Almost no topic in Saratoga Springs history has had more written about it than the origin of the potato chip. While the two most popular versions of the story, both of which feature George Crum, are by far the most common, there are several variations that have appeared and disappeared over the years. The stories fall into two categories, the first are the stories that have some details about when, where and how the potato chip was invented and the others are the stories where an individual is described as the inventor or originator of the potato chip without any details. There are many more stories in the second category than there are in the first.
Not surprisingly it doesn’t appear that the origin story of the potato chip held any interest until it appeared that Moon’s Lake House, the setting of most stories, might be sold approximately 30 years after Cary and Harriet Moon opened it. If anyone wrote about George Crum and the potato chip before 1885 I have not been able to find it, so decades separated even the earliest version of the story from the time the discovery was supposed to have happened in 1853.
These stories survive and thrive despite the fact that almost everyone recognizes them as a tradition or legend rather than fact. Some writers have even expressed their discomfort with the facts by using disclaimers such as “it is related” retelling one of the stories. ((Durkee, Cornelius, “Reminiscences of Saratoga,” Saratogian, January 19, 1928 and Armstead, Myra B. Young, Lord Please Don’t Take Me in August (Urbana & Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1999) p.22)) Historians have found themselves in an extremely difficult situation since it is hard to imagine totally ignoring the story of the potato chip in Saratoga Springs when writing about the City’s past. Historians are left with the story of the potato chip’s invention that is suspect, but Saratoga Springs role in making the chip famous is well documented and something that many residents are proud of.
While many writers were uncomfortable with George Crum stories and there were some facts that cast doubt on the story, no one had uncovered any facts that could totally dispel the legend. That changed in 2009 when T. J. Stiles published The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt and he included the information that some version of special crispy fried potatoes was being enjoyed in Saratoga Springs in 1849. This was four years before the George Crum’s invention was supposed to occur, and although it was at the same location, it was before Cary and Harriet Moon operated it as Moon’s Lake House. ((Saratoga Springs: Birthplace of the Potato Chip and “Notes from the Watering Places,” New York Herald, August 2, 1849 and Stiles, T.J., The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt New York: Knopf, 2009)) It was enough information to conclude that it was highly unlikely the stories of George Crum’s invention of the potato chip were anything more than a great story.
If you’re interested in a more detailed discussion of what we know about know about the origins of the potato chip see my article “Saratoga Springs: Birthplace of the Potato Chip.” While that article focuses on what we do know, what follows is my attempt to look at the various legends and stories about the invention of the potato chip and to try and identify where the stories come from. I will begin by focusing on two versions of the story that detail the discovery. This is not the first time someone has tried to do this. An extremely well written and researched study of the Potato Chip story was published in Western Folklore in 1983 “Social and Economic Contests of Folklore Variants: The Case of Potato Chip Legends, William S. Fox and Mae G. Banner. ((Fox, William S. and Mae G. Banner, “Social and Economic Contexts of Folklore Variants: The Case of Potato Chip Legends, Western Folklore, May 1983.)) My work builds on and extends their efforts.
After the discussion of the first two versions I have included two other sections in this article. The first is a look at other people and places that have been given credit for having a role in the discovery of the Potato Chip. And the second is a list of the all of the cooks that have been tied to Moon’s Lake House, even if they were not credited with the invention.
THE CREATION STORIES: GEORGE CRUM AND THE POTATO CHIP
There are many versions of the potato chip story but the one repeated most often I will refer to as “The Finicky Customer Story.” A second version, now repeated far less often, was created in the 1940s and for many years was repeated in tandem with “The Finicky Customer Story.” It also focused on George Crum but introduced Kate Wicks into the story. I will refer to this version as “Kate Wicks and the Accident.”
These versions of the potato chip story, and the articles that have been written based on them, use a wide variety of spellings and nick names. Kate is referred to as Catherine Ann, Kate, Katie, Aunt Kate, and Aunt Katie. Her last name is sometimes omitted entirely but when included is spelled both Wicks and Weeks. There is far less variation in George Crum’s name but he is occasionally also referred to as George Speck, a name he used frequently in legal documents and it is the name on his headstone. For the sake of clarity and to simplify matters I have standardized their names George Crum and Kate Wicks in this article.
GEORGE CRUM AND THE FINICKY CUSTOMER
The earliest reference that anyone has found to George Crum being the inventor of Potato Chips seems to have been in the August 22, 1885 edition of the Hotel Gazette. Unfortunately no one seems to be able to locate a copy of this issue or for that matter most issues of this paper or magazine. The Hotel Gazette was a New York City based trade publication for the hotel and catering industry and was published weekly starting in 1876. Our only glimpse into the contents of this article comes from two authors, Jefferson Williamson in his book American Hotel published in 1930 and Hugh Bradley in his book Such Was Saratoga, published in 1940, both of these authors quoted extensively from the article. What each of them wrote is substantially the same giving us a pretty good idea of the contents of the 1885 article. Here is Williamson’s passage about the potato chip in his 1930 book. ((Williamson, Jefferson, the American Hotel, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1920, 219.))
“This appetizing dainty gets its name from the fact that it was accidently invented in the early 1850’s at the old Montgomery Hall, kept by Carey E. Moon, at Saratoga. Legend has it that in 1853 George Crum, the chef; got an order from a fastidious diner to cut his French fried potatoes thinner. In a spirit of sarcasm Crum sliced off a sheet of potato as thin as a wafer and dropped it into the hot fat of a frying pan. A few minutes later he fished it out and ate it. So good did it taste that he fried a few more slices, sharing them with his assistants, and with Mrs. Carey Moon, who had a quantity of them fried and put into paper cornucopias for the guests. The chips won favor at once and within a few years became an established viand throughout the country.”
And this is what Bradley published in 1940. ((Bradley, Hugh, Such Was Saratoga, New York: Doubleday, Doran, and Co., 1940, 121-124.))
“In 1853, while he was busy in the kitchen at—the Gazette says Montgomery Hall, but it must have been Moon’s Lake House—a fastidious diner sent word to cut his French-fried potatoes thinner. In that spirit of righteous sarcasm which overcomes all great cooks at such moments, Crum shaved off a wafer thin slice of potato and dropped it into the deep hot fat of the frying pan. Noticing it a few minutes later, he fished it out and ate it. Pleased by the taste, he experimented with several more wafer-thin slices and offered them to Mrs. Moon and others in the kitchen.
Being also pleased, Mrs. Moon ordered a quantity of potatoes to be prepared in this new and ingenious fashion. These she placed in paper cornucopias and distributed to the guests. The appetizing dainty won immediate favor and soon was on menus throughout most of the county.”
