Lettice Bryan
Lettice Pierce Bryan (1805–1877) was an American author, who wrote The Kentucky Housewife, a cookbook originally published in 1839.[1][2][3]
Life
Bryan was born in central Kentucky, probably near Danville, to James A. Pierce and Elizabeth Crow Pierce, one of three children. In 1823, she married Virginia-born Edmond Bryan. When Bryan was writing her cookbook, she lived in Monticello, Kentucky; her husband was studying at the Medical College of Ohio and the couple had nine young children.[4][5] After the cookbook was published, the family moved twice - to Washington County and then to Grayson County, Kentucky. By the end of her childbearing years, Bryan had had 14 children.[5]
Bryan died at age 72, in 1877, in Macoupin County, Illinois, at the home of her son-in-law C. F. Burnett. She is buried at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky.[6] Her husband pre-deceased her, dying in 1863.[7]
References
- Scott, Elizabeth M. (1997). ""A Little Gravy in the Dish and Onions in a Tea Cup": What Cookbooks Reveal About Material Culture". International Journal of Historical Archaeology. 1 (2): 131–155. doi:10.1023/A:1027307906388.
- Hatchett, Judith (2009). ""And not a wife only": advice and receipts from The Kentucky Housewife". Border States (17): 35 ff.
- Kraig, Bruce (2013). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. 1. OUP USA. pp. 251 et al. ISBN 9780199734962.
- 1840 U.S. Census, Monticello, Wayne, Kentucky; Roll: 126; Page: 182. Ancestry.com.
- Resor, C. W. (July 18, 2019). "Mrs. Bryan's "Kentucky Housewife": Managing a Household in the 1830s". Primary Source Bazaar.
- Portrait and Biographical Album of Henry County, Illinois. Chicago: Biographical Publishing Co. 1885. pp. 228–229.
- 1850, 1860 U. S. Census, Ancestry.com.
External links
- Full text of The Kentucky Housewife at Library of Congress, 1841 edition
- Full text of The Kentucky Housewife at Hathi Trust Digital Library, 1839 edition
- Tyler, Anne (21 April 1991). "Kentucky housewife's prose cooks up picture of mid-19th century daily life". baltimoresun.com. Retrieved 24 January 2020.