The only comparable term in American experience is Yankee. And that started out as a synonym for New Englander. In the Civil War era Southerners applied it indiscriminately to all Northerners. In the world wars, many a boy from Dixie doubtless felt a sense of shock when he discovered that in the eyes of our British (Limey) allies that all Americans were Yanks!

But where did Hoosier come from? What is its origin? We know that it came into general usage in the 1830s. John Finley of Richmond wrote a poem, “The Hoosier’s Nest,” which was used as the “Carrier’s Address” of the Indianapolis Journal, Jan. 1, 1833. It was widely copied throughout the country and even abroad. Finley originally wrote Hoosier as “Hoosher.” Apparently the poet felt that it was sufficiently familiar to be understandable to his readers. A few days later, on January 8, 1833, at the Jackson Day dinner at Indianapolis, John W. Davis offered “The Hoosher State of Indiana” as a toast. And in August, former Indiana governor James B. Ray announced that he intended to publish a newspaper, The Hoosier, at Greencastle, Indiana.

A few instances of the earlier written use of Hoosier have been found. The word appears in the “Carrier’s Address” of the Indiana Democrat on January 3, 1832. G. L. Murdock wrote on February 11, 1831, in a letter to General John Tipton, “Our Boat will [be] named the Indiana Hoosier.” In a publication printed in 1860, Recollections . . . of the Wabash Valley, Sandford Cox quotes a diary which he dates July 14, 1827, “There is a Yankee trick for you — done up by a Hoosier.” One can only wonder how long before this Hoosier was used orally.

As soon as our nickname came into general use, speculation began as to its origin. The speculation and argument have gone on ever since. On October 26, 1833, the Indiana Democrat reprinted an article published earlier in the Cincinnati Republican: “The appellation of Hooshier has been used in many of the Western States, for several years, to designate . . . an inhabitant of our sister state of Indiana.” The Ohio editor then reviews three explanations of the nickname and concludes:

Whatever may have been the original acceptation of Hooshier this we know, that the people to whom it is now applied, are amongst the bravest, most intelligent, most enterprising, most magnanimous, and most democratic of the Great West, and should we ever feel disposed to quit the state in which we are now sojourning, our own noble Ohio, it will be to enroll ourselves as adopted citizens in the land of the “Hooshier.”

Among the more popular theories:

When a visitor hailed a pioneer cabin in Indiana or knocked upon its door, the settler would respond, “Who’s yere?” And from this frequent response Indiana became the “Who’s yere” or Hoosier state. No one ever explained why this was more typical of Indiana than of Illinois or Ohio.
That Indiana rivermen were so spectacularly successful in trouncing or “hushing” their adversaries in the brawling that was then common that they became known as “hushers,” and eventually Hoosiers.
There was once a contractor named Hoosier employed on the Louisville and Portland Canal who preferred to hire laborers from Indiana. They were called “Hoosier’s men” and eventually all Indianans were called Hoosiers.
A theory attributed to Gov. Joseph Wright derived Hoosier from an Indian word for corn, “hoosa.” Indiana flatboatmen taking corn or maize to New Orleans came to be known as “hoosa men” or Hoosiers. Unfortunately for this theory, a search of Indian vocabularies by a careful student of linguistics failed to reveal any such word for corn.
Quite as plausible as these was the facetious explanation offered by “The Hoosier Poet,” James Whitcomb Riley. He claimed that Hoosier originated in the pugnacious habits of our early settlers. They were enthusiastic and vicious fighters who gouged, scratched and bit off noses and ears. This was so common an occurrence that a settler coming into a tavern the morning after a fight and seeing an ear on the floor would touch it with his toe and casually ask, “Whose ear?”
The distinguished Hoosier writer, Meredith Nicholson (The Hoosiers) and many others have inquired into the origin of Hoosier. But by all odds the most serious student of the matter was Jacob Piatt Dunn, Jr., Indiana historian and longtime secretary of the Indiana Historical Society. Dunn noted that “hoosier” was frequently used in many parts of the South in the 19th century for woodsmen or rough hill people. He traced the word back to “hoozer,” in the Cumberland dialect of England. This derives from the Anglo-Saxon word “hoo” meaning high or hill. In the Cumberland dialect, the word “hoozer” meant anything unusually large, presumably like a hill. It is not hard to see how this word was attached to a hill dweller or highlander. Immigrants from Cumberland, England, settled in the southern mountains (Cumberland Mountains, Cumberland River, Cumberland Gap, etc.). Their descendents brought the name with them when they settled in the hills of southern Indiana.

As Meredith Nicholson observed: “The origin of the term ‘Hoosier’ is not known with certainty.” But certain it is that . . . Hoosiers bear their nickname proudly. Many generations of Hoosier achievement have endowed the term with connotations that are strong and friendly . . . .