It doesn’t appear that the story became widely known or was repeated in print, between 1885 and 1928. I have only been able to find some very brief mentions of Crum being the inventor of the Chip and nothing giving the level of detail of the 1885 Hotel Gazette article. When George Crum died on July 26, 1914, one of his many obituaries made a passing reference, “Crum is said to have been the actual inventor of ‘Saratoga Chips’ when he was employed as a cook at Moon’s old place.” ((“Famous Hunter Guide and Cook Dies at 96 Years,” Saratogian, July 27, 1914 and “A Saratoga Celebrity,” The Day, November 21 1914.)) And this appears to have been repeated word for word in Cornelius Durkee’s “Reminiscences of Saratoga”, a column published in the Saratogian, Saratoga Springs’ major newspaper, on January 13, 1928. ((Durkee, Cornelius, “Reminiscences of Saratoga,” Saratogian, January 13, 1928.))
George’s story hit a much bigger stage in the February 18, 1928 issue of The New Yorker. Appearing in the Talk of the Town section of the magazine the article “The Home of the Chip” was written by Saratoga Springs native and Mayor from 1924 – 1927 Clarence Knapp. ((Knapp, Clarence, “Home of the Chips,” New Yorker Magazine, February 18, 1928, p. 10 and Saratogian, February 20, 1928.)) While no sources are cited in the brief article, Knapp may have had access to the 1885 Hotel Gazette because the details are very similar to what both Bradley and Williamson would repeat in the years after Knapp’s article appeared in the New Yorker. Only two details are added in the Knapp piece, that Crum was a renowned fisherman and cook in the days before the Civil War and the anonymous assistants in the 1885 version have been identified as William Groom and Peter Francis.
The New Yorker had a nationwide circulation and at least one other newspaper picked up the story and reprinted it a short time later. While the Saratogian, didn’t republish the piece as far as I know, it did make a brief mention about the New Yorker story within a few days the article being published. ((Saratogian, February 20, 1928))
Versions of the “Finicky Customer Story” were printed in newspapers around the country in the 1930s. A few details were added or deleted, but the same basic story survived in each telling. ((“Saratoga Chip Created by Accident,” August 3, 1932, Ticonderoga Sentinel and “In New York,” The News-Palladium.))
In 1940, Hugh Bradley published Such Was Saratoga and in addition to the information from the 1885 Hotel Gazette article he added a number of details about George Crum. It looks like most of this additional information came from Crum’s obituaries and Cornelius Durkee’s “Reminiscences of Saratoga” column’s in the Saratogian. ((Durkee, Cornelius, “Reminiscences of Saratoga,” Saratogian, January 13, 1928 and “Famous Hunter Guide and Cook Dies at 96 Years,” Saratogian, July 27, 1914.)) It doesn’t appear that either Durkee or Bradley uncovered anything new. During his life Durkee collected hundreds of clippings on Saratoga history and preserved them in thirty scrapbooks, these provided most of the information for his columns. ((Scrapbooks in the collection of the Saratoga County Historian, Ballston Spa, NY.))
After 1940, the story did not change much, but many of the articles started to include details about George Crum. Some of this information, such as his race, became a part of virtually every story, but there was no mention of his race in either the Hotel Gazette story or the 1928 New Yorker Article. ((“Indian Chef Chief Crum Potato Chip Discoverer,” Stars and Stripes, January 29 1955 and “How It Happened – Birth of Potato Chips,” Ironwood Daily Globe, June 28, 1958.))
Perhaps the biggest change was the addition of Cornelius Vanderbilt in the role of finicky patron in 1976, which spawned the controversy that Fox and Banner covered so well in their 1983 article. (( “Potato Chip Birthday,” Watertown Daily Times, July 27 1976.)) While this detail is still occasionally repeated it is usually not included in the retelling of “The Finicky Customer Story”
KATE WICKS AND THE ACCIDENT
The second version of the story, which reached the height of its popularity from 1950 – 1970, was often reported at the same time as “The Finicky Customer story.”
“’Aunt Kate Wicks’” who worked with her brother, Crum, making pastry, had a pan of fat on the stove, while making crullers and was peeling potatoes at the same time. She chipped off a piece of potato which by the merest accident fell into the pan of fat. She fisted it out with a fork and set it down upon a plate beside her on the table.
Crum came into the kitchen.
‘What’s this?’, he asked, as he picke up the chip and tasted it.
‘Hm, Hm, that’s good. How did you make it?’
‘Aunt Kate’ described the accident.
‘That’s a good accident,’ said Crum. ‘We’ll have plenty of these’
HE TRIED Them out. Demand for them grew like wild fire and he sold them at 15 and ten cents a bag.”
This story first appeared as in article entitled “The Authentic Story of Crum and his Saratoga Chips” by Jean McGregor in the Saratogian on August 30, 1940. ((McGregor, Jean, “Now It Can Be Told – The Authentic Story of Crum and His Saratoga Chips,” Saratogian, August 30, 1940.)) We know a great deal more about the author of this story than we do the anonymous writer of the Hotel
Gazette story in August, 1885. McGregor was the pen name of Evelyn Barrett Britten, who was not only a journalist she was for many years the Saratoga Springs City Historian. As city historian and an active member the Historical Society of Saratoga Springs she did a lot to make sure that Saratoga residents knew stories about their City’s past. For decades she wrote about the history of Saratoga Springs in a “Chronicles of Saratoga” column that was also published as a collection in two books of the same name, one in 1947 and the other in 1959.
Britten’s source for the “Kate Wicks and The Accident Story” was Augusta Moriarta, who was repeating a story told to her many times by her employee of 24 years Albert Stewart. Although Britten chose to identify him as George Crum’s great nephew, Stewart was also Kate Wicks’ grandson. It’s unclear why, but Britten did not talk to the 62 year old Stewart herself to hear him repeat the stories his grandmother Kate Wicks told him. ((Ballston Spa Daily Journal, May 19, 1917. Stewart would have been about 39 years old when Kate Wicks died in 1917.))
The story seemed to combine elements from “The Finicky Customer Story”, a story about an unnamed chef sharpening a knife that seems to have appeared on in 1938, and elements from a 1906 profile of Kate Wicks.
As far as I can tell the story of the chef sharpening his knife only appears in an article in 1938, according to the source, George Rector, a well-known New York City restaurateur and food writer, an unidentified chef at one of Saratoga better known hotels, tested his recently sharpened knife by cutting a thin slice of potato that accidentally fell into a pan of hot fat. The chef tasted it and the chip was born. ((Sobol, Louis, “New York Cavalcade,” San Antonio Light, August 8, 1938.))
