grandma and grandpa, cousin Fred, until dark

To have a bit of frolic and bunches of fun

To splash in the pool and roast in the sun.

Mother brought her latest project, a recipe or two

To share with her sisters and cousins too

A snippet of fabric; a start of a houseplant,

School photos to dole out to all great-aunts.

Mother had a delightful time; a visit with the folks

Her family’s day ended on a gentle note

Full of happy memories; good food; tired bodies too

They couldn’t wait till next year to begin anew.

Recipes of Tacy Emma Berry Ullom

Miss Tacy Emma Berry was hired on as a nanny to Mr. Alford Ullom's six children after their mother, Samantha, and baby sister passed away after childbirth. Eventually, she cooked for Mr. Ullom. He ran two businesses in Coffeyville, Kansas, a café on Main Street and an inn called the Farmer's Home . Tacy and Alford were married two weeks before the Dalton Raid on the Banks in 1896. Here are some of her recipes that fortunately have been recorded by her youngest daughter, Laura Belle.

Cake

1 cup sugar
1 ¼ cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder.

Mix together =
¼ cup melted butter
2 eggs in cup & fill with milk
flavor
Put all these in bowl together and beat 5 minutes. Layer or loaf.
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Cornmeal Griddle Cakes

2 cups milk
2 cups cornmeal
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon melted shortening
3 level teaspoons baking powder

Mix by stirring thoroughly, let stand a few minutes for meal to swell.
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Johnny Cake

2 cups whole, sour milk
½ cup brown sugar
2 teaspoon soda dissolved in milk
4 tablespoon butter
2 cup cornmeal
2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
Bake in moderate oven. Raisins or date gems may be made by adding ¾ cup of chopped & seeded fruit to the batter.
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Milk Pie Crust

(for one two-crust pie)

Ingredients = ½ cup lard, ¼ cup milk with just enough flour so you can roll and handle the crust.
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Cookies

2 cup sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1 cup sour milk
4 cup flour
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To Can Beans

Pick beans. Put in clean jars cold to 1 half gallon jar. Add 1 teaspoon salt. Put in boiler and boil for 3 hours. Fill jars up with cold water before cooking. Fill up in a inch or so of top. Put false bottom so cans don’t break. Cook for 3 hour.
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Dill Pickle Recipt

1 quart vinegar
2 quarts water
1 cup salt

Heat real hot & seal.
Put in some dill.
Wash cucumbers. Put in glass jars. Pour liquid hot over the cucumbers. Seal tight.
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Mustered Pickels Recipt

1 gallon vinegar
3 cups sugar
½ cup salt
½ cup dry mustard

have pickles in glass jars. Put over cold. Seal tight. They are fine. Don’t weaken vinegar.

More to Read:
Cookbooks

Compiled by Dolores J. Rush

Poke and Grits

I recall a recent conversation with a desk librarian at the library we visit quite frequently. She asked me if I had ever heard of the phrase “poke and grits?” I wasn’t sure what she was referring to, so asked her where she had heard this term. She said her mother always told anyone who asked what they were having for supper that they were having “poke and grits.” As a young girl she was curious to know where the expression came from so she asked her mother about it and her mother said it was her mother's expression. So the next time her grandmother came to visit, her grandma told her,  “poke your feet under the table and grit your teeth,” meaning “get ready to eat.”

I don’t recall that my mother ever saying this to us, but I do remember her telling us to wash up right before she brought the food to the table.

In David’s family, the saying was "come to the table before the food gets cold,” which sometimes meant wild greens –young poke sprouts, lambs quarters and burdock, fried morel mushrooms (YUM! 😋), fried wild meats like squirrel, rabbit, fish, frog legs, turkey, eel, coon or tame meat and vegetables. Often there was wild grape or elderberry jelly to spread on Grandma Marie’s homemade lightbread and sometimes wild blueberry pie or custard pie to eat. And like us, they didn't eat grits except as a hot breakfast cereal.

I asked my mother after we were married, why our family never ate wild things and she relayed a story about how after the first winter after her grandparents moved to Oklahoma, they were starving for fresh greens in the spring and gathered a big bunch up, cooked them and about poisoned all of themselves to death, not knowing the proper plants to pick in that area. After that time, her family stayed away from picking wild plants to eat. My dad, however, loved to hunt deer and we fished (mostly catfish) at Grandpa's pond on the farm.

And my husband's family also has another saying in their family about eating -- "chickie fly high, no good eat." A wandering gypsy, tramping through their part of the Ozarks, in his broken English, told them that one must be careful about what wild birds one eats -- certain flying birds were not edible -- one had made him sick! 😛

More to Read:
Cookbooks
His Relatives' Recipes

Written by Dolores J. Rush.