We can assume that as she was getting into her seventies she must have recruited him to help out, or perhaps he offered to do so. Did they both need the money? Did she stop teaching at this point, or did they expand the shop so that she could concentrate more on the cooking school? This is unlikely due to her advanced age. Perhaps her business was prospering and the timing was such that a partnership seemed a good business move.
It is not clear whether the types of confectionery mentioned in the announcement are new offerings with this shop expansion, or more of an increase in the quantity available. Also, it seems kind of unusual for Robert to switch careers so suddenly, but his mother could have been training him to make pastry for years, prepping him for a time when they might go into business together. Or he could have been more of a pure business partner, taking care of the administrative tasks and employing other pastry chefs to help.
According to the 1850 U.S. census, two other confectioners are listed as living with the Coanes in Dock Ward, City of Philadelphia—Robert Moffit, age twenty, and Parker Smith, age twenty-four, so it is almost certain they were working for Goodfellow and Coane. In addition, five young women ranging in age from fifteen to twenty-six are living at this residence, two who listed Ireland as their place of birth, and one England. Their occupations are not given, but it can be assumed they were servants. Robert Coane is recorded as a confectioner, but not Elizabeth, although she is logged as living in the same location as her son and his family.57 In her eighties at this point and just one year before her death in January 1851, she surely had finally “retired.”
After her death, the shop remained Goodfellow & Coane's Confectionary, Pastry and Fancy Cake Bakery until at least 1856, which is the last directory listing. By 1854 Robert had moved his residence to Green Street above Tenth.58
Robert went on to become an established figure in Philadelphia society. The Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania Biography cites him as a businessman in Philadelphia and a director of the Tradesmen's National Bank. He was also prominent in community affairs as a Republican, as the city's representative on the directorate of the Wills Eye Hospital, and as commissioner for the relief of families of volunteers during the Civil War. For his war work he was highly complimented by Major Alexander Henry of Philadelphia.59
He married Mary McLeod Stinger in 1831 and they had eight children.60 Mary died in 1844, and he later wed Mary Margarette. At the time of the 1850 census, he had seven children (one child, Mary, had died in 1839), the oldest being a son, also named Robert Coane.61 One daughter was named Elizabeth Goodfellow Coane, after her grandmother. She entered the Moravian Seminary in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1853 and later married William W. Allen.62 Robert Sr. died on February 1, 1877, and it does not appear that any of his children ever picked up the confectionery business.
Mrs. Goodfellow's daughter from her first marriage, Sarah, had married Michel Bouvier (the great-great-grandfather of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis) in 1822. Having arrived from France in 1815 after serving in Napoleon's army, Michel made his way to Philadelphia and set up shop as a carpenter and cabinetmaker. Through hard work and perseverance he established friendships and working relationships with local Frenchmen Joseph Bonaparte (Napoleon's brother and the former king of Spain) and businessman Stephen Girard.63 Michel and Sarah's marriage was short-lived. They had a son, Eustache, in 1824. Two years later Sarah gave birth to their second child, Therese, and then died shortly after at the age of twenty-six. Michel later remarried Louise Vernou, with whom he had ten children, including a son, John, from whom Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is descended.
