Birth date unknown
Death 2000
This story and recipes sent in by Cindy Hummel are a great example of legacies and memories. Cindy and her family are carrying on traditions and enjoy memories of a woman they never met.
AC
What a wonderful way to honor Martha Hostetter. Without Cindy sharing, the world would have missed memories of Martha.
Our house was built in the 1860’s. We purchased the home in 1999. Martha Hostetter along with her sisters and brothers grew up in this home. She lived here until she went into a nursing home in 1990. She never married. She died in 2000 at the Lebanon Valley Brethren Home in Palmyra, PA. As far as I know she was the last of her immediate family. I believe Martha to also be a lifelong resident of Annville. She attended Annville United Methodist Church.
Since Marta had no children of her own. We respectfully treat her home as the Hostetter-Hummel family home. A home passed down from her generation to ours. We missed meeting her by days just before she passed away.
I had the chance to speak with the nursing home staff. I learned she loved to bake and was very skilled at candlewick embroidery. I was able to purchase and “bring back home” several pillows she had made in the nursing home. The pillows now adorn a sofa, child’s bed and a wicker chair.
Her father Jacob B. Hostetter purchased the home in 1927 from Susan Flickinger widow of Benjamin Flickinger. Jacob raised Martha and her 6 siblings in the home (we now reside in). Jacob died in 1954 leaving the home to his children, who in turn sold it to their sister Martha.
We are working hard to restore Martha’s wonderful old family home. Martha’s century old rose bush still blooms in the backyard as do her peonies and English thorn apple tree. The wide plank heart pine flooring from the 1800’s has been rescued from layers of linoleum and refinished. The old kitchen cupboards have been painted their original soft gold. Her old clothesline still waves my sheets dry on sunny days. We have four grandchildren who love playing in this old house, where seven children raced before them.
I love the happy little surprises we find. Ripping up the old linoleum in the kitchen last month. We moved a heater away from the wall to expose and refinish the wood floor. The heater must have been in a place where people came in and laid things. Inadvertently things fell behind the heater and were not seen until now. Behind the heater we found a 50 year old letter from Martha’s sister Emma, news clippings from the 1930’s, electric bill ($4.62) a card with Martha’s Sugar Cookie recipe on one side and yellow cake recipe on the other.
Every summer my daughter-in-law’s and I get together in my kitchen. We peel, cook and mash bushels of local apples into applesauce to freeze. So imagine my surprise and delight when we found a letter. It was dated August 25, 1958, from Miss Emma Hostetter to Miss Martha Hostetter. The letter referenced a “ Mrs. Hoy’s sister” who had a “great big apple tree at the side of the garage” and “who gave a great big bag of apples.” It gave the best applesauce she had ever tasted. What a wonderful tradition we have inadvertently carried on.
Martha’s siblings’ names were: Emma M. Hostetter, Oscar M. Hostetter, Carrie M. Hostetter, Meyer M. Hostetter, Mamie M. Hostetter, Jacob M. Hostetter.
Contributed by: Cindy Hummel
Soft Sugar Cookies
Martha Hostetter Recipe
Date of Birth unknown
Death 2000
Contributed by Cindy Hummel
3 cups white sugar
one cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup milk
2 tsp. Baking powder
one tsp. baking soda
one tsp. Vanilla
6 cups flour
Bake 375 degrees 12 minutes
From the Editor: Original recipe has no instructions. I would recommend the following:
Sift baking powder, baking soda, and flour together in bowl.
In separate bowl:
Cream butter and sugar together (2 minutes medium speed electric mixer.)
Add eggs (beat 2 minutes medium speed)
Alternate flour and milk into mixture
Cookies may be rolled out and cut or rolled into small balls. Place on greased cookie sheet.
Yellow Cake
Martha Hostetter’s Yellow Cake
Contributed by Cindy Hummel
2 cups sugar
½ cup shortening
3 eggs beaten
one cup sweet milk
3 tsp. Baking powder
3 cups flour
Bake 350 degrees
From the Editor: Directions I would recommend:
Sift flour baking powder into bowl
Using separate bowl cream sugar and shortening (2 minutes medium electric mixer)
Add eggs (beat 3 minutes medium speed electric mixer.)
Alternate flour mixture and milk into mixture (using low speed electric mixer) until well blended.
Pour into 3 greased and floured 9-inch cake pans.
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Easy Recipe For the Month
Freezer Fig Preserves
Also works well with other fruit
5 cups figs
3 cups sugar
1 large box strawberry Jell-O
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Place figs and sugar into heavy boiler
Bring to a slow boil
Add Jell-O and lemon juice
Boil 2 minutes
Mixture must be stirred constantly
Cool slightly, put in pint containers and freeze
Will keep in refrigerator 2 weeks after thawing.
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Poorman’s Cake: My mother use to make a cake called Poorman’s Cake. It was made in a 9 by 13 pan. She used swans down flour it also had raisins in it, with a glazed topping.
Tiperary: My grandmother use to make something she called tiperary. I am not sure if the spelling is right. It was made with dried beef, with perhaps a tomato soup base. As a child I refused to eat it. I think I could appreciate it now. But I can’t find a recipe.
Sent in by Jean.
Published in U S Legacies Magazine May 2003
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