Cherry Hill Receipt Books

The receipt books of Cherry Hill are vast in the time period and the recipes/instructions they cover. Early receipts come from the first generation residents, like Maria (1749-1830) and Philip (1747-1798) Van Rensselaer. Philip and Maria were the first inhabitants of Cherry Hill, when it was a 900 acre farm, and thus many of their receipts pertain to the keeping of animals. Their daughter and son-in-law, Arriet and Solomon Van Rensselaer, managed a 300+ acre farm. Arriet Van Rensselaer’s (1775-1840) receipt books are full of family recipes as well as those for her dairy business. Others date to the third generation owner, Harriet Maria Van Rensselaer Elmendorf (1816-1896). Her receipts include her transcriptions of old family recipes, as well as patterns for quilting and needlework.

Harriet Maria undoubtedly inherited the receipt book created by her sisters, Elizabeth Van Rensselaer (1799-1835) and Matilda Fonda Van Rensselaer (1804-1863). Written from other residences in Albany, their receipt books include many recipes, mostly for desserts, but also a tragic poem about a deceased child. Family members also contributed to their books on topics like “Astronomy and Natural Philosophy” and “The Nature and Cause of Winds," farming and food preservation. Recipes to cure cough and other lung ailments support the presumption that both sisters and perhaps two daughters suffered from tuberculosis.

Fourth generation Cherry Hill owner, Catherine Bogart Putman Rankin (1857-1948), kept receipt books which include references and additions by her children, notably Edward Elmendorf Rankin and Emily W. Rankin. Many of these were compilations of original or older receipts found in books from Van Rensselaer and Rankin family members and friends who were living during different periods or in different homes.