Eustache was the oldest of the Bouvier clan but unfortunately did not live up to his father's expectations. He was an unambitious philanderer type who never married and died at the age of forty-two. Their daughter, Therese, however, married Jonathan Patterson, Jr., the son of a prosperous merchant and part of a distinguished Philadelphia family. They had seven children, including Mary Patterson Stuart, Michel's first granddaughter, who was 101 and still very active and alert at the time John F. Kennedy was elected president.64
Mrs. Goodfellow was well connected to Philadelphia society, which undoubtedly helped her business thrive. Even before Michel had begun work for Stephen Girard, Mrs. Goodfellow was selling him baked goods. (Perhaps it was actually Girard who introduced young Sarah and Michel at some point.) In any case, on October 28, 1817, Girard paid Goodfellow $13.25 for making cakes for the wedding of his niece Henriette and General Lallemand.65
Additional existing receipts from her shop show that other distinguished patrons included the wives of well-respected Philadelphia lawyer Edward Shippen Burd and successful merchant and landowner Daniel W. Coxe, a descendant of one of the oldest families in Philadelphia.66
Mrs. Goodfellow also donated nineteenth-century “care packages for the troops,” supplying cakes for soldiers during the War of 1812, much to their delight. While at Camp du Pont near Wilmington, Delaware, William Wood Thackara wrote in a November 27, 1814, diary entry, “Benj. Mitchell (brother of the conveyancer) of our compy took charge of a large pound cake, made by Mrs. Goodfellow for Captn. T.F. Pleasants, with his name handsomely cypherd in coloured sugar on the top, and with some of his cronies on the way down, demolished it.”67
As a large number of Mrs. Goodfellow's customers were from prominent Quaker families in and around Philadelphia, and many women from these families attended her school, it has been commonly thought that Mrs. Goodfellow was also of a Quaker background (and was likely born into a Quaker family in Maryland). Several factors point to the fact that she may have resigned her membership or been “disowned” at some point. Neither of her first two husbands (Pearson or Coane) could be found in any Quaker records, and in addition, the fact that Robert Coane may have served in the U.S. military (which is contradictory to Quaker pacifist views) makes it very unlikely he was a member of the Religious Society of Friends. It was common practice for any Quaker who married a non-Quaker to be disowned for disunity or at the very least disciplined. So perhaps her first husband (Pearson) was a Quaker, and then Eliza was disowned when she married Robert Coane, but was able to retain her Quaker network of business contacts and acquaintances. Disownment did not mean shunning, and in many cases, disowned Quakers continued to be very much a part of the larger Quaker social community.68
Another indication that Eliza was no longer a practicing Quaker was her marriage to her third husband, William Goodfellow, in 1808; they were wed in Old Swedes' Church, not during a Quaker meeting, as per Quaker custom. In addition, when he died, William was buried in Philadelphia's Free Quakers Cemetery.69 More a social than a religious society, the Free Quakers included many former Friends who had been disowned or had resigned their membership at the time of the Revolution.70 Eliza's children also married non-Quakers and her son Robert was actually a pewholder at the Sixth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia from 1836 to 1841 and possibly other years.71
Regardless of whether or not Mrs. Goodfellow was a Quaker, at the very least it can be said that Quakers influenced cookery in Philadelphia and the surrounding region, through both the foods they ate as well as the way they prepared them. Some historians have claimed the Quakers produced a distinct type of cookery, while others disagree. It is clear, however, that the Friends favored quality ingredients. Even though they were inclined toward simplicity, the mercantile aristocracy in Philadelphia was very well-off indeed. While their clothes, homes, and carriages were plain, they were always the best money could buy.72 In Philadelphia, Mrs. Goodfellow would have had access to the tropical foods, imported European delicacies, and most important, the sugar necessary to create her confectionery.
The strict Quaker codes of conduct and peaceful contemplation did not deny good eating and drinking, and the Friends partook of the Pennsylvania bounty. Quaker tables groaned under the weight of tempting foods from garden and dairy as well as poultry, beef, and mutton.73 They viewed luxury as a sign of God's grace, and the culinary riches available in the regi
on created an environment of prosperity and excellence for Pennsylvania foods.74
Quakers were known for their substantial springhouses which provided high-quality dairy products such as Philadelphia cream cheese, which rose to fame in the nineteenth century. The fresh milk and cream they produced were also used to make Philadelphia ice cream, considered a rich indulgence at this time.75 Quaker Elizabeth Ellicott Lea's 1845 cookbook, Domestic Cookery, included four recipes for authentic Philadelphia ice cream, all of which called for using real cream, not milk.76
Likewise, Mrs. Goodfellow was well-known as a proponent of pure, whole foods. Most of her recipes called for just a few simple ingredients, but with a frugal, resourceful eye she would turn them into rich, inviting dishes and sumptuous desserts. Nothing was wasted and everything was presented in the most artistic way.