The final element of Britten’s story might be Kate Wicks’ claim she had the idea for the chip. The statement was first published in the Saratogian thirty four years earlier, in a 1906 profile of Kate in the “Pioneer Citizens” Column in the Saratogian. ((“Pioneer Citizens, Mrs. Catherine A. Wicks,” Saratogian, Oct 10, 1906.)) The story starts out:
“If it had not been for Mrs. Catherine Ann Wicks, the world might never have enjoyed the crisp delicacies known as Saratoga Chips. It was many years ago while employed as cook at Moon’s Lake House that she conceived of the idea of slicing potatoes to a tissue paper thinness and frying them in deep fat. Saratoga chips went fare to make Moon’s resort famous”
Kate Wicks c. 1906
The profile seems to be based on an interview of Kate, but it doesn’t give any specifics about the discovery. Before Britten’s 1940 story Kate’s claim was repeated in print a few times. When Kate died in 1917, her obituary mentioned her age, said to be 102, race, and her invention of Saratoga chips. ((“Former Resident Dies,” Ballston Spa Daily Journal, May 14 1917.)) Those three things led to her death notice being reported in newspapers all over the country, focusing on just those three things. ((“Saratoga Chip Inventor Dies,” Washington Post, May 19, 1917)) Her story got a few more mentions in newspapers over the years and her profile once again appeared in 1921. ((Hartford Republican, October 28, 1921 and Saratogian, October 11, 1921.))
In Cornelius Durkee’s, January 19, 1928 “Reminiscences of Saratoga” column in the Saratogian, Durkee included information about Kate Wicks and the chip with a story about an old Indian canoe that Abe Speck, Kate and George’s father, was said to have made. ((Durkee, Cornelius, “Reminiscences of Saratoga,” Saratogian, January 19, 1928)) It appears that Durkee may have gotten his information about the chip, the canoe, George Crum and Kate from a letter to the editor in the 1924 Saratogian that quoted extensively from the same 1906 profile of Kate. ((“People’s Forum,” Saratogian, October 9, 1924.)) However Durkee added the statement that Kate probably learned how to make the chips from the French Chef at the Sans Souci. It doesn’t appear that Durkee did much interpretation of the items in his collection of clippings and stories. Perhaps most telling is that Kate Wicks was the third person Durkee had credited with the invention of the potato chip in six months and the second in a week. ((Durkee, Cornelius, “Reminiscences of Saratoga,” Saratogian, July 21, 1927, Cary Moon, Saratogian, January 13, 1928, George Crum, and Saratogian, January 19, 1928 Kate Wicks.))
In 1932 Kate’s great grandson John Freeman reasserted Kate’s claim in the Glens Falls Post Star, a newspaper in the same region of New York, after finding that the “The Finicky Customer Story” ran in that paper. ((“Another Claims Potato Chip Idea,” Glens Falls Post Star, August 3, 1932. I haven’t been able to locate a copy of the “Finicky Customer Story” in the Glens Falls Post Star, but this version appeared about the same time in another upstate New York paper. “Saratoga Chip Created by Accident,” August 3, 1932, Ticonderoga Sentinel.)) The Post Star article is based on a clipping that John Freeman’s mother had preserved in a scrapbook. The only new information provided was that George Crum was responsible for the creamed potatoes that were then so famous at Newman’s Lake House not the potato chip. Like the original 1906 article there were no details about the discovery.
Just a few weeks before Evelyn Barrett Britten published her 1940 article Kate was also mentioned in Bradley’s “Such Was Saratoga”, but he dismissed her claim in favor of “The Finicky Customer Story” because he believed that since the Hotel Gazette article was written in 1885 it was more accurate.
We don’t know what inspired Britten to write the “Kate Wicks and the Accident Story” in 1940. It may just have been that Augusta Moriarta came forward with a story, but there were several things going on that may have compelled Evelyn Barrett Britten to print a retelling of the chip story. In the summer of 1939 in a Saratogian column entitled “Boss There Ain’t No News” written by Reginald F. Torrey there was an active exchange over several months about the invention of the Potato Chip. ((Torrey, Reginald F., “Boss There Ain’t No News,” Saratogian, June 14, 1939, July 5, 1939, July 22, 1939, and August 3, 1939. Saratogian August 12, 1939.)) The exchange started when Torrey credited Mrs. Moon with the invention of the Chip. Several people contacted Torrey with other possibilities, and he printed those in other columns, but none of columns mentioned Kate Wicks. Another item that may have generated some interest was the release, just weeks before Britten’s column appeared, of Hugh Bradley’s Such Was Saratoga. As I mentioned earlier Bradley repeated the 1885 Hotel Gazette article, but he also addressed the claim that Kate Wicks invented the potato chip. A possibility he dismissed. ((“’Such Was Saratoga’, Book by Hugh Bradley, Comes Off Press Aug. 9,” Saratogian, July 11, 1940. Bradley, Such Was Saratoga (New York: Doubleday, Doran, and Co, 1940) p 123.))
These other events may not have had any influence on Britten’s decision to write the article, but they do indicated that there was at least some discussion about the potato chip going on in the community. This may have remained a local debate since the “George Crum and the Finicky Customer Story” continued to be repeated nationally, but the 1940 articles doesn’t seem to have been widely quoted or retold in print. The first time I have been able to find a version of Britten’s “Kate and the Accident Story” repeated anywhere but the Saratogian until after 1950, this version of the story really did not seem to take off until then. ((“The First Potato Chip,” Hartford Courant, October 8, 1950.)) Britten revisited the story several times in her columns in the Saratogian and while she did not make any substantial changes to the narrative a strange thing happened, Britten changed her sources several times.
In 1946 Britten wrote about chips again in her “Chronicles of Saratoga” column. ((“’Too Thick’ Cried Critic; Result Spa Potato Chips,” Saratogian, May 3, 1946.)) The article began with a quote from a clipping she recently received. The article, from the New England Homestead Magazine, presented “The Finicky Customer Story.” After repeating the story Britten dismissed it in favor of “The Kate Wicks and the Accident” version, her authentic story. This time she suggested that this story was based on the memories of two people closely associated with Moon’s Lake House, Kate Wicks an employee and Cornelius Durkee a guest. The information from Kate Wicks is the same information she presented in the 1940 column, but in this version Britten added a conversation that she had with Cornelius Durkee about his visits to both Moon’s and Crum’s. She quotes Durkee confirming “The Kate Wicks and the Accident Story” she presented in 1940. This seems unusual since Britten didn’t mention Durkee in the 1940 article and he never published that and by the time the original article was written Cornelius Durkee had already passed away.
