Place of Origin

United States

Date of Composition

likely began ca. 1840s

Description

This recipe book is part of the library's collection of the papers of the French family, a socially prominent family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The family was established in Milwaukee by Samuel W. French (1850-1917), who settled in the city after his graduation from Harvard Medical School, in 1873, and raised four children there with his wife, Minerva ("Minnie") Boardman French (1850-1928). The recipe book belonged to Samuel French's mother, Sophia B. Clark French, who married Samuel Lorenzo French (1813 or 1814-1879) in 1839. "Find-a-Grave" states that Samuel W. French was born in Quebec, Canada. Whether the recipe book was compiled in Quebec, at least in part, or in the United States, where the family may have moved at some point after Samuel W. French's birth, has not been established by Manuscript Cookbooks Survey. 

Part of this collection, possibly including the recipe book, is physically housed at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries' Archives Department / Milwaukee Area Research Center.