This sense of thrift was an important component for the Quakers, especially since large numbers of Friends were served at Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly Meetings, where they assembled to worship and discuss church business. “Quarterly Meeting Pie,” a popular dessert served at Quarterly Meeting dinners, was actually a baked potato pudding.77
In the Colonial Receipt Book: Celebrated Old Receipts Used a Century Ago by Mrs. Goodfellow's Cooking School, a version of this dish attributed to Mrs. Goodfellow is referred to as “White Potato Pie.” The potatoes are grated instead of mashed, then mixed with butter, sugar, eggs, brandy, and flavorings. Although this recipe made only one pie, another potato pudding recipe in the book uses two pounds of potatoes to make four pies, which would have been useful in feeding a crowd. The recipe calls for the potatoes to be boiled well and sifted through a colander before being mixed with the other ingredients to make the custardy pies.78
WHITE POTATO PIE
Contributed by Mrs. William Henry Kennedy,
Philadelphia, Pa
Mrs. Goodfellow's Recipe
1/2 pound of butter, 1/2 pound of sugar creamed together;
add 1/2 pound of white potatoes boiled and grated, 4 eggs
well-beaten, a gill of cream, a glass of wine, brandy and
rose-water mixed. Flavor with cinnamon or nutmeg. Bake
in puff paste.
POTATO PUDDING
Mrs. Thomas Painter, Sunbury, Pa.,
A Pupil Of Mrs. GoodFellow, Philadelphia, Pa.
Contributed by Mrs. Wm. P. I. Painter, Muncy, Pa.
Of butter and sugar each 24 of a pound beaten well
together, 2 pounds of potatoes boiled well and sifted
through a colander, then mix with the sugar and butter 8
eggs beaten light. Add 1 glass of brandy and 1 of wine, a
little rose water, cinnamon and nutmeg. This will make
four puddings to be baked in puff paste.
So how exactly did Mrs. Goodfellow obtain all this cooking knowledge, particularly the highly skilled art of pastry making? From circumstantial evidence it appears that her first husband had been a pastry chef. It is also possible that her father, a brother, or an uncle was a pastry chef or baker, and she was able to observe and learn from them. At a time when home and shop were under the same roof, female family members often helped with whatever trade was being performed. Others actually took over their husband's and father's trades when they died.79
Perhaps Goodfellow learned to cook through one or more of the Quaker women in her life when she was a girl in Maryland. In colonial America, young girls learned cookery, candle dipping, and sewing from their mothers and grandmothers.80 And although Quakers viewed men and women as equals, more attention was paid to educating girls in housework and homemaking than in teaching them academic subjects. It was considered much more worthwhile for a young girl to know how to spin, knit, sew, and cook than to be able to recite Latin or literature.81
In addition to being taught household skills, however, Quaker girls were usually given some degree of schooling, as Quakers were particularly forward thinking about education and equality among the sexes. Therefore, Quaker girls and boys received at least a basic education, either from their parents, aunts, and uncles, or from neighborhood “dame schools” (private elementary schools usually taught by women in their homes).82
Among the Quakers in America, those in Philadelphia were especially progressive in terms of the learning they provided. Shortly after the city's founding, William Penn granted a charter to provide a public school, the foundation of which still survives in the William Penn Charter School and the Friends Select School: “all children, within the province, of the age of twelve years, shall be taught some useful trade or skill, to the end none may be idle, but the poor may work to live, and the rich, if they become poor, may not want.”83
So, they saw the benefit of teaching a variety of subjects, both academic and occupational. By 1742, four different types of Quaker-founded schools were available to the general public: primary schools teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic fundamentals; a more advanced secondary school teaching English and mathematics; a vocational school which prepared students for business, surveying, and carpentry; and a Latin school for scholars planning to go on to college.84
The curriculum of these early schools reflected Penn's bias toward a religiously oriented and practical education, with emphasis on simplicity and the basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Penn's own university experience led him to believe that “much reading is an oppression of the mind and extinguishes the natural candle, which is the reason of so many senseless scholars in the world.” Therefore, more support was given to moral and vocational education, and the Quakers in Philadelphia did not found a college until the mid-nineteenth century.85
Philadelphia was a thriving, prosperous city at the turn of the nineteenth century, and because its residents highly valued the learning of domestic arts by women, it provided the perfect environment for Mrs. Goodfellow's cooking school to succeed. It may not have been a chance occurrence that she set up her business in such a city where female education was fostered, particularly the focus on practical skills. With the supportive Quaker environment, her idea made sense. Additionally, the fact that the Quaker network was comprised of many merchants and tradesmen would have provided a ready clientele and access to a variety of ingredients.