She also significantly expanded on the information she presented about George Crum, once again mainly quoting Durkee and portraying the information as things Durkee had actually experienced. However it is clear the vast majority of the information actually comes from newspaper clippings that Durkee may have collected, not his own experiences. ((“Crum’s The Famous Eating House,” New York Tribune, December 27, 1891 and “Famous Hunter Guide and Cook Dies at 96 Years,” Saratogian, July 27, 1914.))
In 1948 a reader sent another clipping to Britten that apparently inspired her to tackle the chip story again in her “Chronicles of Saratoga” column. ((“New Claimant as Inventor of Saratoga Chips Appears,” Saratogian, January 23, 1948.)) The clipping claimed that Hiram Thomas was the inventor of the potato chip at Moon’s. Walter Scott, who sent her the clipping, hadn’t heard of Hiram Thomas even though the 73 year old Scott said he worked at Moons as a boy and young man. Britten didn’t seem to recognize the name either, which may have been because Hiram managed and then leased Moon’s Lake House from 1888 – 1895. ((Troy Daily Times, May 11, 1888 and Directory of Saratoga Springs, Saratoga Springs, NY: Saratogian, 1895.)) After dismissing the Hiram Thomas story, Britten retells “The Kate Wicks and the Accident Story” but with a change, she includes Cary Moon in the story as well. What is most striking is the change once again in her sources. Suddenly Britten’s information came from interviews with Albert J. Stewart in 1940, an interview she conducted with Aunt Katie Weeks in 1912, and her interview with Cornelius Durkee. This is the first time she indicated that she talked with either Stewart or Wicks.
In 1953, Britten wrote an article in celebration of the 100th birthday of the Potato Chip. ((“Chronicles of Saratoga.” Saratogian, June 5, 1953.)) There was another small change in the story; she included some information about Pete Francis. Britten dismissed him as the inventor but suggested that Peter Francis, George Crum and Kate Wicks often compared notes on their menus and all three of them also consulted with Cary Moon on perfecting the chip. This Britten said explained why all of their names are now associated with the chip. Britten then added a new source for her claims, a previously undisclosed interview with George Crum she conducted in 1913 when she was a reporter for the Saratoga Sun. All reference to Albert Stewart, Augusta Moriarta, and Cornelius Durkee as her sources are missing from this version of the story.
THE STORIES COMBINED
This 1953 article coincides with some marketing efforts by the Potato Chip industry organizing a celebration of the 100th birthday of the Chip, trying to promote a National Potato Chip Week and looking for a relative of George Crum in Saratoga Springs to take part in the celebration. ((Saratogian, January 7 1953 )) Apparently some of their promotional materials distributed to the press included both “The Finicky Customer Story” and the “Kate Wicks and the Accident Story” since they both appeared in newspapers with other potato chip industry information. ((“The Potato Chips Was Invented 100 years Ago by Indians” The Chillicothe Constitution Tribune, October 26 1953 and “Chip Off The Old Spud Big Business at 100,” The Bee, November 9 1953.))
The Potato Chip industry’s marketing efforts were continued by the Potato Chip Institute in the 1960s and most of the stories generated at that time contained both stories. They even began work on a Potato Chip Festival and planned a Statue in Saratoga Springs, but neither of these things ever seemed to come to fruition. ((“A Chip Statue?” Saratogian, Oct 6, 1964.))
In their 1983 article in Western Folklore Banner and Fox trace the dominance of the “Finicky Customer Story” and its wide spread distribution to an advertising campaign by the St. Regis Paper Company in 1973. The Company took out full page ads in Time, Fortune and several other prominent magazines to promote the use of their paper in snack food packaging. The focus of the ad however was the George Crum and “The Finicky Customer” version of the story and included a photograph of George Crum. This not only increased the popularity of that story it seemed to push the “Kate Wicks and the Accident Story” to the background. ((Fox, William S. and Mae G. Banner, “Social and Economic Contexts of Folklore Variants: The Case of Potato Chip Legends, Western Folklore, May 1983.))
Today the George Crum variant is easily found with an internet search and often appears in publications, especially during Black History Month. And in June 2009 a Saratoga Springs company introduced their version of Saratoga Chips and used the legend to help promote their product, which in turn renewed interest in George Crum’s Story. Until recently their chips were packaged in a reproduction of an early 20th century Saratoga Chips Box. ((Saratoga Chips, LLC, orginalsaratogachips.com))
HOW THE STORIES MIGHT HAVE BEEN BUILT
It seems clear that these stories may be a combination of oral tradition wrapped with some facts to create a story that seems to make sense. On the surface it may seem that a story first presented in 1885 should carry a lot of weight simply because it was written much closer to the time the event occurred and that some of the participants were still alive. Unfortunately age does not guarantee accuracy, for example just one week before the Hotel Gazette published its article crediting George Crum with the invention the New York Times carried an article about the sale of Moon’s Lake House that gave credit to Mrs. Moon for the invention of the potato chip. ((“Returning to Saratoga,” New York Times, August 15, 1885)) Both stories, printed at the same time, present two very different conclusions.
By analyzing the stories it may be possible to see where some of the assumptions, traditions and maybe misunderstanding may have come from. My advantage over earlier writers is that we now know that a version of the potato chip was being made in 1849 at Loomis’ Lake House. That gives us a baseline to compare all the other stores against, and that analysis can give us a sense of origin of these stories.
What follows is a list of some of the elements from “The Finicky Customer Story” and “Kate Wicks and the Accident” and an analysis of each of them.
