Hello Nancee, DAve, et al, Was just wondering how long they've canned oysters. Typed in Google.com for History of Canning, oysters. Several sites came up, basically: "...Thomas Kensett, who emigrated to the United States, established the first U.S. canning facility for oysters, meats, fruits and vegetables in New York in 1812. More than 50 years later, Louis Pasteur provided the explanation for canning's effectiveness when he was able to demonstrate that the growth of microorganisms is the cause of food spoilage. ..." With the development of the railroad from east to west [see my earlier info about LaGrange], perhaps getting oysters to the we st was doable.... esp. if canned. :-) Don't know about local food tastes ... but many folks were from families born raised, migrated from eastern states, esp. Chesapeke Bay &- surrounding states such as: VA, Maryland, NC. Perhaps they had an acquired taste for oysters. :-) Checked "oysters to Iowa" -- one web site selling old advertising labels for canned oysters. One has in it's description: " Sewansecott one gallon can; The can wa spacked in Va. for a Iowa fish company; The can has some paint loss in the front ." [ Check out this at: http://pages.tias.com/140/InventoryPage/4707/1.html ] I didn't look at each one, but in general, it appears the canned oysters came from VA and MD. That might explain how they got from the ocean to Iowa -- canned -- in gallon cans no less. What else did folks like to eat those days Lucas Co., ?? Mary Beth in Wisconsin Mary Beth in Wisconsin On 25.09.2004 at 17:46:08, <[email protected]> wrote: > Nancee,> > My dad, from rural Russell, always loved fried oysters. We > frequently had them on Sunday evenings. (Now, I like mine raw.....) I'm told that my great-grandfather's favorite Sunday dinner (mid-day) was canned salmon! In an area of > culinary riches like Lucas County! I guess we all like "exotic" > foods. By the way, it is interesting that little Russell had two restaurants worthy of being a destination on a sleigh ride.> > Dave Werts > > > ==== IALUCAS Mailing List ==== > David, [email protected]: Lucas County List Administrator, > Website Coordinator, Lucas County IA Genweb - > http://www.rootsweb.com/~ialucas/Main.htm > > ============================== > Gain access to over two billion names including the new > Immigration > Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237 > >