It was the middle of May, 1913, the valises had been shipped down and the servants settled in for the summer at Kate Roosevelt’s farm in Hightstown, New Jersey mysteriously named “Merdlemouth.” For the next several months, Kate and her daughter Dorothy Roosevelt Geer, son-in-law, Langdon Geer, and grandson, Langdon Geer, Jr. would shuttle back and forth between their rural respite not far from Princeton and their mansions in New York City, chauffeured by Louis Bourke, their loyal man behind the wheel of the simple, but sturdy Model-T Ford.
Ford Model-T
According to advertisements, “It was the motor car built for the great multitudes,” and for Kate Roosevelt’s needs, perfect for traveling the rolling country roads surrounding her farm in Mercer County, New Jersey and the unpaved highways winding their way north to New York City.
Hightstown Street Scene
In addition to Louis, the family also employed a cadre of household help and farmhands. Mrs. Roosevelt made it obvious in her diary entries that she relied on them to keep her “home on the range” running smoothly. Before moving down for the season, she sent the maids, Margaret and Delia ahead to prepare the house after its long winter’s nap. Cobwebs cleared, fireplaces polished, fresh linen on the beds and in the kitchen, the maids, Bella and Mary made sure the pantry was stocked with fresh food from the surrounding farms to ensure Kate Roosevelt’s inaugural night at Merdlemouth was a comfortable one.
Hightstown General Store
But during her first meal in the quaint farmhouse, she had to “Get up from the dinner table and read the riot act” to two of her handymen, Helgar Aronson and John Vetter who were having an old-fashioned fist fight. It seemed that Helgar “was not suited for the place.” He had been fired and most likely blamed his sudden unemployment on the elder, Mr. Vetter. Whatever the reason, Helgar Aronson left the next day and was promptly replaced by “a new chore boy.” As a strong wind blew, William Storey, the new man, was efficiently settled into his room in the just-added-onto servant’s quarters Kate called the “Men’s House.”
Hightstown Train Station
Merdlemouth was what I imagined to be a gentleman’s farm only in this case, run by a woman: the well-to-do widow of President Theodore Roosevelt’s cousin, Hilborne Roosevelt. It was a place where Mrs. Kate Roosevelt “pottered” around in the greenhouse raising violets and seedlings and relied on the produce and dairy raised there only for the family’s consumption.
La Bresse Chicken
The farm produced its own chickens and eggs and in the diary entry for May 28th there was a mention of LaBresse eggs coming from Mrs. Messenger’s farm. La Bresse hens were a breed born and bred in France. Since they are not permitted to be imported to the United States, a breed known as American Bresse was raised in the United States in the French tradition of a special diet of high protein and free-range roaming. They are called the “Queen of Chicks” because of their reputation for being tasty and tender as well as for the grade-A quality of eggs they lay.
American Gothic
According to her diary, Kate Roosevelt had ordered several dozen hatchling eggs to replenish the flock in her henhouse. I could just imagine the tranquil scene at Merdlemouth with chickens clucking underfoot and fresh eggs on the table and a vision of the painting “American Gothic” by the artist, Grant Wood, minus the man and the unflattering fashions came to mind.
Other inhabitants of the farm included, Dobbin, who pulled the wobbly wagon and occasionally picked up weekend guests from the nearby Princeton Junction Train Station. The horse also had a habit of getting loose in the feed yard and finding his way into the center of town. But what is a farm without an unruly horse, a small herd of cows for fresh milk and a flock of pheasants that made hunting season a thorn in the side of Mrs. Roosevelt.
Making a daisy chain for Decoration Day, 1911
The month of May ended with a diary entry celebrating Decoration Day, now known as Memorial Day. Three years after the Civil War ended in 1868, the head of a group of Union Veterans established Decoration Day as the time for the nation to decorate the forgotten graves of the war dead with flowers.
Decoration Day Parade
It was decided that the occasion would be celebrated on May 30th and believed that the date was chosen because the weather would be warm enough for flowers to be in bloom over the entire country. The holiday was known as Decoration Day until 1971 when it was renamed Memorial Day and observed on the last Monday in May.
Picnic in nearby Princeton
On May 30, 1913, Mrs. Roosevelt gave her staff off so that they could attend parades, enjoy waving flags and watching fireworks, visit cemeteries and picnic in nearby Princeton.
Sharon Hazard’s Dowager’s Diary appears every Thursday.
Photo One:
Dorothy Roosevelt Geer and her husband, Langdon Geer
Noel Geer Seifert Photo
Photo Two:
Ford Model-T
oldcarsbrochure.org
Photo Three:
Hightstown Street Scene
Library of Congress
Photo Four:
Hightstown General Store
East Windsor Historical Society
Photo Five:
Hightstown Train Station
East Windsor Historical Society
Photo Six:
La Bresse Chicken
wiki
Photo Seven:
American Gothic
Grant Woods Painting, Chicago Arts Institute
Photo Eight:
Making a daisy chain for Decoration Day, 1911
Library of Congress
Photo Nine:
Decoration Day Parade
Library of Congress
Photo Ten:
Picnic in nearby Princeton
Library of Congress
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