One of Drumheller’s early citizens was Seeta Florence Duncan, the wife of Grover Cleveland Duncan who was the owner/publisher of The Drumheller Mail from the early part of the last century. (Mr. Duncan ran the paper from its beginnings in Munson around 1911 until he sold it to Hap Clarke in the 1940’s.)
This story is not about Mr. Duncan who obviously gained his name from a former United States President Grover Cleveland, but about his wife Seeta.
The Mail recently came into possession of a cookbook that she owned and has survived in amazingly good condition after all these years. The interesting part of the story is that Mrs. Duncan took an out of date printing price book from 1920 that Grover was about to discard, and she decided to use it as a recipe book. These price books were used for years in the commercial job shops that were an integral part of every small town newspaper in those days.
According to a July, 1917, story in the Munson Mail, the Duncan’s were married that month, but Mr. Cleveland must have been so smitten with his new bride that he inadvertently omitted the day they were married. She was “supported” by her brother Albert, and, after a “dainty lunch”, the couple left for a honeymoon at the coast and points in the U.S. (Editor’s Note: It is certainly a mystery to this writer how, he would be able to take such a trip as publishing a newspaper in those days required a lot of work, and it is surprising he could afford the time off).
The recipe book was leather bound, with seven rings and her collection is extremely well-preserved. She both wrote and pasted her recipes inside, on the reverse side of the pages that Grover would have used to price his jobs. It is also a bit of a who’s-who of the day, as some of the
recipes contained therein show the name of the friend she got it from.
Names like Mrs. Shearlaw, who had to have been Joe’s wife, he was an insurance agent, gave her the recipe for date bars and oatmeal cookies. Mrs. Toshach, who was the wife of E.A. Toshach, owner of Toshach’s Department Store, offered her version of white fruit cake. Their son, Eneas, was a former Mayor of Drumheller.
This opposed to a recipe from Mrs. Swain for dark fruit cake, which had to be Lottie Swain, who was the
wife of former mayor, Lou Swain.
As well, Mrs. Duncan had clipped and saved household tips such as “the easiest way to cut marshmallows is
with wet scissors”, and, “to prevent clothes from freezing to the clothesline, wipe the line well with a cloth that has been dipped in strong salt water”.
So, if readers want a recipe for “Red Flannel Hash”, “Oil Pickles”, or “Chinese Chews”, “Tessie’s Potato Flour Cake”, or Mrs. Adam’s “Prize Sponge Cake”, let us know. We’ll be happy to share and won’t leave out any ingredients.
(Thanks to longtime resident John Liptak who rescued the book from his mother’s house on Riverside Drive, which used to belong to the Duncans, and kept it for us. We do remember greeting Mr. Duncan in later years who retired here after selling the newspaper.)