MOON’S LAKE HOUSE AND MONTGOMERY HALL
By the 1860s Moon’s was regularly identified as the place where potato chips became famous in newspaper articles and publications. ((“Life at Saratoga,” New York Times, September 7, 1860, “Letter from Saratoga,” Boston Post, August 10, 1865.)) If you were writing about the birthplace of the potato chip there would be little reason to even consider it happened someplace else. The Hotel Gazette’s article placing the event at Montgomery Hall is puzzling because so much of the other information in the story is tied to Moon’s Lake House. The Moon’s did run Montgomery Hall, a hotel on Broadway in Saratoga Springs, before they purchased Loomis’ Lake House and renamed it Moon’s, but I haven’t been able to find any other reference to a connection between Montgomery Hall and the potato chip. ((New York, Saratoga County, Deeds TT 215, White to Moon February 24, 1845)) Evelyn Barrett Britten did include a brief mention that Kate may have cooked for the Moon’s at Montgomery Hall before she cooked at the Lake House, but that is the only reference I have found to indicate that. ((Britten, Evelyn Barrett, Chronicles of Saratoga (Saratoga Springs: Saratogian, 1959) 175-179))
1853
Once the where was established in the story, they needed to lock down the when. With a few exceptions, that may just have been typos, the year that has appeared in the stories has been 1853. This may reflect a widespread belief that the chips were born soon after the Moon’s started their Lake House. While the Moon’s did not actually buy the Lake House until 1854, Sylvester’s History of Saratoga County published in 1878, reported that the business began in 1853. ((New York, Saratoga County, Deeds, 68: 72, Loomis to Moon, March 30, 1854 and Nathaniel Sylvester, History of Saratoga County, New York (Philadelphia: Everts & Ensign, 1878) 214)) The writers may also have seen an 1889 article in which Cary Moon claimed to have started making the chips soon after he purchased the place in 1852. ((“Saratoga Springs,” Troy Daily Times, December 14, 1889))
MRS. MOON HAD MORE FRIED AND PUT IN PAPER CORNUCOPIAS
This part of the story, like the location being Moon’s Lake House, probably resulted from the numerous newspaper articles that discussed the Moons and The Lake House. Harriet Moon died in 1869, but plenty of people would have been familiar with her and her presence in the kitchens of Moons. ((Saratogian, October 7, 1869 and “Saratoga and the Races,” Troy Daily Times, August 15, 1870)) And she had been given credit for the invention of the potato chip herself in an article in the New York Times a week before the Hotel Gazette article was published in 1885. ((“Returning to Saratoga,” New York Times, August 15, 1885)) If a writer believed that the potato chip was born at Moon’s Lake House concluding that Mrs. Moon was responsible for the kitchen would not have been totally unreasonable.
By the late 1860s the Chips at Moon’s were being served in paper cornucopias, but there is no evidence that this was being done any earlier. ((“Saratoga Races,” New York Herald, July 27, 1866)) It would be easy for a writer to assume that this had been used from the beginning.
GEORGE CRUM
It is a little less obvious, at least to me, how Kate Wicks and George Crum became part of the story.
Both of them had ties to Moon’s Lake House, but there is no evidence, beside the chip stories, that George Crum cooked at Moon’s Lake House. ((Crum did cook at Moon’s Lake House in 1897. Saratogian August 23, 1897)) He did, at least according to his 1893 profile in a County History, sell fish and game to Moon’s for 19 years, and that may have been in the kitchen from time to time, but as far as I have been able to discover not as a cook. ((Sylvester, Nathaniel, Samuel T. Wiley and W. Scott Garner, History of Saratoga County (Richmond IN: Gresham Publishing Co., 1893) 535)) He may also have made an occasional appearance in Loomis’ Lake House kitchen before it became Moon’s as well. In the 1850 census George Peck and his family were listed immediately after Horace Loomis and family, the owners of the Lake House. Based on the age, race, and members of the family I believe that this is George Crum, and just a misinterpretation of George Speck. He lived in a separate building but it is possible that he worked at the Lake House, since his occupation was listed as ostler. An ostler or hostler handled horses primarily for a hotel, tavern or inn. While there is no direct connection to Loomis’ in the Census, it was the largest Lake House in that area and the only one likely to employ an ostler. ((United States Census 1850, New York, Saratoga County, Town of Saratoga Springs, Dwelling 959.))
The anonymous writer of the 1885 Hotel Gazette article or his informants may have picked George Crum not only for his ties to Moon’s, but also because of his fame as a cook at the time the article was written, not necessarily when the chip was supposedly discovered. In the 1860s George Crum may have gained some fame as a hunter, fisherman, and guide, but it doesn’t appear his cooking was as well recognized as it would become later. ((Landon, Melville D., Saratoga in 1901, (New York, Leggo & Co., 1871) 108 and Saratoga Sentinel, July 3, 1873)) But by 1885 George Crum was well known in Saratoga Springs for his skills in the kitchen at his small restaurant in Malta. A number of articles about Crum, unrelated to potato chips, appeared in local and New York City newspapers. ((New York Times, May 7, 1883 and New York Herald August 10, 1884))
KATE WICKS
Evelyn Barrett Britten may have decided on the “Kate Wicks and the Accident” version for her stories because of Kate’s 1906 claim to have been the inventor of the chip. ((“Pioneer Citizens, Mrs. Catherine A. Wicks,” Saratogian, Oct 10, 1906.)) While Kate’s 1906 profile, places her in Moon’s kitchen, it also brings up a few questions. According to the profile Kate and her family did not move to Saratoga Springs from Ballston Spa until 1861 which would mean that if she worked at Moon’s before that year she would have had to travel to Moon’s, boarded somewhere in Saratoga Springs, or lived at Moon’s during the summer season. The last two possibilities would have meant Kate leaving her very young children with her husband or a relative. In the same profile Kate Wicks also claimed that she had worked for 14 years at the Sans Souci Hotel in Ballston Spa. Unfortunately we don’t know when her career started and ended at the Sans Souci or Moon’s.
THE OTHERS
While the “George Crum and the Finicky Customer Story” and the “Kate Wicks and The Accident” version are the only two versions that actually describe in any detail how the chip was born, there are a number of other stories that credit people and places with the invention of the potato chip. This is a list of these other claimants, the source of the claim, and an analysis of the story’s accuracy.
PLACES
ANYWHERE BUT SARATOGA SPRINGS
There have been a number of articles written over the years that suggest that Saratoga Springs is not actually the birthplace of the potato chip. They do not start to appear until the 20th century when the chip stories started to circulate around the country. Several of these articles make compelling cases that an unknown cook in Saratoga Springs was not the first person to make thin deep fried slices of potato. There are recipes in cook books and even one among the papers of Thomas Jefferson that suggest the French and eventually Americans were making something similar to Saratoga Chips before 1853 or even 1849. ((Mary Randolph, The Virginia Housewife, (Baltimore: John Plaskitt, 1836), 97. Also repeated in the Unknown, The Cook’s Own Book, (Boston: Munroe and Francis, 1832), 150. Both from Karen Hess, “The Origin of French Fries” PPC (Petits Propos Culinaires) 68 November 2001))
I don’t think you can make any kind of convincing argument that this isn’t possible. That is why I think that it is important that Saratoga Springs, when claiming to be the birthplace of the potato chip, concentrates on the transformation of a crispy fried potato into a sought after delicacy and famous snack. No other place can really claim this, and for many years the name of the snack, “Saratoga Potatoes” or “Saratoga Chips” included the name of the city.
