What Makes Jellies Jell? Caroline B. King

The 1945 edition of Certo and Sure-Jells booklet, What Makes Jellies Jell? [reddit] has great step-by-step illustrations. The booklet doesn’t have an author listed, but Caroline B. King wrote the previous 1922 edition. The 1945 booklet would not be by King as she was about retirement age then, and the booklet had been fully revised. Caroline had a lengthy career in domestic science, writing articles, advertising booklets, and editing magazines. A casual look at her life follows.

1945, to the left, Caroline B. King in 1922 to the right.

Caroline B. King Biographical Sketch

Caroline B King wrote Victorian Cakes which is in my “books to read” stack. Now I’m reading This Was Ever in My Dream, her autobiography about gardening at her home outside of Philadelphia. She sticks to the landscaping and doesn’t disclose much about her life. I like any descriptions of the house, and if you’re interesting in landscaping, you’ll like it.

I researched her life and career, and it seems as if we’ll be seeing more of her booklets here, besides What Makes Jellies Jell? as she wrote plenty of them. This is what I discovered so far.

Caroline Blanche Campion was born Dec 4th, 1867 in Chicago, and she died two days before her 80th birthday in 1947. She grew up in Lake View, Illinois and attended public school and private instruction. Her older sisters described her as “sticking her nose in everything.” And they may have had a point, considering how much she accomplished in her life.

Caroline married John Humphreys McIlvain King in 1885. As idealistic newlyweds they homesteaded in Idaho, which began by living in a tent. They had three daughters, Mary Grace (Ramey), Dorothy, and Elizabeth Palmer (Mosley). Her last book is dedicated to her granddaughter, Elizabeth.

Caroline’s husband John died in 1916. the next year Caroline was appointed the first dietician for the US Army. She lectured, conducted soldiers’ cooking classes, and went to France with Base Hospital 116 in March 1918 which was assigned to Bazoilles-sur-Meuse, Department Vosges, in the advance section to take care of war casualties. She described it as tragic.

King was best known as Women’s Editor of “The Country Gentleman” which she began in 1924. Her 1941 book, Victorian Cakes, in reprint form, receives rave reviews online.

1867 Dec 4th born to Caroline (Warren) Campion and Robert William Campion, in Chicago

1885 Married, and from Illinois, the couple moved to Idaho

1916 Widowed

1917 First WWI dietitian; stationed at hospital in France

1918 Caroline King Cook Book published by Little, Brown & Co., Boston, describing the author as “Domestic Science Lecturer for the University Extension Society of Philadelphia”

1919 Visited England

1920 Bought land at 614 Beechwood Drive, Delaware County, Havertown, Penn., had a house built, named it “Arborcote” [We know what arbor means, and cote means a shelter for mammals or birds–and as an aside–her mother collected flowers, her father collected birds] and developed its steep acreage into gardens.

Circa 1920 : Woman’s editor, and Sunday editor, Philadelphia Press

1920 Began authoring promotional recipe booklets

1924 Editor for Women’s Section of The Country Gentleman Magazine

Books

1918 Caroline King Cook Book: Foundation Principles of Good Cookery, With Recipes by Caroline B. King, Domestic Science Lecturer for the University Extension Society of Philadelphia

1941 Victorian Cakes: A Reminiscence With Recipes (This timeline could be edited after I read this book!)

1947 This Was Ever in My Dream – autobiographical account of gardening at her home outside of Philadelphia

Cooking Booklets

1920 The Swansdown Cookless Way

c. 1920 no date (nd) Many reasons for Jell-o, co-authored with Lucile Patterson Marsh

1922 What Makes the Jelly Jell, Pen-Jell

c. 1923 (nd) JELL-O Rhymes

1923 Franklin Sugar Sweetmeat Book

1925 A Cookery Expert’s New Recipes, Hershey

1926 Servel Coldery, co-authored with Sarah Field Splint and Mrs. K. M. Earle

1925-1926 Those Raisin Dishes Suggested in the Window Display And how Famous Cooks Make Them by co-authored with Alice Bradley, Sarah Field Splint, Belle De Graf, and Sun Maid Growers of California

1927 35 Appetite Helps For Mother, Flavoring Extracts

1929 Modern Desserts, DeLuxe Ice Cream

1929 Baking With Wear-Ever Utensils

1930 The Hershey Recipe Book

1930 Rosemary Makes a Garden

1930 Better Coffee Recipes

1931 Roasting with Wear-Ever Utensils

1940 This Recipe Book Tells How to Use, Care For, and Enjoy the New Modern Enterprise No Clamp Chopper

Magazines

The Country Gentleman Magazine, women’s section editor,

and wrote articles for Ladies’ Home Journal

both were Curtis Publishing Co. magazines from Philadelphia