Everyone celebrates the New Year a little differently.

Fondue with the kids has become a tradition in my family’s home. Whether we will be awake at midnight is often the unknown.

The Hormels attended a special New Year’s celebration with Mrs. Hormel’s Birthday Club to welcome the year 1909. The following article in the Jan. 2, 1909 Austin Daily Herald recorded the occasion.

“The Birthday club was entertained at the Evergreen Farm New Year’s [event].  There were thirty-five members of the club present beside the following guests: Mrs. Addie Cook, Miss Laura Banfield, H.L. Banfield, Mr. and Mrs. E.H. Sterling and daughter Marie, Fred C. Ulmer, Miss Helen Baird, Mrs. Walter Waldron and Mrs. Morton Merill.

At 6:30 a four-course dinner was served in picnic style. The house was decorated in evergreens and pine cones.

A New Year’s greeting was written by Mrs. A.L. Eberhart and read by Mrs. George Hormel. The greeting was as follows:

‘May we always be under the orders of General Peace, General Plenty and General Prosperity.’

‘Our drink shall be of water,

Bright, sparkling with glee;

The gift of our God

And the drink of the free

May the coming New Year

Bring to us nothing thinner

Than the beverage provided

By Mrs. John Skinner.

Bear in mind, my dear friends,

That the coming New Year

Will turn a mile-stone

For us all, never fear.

May the route which we travel

Lead us to no harm,

And our New Year’s all start

From the Evergreen Farm.’”

Evergreen Farm was the homestead of Allan V. Ellis who settled in Austin on 160 acres of land and eventually amassed 800 acres. Evergreen Farm was known for the thousands of trees that Ellis planted in honor of his native New York home. The Austin school board purchased a portion of the Ellis property in 1948 and established Ellis Middle School on the site in 1957.

It seems many celebrations were held at Evergreen Farm with one its famous guests being Warren G. Harding, a future President of the United States. The Ellis’ celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in their home on April 24, 1909, just a little over three months before Mr. Ellis’ death in August at the age of 75.

The legacy of the Ellis and Hormel families exists throughout Austin. These two families were likely friends, and celebrating New Years together was surely a time to remember.

 History Happy Hour

5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Monday

Tips for researching your family’s history using online and local sources. Presented by John Haymond of the Mower County Historical Society.

Free for members of the MCHS, Friends of the Library, or the HHH. $5 for non-members.

Light snacks and cash bar offered.

 Austin Wedding Showcase

12- 3 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 24

$4 per person