When we US Americans [1] think of food and the Thanksgiving holiday, the vast majority will first think of turkey. Not far down the list many will also have cranberry sauce. A joke in our family is that Lime Jello-mold is still missing, but that’s a family joke for another essay.
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Of the 103 colonists who arrived at Plymouth in 1620, only 53 survived until the following fall. In celebration of a healthy harvest, and their own survival, the first Thanksgiving of Europeans on the new continent was held in early November, 1621. Little more is known, but two surviving accounts by Puritans state that the ceremony was celebrated with the local native Wampanoags.
For 12,000 years the Wampanoags had dwelt along the northeast coastal areas of the current USA, mostly in what is today the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
They developed great local knowledge, shared by oral tradition over 100s of generations. This included knowledge of all the native plants, and how to use them. Among them were cranberries.
Land of the Wampanoags. New England Massachusetts and Rhode Island
The cranberry bush is rugged. It thrives in harsh, cool conditions, often near the sea, especially in acidic, sandy and salty soils. They do well in, and near, marshy bogs.
It seems quite likely to this author that cranberries were present at this “first” Thanksgiving. But not cranberry sauce. Wait about 300 years.
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We really enjoy the fruit at our house. Well, actually, we like the dried and sweetened product called “craisins.” Cranberries themselves are naturally tart, hence the sweetening. In addition to noshing on a handful from time to time, I add them to salads and even breakfast, either on yogurt or on cereals (my wife makes an awesome Muesli, but I sometimes throw a few in).
Our Colorado grandson, a frequent visitor, knows right where they are. One of his first destinations upon arrival is usually the pantry and shelf where we keep them. He’ll eat a pound if we let him. When we remember, we keep the pantry locked when he’s coming over. [2]
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The Wampanoag had many recipes with cranberries, including pemmican, a high-calorie mixture of fat, protein and dried fruits that kept well over the winter, and on hunting expeditions. They were also used for dyeing.
Cranberry harvest season is late summer and early autumn. Pemmican was prepared before winter, and dyeing was done during winter. The berries are packed with nutrients and offer numerous health benefits. They contain antioxidants, flavonoids, and phenolic acids, which help prevent urinary tract infections. They support cardiovascular health and regulate the immune system. Cranberries have also been shown to have anti-cancer properties, promote dental health, and support gut health. And shown to reduce LDL cholesterol. Eat more cranberries!
New Jersey Climate Areas
Cranberries are also native to the nearby coastal and pine barrens regions of New Jersey. It’s on the cooler end of the temperate climates. This climate has matches in southern Quebec on out to the ocean, and parts of Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin. The plant is also native to Quebec, but are now grown most prolifically in those 3 “non-native” states. In fact, most are now grown in the Badger State.
On December 7, 1864, Elizabeth Fee, a first-generation US-American, was born to Irish immigrants John and Mary (O’Hagen) Fee in New York. It’s not hard to imagine they came across as a consequence of the great potato famines in the years 1845-51. And also because of the atrocious treatment of the Irish by the ruling imperialistic Brits. [3]
Elizabeth was the last of Mary and John’s three children, after James and Martha, 2 and 5 years older, respectively. Martha, as we’ll see, went on to play a large role in Elizabeth’s life. Elizabeth’s siblings were born in New Jersey, which would go on to be their life-long home. I am not sure why Elizabeth was born in New York. [4]
We first find the family documented in 1860, in Bordentown, NJ. John is a “Laborer” with a net worth of $100. The family’s residence was here for many years.
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Starting in 1900 Elizabeth finally shows up in records, and regularly. Usually as a dressmaker or dress designer, and always living with her sister, Martha. At one point she is listed as Designer/ Women’s Garments.
Dressmaking (seamstress) and watchmaking (and repairs) were pretty big deals in the later 19th and early 20th centuries. Textiles was a huge industry at the time in the US, and all manners of talent were required. The industrial age evolved to bring the era of precise time keeping. Economies ran on production and consumption; production and transportation of goods ran on ever tighter time schedules. This was before the widespread use of wristwatches, which, at the time, were considered rather a novelty item and only for women. Pocket watches were the norm.
