My children descend from a variety of cultures.

The BRIGHT family relocated from Pennsylvania to the booming riverfront town of Wyandotte, Kansas, shortly after the Civil War.

The MOORE family, of Scots-Irish descent, lived in the upcountry of South Carolina for a hundred years or more.

The THADEN family came from German immigrants and Tennessee Scots-Irish clans.

The NICHOLAS family originated in Tripoli and Beirut, Syria, and lived among a Syrian colony in Jacksonville, Florida.

The HAHN and LUTES families raced for land in the Oklahoma Land Run of 1893 and had been ever on the frontier prior to that time.

The ROMEO and MOTTA families immigrated to this country at the turn of the century from Sicily.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Our Southern Belle

The few documents that have been collected on Mattie Love (Meigs) Thaden reveal that she was a serious Christian. The following short announcement, which appeared in the Society column of the Atlanta Constitution in 1905, is further evidence.

A Silver Tea
The Ladies Aid Society of the West Side Methodist church will give a silver tea for the benefit of the parsonage Monday evening, March 1 from 7 to 11 p.m. at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Thaden 458 West Hunter street. The public is most cordially invited. A pleasant evening is promised to all.
(27 Feb 1905, p. 6.)

So what is a Silver Tea? A brief Google search turned up an article about a contemporary charity organization that has revived the Silver Tea explaining that it "is a tradition that began in the early 1900s when guests at fundraising events learned to place their contributions – very discreetly – into a large silver bowl.”1

This gives us a better glimpse into Mattie's home as she graciously hosted a pleasant social gathering of Southern ladies and gentlemen on a Georgia winter evening. One can almost see the sparkle of the polished tea sets and hear the delicate clatter of porcelein cups against their saucer mates. And off in a place that is niether prominent nor hidden sits the silver bowl, steadily collecting the willing contributions of the guests. . . .
1Burl Stiff, “A Silver Anniversary for the Silver Tea,” The San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Dec 2008, par. 7.


1 comment:

  1. That is such a colorful description! How interesting.

    ReplyDelete