From Virginia Lepley’s Kitchen: Newly Digitized Family Recipe Cards

 

Some of the most meaningful pieces of family history aren't found in courthouses or census ledgers—they are tucked away in kitchen drawers. While going through the recipe box belonging to Virginia Mildred (Sparks) Lepley (1910–1983), I found several handwritten recipe cards dating back to the 1940s through the 1960s from her time living on Bellewood Avenue in Dayton, Ohio.

Seeing recipes written in her own hand—complete with crossed-out edits and well-earned kitchen splatters showing just how loved those dishes were—reminded me how easily these everyday pieces of our family's story can be lost.

Check them out! Sparks Lepley - Old Recipe Cards Google Photo album, as well as MacFamilyTree Recipe Cards Source Record.

What’s Inside the Recipe Box

Along with Virginia's own recipes, the collection includes cards attributed to Virginia's Sister-In-Law, Bess Sparks:

• Date Cake (Bess): Originally titled Date & Nut Bread before being crossed out and updated to a cake with pecans and a white uncooked icing—complete with a classic kitchen ring stain right in the center of the card.
  
  
• Virginia Lepley’s Chili Sauce: A two-page handwritten recipe.

• Zucchini Bread: A two-page staple recipe.
  
  
• And a couple more varieties of Nut Bread recipes, and of course cookie recipes! 

Share Your Memories & Family Recipes!

I need your help to gather handed-down family recipes to include in our permanent genealogy files. 

One of the most powerful ways to connect with our ancestors is through the smells and tastes of preparing meals from their own handwritten cards. Cooking and eating the same foods they loved doesn't just preserve history—it brings our shared memories back to life.

Even if you don't have physical recipe cards of your own to share, your memories bring these documents to life:

1. Do you remember these dishes? Did you ever sit at the table and eat Virginia's Chili Sauce, the Blue Ribbon Banana Nut Cake, or Little Ears Cookies? Have you tried baking any of these yourself?
   
   
2. What happened around the table? Do you have favorite memories of holiday dinners, Sunday meals, or time spent in the kitchen with parents, grandparents, or cousins?
   
   
3. What recipes are in your kitchen? Do you have other handwritten cards, church cookbook clippings, or family staples passed down through your branch of the Lepley tree?
   
   

Every card and story helps us preserve a fuller picture of the people who came before us! Contact Me

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