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Writer's pictureRecipe Legacy Project

1951 Ohio Methodist Church Cookbook, Ladora, IA


The 1951 "Come and Get It" Favorite Recipes cookbook was a publication put together by the Women's Society of Christian Service (W.S.C.S.) of the Ohio Methodist Church in Ladora/Victor, IA. According to the introduction of the book:

"In the year of 1940, the Ohio Methodist Church reorganized their Women's Missionary Auxiliary into a new organization, namely - The Women's Society of Christian Service. The present members are: Mrs. Sue Davis 1862-1953 and Mrs. Carrie Keil 1870-1953 who are life members."

Other members are:

Miss Mae Davis 1894-1995

Mrs. Esther [John] Haas 1905-1996 (Mother of Eunice Bean)

Mrs. Mae Davis 1898-1989 (Daughter-in-law of Sue Davis)

Mrs. Eunice Bean 1925-2009 (Daughter of Esther Haas; sister-in-law of Alice Stattler)

Mrs. Boneita [Alvin] Eggert 1924-2019 (Daughter of Hazel Risdon)

Mrs. Treva [Cecil] Gorsch 1926-1993 (Name spelled Gorsh on headstone; maiden name Scandridge which matches another name on list)

Miss Esther Babb (Found mention of "Rev. Esther Babb, pastor of Pilot Grove and Ohio Methodist churches" in the obituary of Mary Slager. Was able to track down Esther's memorial through her sister, Helen Babb Pfoutz.)

Mrs. Effie [Earl] Shaw (I'm going to discuss below the rabbit hole I fell into while trying to find her. This is a great genealogical learning moment.)

Mrs. Vera Mohr 1902-1999 (Sister-in-law of Eileen Shafbuch)

Mrs. Florence [Charles] Dietrich 1923-2004 (Daughter-in-law of Ella Dietrich)

Mrs. Vivian [E. Burdette] Lortz 1920-2013 (Granddaughter of Sue Davis, Daughter of Mrs. Mae Davis)

Mrs. Anita [Audry] Border 1922-2019 (Daughter of Effie Shaw)


*I've linked the above names to their Find-a-Grave memorials. Amazingly enough, I found everyone except Elizabeth McGuire, who I created a memorial for!


Additional names in the book include:


Mrs. John [Elizabeth] McGuire (c.1932-1979) *Found her death notice in the 11/13/1979 Cedar Rapids Gazette, created Find-a-Grave memorial

Mrs. Russell [Alice] Stattler (1919-2007) [Sister-in-law of Eunice Bean]

*Sidenote: Poor Russell Stattler. Weeks of hiccups...I just can't imagine.















What complicated matters was that they list the women of the church society on the introduction by their first and last names, but in each recipe, the ladies are listed as Mrs. [Husband's Name]. Of course, this was fairly standard at the time, but it sure can make genealogy difficult! However...it can also help a GREAT deal. A great rule of thumb is that the more information you receive, the merrier!


A little about the church...


The Ohio Methodist Church building still exists, although little information is known about the current church except for a Facebook account that hasn't been recently updated. Link to the page: New Covenant Parish/Victor and Ladora, IA.

It was wildly easy to find most of the names on this list, as they were nearly all buried in the church cemetery! At one point, I was just searching the cemetery itself and coming up with match after match.


Okay, so let's discuss how I found Effie Shaw.


I was getting exceedingly spoiled by this cookbook. Literally 95% of the contributors were buried in Ohio Cemetery in Ladora, IA. All I had to do (for the most part) was do a search in that particular cemetery, and I was finding people left and right. This appears to have been a tight-knit community and people laid down roots to stay. In fact (a first...and probably last for me), I found each and every single contributor to this cookbook. Trust and believe, life is usually not that simple. People have nicknames. Last names change. People move. People divorce. So let's throw the genealogical curveball that is Effie Shaw.


Step 1: Upon a precursory search of Effie Shaw, I found no match in the church cemetery. I expanded my search to Effie Shaw's in Iowa. No good leads.


Step 2: I then questioned if Effie was a middle name or a nickname. I researched the name Effie, which is usually short for Euphemia. Very uncommon name. I tried plugging Euphemia Shaw into Find-a-Grave and received no results.


Step 3: I pulled up the other Shaw in the cookbook, Mrs. Earl Shaw, on Find-a-Grave. He was married to a Faye Shaw, who passed away in 1937. Didn't seem promising.


Step 4: Opening the Newspapers.com by Ancestry site, I started to look for "Mrs. Effie Shaw" in Iowa. This is where it starts getting interesting. I find the following social note in the Williamsburg Journal Tribune in 1946:

Okay. Maybe Effie was from Canada? I began looking up Effie Shaw's in Canada. There were a couple that fit the age range: two from Ontario and one from Manitoba. All possible, but none of the spouses matched. I remained skeptical and continued the newspaper search.

From the 6/29/44 Williamsburg Shopper. I think we're getting somewhere. Some familiar names are starting to pop up: Mr. Aurdy (misspelled: actually Audry/Audrey) Border. Mrs. Border was formerly Anita Maudlin. Okay, Maudlin. Anita is the daughter of Mrs. Earl Shaw. BINGO. I think we may have cracked the case.


Step 5: So, if we think about it, Anita's maiden name is Maudlin. That means (hypothetically) Mrs. Earl Shaw was originally Effie Maudlin. Let's try that Find-a-Grave search again:

Looking into this memorial, she has a daughter Anita Maudlin Border. I hollered to my husband in the other room, "I FOUND EFFIE!" As supportive as he is, he wasn't nearly as excited. However, where does Earl Shaw come in? We're not done quite yet.


Step 6: Pulling up Effie's memorial, her husband, Lloyd Zell Maudlin, passed away in 1935...after all of Effie's children were born (All children have last name Maudlin). If you remember from earlier, Earl Shaw's wife Faye passed away in 1937. So, Effie and Earl likely remarried each other after Faye passed away and remained married until Earl passed away in 1968. They were both buried next to their first spouses, which accounts for why they were so hard to connect. Effie would have been in her mid to late 40s when they married, so additional children were likely not in the forecast. Also, they were both buried in the same church cemetery as most of the parishioners in the cookbook. I'm very confident we've cracked the case.


Step 7: I requested Effie and Earl's memorials be attached in Find-a-Grave, so others would be able to trace the connection. Satisfying conclusion to a complicated case!


The key in genealogy...is to never, ever give up!


Finally, before we wrap up this installment of the Recipe Legacy Project, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite advertisements, helpful hints, and pieces of wisdom inside the cookbook.





Until next time! :)

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