With more and more retail businesses opening on Thanksgiving Day, it is refreshing to hear of a family that won’t let pre-Black Friday sales get in the way of a tradition that has taken place over 70 years. Between 40 and 90 Werner Family descendents gather every year on Thanksgiving Day between Mars and in Evans City, Pennsylvania.

“My mom was pregnant when my dad died in 1949. After my father died my grandparents built on an addition and moved in with us so they could care for my brother and the baby,” says Gayle Kartman. “My mother was the oldest daughter of 10 children. Every Sunday they would all come to our house.”

She tells about celebrating with extended family on Thanksgiving and Christmas, until it was decided to do away with the Christmas gathering so the children could be in their own homes that day.

“Two aunts took turns for about 20 years, then it went to my mother for a few years when my cousin Ron and (his wife) Sally Marburger took it over.”

“The only reason they host is because the Kartmans and Van Rensselaers come the day before,” she smiles. “Howie (Van Rensselaer) always gets up and peels 20 pounds of potatoes. Sally puts the turkey in the oven. I make the stuffing. Howie carves the turkey.”

“We usually have a good idea how many are coming. They arrive between noon and 1. We have everything written down and know exactly when to plug in the coffee pot. We eat at 1.”

Every detail of the day is well organized mainly because the Marburgers having been hosting for 25 years.

“The line coming into the large kitchen weaves behind the table, back around where my cousin is standing, past the stove where they are served mashed potatoes and two kinds of gravy.”

After the rest of the food is added to their plates the diners proceed to the garage where they are directed to their seats, starting with the far corner. Once the two and a half car is filled, the family members are sent to the laundry room, which is for overflow.

“My cousin has put a board over the laundry tubs and covered that with a tablecloth. This is where the desserts have been placed. He has unloaded his workbench in the garage and put everything into a wagon and taken it to another large garage out back. He has covered the workbench with a white sheet and hangs another on the wall above to cover hanging tools.”

“Aunt Mary Marburger’s family made the family tree, which is hung inside the garage door. Charles and Rachel Werner, my grandparents, (names) are at the top of the tree. There are 10 branches. Every person has a leaf. Every generation has their own color leaf. We don’t recognize divorce. Everyone is on the tree.”                          

“We don’t just have small talk, but are informed about news of family members. Every family member knows everybody by name. Sometimes the family is asked for prayer for specific needs. My brother from Arizona seldom misses. Everyone signs into a notebook so we know exactly how many people are there. We’ve had people from the Ukraine and several exchange students.”

Another highlight of the day is a Chinese auction, which has been held annually for 20 or 25 years. The proceeds pay the for the dinner beverages and for the purchase of the family cemetery flowers.

“Some popular items are old family pictures and old books,” she says. “I have taken my grandmother’s sewing basket. I had it for twenty years and loved it, but know after I am gone my girls won’t keep it. My grandmother’s rocking chair and probably my grandmother’s spinning wheel will go this year.

“After dinner all ages go outside for a football game. The host, Ron, sits in a chair and is the referee with a whistle. We bring out the leftovers at five and eat again. After the second meal and everyone is exhausted and filled to the brim, when everyone is sitting in the garage someone looks at someone and they all jump up and fold up the chairs, put the centerpieces in the totes, take down the tables and fold up the sheets from the workbench. They back up (and load) three pick-up trucks.

“At the end of the day the Marburgers, Kartmans and Van Rensselaers sit down and go over the sign-in sheet counting how many from each family were represented and write if they had enough potatoes and turkey. The highest attendance ever was 104. We always have a debriefing.

“In the summer we have a reunion, a dinner that two male cousins take turns hosting. This is to accommodate relatives that can’t make it in November.”

The Randolph resident goes on to talk about the way her family put up food when she was a child.

“Every Christmas we would butcher five pigs. This was done at Christmastime, because it was cold. We would fry the meat, slabs of ham,” she says. “My mother had 15 crocks that were set on the long kitchen table. Layers of lard, then ham, more lard, more ham and another layer of lard were set in the crocks.

“We also made sausage, stuffed the casings, trimmed them and put them in quart jars. Hot lard was poured over the meat and then the jars were sealed. At least four nights a week, my mom would hand the iron skillet and fork to someone. They would go to the fruit cellar and bring up a layer of ham. She would heat it on the stove and cut it into as many pieces as there were people. We ate less meat back then. The ham was like no ham you buy today.”

“We bought very little. We made 30 gallons of apple butter. On a Thursday we would pick six bushels of transparent apples from our orchard. Two people would run apple peelers. Everyone sat in a circle and had cake pans on their laps and they were coring and slicing into huge kettles. Sometimes we would have elderly relatives who would sit in the circle. It was a real social time,” she recalls. “In the morning my grandfather would start a fire outside with a copper kettle over it. My grandmother would boil cider and pour over the apples. My grandfather had a big wooden paddle and would walk around the fire. My mother would come to the kettle with a saucepan and fill it with apple butter, take it inside and put it in jars. We were done by four o’ clock on Saturday.”

