Hunting Morels

Even the name makes my mouth water. It has been a lot of years since I sat down to a plate of morels, but every year they haunt my memory.  In the late spring, after the snow had slowly melted away and the earth was moist and full of fragrance my Grandma Sadie and Grandpa Maurice would go foraging for morels.  They had several spots that they would go to each year, and you had to promise to keep the location a secret. I knew that it was a special thing to be included as the secluded locations were to be treasured and protected for the hunt "next year" and you did not tell "just anyone" where those precious spots were. 

Morels were mainly to be found somewhere near a rotting log or fallen tree.  Their little rounded waffle like heads would be peeking up from the humus rich soil below last year's leaves and twigs or they might surprise you as you moved the early spring grass and weeds around with your hands.  No matter the size, from as small as my young thumb to as big as Grandpa's hand, they would be carefully pulled up and stored in a sack.  One of the locations I remember going was near the Julien Dubuque monument which is high on a hill with a beautiful view overlooking the Mississippi River and the outlet from Catfish Creek on the outskirts of Dubuque.  I think there is now a fence there, but we used to make our way up and down very carefully on the steep slope and around the backside of that hill.  It was usually a goldmine for morels.  

With our bag full of morels, we headed home, and the anticipation would begin. As we would watch with our heads just barely above the countertop, Grandma would fill the sink with fresh water and carefully set several morels in at a time to be swished around to remove any dirt still hanging on to the mushrooms.  Then she would trim the stem edges and except for the smallest ones, she would cut the morels in half, top to bottom.  From there they were laid out on clean kitchen towels to drain, patted dry then wait on mealtime to be cooked.  I remember running out to look at those morels on the towels.  They had such beautiful patterns and intricacy that several years later when I was in high school, I made a silver pendant based on that memory.

When the time came, Grandma put on her apron and pulled out her large cast iron fry pans. She would turn on the burners, put the pans in place and heat them up before tossing in generous chunks of fresh butter to foam up, slide around on the hot surface as they melted and then sizzled. Grandma would lay the morels in the pan a few at a time so that they would brown in the butter but not steam each other.  Between the smell of browned butter and those morels, our feast could not come fast enough!  As they were finished the morels were put on a platter in the warming oven and the process repeated a couple of times until they were all cooked.  

Grandma would pull the platter from the oven and set it on the dining table. One of the most distinct memories I have of my grandmother was hearing her call "Dinner's ready" any time we visited their home, and we were always happy to come running. I can not remember anything else on the table besides the morels but knowing my grandmother I imagine there was a plateful of other good things to go along.  With a pile of morels served up on my plate, I would cut off a piece, close my eyes and pop that bite into my mouth.  

Heaven.  

In my memory, their taste is delicate and distinctive, a wonderful gift from nature.

© Karla Von Fumetti Staudt

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored on a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without prior permission of the copyright owner and publisher.

 

The Teacher

 

From Harriet's 1912 Ranch School souvenir booklet.

Harriet Shookman was likely destined to be a teacher.  She was raised by her parents, Samuel and Dora (Manley) Shookman, who obviously valued education for their five daughters enough to encourage them to not only finish school, which was 8th grade at that time, but to go on for additional training to become teachers so that they could support themselves. Hattie's two older sisters were accomplished teachers ahead of her and her two youngest sisters went on to become teachers as well.  In addition, her uncle, Willard Manley, was a schoolteacher, writer and newspaper reporter in Richland County, Wisconsin from the mid-1880's until his death in 1928.

Hattie graduated from 8th grade at age 15 the end of May 1910.  Her teacher that school year was her oldest sister, Lura.   

Below is the monthly report summary for Hattie's last year in school. 
There were three terms to the school year and final exams.
Note that there was no rounding up of the monthly average earned.

What was your score in Orthoepy?***

The reverse side of Hattie's School Report.

Signed by her teacher & sister, Lura Shookman.

Signed monthly by Samuel F. Shookman, Hattie's father.***

Hattie, Lura and Ina all traveled by train to the Arizona Territory shortly after Hattie's graduation and family stories indicate that they all worked at Ingleside Club and Resort just north of Phoenix.  The resort opened for business in the winter of 1910 and the girls were some of the earliest employees at the resort.  It was a winter season resort only due to lack of air-conditioning and according to the Arizona Memory Project, "it featured a main building, cottages, a rough golf course and a full range of guest activities".  The girls probably lived on the resort property but their Uncle Bert Manley's family and cousins lived about ten miles away in Phoenix.  Hattie told her daughter, Kathleen, that she was in Arizona for about a year or a little longer.  

