Lucille Anastasia Cannon’s Cookbook

Lucille Cannon (1895-1975) grew up in Superior, Wisconsin, the eldest child and only daughter of Dennis and Agnes McCole Cannon.  This pre-printed, add-your-own recipe book was designed and illustrated by Louise Perrett and published in Chicago in 1904. Some of the recipes appear to come from Superior friends, such as Mary McKeague, wife of the newspaper publisher, Rose Boyle, and women of the Hughes families.

Each category of recipes was illustrated by Perrrett but Lucille seems to have had no need for the  “Eggs” category which she used for “Desserts.” “The Chaffing Dish” category became “Cookies.  Like all the recipes, these for cookies listed only the ingredients; the home cook was supposed to know how to bake them. The second Oatmeal Cookies recipe notes “add whites last,” presumably the whites that accompanied the egg yolks at the start.

“Tilden Cake” probably came from Aunt Rose McCole, second wife of Lucille’s uncle Jim McCole, who moved from Wisconsin to Nebraska in the 1880s and lived near Tilden.  The surprise in “Surprise Cake” might have been that it turned out like a cookie.