Montgomery Hall
Source: Hotel Gazette, August 22, 1885, As quoted in Such Was Saratoga and American Hotel. ((Williamson, Jefferson, The American Hotel New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1930 219 and Bradley, Hugh, Such was Saratoga, New York: Doubleday, Doran, and Co., 1940) 121- 124))
The Hotel Gazette article placed the discovery of chips at Montgomery Hall. Hugh Bradley acknowledged the Hotel Gazette article named that hotel, but believed that to be a mistake and it’s likely that Clarence Knapp felt the same way although he just replaced Montgomery Hall with Moon’s Lake House in his retelling of the story in the New Yorker Magazine in 1928. ((Knapp, Clarence, “Home of the Chips,” New Yorker Magazine, February 18, 1928, p. 10 and Saratogian, February 20, 1928))
It’s not clear why the writer of this story, who credited the invention to George Crum and tied it to Mrs. Moon, set the event at Montgomery Hall, the Hotel Cary and Harriet Moon owned and operated on Broadway in Saratoga Springs from 1845 – 1854. I have been unable to find any other sources that suggest that Montgomery Hall was where the potato chip was discovered.
Lake Shore House, Saratoga Springs
Source: Saratogian, August 12, 1939
In the summer of 1939, in a column in the Saratogian entitled “Boss There Ain’t No News” written by Reginald F. Torrey, there was an active exchange over several months about the inventor of the Potato Chip. The suggestion that the potato chip was created at the Lake Shore house was printed outside of the column, but it was clearly inspired by the various theories in the column over the previous months. The source, J. Henry Lowell came forward to support the idea that George Crum and his wife were the inventors of the Potato Chip. Lowell, who claimed to have worked for the Crums for five years, did not believe that they invented them at Moon’s Lake House, but at what he called the Lake Shore House down the hill from Moons.
There is additional evidence to support Lowell’s claim that he worked for the Crum’s, but it would have been at their restaurant in Malta based on his age. ((Ballston Spa Daily Journal, February 1, 1945)) Lowell was born in 1878 so even if he worked as a teen it would not have been until the mid 1890s. ((United States Census, 1910, New York, Saratoga County, Town of Saratoga Springs, Dwelling 68)) I find this reference particularly interesting because it shows that even someone who knew Crum didn’t necessarily have the answers to how the potato chip was invented. I haven’t been able to find the Lake Shore House, but the Lake Side House was down the hill from Moon’s Lake House. ((Saratogian, September 19, 1867 and Boyd’s Saratoga Springs Directory, 1868)) I haven’t found any other evidence that George Crum or his wife Esther worked at that Lake House, but it is possible that they may have had some association with it 1850 when George lived nearby. It was in business then as Able’s Lake House and began to be called the Lakeside House, in 1867 when Henry Caney began operating it. ((Saratoga Republican, July 16, 1847 and Saratogian, September 19, 1867 and Boyd’s Saratoga Springs Directory, 1868)) I haven’t found any other evidence associating the Lake Side House with the discovery of the potato chip, the Lake Side House served chips after the property was acquired by Cary Moon and run by his son’s Charles and Henry. ((Saratogian, May 28, 1874 and Saratogian, May 18, 1876))
Avery’s Lake House, Saratoga Springs
Source: Saratogian, June 7, 1910
Avery’s was claimed as the birthplace of the chip in a 1910 Saratogian article about George Avery. ((“George H. Avery Takes New Hotel,” Saratogian, June 7, 1910)) Avery stated that Saratoga Chips were invented at Avery’s Lake House in the 1850s when his father Hiram Avery ran their Lake House. A second suggestion that there was at least a story circulating about the Avery families involvement comes from a 1976 manuscript, “The Town of Malta Developed by People” by Earl F. Gates, who wrote that one of his relatives said that Old “Mag” Avery invented the Saratoga Chip. ((Gates, Earl F.,The Town of Malta Developed by People, 45. Unpublished manuscript.))
The only way Avery’s could have been the site of the discovery of the potato chip is if the event happened before 1849 and somehow the recipe was transferred to Loomis’ Lake House. Avery’s opened as early as 1833 and was run by Benjamin Avery and his sons Hiram and Calvin. It was located on the same side of the lake as Moons, but further north on the narrows of Lake. ((Broke, Sophia Frederica “Diary of an American Tour, 1834,” University of Rochester Library Bulletin, Winter 1949. New York, Saratoga County Deeds ZZ: 74 Avery to Avery, September 13, 1847.)) They apparently were serving fried potatoes by 1850, but the diner who reported this fact didn’t note anything special about them. Mag Avery, identified by Earl Gates’ mother as the inventor of potato chips, married Calvin Avery about 1839 and could have been working in the kitchen before 1849. ((United States Census 1850, New York, Saratoga, Town of Saratoga Springs, Dwelling 1037)) However there is no other evidence of the chip being invented at Avery’s and Earl Gates Mother’s recollection may have been based on the 1910 story.
PEOPLE
Harriet Moon
Source: New York Times, August 15, 1885
This article appeared in the New York Times one week before the Hotel Gazette article giving credit to George Crum. The article, about the sale of Moon’s Lake House, said that “’the Saratoga’ as it is known the world over originated with Moon or rather his wife who was an excellent cook.” The article doesn’t mention Harriet Moon by name, but it seems likely they were referring to Cary Moon’s first wife Harriet, who died in 1869. ((Saratogian, October 7, 1869))
There are several accounts to suggest that she played a role in the kitchen of Moon’s Lake House, and she has been given credit for being the inventor a few times over the years. But there is no reason to believe she had anything to do with Loomis’ Lake House before she and her husband purchased it in 1854. While she may not be the inventor of potato chips she should be recognized for her role, in making the chips famous and creating a nationwide appetite for them. ((Troy Daily Times, August 15, 1870))
Cary Moon
Source: Evening Observer, June 15, 1885
He is called the originator of the Potato Chip in this brief mention that Moon’s Lake House was for sale. Many of the newspaper stories and travel guides before this date mention that Moon’s was famous for its fried potatoes but doesn’t really use the word invented or originated until Moon’s was sold. ((Boston Post, August 10, 1865. Only Hotel that knows how to cook them. The World, August 4, 1884.)) A few years later in an interview in the Troy Daily Times he actually took credit for the invention of Potato Chip saying they started frying them soon after they bought the business, which he believed happened in 1852. ((Troy Daily Times, December 14 1889 )) And when he died in 1895 notices of his death appeared around the country giving him credit as the originator of Saratoga Chips. ((“Death of a Well Known Landlord,” New York Times, January 14, 1895.))
