As a chef, home cook and foodie,  I am honored that I had the opportunity to research Martha Washington, Hannah Penn and Ellen Emlen (19th century housewife) Cookbooks and notes.  Being at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania I felt like I could have stayed for hours researching all these treasures.  The staff there was super helpful, which made my visit a pleasure.  Okay let’s get to the fun part. 

Hannah Penn: Second wife of William Penn, she was 24 and he a 52-year-old man.  They had 8 children together.  When searching for Hannah Penn’s cookbook I came across recipe pages instead and all these were with William Penn’s notes and paperwork.  I couldn’t hold back and looked through some of his notes to paperwork from 1605 highlights of Act of Taxes year, and so much more.  I then reached Hannah Penn’s recipe pages.  It was interesting to see how many Homemade Medicines she had in those pages from how to clear…