# PICKLE  bottle squire dingee chicago ill



## MINNESOTA DIGGER (Dec 26, 2012)

late 1880's squire dingee co mixed pickles


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## surfaceone (Dec 27, 2012)

Hey Mark,

 Have you been doing some attic digging? You've shared some great labelled examples of late.

 "Dingee's were indeed in the pickle business.
 O.S. Dingee Pickle Co., Ottumwa, Iowa (1890) 
 [Bulk Pickles, Wholesale only] owned by my
 Great Grandfather. In Chicago, there was The
 Samuel M. Dingee Sons, (owned by O.S.'s
 uncle)later sold to Squire Dingee Co. [which
 later became Ma Brown(they had premium pickles
 and jams, etc.)] I have my G. Grandfather's
 handwritten book for the bulk processing of
 the pickles, veggies, jams, etc. when he was
 in business in Chicago. A lot of his cousins
 were in the business, so we're probably
 related somehow.

 My grandmother died at age 21 of TB, but her
 family used to say, "She died from eating too
 many pickles." Ancestry.

 Did the Dingee cucumber vine reach farther?

 "Here's the information I have: Samuel Merritt Dingee b 11-21-1824, d 6-3-1899 started Samuel M. Dingee & Sons. His son, Samuel Speer Dingee ran the company until his death, then his youngest brother William Wiswell Dingee took over. When William retired, the stockholders sold the company to The Squire Dingee Company which made the Ma Brown line of products. According to a news article (part of which is here: http://www.illinipsiu.com/images/folneybrown.jpg ), the president of The Squire Dingee Company was F. Olney Brown. According to http://www.illinipsiu.com/business-famous-alums-154 "A past President of the National Pickle Packers Association, ...Brown was president of the Squire Dingee Co., which marketed Ma Brown pickles and preserves, when it was merged with Beatrice Foods in 1958. He remained a consultant with Beatrice Foods until 1965." More ancestry.com.

 An F. Olney Brown Profile. There's also a four page history of Squire Dingee Co. & several Brown family members as of 1918.

 That Dingee vine stretched to the Dakotas:

 "Fruitdale had an earlier claim to fame, pickles! Many of the area residents grew cucumbers. What started that? Well, the Squire Dingee Co. built a recieving station along the railroad tracks. It was owned by Squire Dingee Co. which ran through Chicago and Illinois. The Squire Dingee Co. was one of the oldest established pickle packing industries in the United States. It was established in 1856. The Squire Dingee Co. came to the area to look over acreage possibilities. Many of the farmers participated in the pickle works. ``The smaller the gherkin the higher the wages were.`` Recalled George Higashi. When the gas rationing and the rubber shortage was taking place during World War II, (WWII) the United States Government bought 25% of the company. Pickles were used to balance the soldiers diets. They felt that the boys who couldn`t get fresh salads daily must have the nutritional benefit of the acetic and lactic acids from pickles.

 In 1945 much of the cucumber acreage was contracted by the farmers. The farmers were helped by German prisoners of war and by Mexican nationals. The farmers received half of the pay and the government collected the other half from the pickle company. In 1946-48, after the war years, labor became a problem.

 Some tried to bring Indians from the reservation, and also people from Jamaica, but this never worked out. As labor became too difficult, the factory was closed." Early Settlers of the Dakotas.

Squire Tomato Catsup ran afoul of the Food Police in 1910.

 There was an HO guage Pickle Car. 








From.


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## MINNESOTA DIGGER (Dec 28, 2012)

great info . wow ,  the pickle bottle is cool i like the paper labeled stuff


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## MINNESOTA DIGGER (Dec 28, 2012)

no attic digging , but have been buying


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