Newspapers often published
weekly “gossipy” columns of so-called “jots,” which were brief, newsy tid-bits about
weddings, births, illnesses, funerals, visiting relatives, various parties, and
a few tragedies. These columns were very popular in the late 19th century
and on into the 20th.
The Cooksville jots are just that— bits and pieces of
every-day village life , consisting of family events, homey aphorisms, brief glimpses
of the lives and times of Cooksvillians written by local correspondents for local
newspapers.
The Cooksville Archives has a number of newspaper clippings,
sometimes pasted into scrapbooks or old ledgers, which contain these published
writings by early “Cooksville columnists.” For almost a hundred years, these local
happenings— neighbors’ comings-and-goings, accidents to man or animal, and almost
anything else newsworthy— got printed in the local newspapers, if the village’s
columnist was made aware of them.
Here are a few of these Cooksville “jots” from the late 19th
and early 20th centuries, mostly undated and sometimes written by
unidentified correspondents:
“It is reported that
a new charm will soon grace Brother Isaac’s smile. Take care of your hearts,
girls,—for he evidently means business.” [1874]
“John Vanfleck [Van Vleck? Ed.] lost his best cow last
Saturday. Too much clover the cause.” (1893)
“The new meat market is in full bloom… a fine steak was
given free to all who came in the first day.”
“A Hop and Eat. The Masons of Cooksville, having completed
their new Hall, purpose to have a Ball, St. John’s day, Dec. 27. The Evansville
Band do the music, and E.T. Stonburner prepares the cuisane [sic] department. We can dance some to the music of the
latter, when properly “mixed” with bivalves, the former has too many short
crooks, for our “pedalihoes [sic].”
[1867. You had to be there, I guess, eating an oyster dinner, perhaps?
Ed.]
“A man was considered conceited if he went about with his
hat brim turned up in front.”
“Put the wrong foot
out of bed first when you get up in the morning and you will be cross all
day. Always get up with the right foot
foremost.”
“A pleasant dinner party was held at J.A. Savage’s last
Saturday. Among the items of talk, one was the discovery of counterfeit money
in an old stump in Dow’s woods…”
“A good many cisterns are dry and people are getting ice
from the pond to wash with. Some fall in and find two feet of mud under the
ice.”
“To cut the finger
nails on Sunday morning is a sign that you will do something you are ashamed of
before the week is out.”
“The funeral of Mrs. Towne was largely attended, Wednesday.
The Coroner’s inquest decided that her death was accidental or caused by
temporary insanity. Investigation showed that poverty was not the cause of the
rash act, as was at first supposed.” [1879. She had jumped in the mill pond.
Ed.]
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| Ralph Warner, “House Next Door” (photo c. 1918) |
“Mr. [Ralph Lorenzo] Warner is settled in his new home,
which he purchased because the old-fashioned fireplace appealed to his love of
old things... He loves everything that
is old and is pleased to show his curios to interested friends.” (1912)
“If the bottom of your foot itches, you may know that you
are to step on strange lands.”
“SIDELIGHTS ON THE FIDDLERS’ CONTEST. Jack Robertson,
Cooksville, was the heavy prize winner. He ought to go into vaudeville; he can
do more things with a violin than a Ford owner can do with a screw-driver….
That boy can play a fiddle in bed with a quilt over him better than most of
them.”
 |
| Jack Robertson (1858-1930) |
“Jack won five of the prizes [at a Fort Atkinson fiddlers’
contest], a beautiful card table, a fine clock, a pair of woolen blankets, a
nice flour bin and a two-dollar piece of bacon.”
“Don’t make a friend a gift of a knife, for according to
every authority versed in sign lore, if you do it will cut your friendship.”
“Blow out the candle and if the wick continues long to
smolder, look for bad weather. If it goes out quickly the weather will be
fair.”
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| Electa Savage (1845-1927) |
“A great white cat, 16 years old, that hunts rabbits and
other wild animals and birds, is the pet of Mrs. Electa Savage, residing at
Cooksville… Last week the big cat brought in eight rabbits, a meadow mole, and
several sparrows. She will tackle a ground-hog without hesitation, and more
than one dog has met with disaster while encroaching on her territory.”
“Four young men of
Evansville pass’d through Cooksville Wednesday evening to attend the masquerade
ball at Stoughton.” [1897]
“Something new... for this community, at least: the frog farm that has been opened on the
Lawrence farm near Cooksville…. A tank, 16x42 feet, and 6 feet deep, with a
capacity for 40,000 dozen of frogs, has been made.” [1916]
“A meeting in the [Congregational] church basement last
Friday was held to find out if it would be well to have the electric lights
here from the Stebbinsville power. It was decided that the following would have
their homes lighted: Joe Porter, Fred Miller, Ole Fursett, Lars Erickson, Bert
and Chester Miller, and the church.” [1917]
“Four animals went to a circus—a duck, a pig, a frog and a
skunk. All of them got in except one. The duck has a bill, the pig had four
quarters and the frog had a greenback, but the skunk had only a ‘cent’.” [1926]
“The new basement of the Cooksville Lutheran Church… will be
dedicated Sunday... The steeple, which was blown down in a severe storm in 1929,
was rebuilt and a new bell installed.” [1930]
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| Cooksville Lutheran Church (photo c.1950) |
“Cooksville Church Plans Annual Lutefisk Supper…. Sixteen
hundred pounds of lutefisk has been ordered and 200 pounds of meat to make
Norwegian meatballs. Several hundred pies, 1,400 lefse, rolls, cabbage salad,
cranberries, and plenty of coffee are included in the menu…” [1956]
“When a Jotter’s far
too weary
For writing up what ‘might have been,’
How this jotter’s heart grows cherry [sic; cheery? Ed. ]
If some jots are handed in.” [1874]
* * *
[From the Cooksville Archives, courtesy of the many “weary
Jotters” these “jots” were found in donated scrapbooks and in the local
newspaper clippings donated to the Archives by Ruth Ann Montgomery, Evansville
WI. Larry Reed]
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