We find Elizabeth again in 1905 (then going by “Lizzie”, but not for long) and 1915. She also appears in 1910 and ’20. Occupation: dressmaker. [NJ census, and US census]
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Late in the first decade of the 20th century, Enoch – Elizabeth’s nephew and housemate, both living with her sister Martha in Bordentown – began growing blueberries over near New Egypt, NJ, along the fertile fields of Ocean County. As such, he and his aunt Elizabeth also became aware of the commercial potential of growing cranberries near there. By 1911 Elizabeth had acquired a large acreage of promising cranberry land nearby. Thus she began her great cranberry enterprise.
After some early success selling cranberries, around 1912 Elizabeth started experimenting with making cranberry jellies. One reason given is that she wanted to develop a product to extend the selling/buying season throughout the year. Her special recipe eventually became the sauce we know well and associate with Thanksgiving.
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Other local cranberry growers were doing well and experimenting with the fruit; among them were Marcus Urann and John Makepeace. Urann also experimented with jellies and developed a process for canning the product.
In 1912, Elizabeth hit on the idea of using “reject” imperfect berries to make her jelly. Experimenting with berry concoctions of secret local ingredients, and sugar, she soon had it perfected.
Around 1913 the three big cranberry growers – Elizabeth, Makepeace and Urann – began collaborating, mostly sharing ideas on growing, jellies and marketing. Informal posts on the web suggest Makepeace was, or had been, in business with an Albert Westbrook Lee, a haberdasher of Trenton, NJ; he’d recently lost his wife, Mary, in 1910.
As she progressed with her jellies, working in New Egypt, NJ, she renamed her company Bog Sauce.
All three collaborators were running their own businesses, Elizabeth (now Lee) soon again changed hers to Bog Sweets Cranberry Sauce. Urann occasionally operated as Ocean Spray Cranberries. Each had large and expanding operations.
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Enoch also endured a very short marriage. On July 24, 1917 he wed Emma Rogers Cowperthwait of Medford, NJ, shortly after registering for the draft. (US entered WWI in April that year). Very sadly, Emma passed away on November 24, that same year. Coincidentally just 2 days after Thanksgiving Day.
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According to the South Florida Reporter (March 23, 2024) … “canned cranberry sauce got its start in 1912 when cranberry growers Marcus L. Urann and Elizabeth Lee started working together to create a jellied sauce, which was concocted by boiling bruised berries from the bog. (say that 3 times fast, <BBBB>)”
Trucks deliver the good for the co-op, Cranberry Canners, Inc
In 1930 the three formally united, forming a cooperative called Cranberry Canners, Inc. From the name (Canners) we deduce that they were likely big into cranberry sauce. Along the timeline, the product name was changed from jelly to sauce.
Almost immediately upon joining together, the 3 began joint work on developing and marketing cranberry juice. Under a law passed by the New Jersey State Legislature in 2022, Cranberry Juice is the official state drink. The same law declared that Elizabeth Fee is the inventor of cranberry sauce.
I have an ancestral line from a wine making valley some 25 km east of Stuttgart. They were in what was effectively a community cooperative. They shared equipment to press the grapes, ferment and age the wine, and get the wine to the market town of Feuerbach, just outside Stuttgart’s northern border. [Now consumed by Stuttgart, thus losing any physical manifestation of its legacy].
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Plant #3, Elizabeth Lee’s Cranberry Canners
The four (Elizabeth, Makepeace, Urann and nephew Enoch) formed the co-op’s leadership. Elizabeth was the operations vice president; Enoch ran the processing facilities.
In 1959 the cooperative changed its name to Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. Over the decades they’ve recruited new members from among cranberry growers in Wisconsin, Washington and Oregon states. They built processing plants there, too. Although cranberries are native to the US Northeast, far more Ocean Spray cranberries are grown in those states than in New Jersey and Massachusetts.
The cooperative now has over 1,000 members, growers of both cranberries and grapefruit, including in Canada.