The Ingleside Resort in 1910 when it opened.
https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/digital/collection/splimage/id/41/

Lura, Ina and Harriet Shookman

Believed to have been taken in Arizona in 1910 or 1911.

According to her daughter, Kathleen, Harriet followed 8th grade by attending the Teachers' Normal school in Sparta taking a six week course, probably after her return from Arizona in the spring or summer of 1911.  Hattie sat for her first Teacher's Certificate exam in August 1911 in Sparta, Wisconsin to become certified as a "Third Grade Teacher".  She signed her first teaching contract at the age of 16 with the Town of New Lyme in Monroe county on 11 September 1911 with an agreement that she would teach for 8 months at a starting salary of $30 a month. 

Hattie's first Teacher's Certificate showing that she qualified as a "Third Grade" Teacher 

on 19 August 1911 demonstrating that she was able to teach elementary school in a wide variety of subjects.  This certificate also acknowledges Hattie's six weeks of Professional School.**

Hattie signed a contract with the Monroe County, Wisconsin School District as an elementary teacher in the Town of New Lyme at Ranch School.  The contract was for eight months and the agreement was to pay her $240 for the school year, or $30 a month.  Signed 5 September 1911.**

The contract (split over two pages in Hattie's scrapbook)  reflects the scores she received when she took the certification exam.  Although this form says that Hattie was 17 years of age, she actually was only 16 at this time and had no previous teaching experience.**

Hattie attended a 10-day Teachers Institute at the Normal School during the summer of 1912 and took the yearly test to be certified as a teacher again that August for both the Third and Second Grade levels now entitling her to teach some high school level courses.  Many of her exam scores increased dramatically in addition to her becoming certified for teaching at a higher grade level in new subjects.  The Town of Greenfield offered her a position at the Purdy Valley School for both the first and second halves of the school year, September 1912 - May 1913.  During that same year, sister Lura taught at Union Valley School and Ina taught at La Crosse Valley School.  All three girls celebrated the end of the school year with a picnic joining the students of all three schools.

Hattie's 1912 Teacher's Certificate for Third and Second Grade levels.

She qualified to teach additional course work in American Literature, English Composition, Physical Geography and Cataloging of Libraries.

This certificate acknowledges that Hattie had taught 8 months prior to this year and that she attended a Teacher's Institute for 10 days during the summer of 1912.**

Harriet holding the reins to her father's team of horses, sitting with sister, Ina 

in front of her first school building, Ranch School, Town of New Lyme.***

Hattie signed two separate contracts with Monroe County for the school year 1912-1913.  She was moving on to another school in the Town of Greenfield known as Purdy Valley School.  With this agreement, Hattie received a raise in pay to $38 per month.  Among several signatures representing the District School Board was that of Louis Avery Kenyon who would become Hattie's father-in-law three years later.**

Harriet Shookman with her students standing in front of Purdy Valley School 6 May 1913.***

A year end school celebration was held in May 1913 combining the students from the three schools taught by Hattie and her sisters:

Harriet Shookman, age 18 - Purdy Valley School

Ina Shookman, age 21 - La Crosse Valley School

Lura Shookman, age 23 - Union Valley School

There are two women in the front row.  The one kneeling on the left is Ina Shookman and Harriet is seated almost center in the front row.

Lura Shookman is standing just beneath and to the right of the La Crosse Valley School banner.***

Harriet, along with Lura and Ina again took the train west to Arizona sometime after the end of the school term about May 1913 and likely returned to work at the Ingleside Resort.  While she was in Phoenix, Harriet sat for the Arizona exam earning a Second Grade Teacher's Certificate.  I have found no record that she taught in Arizona, and there is no family story that she did although she obviously considered doing so.  Her sister, Lura, returned to Monroe County at some point before her marriage on December 23rd, 1913.  The picture below is believed to have been taken on this trip west.

