HOME CANNING
BY W.T. RICKETTS &
JOAN RICKETTS LOCKE
Grandma Hattie Ricketts was truly an inspiration to all of her daughters, daughter-in-laws, granddaughters, and surely will be in future generations. Dad said the house in Barnesville had a rather large pantry with shelves filled to the brim with his mother's canned goods. There was a kerosene icebox, no electricity, so home canning was a must for Grandma if she wanted to preserve food for a family of twelve, plus farm hands. She canned everything from fruits, vegetables, meats, jelly, jams, pickles, relish and I'm sure there was more. Meat was also smoked in the Smokehouse. Hattie churned butter and made soap. Cooking was on the wood-burning stove in the kitchen.
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| James Walter Ricketts born: May 7, 1887 |
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| Hattie Case born: April 11, 1891 |
Come share with me now a small peak at the
married life of:
Hattie Case and James Walter Ricketts.
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| The Barnesville Home in Barnesville, MD. |
James and Hattie were married on July 31, 1912, in Darnestown, Maryland. The first few years of marriage, they owned and operated a General Store and began their family with three children born here. During the 1930's, they moved to a home in the foothills of Sugarloaf Mountain. The family purchased a 600 acre farm on Old Hundred Rd., Barnesville, Maryland. It was on this farm, they raised ten children: Katherine Ricketts Bodmer, Dorothy Marie, James Walter, Jr., Edna Ricketts Wright, Forrest Porter, Edwin Clayton, Julian Eugene, Leonard, William Thomas and Bernard Rathburne Ricketts. The family raised beef cattle, dairy cattle, hogs, sheep, poultry, field crops, slaughtered their own animals and preserved the meat. They sold slate from their small slate quarry, cleared trees for more pasture and maintained fence, raised vegetables and fruits. Hattie and her daughters made most of their own clothing. Whenever Hattie had spare time, she enjoyed playing the piano which was a wedding present from her mother, Catherine Pennyfield Case.
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Hattie and James W. Ricketts June 11, 1949
at the wedding of William Thomas Ricketts to Margaret Louise Pumphrey
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In 1945, they moved to Liberty Town on a farm. Next in 1952, they moved to a home in the town of Taneytown. James W. became a "buyer and seller" of real estate. Their stay in Taneytown was short lived. Although Hattie still had a chicken house out back, James felt too closed in, needed open space, so they moved to a small farm in Keymar. Many family reunions were enjoyed by this "large family."
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The James and Hattie Ricketts Clan at a family reunion
in 1949. James is first on the left and Hattie is third from the left. |
Retirement moved James and Hattie once more to a stone rambler, just outside of Taneytown, on Walnut Grove Road. This would be the last home they shared together. On July 18, 1971, James passed away and Hattie passed on February 13, 1986. They now rest peacefully in the Darnestown Presbyterian Church Cemetery, surrounded by numerous family members, coming full circle, back to Darnestown, where their married life together began.