Hello, In this morning's "MassMoments" e-mail there is a story about Fannie FARMER's life. It's another story about a woman growing up in a family which fell on hard times, and then she had problems with a leg - probably from Polio. But, she went on to - to learn how to cook. http://www.massmoments.org:80/moment.cfm?mid=11 And, the FARMER surname is not mentioned on the Lists too often. I know there has been a FARMER family in Billerica for most of the 1900's. I don't know about the 1800's, or before that. I just checked and the FARMER known shows up in 1790 with ~90 people, half in MA and half in North Carolina. By 1820, ~390 people in a dozen different states. In 1860 ~2200 people. In 1900, ~5800 people. Etc. So the name isn't as popular as I thought it was. Here is another case where, looking for someone in an Index for census records, you need to be specific. I tried to find Fannie FARMER in MA, and the name didn't come up. I just found her as Fanny FARMER and living at home with her parents, John and Mary, and siblings: FARMER, FANNY M (1880 U.S. Census) MASSACHUSETTS , MIDDLESEX, MEDFORD Age: 23, Race: WHITE, Born: MA Series: T9 Roll: 541 Page: 139 Just an FYI for you. Betty (near Lowell, MA) (I don't know if there were official cookbooks before that, or at least one who taught you how to cook.)