Curious factoid about the name. Urann had used the “Ocean Spray” name briefly before, in the 1910s, and was attached to the image of “Ocean Spray.” Although he was two years into technical retirement by 1959, his encouragement led to the name change. However, the name’s trademark was owned by a fish company in Oregon. Ocean Spray bought the name.
Elizabeth Lee was the first treasurer of a local military support organization, The National Security League of Bordentown, beginning with the US entry into World War I. Often providing care packages to sailors. The port of Camden was nearby, with its naval shipbuilding enterprise. Many embarked to go “over there” from Camden, including the original battleship New Jersey which was in port there at least once.
Applies to many strong women. Elizabeth Fee Lee as well.
Elizabeth Lee, probably early 1930s
Through the 1930s Elizabeth’s role in the operation slowly dwindled, although she remained vice-president because of her decades of experience in the business. She did very well financially; she had a “palatial summer home” on the coast, in Sea Girt.
She passed away April 22, 1942, at her sister Martha’s house after a brief illness, age 77. She was Roman Catholic. Not surprising at 100% Irish. She was interred at St Mary’s Cemetery in her longtime hometown of Bordentown after a private Requiem Mass at St Mary’s church.
Up until now she’s mostly only remembered as the Cranberry Queen. I’ve tried to add some meat to the skeletal remains of what memory there is of her. A remarkable woman, who “made her bones” after arriving in her middle age.
Joe Girard © 2025
Thank you for reading. As always, you can add yourself to the notification list for newly published material by clicking here . Or emailing joe@girardmeister.com
Some notes:
[1] From the recent re-naming of the body of water formerly known as Gulf of Mexico, I am now trying to use “America” to refer to the 2 continents stretching from Tierra del Fuego and the Straits of Magellan, to well above the Arctic Circle. The country formerly commonly referred to as simply “America” is now some variation of USA, as appropriate. In the opening lines I used US-America.
[2] The sugar in craisins partly offsets the benefits of cranberries. Eat in moderation. https://www.lihpao.com/are-craisins-healthy/
[3] Likely he arrived aboard the SS Hancock in New York, September 21, 1850. “United States, Famine Irish Passenger Index, 1846-1851”, , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KDXT-3NJ : Fri Feb 14 23:38:06 UTC 2025), Entry for John Fee, 21 Sep 1850.
And Mary arrived November 11, that year aboard the Princeton
[4] Likely the family made a stay in NY, perhaps with relatives for a spell, to get through some financial or health hardships.
[5] Enoch wed Emma Rogers Cowperthwait, July 24, 1917. Shortly after registering for the draft, earlier that month. Sadly, Emma passed away, November 24, that same year. Finding no other records, I presume he never remarried.
Sources/bibliography. Mostly old census data and newspapers. Also: Find A Grave. And found stuff on a few random sites, like Reddit threads, and even a couple of Facebook pages. Familysearch.org (LDS) has gobs of data, and it’s free, but Elizabeth Lee isn’t found in many places in the records. And they have not yet scanned all records. The Library of Congress, also free, has tons of newspapers (and other stuff), but filtering through them is not easy. Newspapers.com has easier searching tools, but not as many as the LoC and it’s quite expensive.
General family timeline and references
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Death Announcement Camden Morning Post, sadly WordPress imports are lossy and I can’t figure out how to fix it.
She even cheated a bit on her gravestone, 1865, not 1864.
Found this in the Mount Holly News, February 24, 1914. Mount Holly is about 5 miles from Bordentown.
Wedding announcement, Mount Holly News
Elizabeth serving on National Security League
Mount Holly News, April 9, 1918. It is interesting that Rev Charles Malloy was also on the committee. He had married Elizabeth and Albert Lee just a few years before.
Thanks Joe. Another good read.
I remember as a kid (maybe 6 or 7) being sent to the grocery to get some cranberries for my mother …. I asked where they were and the clerk showed me bags of cranberries … and I had no clue why she would show me that. I had up until that point, only seen jellied cranberry sauce and never realized they were made from real berries. The can of burgundy jello was “cranberries”, and my goal was to leave with “cranberries”. Ultimately, she figured out what I wanted, and all was well. My memory every thanksgiving.