His involvement in the discovery of the Potato chip seems unlikely for the same reasons as his wife Harriet. But like Harriet, perhaps even more, he deserves credit for the popularity and development of what has become known as the potato chip.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Source: The World, June 20 1893
In 1893 in a story about the burning and rebuilding of Moon’s Lake House, The World stated that Cornelius Vanderbilt gave Moon his start after the Civil War and taught him how to make Saratoga potatoes. Cornelius Vanderbilt also appears in the potato chip story again in 1976. ((Watertown Daily Times, July 27, 1976)) In that year the Snack Food Association apparently released a version of “The Finicky Customer Story” which identified Vanderbilt as the finicky customer. When that version was picked up by a Vanderbilt heir and included in a cook book and materials for a party a controversy over fact and fiction developed in Saratoga Springs. ((Fox, William S. and Mae G. Banner, “Social and Economic Contexts of Folklore Variants: The Case of Potato Chip Legends, Western Folklore, May, 1983.))
It doesn’t appear that there was any basis in fact for the story in 1893 nor the one in 1976 and while Vanderbilt may have dined on chips at Moon’s there doesn’t seem to be any reason to think he ever played more of a role.
Flora
Source: Troy Daily Times, August 15, 1882
In a far ranging story about current events in Saratoga Springs, the writer of this article recounts a visit to the Cedar Bluff Hotel, another Lake House that at time was being run by William Van Arnum of Troy. The next section of the story entitled “A Bit of History” claims that Gil Vandercook, who for many years had been the Steward of the United States Hotel, had once been a partner of Cary Moon, and that their cook had been “Old Flora” a colored woman. Unfortunately like Eliza the Cook in the 1849 New York Herald article her last name was never given. She, the article states, was the inventor of “Moon’s famous fried potato chips” and had made them for several years in Troy before her going to Saratoga Springs. She was sent up from the Verandah, Troy by Van Arnum.
Because this is part of the same article it seems possible that William Van Arnum may have been the source for the story. Much to the disappointment of the people of Troy perhaps, this story doesn’t stand up to the facts very well. The Van Arnum referred to in the story was probably William’s father John Van Arnum who in 1852 was the new proprietor of The Verandah a restaurant on First Street in Troy. ((Troy Daily Times, March 22, 1852)) Gilbert Vandercook was a partner in the Lake House, but with the Loomis’ and not Cary Moon. ((New York, Saratoga County, Deed ZZ:226)) It’s possible that some of the details are wrong and Flora may still have been a cook at Loomis’ Lake House, but the timing is wrong for her to have been part of the discovery of the chip there or her having brought it from Troy.
An 1852 ad for The Verandah announces that John Van Arnum had only recently taken over the business, suggesting that if he played a role in Flora going to Saratoga Springs it was after 1852. ((Troy Daily Times, March 22, 1852)) Most versions of the potato chip story were never challenged but this one generated a letter to the Editors of the Troy Daily Times from Cary Moon. ((Troy Daily Times, August 30, 1882)) Moon wrote that not only was he never a partner of Gil Cook, but that he had never heard of Flora and believed that she was “base fabric of the brain.” The paper printed the information with the comment that it appeared an unwitting injustice had been done and this was their effort to set matters right.
A Colored “Auntie”
Source: Troy Daily Times, June 28 1887
Unfortunately this woman doesn’t even get a first name. This article about the new owners of Moon’s Lake House after Cary Moon sold it in 1885 refers to the “fried potatoes invented and made for nearly a half-century by a colored “auntie””.
At first look this sounds like “Aunt” Kate Wicks as she was sometimes referred to in articles, but that may be a bit of a leap. There are references to colored Aunties in other publications and stories and it seems older African American women were sometimes called Aunties. It’s impossible to know who the writer was referring to, or if there even was one woman that invented the chips and cooked at the Lake House for half a century. At the time the article was written the only cook we can identify at Moon’s Lake House is Susan Jones and I haven’t been able to discover anything about her that could be used to know how long she had cooked at the Lake House. It seems more likely that the Auntie is a composite of African American women cooking at Moon’s created by the writer. ((New York Herald, August 19, 1884))
Hiram Thomas
Source: Times Picayune, July 28, 1895
An article in the Times Picayune describes a visit to Saratoga Springs a few years before the article was written. The writer’s informant recalls that his party was introduced to a man who claimed to be the inventor of the potato chip. The story, written in unflattering language, doesn’t name the man but states that he was African American, not their term, who came from New Orleans to Saratoga Springs. He took over the restaurant some years before and then invented the chips.
It’s likely that while most of the details are wrong, it was Hiram Thomas, the informant was referring to. Hiram Thomas, an African American, ran Moon’s first as a manager and then as leasee from 1888 – 1895. ((Troy Daily Times, May 11, 1888 and Directory of Saratoga Springs, Saratoga Springs, NY: Saratogian, 1895.))
Thomas was once again given credit for the invention of the potato chip in his obituary in 1907 in New Jersey. The obituary was republished in newspapers around the country and not only included the information about the potato chip but Thomas’ service to Presidents while Washington DC, his restaurant in New Jersey, and his involvement in hotels and Saratoga Springs and New Jersey. ((“Originated Saratoga Chips,” Duluth News Tribune, July 11, 1907))
Hiram Thomas did not become involved with Moon’s until after Cary Moon sold it and long after the Saratoga Chip was already famous. We don’t know if he ever claimed to invent it, but it seems more likely that someone made a giant leap by connecting his association with Moon’s to the birth of the potato chip.
Emeline Jones
Source: Cleveland Gazette, July 20, 1912
Emeline Jones obituary in the Cleveland Gazette contains a statement by W. E. Gross, who was referred to as “one of New York’s oldest caterers’” giving Jones credit for introducing Saratoga Chips to the public.
At the time of her death Jones was a well known New York City caterer. She was born a slave in Baltimore, Maryland where she remained for many years, even after gaining her freedom before coming to New York after 1860. ((“An Old Fashioned Cook,” New York Times, December 30, 1899)) She worked for many years in Washington DC, Long Branch, New Jersey, New York, and even Saratoga Springs. Hiram Thomas employed her as a cook at Moon’s for at least one season, but it is possible that it was longer. ((New York Times, August 20, 1888)) It is clear however that Emeline was not cooking in Saratoga Springs before 1849, since she was still in Maryland in 1860. ((United States Census 1860, Maryland, Baltimore, 11th Ward, Family 614)) There is another Jones, Susan Jones, who also cooked at Moon’s I have wondered if Susan Jones was Emeline Jones. They both were from the south, African American, and cooked at Moon’s Lake House at about the same time. In addition Susan’s specialty was Fried Chicken Maryland style which is from the same region where Emeline Jones was raised. ((New York Herald, August 19, 1894)) But other than those admittedly vague connections I do not have any evidence to support the theory that they are one person.