Ina, Harriet, and Lura Shookman (L to R)

Likely taken in Arizona ca. 1913, possibly in uniforms for the Ingleside Club

Postcard of the Ingleside Club near Phoenix, Arizona.*** 

Harriet's Arizona Teacher's Certificate awarded December 1, 1913.**

Harriet was back in Wisconsin to stay by late summer 1914 when she sat again that August for her teacher's certificate, picking up a new qualification in Economics.  Although a copy of that year's contract is not in the family's possession, Kathleen verified that her mother did teach a 3rd year at Purdy Valley School from Sept 1914- May 1915.  

Harriet's 1914 Teacher's Certification from Monroe County.**

The land for the Purdy Valley School was deeded to the school district on 11 September 1911 by Louis Avery Kenyon for $1.  The school yard was carved out of the original Charles W. Kenyon homestead farm in Section 5 and was adjacent to the family farm.  In an e-mail written by Bessie Kmiecik in 2014:

According to the deeds that I have in my possession, Mr. L. Kenyon deeded the parcel of land to the school district on 11 Sept 1911. There is a previous location which was deeded to the district by an Ellen Elizabeth Hart. in 1906. The cost of each parcel was just one dollar. I have another little slip of paper which gives the dimensions of the school as 20 by 42 feet. The two toilets or "latrines" were both 10 by 12 feet and were valued at $15 dollars each. The school building, known as District # 4, Monroe county, was of brick construction. 

Living at the adjacent Kenyon farm when Harriet started teaching in Purdy Valley was her future husband, Charles Kenyon, his father Louis Avery Kenyon and Louis' widowed mother, Adelaide (Purdy) Kenyon.  Adelaide made her home with the two men after the death of her husband, Charles W. Kenyon and the death of Louis' wife and Charlie's mother, Gertrude (Vandervort) Kenyon, both in 1910.  

Although Harriet never taught school again after her marriage, she followed in her Uncle Willard's footsteps and wrote social articles for the local newspapers about life in the Town of Greenfield which she published over several years. 

Even though Charles left school before graduating from 8th grade when he was about 14 years old, Harriet and Charles were a strong force in the push for the education of all 8 of their children.  Their family lived and farmed in Purdy Valley, a rural area of the Town of Greenfield which was several miles from the high school in Tomah.  Every Monday during the school year, Charlie would take the high school age children into Tomah where they boarded with their great-aunt Cora (Kenyon) Heser during the week.  He would pick them up on Friday afternoons to return to the farm for the weekend.  The oldest 5 children, Doris, Veva, Glen, Kyle, Jim, and Jeanette all attended high school this way starting in 1933 through the fall of 1941.  Helen and Kathleen attended high school after the family moved into Tomah in October 1941.  The importance of the education of all their children was apparent despite the fact that it came at a cost to the family because they were not home during the week to help with the work output on the farm or the home at the height of the Great Depression.  

Two of Charles and Harriet's children went on to college, the first on either side of their families to do so.  Kyle attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison and earned a law degree.  Kathleen attended 3 semesters of college at UW-Madison, partly on scholarship and through the loving high school graduation gift from Kyle of $50 which helped pay tuition in addition to income she earned while in school.  Although Kathleen left college after the middle of her sophomore year due to lack of sufficient funding available for her to continue, she returned to college in the fall of 1981 and graduated from Clarke College in Dubuque, Iowa with a B.A. in Computers and Accounting.  

*From the collection of Jean (Kelley) Gluege, grand-daughter of Harriet.

**Harriet's Teachers Certificates and teaching contracts are found in a scrapbook that she put together of memorable papers from her early life.  The scrapbook was inherited by Helen (Kenyon) Kelley, then inherited by Jean (Kelley) Gluege who gifted it to Karla (Von Fumetti) Staudt for preservation and use in our shared family history.  

***From the collection of Dolores (Siekert) Kenyon, daughter-in-law of Harriet

© Karla Von Fumetti Staudt

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored on a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without prior permission of the copyright owner and publisher.

Earliest known origins of the surname Fumetti

I am a member of the Guild of One-Name Studies and I am in an ongoing process of a study on my maiden name, Von Fumetti.  As part of the project, I am looking at all instances of the surname to be found throughout recorded history as well as its dispersal throughout the world including population of the name in those areas as well as variant spellings. This includes a Y-DNA surname study in an effort to determine allied families and the earliest use of the surname.  My study can be found at https://one-name.org/ by entering the search word "Fumetti".