We can dismiss one possible means Eliza Goodfellow could have learned the art of pastry making. If Mrs. Goodfellow had been a man, she could have been hired as an apprentice to learn the baking trade. In colonial America, a young man usually apprenticed between his fourteenth and sixteenth birthdays and was contractually bound to this service until the age of twenty-one. Apprentices lived with and worked for their masters, who taught them not only their trade but also the math skills necessary to run a business and basic reading and writing. Room, board, and clothing were provided, and often a small cash payment and a set of tools were given at the end of the agreement.86
Although the shops in Philadelphia were undoubtedly male-dominated, at least a third of all retailers were female, and a large number of inns, taverns, and boardinghouses were managed by women. Quaker women were often partners with their husbands in some kind of profession. They were able to manage a home, children, and a job nearly a hundred years before the opportunity arose for most women.87 In terms of trade professions, women could find work as bakers, braziers, distillers and winemakers, mantua makers, glovers, and tailors, to name a few.88
However, it was quite unusual for a woman to be a pastry cook at this point in time, which is another mystery surrounding Goodfellow's success. There were women in Philadelphia who advertised themselves as pie cooks, and even those who sold buckwheat cakes, but they probably were not selling to upper-class customers like Goodfellow did. Real pastry cooks were in the high end of the market. Yet it is unclear where women fit into the larger world of this profession because the business of bakers and cooks in Philadelphia was organized—they were not quite guilds in the European sense but they had associations. Who belonged to them and who did not is an important issue that h
as not been determined. Male pastry cooks probably would have had no trouble getting in, but it is unknown (and unlikely) whether women were allowed to belong.89
What benefits would Goodfellow have gained as a member of one of these associations? She would have been able to establish agreements with the flour merchants, since apparently quite a bit of price fixing took place. It was also a way to obtain supplies, keep costs down, manage labor issues, and acquire an apprentice quickly if needed.90
Her Quaker connections may have helped get around this, or it could have been purely her impeccable reputation for producing such high-quality goods, or a combination of both. If she learned her pastry-making skills from a family member or close friend, she would have been more easily accepted, as the Quakers were willing to recognize women who were skilled at a trade.
Another possibility is that as a girl in Maryland, Goodfellow received on-the-job training like Elizabeth Whitaker Raffald, a native of Doncaster, Yorkshire, England. Raffald was born in 1733 and educated according to the standard for women at the time. At the age of fifteen she began working as a housekeeper for Sir Peter and Lady Elizabeth Warburton at Arley Hall, Cheshire, where she perfected her knowledge of cookery. She was with the Warburtons for six years, during which time she married their gardener, John Raffald.
After leaving this position, she became an acclaimed confectioner, caterer, author, hotelier, and supplier of goods and services in Manchester, England. In 1764 she opened the city's first confectionery, and soon thereafter launched a cooking school for young ladies, which she ran out of her shop. In 1769 she published The Experienced English Housekeeper, which covered a range of kitchen subjects from family meals to banquets. The book was dedicated to her former employer, Lady Warburton, and included eight hundred recipes which Raffald ensured were original, well-tested dishes. One whole chapter was devoted to the fancy desserts that were her specialty, including jellies, sweets, and other confections like those sold in her shop.91
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