Pete Francis
Source: Saratogian, June 5, 1953
At some point Evelyn Barrett Britten must have come across a reference to Peter Francis inventing the potato chip. She used a portion of her column on Saratoga History to specifically address the claim. She wrote that Francis wasn’t the inventor but that he, George, and Kate were all cooks and compared notes on cooking. She went on to write that he played a role with George, Kate and Cary Moon in perfecting the Chip after the initial discovery. It’s not clear where Britten found the reference to Pete Francis being the inventor of the chip or where she found information about their collaboration. She may have just assumed the close working relationship and added Peter Francis’ role.
Peter Francis was a well known cook, even by the time the potato chip was being served at Loomis’ Lake House. ((New York, Saratoga County, Deeds, NN:364 and William Stone, Reminiscences of Saratoga and Ballston Spa New York, Worthington Co, 1875)) He also was George and Kate’s brother in law and may have worked with both of them in the kitchen of the Sans Souci Hotel in Ballston Spa. But with the exception of Clarence Knapp’s 1928 article putting him in the Moon’s Lake House kitchen as one of George Crum’s assistants there doesn’t seem to be anything else suggesting he cooked at Moon’s. ((Knapp, Clarence, “Home of the Chips,” New Yorker Magazine, February 18, 1928, p. 10 and Saratogian, February 20, 1928)) As early as 1842 Peter had his own place on Saratoga Lake and within a few years his place was a frequent destination for fish dinners and fishing parties. ((New York, Saratoga County, Deeds, NN:364 and William Stone, Reminiscences of Saratoga and Ballston Spa New York, Worthington Co, 1875))
Freelove Moon
Source: New York Times, August 13 1893
This article was reprinted in numerous newspapers and focused on two famous Saratoga Dishes, Chips and Cream Hashed Potatoes. The writer suggested that the woman who probably deserves the credit for the Chips was living in Saratoga Springs in 1893.
It seems most likely that the writer may have confused Freelove Moon, Cary Moon’s second wife with his first wife Harriet. Harriet died in 1869 and likely had a much greater role in the development of the chip, but not the invention. ((Saratogian, October 7, 1869)) Freelove may have also had a role in the running of Moon’s, I haven’t discovered any references, but it was long after the chip’s fame was well established. ((Troy Daily Times, August 18, 1882.))
AND THEY COOKED THERE
There are some other cooks that are mentioned in conjunction with the Saratoga Chip and Moon’s Lake House but I have not found any place they are credited with the discovery of the potato chip. And for the most part these are just passing references.
Susan Jones
Source: New York Herald, August 19, 1894
This article described Susan Jones as a southern colored woman who worked for Cary Moon and now works for Hiram Thomas at Moon’s Lake House. The reporter convinced Jones to give the secret to preparing two of the Lake House dishes including Saratoga Chips, which by 1894 was no longer really a secret. I have not been able to discover anything about Susan Jones, it seems likely that she was not a local and lived only the summer months in Saratoga like so many other African American workers.
Unnamed Southern Mammy
Source: Saratogian, May 10, 1927
In 1927, the Saratogian featured a series on the memories of Richard Mingay a long time Saratoga Springs resident. Mingay, who had lived in Saratoga Springs for 76 years, wrote about Moon’s Lake House and gave credit to “Mother Moon” for the chips. According to Mingay she was helped by her assistant a southern “Mammy”.
There were probably many African American cooks in the kitchen over there years and there is no way to tie this to any particular cook. If he was referring to the first Mrs. Moon, it’s unlikely that the story is the result of direct experience since he would have only been about 20 at the time of Harriet Moon’s death and probably was not among Moon’s frequent patrons. ((Saratogian, October 7 1869))
Assistant Cook of African Descent
Source: Troy Daily Times, July 19 1887
In a discussion of Moon’s Lake House and Cary Moon’s retirement the writer called the potatoes Moon’s best advertising medium and that “for 25 cents anyone could get the equivalent of about one potato that had received confectionery treatment from the first Mrs. Moon or her able assistant cook of African descent.” This time we don’t even know the gender of the cook, but they would have to have been cooking at the Lake House before 1869 if the story was true..
Mother of Jennie Hill, possibly Sarah Williams
Source: Saratogian, August 3, 1939.
In the midst of a an exchange over several months debating who was the inventor of chips Mrs. Oliver Prosper came forward and said that her mother, Mrs. John H. Carr employed a mulatto girl named Jennie Hill 65 or 70 years ago (1864 or 1869). According to the informant, Jennie’s mother, Mrs. Williams, was a laundress in the winter and cooked for the Moon’s in the summer.
It’s possible that Mrs. Williams was Sarah Williams who was cooking at the Cedar Bluff Hotel in 1882 and was said to have been cooking on the Lake for years. ((Troy Daily Times, August 18, 1882. )) She also appeared to know Kate Wicks. She testified that she had knew Kate Wicks, at the time Kate Adkins and had been her neighbor for twelve years in 1865, suggesting that Sarah Williams also lived in Ballston Spa. ((Civil War and Later Pension Files, Catharine Adkins, service of Richard Adkins)) Unfortunately she has proven hard to track down and I don’t know anything more about her.
CONCLUSION
I don’t believe we will ever know how what we know as potato chips started to be made at Loomis’ Lake House in 1849 and I sincerely doubt we will ever have conclusive evidence about who was involved. That leaves us with unanswered questions, but an interesting story of how a giant snack food industry owes its origins to an item on the menu of a Lake House upstate New York.
While I don’t believe that George Crum and Kate Wicks had any direct involvement in the birth of the potato chip I do believe they lived interesting lives. My next effort will be to present their stories.
My research, still a work in progress, wouldn’t have gotten this far without help from the staff and volunteers of several great organizations and some dedicated individuals;
Joy Houle, Kathleen Coleman, Anne Clothier and Kim McCartney from the Saratoga County Historical Society
Jane Meader Nye and Lauren Roberts from the Saratoga County Historians Office
Paul Perreault, Malta Town Historian
Saratoga County Clerk’s Office
Saratoga County Surrogates Court
Teri Blasko from the Saratoga History Room at the Saratoga Springs Public Library,
Mary Ann Fitzgerald, City of Saratoga Springs Historian,
James Parillo, Historical Society of Saratoga Springs.
Ken Perry who has done extensive work on the early African American community in the Capital District
Shelia Powless from the Stockbridge-Munsee Community.
Melissa Tacke, from the Grems-Doolittle Library Schenectady Historical Society
Ruth Ann Messick,
Roy Arnold and Rachel Clothier who have been great resources about Malta Ridge,
Any mistakes are mine and please feel free to post a comment or email me if you discover one of them or if you have something to add.