The earliest use of the surname in any variant I have yet found is FUMETI in the late 13th and early 14th century in Albi, France.

The only information provided is of this family unit:

 

Raymundis Fumeti

Born about 1245 of Albi, Department of Tarn, France

Died about 1286 or 1289.

Marriage: 1271 of Albi, Tarn France

Mrs. Raymundis Fumeti

Born about 1249 of Albi, Department of Tarn, France

Children:

1. Male:  Raymundis FUMETI

                born about 1272 of Albi, Department of Tarn, France

                died in prison in 1306 AD.

 

2. Male:  Berengarius FUMETI

                born about 1274 of Albi, Department of Tarn, France

                died in prison in 1306 AD.

 

3. Male:  Iacobus FUMETI

                born about 1276 of Albi, Department of Tarn, France

                died in prison in 1306 AD.

 

This information was recorded in the Latter-Day Saints Ancestral Family Tree in 1988 by Timothy M. Tinney but the original source of this information is not cited.  The Tarn, France Archives do not show that they have Civil, Catholic, or other religious documents for this time. As all 3 Fumeti sons died in prison it is possible that the records are not to be found in religious sacramental records but in some other form. 

Looking at the time frame during which this family lived and died in Albi there are multiple potential theories on why the three sons might have been imprisoned and died in 1306 other than common crimes against the state or church.

The first is discussed in an article from the The Connexion, French News and Views, "Secret history of France’s cities: Albi" by Julia Faiers published 25 September 2019.  Below is an excerpt from her article with a link to the entire piece.

https://www.connexionfrance.com/Mag/Explore-France/Secret-history-of-France-s-cities-Albi

Cathedral Basilica of Saint Cecilia, also known as Albi Cathedral

Visitors to the southern city of Albi wonder at the looming bulk of its medieval cathedral, standing tall above the river Tarn.

 

Constructed from rosy brick rather than the stone of Gothic cathedrals in the north, Albi’s cathedral looks more like a fortress than a church.

 

Instead of delicate spires reaching up to heaven, this cathedral sports massive semi-circular buttresses that resemble defensive towers.

 

The windows are high, to prevent people from climbing up.

 

The cathedral could be defended from its machicolations – holes in the walls for throwing out projectiles or pouring burning liquids onto attackers.

 

From the time of its construction, which began in 1282, there was only one main doorway.

 

But why would a church, supposedly open to all Christian believers, be built with defence in mind?

 

The simple answer is that this cathedral spells out in bricks and mortar the aftermath of the persecution of the Cathars in 13th-century Languedoc.

 

It was built as a fortress of faith, to keep believers in and heretics out.

 

For those unfamiliar with the Cathar heresy, the Cathar religion offered an alternative route to salvation, one which challenged the fundamental teachings of the Roman Church and denied its sacraments of baptism and marriage.

 

The Church’s response was to crush the heresy. Thousands were murdered during the Albigensian Crusade, which began with a massacre at Béziers on 22 July, 1209, and ended in 1229, though resistance continued at a Cathar stronghold, Montségur, until March 1244.

 

So why was Albi cathedral built like a fortress, when the Cathar heresy had been stamped out some 40 years before the first brick of the cathedral was laid?

 

Many historians agree that the heresy was not wiped out but went underground, where it spread as a secret society, holding nocturnal meetings to practice the outlawed faith.

 

The Church was aware of the ongoing threat to its power, and in response created the fearsome Inquisition.

 

The biggest prizes for inquisitors were the Cathar spiritual leaders, Les Parfaits, whose punishment was to be burned alive.

 

Those escaping death sentences were imprisoned for life in underground cells.

 

Evidence suggests such prisoners were kept in dungeons beneath part of the bishop’s palace, called la Berbie (pictured left), next door to Albi cathedral.

 

While the feared Inquisitor of Languedoc, bishop Bernard de Castanet of Albi, entertained his elite guests in luxury surroundings, below ground men were being tortured for deviating from official doctrine.

 

No visitor to the cathedral today would guess its cruel history.

