Before Julia, there was Jessie

and a talent for cooking became a national celebrity.

  In 1850 Antoine and Johanna DeBoth immigrated from Ottenburg, Belgium to the United States. They settled in De Pere, Wisconsin, a small town just west of Green Bay. The DeBoth family were farmers, blacksmiths and saloon keepers. By 1880 their son, Martin, ran a tavern in the town. He was successful enough to be able to send his children to college. Son, Edward, graduated from Rush Medical School in 1911, and daughter, Jessie, graduated from Ripon College in 1915.

  By 1927, Jessie and her family moved to Chicago and Jessie began her career as a celebrity chef. She wrote cookbooks, like the Modern Household Encyclopedia, and she wrote a syndicated newspaper column with cooking and household tips. She also began to host on-stage "cooking schools" in cities around the country sponsored by the newspapers. These "classes" had a vaudeville tone. The stage was transformed into a fully equipped kitchen, with popular back-up music and a dramatic performance by Jessie herself. Amidst the frenzy of cooking and cleaning, Jessie appeared in fashionable dresses, hats and furs. The programs covered a variety of subjects, from food preparation to nutrition, menu planning, budgeting, interior design,  cleaning and laundry tips. In the beginning admission was free, but as crowds became overwhelming, DeBoth began to charge an entrance fee of 30-40 cents. Even then, the theaters filled to capacity. Each show generated huge lines outside, and thousands had to be turned away. Jessie had become the "homemaking authority" of the country.

  In the 1940's Jessie's cooking empire expanded to include a radio program based on her column and homemaker's classes. And in the 1950's she had a television program called "Jessie's TV Notebook."

  Jessie found romance late in life when she married Carl Dreutzer on July 16, 1954. Carl, who was born and raised in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, was a prominent attorney and President of the Chicago Adventurer's Club. An Arctic explorer, big game hunter and gold miner,  he brought back rare seals for the Field Museum of Natural History and a walrus for the Brookfield Zoo.  Like Jessie, Carl performed on stage as a lecturer for the Chautauqua Circuit.

  Jessie and Carl spent much of their time in their native Wisconsin at Jessie's summer house on Frogtown Road in Baileys Harbor, Door County. After only 4 years of marriage to Jessie, Carl Dreutzer passed away in 1958. Jessie followed him a year later in 1959.

  Jessie's legacy lives on through her numberous cookbooks, which reflect the times in which she lived. She was the author of a very modern idea - a celebrity chef/homemaker teaching modern methods instead of traditional skills taught by our grandmothers. Her recipes and cleaning tips made the most of frugal Depression Era and World War II supplies, but her flamboyant, open and friendly personality brought charm to the drudgery of everyday chores.