The pages in this book can actually be a small window into how your ancestors lived. You may find a few things to add to a family history work you may be working on. Consider these pages as a humorous look at the past even though the original writings were very serious at the time. In those innocent days during the 1800s the term 'recipe' was used for many items where ingredients were listed for making or doing something. This included much more than cooking and could be a 'how to' make something, that including a wide variety and includes things like making a smoke house for smoking hams to marriage. You will find a couple of 'recipes' written after 1900. In those days a lot was not available on a store shelf and people had to rely on home made. The 'recipe', or rather the 'how to do it', often called for products that are not commonly known today.