Thursday, July 30, 2009

Could my father's great aunt be indirectly responsible for Hershey's chocolate?

I recently heard an interesting story about Brubaker family history from my dad, which he just learned at a family reunion not too long ago. The scoop is that Mr. Milton S. Hershey, yes THE Milton S. Hershey of Hershey's Chocolate fame (shown here), once had the sweets for my great great aunt. He asked her to marry him - and even gave her a wicker chair, which is still in the family today (dad's cousin's to be specific). To the detriment of future Brubaker fame and fortunes, she turned him down.

One can only speculate what impact this had on the young Milton. Perhaps he turned to chocolate to nurse his spurned affections, his hurt feelings, and tarnished pride. It is true (according to Wiki) that he did have several failed business starts in Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York, before finding success shortly after returning home to Lancaster County, PA -- where my great great aunt lived. A coincidence? Perhaps not! Perhaps Annie's rejections spurred him to achieve greater heights. Perhaps the seductions of the cacao bean substituted for the lost comforts of his love, and he poured his devotions into discovering the perfect recipe and business that would prove his worth as a man. What other reason to explain the origin of, yes -- the Hershey's kiss! Each tiny confection consumed could be a message from Milton, a not-so-subtle reminder of the lifetime of his sweet affections she had rejected.

Milton did ultimately marry, but produced no offspring other than an answer to boring plain vanilla ice cream, chocolate-milk mustaches on the smiling faces of countless satisfied kids, an industrialized town bearing his name, and an international conglomerate called the Hershey Chocolate Company. As for Annie, she remained a spinster her entire life, perhaps burning with regret and resentment at the opportunity she passed up. Or perhaps she just wasn't the marrying type. Still, who knows the influence great great Annie had on the development of Hershey's chocolate? And yet, no mention of Annie in the Wiki.
At least, that is, not yet. Ha ha ha.