I’ve been distracted by my day job lately, and work on the Search for JMC’s Roots is progressing slowly. So while I keep chipping away at finding and organizing data from 1790s Lower Canada sources, here’s another evocative lithograph from Currier & Ives, depicting a scene that Jonathan Clark might have experienced in his youth.

Durrie, George Henry, artist, Autumn in New England: Cider Making, lithograph, Currier & Ives, New York, 1866. Yale University Art Gallery, Mabel Brady Garvan Collection.

Did Jonathan and Mary (Turck) Clark cultivate apples and press apple cider on their Mequon farm? Perhaps.

About three years ago I took a first, general look at the crops that the Clarks and their neighbors grew and harvested in 1850 in our posts Harvest Time: 1850, part 1 and Harvest Time: 1850, part 2. As I recall, there were not yet any acres in the Mequon area that were in use as mature, productive orchards in 1850. That may have changed by 1860. One of these days I need to take a look at the Agricultural Schedules for the 1850 and 1860 federal census in old Washington/Ozaukee county and see which crops were being grown and harvested by which settlers, including the Clark, Bonniwell and Turck families.

Meanwhile, it’s early November, 2023, and our local farmers are about to close their farm stands for the winter. While you still can, go visit your nearest orchard or market and see if you can find a gallon or two of freshly squeezed local apple cider. There’s nothing better, and now is the time to enjoy it.

Cheers! and see you soon with more Clark House history.