“This bounty would be shared with people at church, the elderly and whoever. Sometimes my mother would take people a loaf of bread and a jar of apple butter. She had a large garden and a large commercial freezer with three lids.”

She goes on to tell about her great-grandfather Augustus.

“When he was eight years old, he rode with his family on a peddler’s wagon to Butler County, Pennsylvania because they knew there were other people from their village of Metzel, Prussia. Augustus father, Ernest, was a tailor who made uniforms for Napoleon’s Army from goat hide. My grandfather had a letter telling about the history and of Augustus’ father’s tailor story. He would ask me to read the letter to him. When he was dying, he told his daughter to give me the tailor’s shears.”

Mrs. Kartman, a retired teacher who taught reading at Randolph Central School and later English at Randolph Academy, is the wife of Dan Kartman. Her husband retired from teaching history and coaching golf at Randolph Central School. He is a former Randolph Town Justice and summer employee of Kinzua Marina. The Kartman’s have two daughters and six grandchildren. Their Labradoodle, Polly, allows them to share her home.

Tomato Pudding

Shirley Keating

1-10 oz can tomato puree

1/4 c boiling water

1/2 c brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 c butter, melted

1 c fresh white bread, cut in 1″ squares

Add sugar, salt and water to tomato puree. Boil 5 minutes. Place bread squares in casserole, pour melted butter over squares. Add hot tomato mixture and bake 30 minutes at 375.

Cranberry Relish

Fannie Schlecht

1 bag cranberries

2 apples

2 oranges

1 c sugar or more to taste

Process the fruits until ground, but not fluid. Stir in sugar. Refrigerate overnight.

Mom’s Make Ahead Tossed Salad

Fannie Schlecht

1 head lettuce, washed and well-dried

1 c celery, diced

4 hard boiled eggs, sliced

1-10 pkg frozen peas, thawed, but not cooked

1/2 c green pepper, diced

1 medium onion, diced

8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 c diced ham, optional

2 c mayonnaise

2 T sugar

4 oz grated cheddar cheese

Tear lettuce and layer in 9×13″ pan. Continue to place ingredients in layers, topping with mayonnaise to which sugar has been added. Sprinkle cheese on top. Refrigerate 24 hours or overnight.

Pennsylvania Red Cabbage

Gayle Kartman

2 T bacon drippings

4 c shredded red cabbage

2 c cubed apple with peel

1/4 c brown sugar

1/4 c vinegar

1/4 c water

1 1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp caraway seed

Heat drippings in skillet; adding remaining ingredients and dash pepper. Cover tightly; cook over low heat, stirring occasionally. For crisp cabbage, cook 15 minutes; for tender cabbage cook 25 to 30 minutes. Makes 4 or 5 servings.

Corn Pone

Mrs. Kartman’s grandmother, Rachel Werner’s, recipe

To make corn pone, two cupfuls of white flour, one cupful of sugar, one teaspoon of salt, two-thirds of a cupful of lard, two cupfuls of sour milk or buttermilk, four eggs and two teaspoonfuls of soda dissolved in a little hot water. Mix the dry ingredients together, then work in the lard, and add the milk. After beating until smooth, add the eggs which have been well-beaten, and the soda last. Bake in greased cake pans. Do not have the layers too thick, but bake them well. This is good either warm or cold. We enjoy eating it cold with milk.

Frozen Pickles

8 c sliced cucumbers

2 onions, sliced

2 T salt

1 c sugar

¢ c vinegar

Mix cucumbers, onions and salt and let stand 2 hours. Stir occasionally. Drain well. Add sugar and vinegar and then mix until sugar is dissolved. Put in containers. Freeze.

Cranberry Relish II

3 Granny Smith apples

2 pears, slightly ripe

2 lbs fresh cranberries

1 c golden raisins

2 c sugar

1 c orange juice

2 T orange rind

™ tsp nutmeg

2 tsp cinnamon

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes until thick. Cool and refrigerate. To make it special, stir in ¢ c Grand Marnier while still warm.

Cranberry Salad

8 oz cream cheese, softened

¢ c confectioners’ sugar

§ c mayonnaise

™ tsp salt

2 T lemon juice

1 c whipped cream

1 can crushed pineapple, drained

1 can cranberry sauce, whole or gel

Beat together cream cheese, sugar, mayonnaise and salt in mixing bowl. Add juice and whipped cream. Fold in crushed pineapple. Pour into a 13×9″ pan. Spread cranberry sauce over top and marble through creamed mixture. Freeze.

Stuffing Balls

¢ c onion, chopped

¢ c celery, diced

™ c butter

1-13 oz can cream corn

1 tsp salt

™ tsp pepper

1 ¢ tsp poultry seasoning

3 beaten eggs yolks

11 oz bread cubes

¢ c butter, melted

Saute onion and celery in ™ c butter. Stir in corn, spices and yolks. Stir in bread cubes, adding just enough water to moisten. Form into balls and put into greased baking pan. Pour ¢ c melted butter over all and bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees.