2023 LEISZ FAMILY REUNION IN TURTLE LAKE, WISCONSIN—A BIG SUCCESS!
Dora Minnichsoffer's 100-year-old dill pickle recipe!
"Those Leisz sisters sure could cook!"
Joseph and Louisa Haspray Leisz's five daughters
Above, from left: Anna Leisz Linden, Lucy Leisz Westfall, Josephine Leisz Craven, Marie Leisz Waters Lucas, and Barbara Leisz Davis, circa 1960.
"The Leisz sisters sure could cook," writes niece Sandy Davis, who married Barbara's son Charles.
"I consider it a blessing to be in the Davis family. I wish I would have had more time with my mother-in-law. " Barb died in 1966 at age 60.
"She was such a good Christian woman," continues Sandy. "She went to mass everyday. She belonged to the Third Order of St. Francis. She didn't have much money, but she gave from her heart and sould. Caring for her children, foster children, and loving her grandchildren—we all counted on her."
Sandy recalls that around 1964, her mother-in-law received a second-hand freezer from sister Josephine "Joan" Leisz Craven, who lived in upper New York State at that time. "It was still working in 1986 when we sold the house," adds Sandy. "It was always filled with good stuff."
Like many good cooks, Barbara seldom followed a written recipe, but crafted her own, or reinvented those passed on from others, including her mother Louisa Haspray Leisz. Instead of organizing recipes in a folder or card file, time-pressed Barb jotted ingredients down on the manual for installation and operation of her used freezer from sister Joan. The Marquette Home Freezer booklet is covered with Barb's recipes. Her Beans and Ground Beef is one of these.
HERE ARE SOME OF THEIR RECIPES, PLUS A FEW FROM THEIR BROTHERS JOE AND JACKIE, AND JACKIE'S WIFE MARY ZEMA LEISZ
Leisz cooks extraordinaire
Jack Leisz's Famous Baked Beans
"My dad cooked for his fellow firefighters at Engine No. 1 House in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. He worked there for over 30 years before retiring in the 1980s. Dad was a creative cook and experimenter in the kitchen. He was known for his delicious pot roasts, hams and stews he would season just right to perfection. But his baked beans are the most memorable to me. He'd whip up a batch for any special family get-together, any time of the year."
- Denise Leisz
NOTE: John Leopold "Jack" Leisz (1921-1988) is the youngest child of Leisz Brother Joseph.
Campbell's or Bush's pork and beans, enough cans to equal about 4.5 lbs.
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2/3 lb. bacon, cut into 1/4" pieces
8 drops Tabasco sauce
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
2.5 Tbsp. brown sugar
2.5 Tbsp. molasses
1.5 tsp. dry mustard
2 Tbsp. chili sauce (I substitute barbecue sauce sometimes)
Fry bacon until crisp. Add onion and fry until carmelized. Drain grease. Mix all ingredients together in a casserole dish. Mix well. Bake at 350 degrees covered for about one hour, remove cover and bake another 30-40 min.
Lucy's Dressing for Potato Salad
Lucy Leisz Westfall shared this recipe with her sister Barbara, who jotted it down on an envelope and dated it July 21, 1964.
4 eggs
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. dry mustard
salt and pepper to taste
dash paprika
Cook and stir with beater, and add some Hellmann's mayonnaise, and some sour cream (if desired, per Lucy).
Put cucumbers, sweet onion etc in with potatoes, mix in with salad dressing.
Mother Sophia Donaker Leisz's recipes
Anton Leisz with wife Sophia and some of their children in Turtle Lake
Daughter Millie Leisz O'Malley, not yet born when the above photo was taken circa 1921, shared the following about farm wives:
On a winter's day, they milked the cows and fed them hay, slopped the hogs, saddled the mule, and got the children off to school.
Did a washing, mopped the floors, washed the windows and did the chores. Swept the parlor, made the beds, baked a dozen loaves of bread.
Split some firewood and lugged it in, enough to fill the kitchen bin. Cooked a supper that was delicious, and afterwards washed up all the dishes.
Fed the cat and sprinkled the clothes, mended a basketful of hose. Then opened the organ and began to play, "When you come to the end of a perfect day."
Anton and Sophia's daughters in 2002
From left: Helen Leisz McCoy, Millie Leisz O'Malley, Gladys Leisz Wick and Marian Leisz Hammang, at the 2002 Homeward Bound Leisz Family Reunion in Turtle Lake, Wisconsin.
Gladys lived in Turtle Lake at the time, and her three sisters traveled from their homes in California for the special 3-day reunion, which drew more than 160 descendents of the Six Leisz Brothers and Sister Mary Leisz Minnichsoffer, from all over the country, and even from Vietnam and Australia!
Helen, born in 1919, passed away on March 13, 2006. Millie, born 1922, passed away that same year, on July 2, 2006. Gladys, born in 1924, passed away in 2010.
Marian Leisz Hammang, born in 1928, still lives in California. She is the only living person of her generation, that is, a child of one of the Six Leisz Brothers. That makes Marian the veritable "matriarch" for the Leisz family!
In 2002 all four sisters shared these recipes they fondly referred to as "From Mother Leisz."
The 70-year-old stove!
This 1950s Roper Bake-Master stove has made 100,000 meals for a BIG family of Leisz descendants. It's still cooking with gas!