Christmas in Coffeyville
Miss Dora Selby sat waiting at the organ in the Coffeyville Methodist Episcopal Church, dressed in Christmas finery. Rev. W. O. Breeden and his wife Minnie greeted arriving members. Ice was six inches thick on the Verdigris River that year. Yet a cold spell did not keep anyone from crowding into the church that night.
If ever there was a time to come out to church on a cold winter night, this was it. It was Christmas Eve 1878 in Coffeyville, Kansas. Sacks of presents swung from the ceiling. Best of all, a 14-foot tall cedar tree, strung with popcorn garlands and little gifts glittered with candlelight at the front of the church.
For decades, most churches in Montgomery County, as in churches all over the country, had a “Christmas tree and entertainment” on Christmas Eve. In rural areas, the “entertainment” was sometimes held at the school house. There were usually recitations, declamations, tableaux with accompanying poetry and Christmas songs. Little presents, most likely candy, dangled from the tips of the Christmas tree branches. Families were encouraged to bring their presents to church, and these were placed on the tree branches too. One year in Larned, Kansas a school teacher asked the newspaper editor to let her thank her students through the newspaper for a set of vases that were placed in the Christmas tree.
At the Methodist Episcopal Church in Coffeyville in 1878, the tree was positioned on the platform at the front of the building secured behind a wire. Twelve thick candles gleamed in addition to the little ones on the tree. Miss Selby, the 14-year old daughter of a local hotel owner, started the ceremonies with a hymn. Rev. Breeden led the congregation in prayer, then three children gave recitations. It later years, it would be a much longer program. Suddenly, to the wondering eyes of about 50 children, Santa Claus appeared!
A church member reached up with a pair of scissors and cut the strings to the sacks. Santa pulled out the presents. He called out the names of each recipient and two girls delivered them. “The work was well and quickly done, and many hearts leaped for joy,” wrote William Peffer, the newspaper editor and a member of the church. In general, churches gave a present to each member of the Sunday School classes and had extra for the “extra” children who inevitably appeared.
There was a criticism of that night. A collection plate was passed, “to pay expenses of getting a tree.”
“This was a mistake in our judgment,” Peffer wrote. “Christmas gifts, at Christmas time, should be free, absolutely free. Any expense should be met beforehand. When the hour of giving comes, there should be no talk of money.” Maybe in future years his advice was heeded at the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1886 the Presbyterian Church invited everyone to their Christmas tree entertainment but charged a small fee to defray expenses -- ten cents for adults and a nickel for children.
The gifts from the Sunday School were not described. Typical would have been a whistle, candy and nuts in little cloth bags. A hair ribbon for girls was treasured. As for the family gifts, although people certainly bought Christmas presents, homemade presents were very common. Reminiscences by the elderly in the 1930s and ‘40s describe things like elaborately folded colored paper placed in an old vase as fire starters, which helped save matches. Girls commonly embroidered decorative items as gifts; mothers usually sewed and knit new clothing.
One woman described the common custom of families bringing their presents to be publicly opened at church.
“Some of the members used the church tree for their family celebration, placing on the tree their children’s gifts. The Santa Claus of the occasion distributed the gifts, calling the names of those children to the great excitement of the youngsters. My parents disapproved greatly of this custom; they thought it ostentatious, and though there were no great extremes of rich and poor in our little community, still there were a few who received little and some others quite handsome gifts, and that caused unnecessary heartburning. Sentiment against this practice became strong enough to end it.
Indeed, in 1876 the Union Sunday School invited the public to its Christmas tree, promising that Old Santa Claus would distribute gifts to the children -- "all alike and equal, no special gifts allowed." On Christmas Day, there was to be no rich, no poor, no other distinctions, and free for all, the Sunday School officers wrote. This is interesting because the Sunday school was part of Union Baptist Church, often described as Union Colored Church. The Sunday School board was making a statement.
After 1910, while the Christmas Eve tree tradition continued at churches and school houses, the newspaper turned its focus to what was done for the poor. The Salvation Army was active in Coffeyville by then and typically, as in 1915, fixed a free Christmas dinner for unemployed and homeless men, and a separate one for the poor washerwomen of the town and their children. Employers were asked to let their washerwomen get off work early to attend. In 1916, the newspaper reported that 162 washerwomen partook of the Salvation Army turkey dinner with all the trimmings, with candy leftover from the municipal tree passed out to the children.
Nearly every story about Christmas celebrations ended with a comment that it was a happy occasion.
Note: I’m always interested in the lives of anyone in my stories. Who were these people? What did they do before the story? What happened next?
In 1883, G.W. Selby, Dora’s father, retired and sold his hotel, the Eldridge House. Dora left for Illinois where she was going to live with relatives and teach music. In 1884 Dora moved closer to her parents and lived in Kansas City. She later married. Her father didn’t stay retired long. He eventually opened a restaurant in Coffeyville and operated it until his death in 1888 at age 58.
W.O. and Minnie Breeden endured gossip and weathered a scandal just before coming to Coffeyville. Rev. Breeden pastored a church in Thayer, Kansas when a rumor flew that he was a married man who abandoned his wife and shacked up with Minnie, with whom he had three children. Worse, it was said that he took in a little orphan girl and attempted to “ruin” her.
The facts were that Rev. Breeden married young, at age 19 or 20, the marriage didn’t work and he obtained a divorce. He joined the church afterward and was ordained a minister. He married Minnie Short, who knew about the previous marriage. His mother-in-law wrote a letter to the Thayer newspaper defending him. She said they lived with her before moving to Kansas and had never taken in any orphans. She believed her son-in-law made enemies with his firm anti-liquor stance. Ministers at Methodist Episcopal churches in Illinois, where the Breedens came from, wrote the Thayer newspaper in defense of his character. He weathered the scandal in order to get the job in Coffeyville, where he seems to have been treated well.
He only stayed two years before being moved to circuit riding based out of Independence. He resigned two years later, with more gossip. Then the Coffeyville newspaper said he’d been “too familiar with the ladies” in Thayer. The Breedens moved to Cassville, Missouri where he continued in the ministry and seemed to avoid controversy.
William Peffer, editor of the Coffeyville Journal, lived an amazing and adventurous life. He was a Forty-niner and a Civil War veteran, a lawyer and a homesteader. He was a member of the Kansas State Senate before coming to Coffeyville. In 1890 he was elected to the U.S. Senate as a member of the Populist Party. In 1898 he ran unsuccessfully for the governorship of Kansas. Afterwards, he devoted himself to literary pursuits and published several books.
Sources:
Alexander, Kathy. “William A. Peffer – Soldier, Publisher and U.S. Senator,” Legends of Kansas, https://legendsofkansas.com/william-peffer/
Bell, Polly McKean. “A Pioneer Woman’s Reminiscences of Christmas in the Eighties,” Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol. 49, No. 4 (Dec. 1948), pp. 284-296.
Newspapers:
"Christmas Tree," The Coffeyville Weekly Journal, 23 Dec 1876, p. 5.
“Breeden,” The Head-light (Thayer, Kansas), 3 Aug 1877, p. 4.
Schoolteacher: The Larned Chronoscope Daily (Larned, Kansas), 6 Jan 1882, p. 3.
Selbys: Coffeyville Weekly Journal, 6 Jan 1883, p. 1.
Obituary: The Eagle (Coffeyville, Kansas), 26 Oct 1888, p. 3.
“Dinner For Washerwomen,” The Sun (Coffeyville, Kansas), 30 Dec 1915, p. 4.
Copyright Andrea Auclair © 2023
Comments
Post a Comment