 

Later in the 13th century, King Philip IV inherited power at the death of his father in 1268.   As King, he is known for solidifying France into a centralized power instead of a conglomoration of smaller feudal strongholds.  Among his many dictates, King Philip IV expelled the Jews from France in 1306 and in the following year purged the Knights Templar from France by arresting them for heresy with most being burned at the stake or imprisoned for life.  

Of unmistakable note, Raymundus, Berengarius and Iacobus Fumeti all died in prison during 1306.  It is unknown if Catharism, Judaism, or religion at all played a part in their incarceration and eventual death in the prison.  Their names are certainly immortalized in the Fumetti family as the first known to carry the surname.  Perhaps future findings will shed light on why they were imprisoned in Albi prior to their deaths.  

The red pin in the map below indicates the location of Albi, France.

The Fumetti surname is currently found in Italy, Corsica, Germany, Austria and the United States.

© Karla Von Fumetti Staudt

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored on a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without prior permission of the copyright owner and publisher.

First, Patricia

I am currently editing my mother's book which she wrote in the last few years of her life.  I have plans to publish it in the near future for extended family and local history buffs in the area where she grew up.  This is an excerpt from the beginning chapters...

Kathleen Karyl Kenyon
The earliest photo we have of Mom
Taken circa Summer 1934
Note the hand holding her in place!

FIRST, PATRICIA

Seeing as I’m starting at the very beginning of Kathleen’s life, this tale must begin with Patricia Ann as she arrived before Kathleen.  On Thursday, September 29, 1932, the first Patricia Ann Kenyon was born. She was born into the family of Harriet and Charles Kenyon who already had a family of seven children, four girls and three boys.  It was a very short life of which I have no memory and to the best of my knowledge she only existed for a very few days.  She was born at home in a small log house in Purdy Valley, Greenfield Township, Monroe County, Wisconsin.  Due to the BUB syndrome, busy, unconcern, and booze, the doctor who should have attended her birth was negligent, he never arrived until well after the fact.  Some say he stopped at a well-known still on his way to the delivery.

Two of Patricia’s older sisters, Doris and Veva, were the villains in that poor baby’s life.  They took advantage of the fact that the doctor who should have attended her birth was rather haphazard in carrying out his duties, and used that knowledge to eliminate Patricia.  At the time of her birth, both Doris and Veva were students at Tomah High School. They stayed in Tomah with Charlie’s Aunt Cora Monday through Friday. Charlie would take them to Tomah on Monday and bring them back to the farm on Friday. 

They spent their weekends at home on the farm.  The first time they saw their baby sister, she was one day old.  They each had one reoccurring thought that popped into their minds over and over that first weekend of Patricia’s life. “Patricia Ann had to go.”  That same thought remained the following week when they were back in Tomah. 

Both of them knew and strongly disliked another Patricia.  Their beautiful baby sister was not a Patricia.  Patricia Ann had to go.   They made their secret plan, plotted their dirty deed, and transferred their thoughts into action.  To insure success, they had to keep their plan secret. Outside interference could stop their plan cold.  Action first. Talk later.

The first step was to visit the derelict doctor.  As they suspected he had been negligent one more time. He had not sent the birth certificate into the state or even filled it out. Those two innocent appearing young ladies took advantage of the doctor’s negligence.  They told him that Hattie and Charlie had changed their minds and now wanted to name the child Kathleen Karyl.  The doctor believed them and eventually sent the birth certificate in with the name, Kathleen Karyl.  

Success!  Their plan had come to fruition.  There is no record of Patricia’s existence or a grave marker to distinguish her brief life. She just disappeared.  No one heard of Patricia Ann Kenyon again for some eleven or twelve years, until the second Patricia Ann Kenyon arrived, when Glen and Dolores gave that name to their first child.

Now the Kathleen who emerged, I remember well.  In fact she and I became very close during the ensuing years.  Her beginnings might be questionable, but she is the only immaculate creation since Mary that I have ever heard of.  She wasn’t even born; she was created out of whole cloth and was already five days old on the day of her creation.  The rest of this narrative will be devoted to her life and her memories.

The Villains

Doris and Veva Kenyon
Taken circa "the time of the crime"

The notification that the birth was registered, finally arriving over a month after Kathleen's birth.

© Karla Von Fumetti Staudt

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored on a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without prior permission of the copyright owner and publisher.