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About The Author: Over the course of his career as a historian, he published 11 history texts, one of which (Perfect Cities) was named a New York Times notable book of the year in 1986. Throughout his career, he has often succumbed to a love of travel made possible by teaching at the University of Paris and Warwick University in England, and with Fulbright Awards, at the University of Sydney, the University of Amsterdam, Erfurt and Tubingen Universities in Germany, and Uppsala University in Sweden, where he was given an honorary Doctoral Degree. Until 2020, he was the Faculty Fulbright Adviser at the University of Maryland. Born in Chicago, Gilbert attended Carleton College and then the University of Wisconsin, earning a doctoral degree in American Intellectual and Cultural History. In 1966, he was hired by the University of Maryland. He was appointed Distinguished University Professor in 1999. While American history has been his profession, literature has been his passion, and since retirement, he has written three novels and a book of short stories. He is also a (very) amateur cellist. For more information, please consult: www.JamesBGilbertAuthor.com

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In September 2008, the company changed it’s name from the R.A.B. Food Group to the Manischewitz Company, under which it operates today.

It all started with Rabbi Dov Behr

The B. Manischewitz Company, LLC traces its beginnings back to the spring of 1888, when Rabbi Dov Behr Manischewitz opened a small Matzo bakery in Cincinnati, Ohio.

A humble beginning

It was largely from his spiritual concerns that he set out to make matzo or unleavened bread for Passover, first for his family and a few friends, but soon for many of the devout Jews of the city. His bakery soon evolved into a successful business, innovative and prosperous––though never inattentive to the spiritual needs of its customers.

From small bakery to booming business

By the end of the century, demand for his matzo had become so great that Rabbi Manischewitz turned to the use of gas-fired ovens, replacing the older coal stoves being used by other Jewish bakers. The newer ovens allowed for much more careful control of the baking speed, insuring a consistent and standard quality to the matzos.
He also introduced portable traveling-tunnel ovens, and was the first to package his matzos for shipment to places beyond the immediate neighborhood of his bakery. He even began shipping his matzos overseas, to such diverse places as England, Japan, France, Hungary, Egypt and New Zealand. His bright, clean bakery would become a model for future kosher bakeries, both in America and abroad.

Matzo on the move

In 1932, the company built a second factory. Located in Jersey City, New Jersey, the plant quickly became the model for all new machine-made matzo bakeries worldwide. Closer to a much larger Jewish population than that of Cincinnati, the new factory also made distribution of the company’s product more efficient and quickly enlarged its customer base. The Manischewitz label was soon dominant in ethnic grocery stores and delicatessens in the larger East Coast cities. Thanks to the technology and efficiency of the New Jersey factory, Manischewitz was able to close down the Cincinnati facility altogether.

Same quality, more quantity

In 1940, Manischewitz produced its first Tam Tam cracker. It signaled the initial departure from its line of matzo products. About the same time, in a licensing arrangement, Manischewitz wines began to be sold throughout the country.
In 1954, the company purchased a processing plant located in Vineland, New Jersey. The Vineland facility, which has now ceased operations, manufactured all of the company’s canned and jarred products, including old familiar favorites like gefilte fish, chicken soup and borscht. The plant was primarily a hand-pack processing operation stressing careful attention to quality and flexibility. Workers there packed about 2,000,000 lbs. of fish and 1,000,000 lbs. of beets each year.

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Good News interviews UNRAVELING co-author, Lynn Biederman and her mother, Judith West Edelman, on September 11 in Good News Studios. We discuss the book,parenting, being a child and marriage in this two part series.

UNRAVELING

by Michelle Baldini and Lynn Biederman

An ambitious, timely first novel.

Publishers Weekly, starred review

In UNRAVELING (Delacorte Press, Random House) Ages 14 & up, debut authors Michelle Baldini and Lynn Biederman skillfully explore the impact that a toxic mother-daughter relationship has on the choices a teenager makes.

With out-of-control frizzy hair and a humiliating nickname that just wont go away, fifteen-year-old Amanda Himmelfarb is not the picture of popularity at school. To make matters worse, Amandas mother—whom Amanda calls The Captain—is always battling with her, while her little sister can do no wrong and her dad just does what he can to stay out of The Captains way.

When gorgeous senior Rick offers Amanda The Deal—a real, official date to the homecoming dance in exchange for her virginity—Amanda jumps at the chance. She is certain that a boyfriend will fix all of her problems, but what results is quite the opposite. Smart, sensitive Amanda is nearly undone by The Deal and retreats into her own world, until she discovers her mothers past and with it compassion she never thought possible. Through Amandas healing process, the two grow together and their relationship begins to change.

UNRAVELING is an engaging and heartbreakingly real look at mother-daughter relationships and teen self-identity issues. Baldini and Biederman have created a sharp and brutally honest debut novel that will speak to women and teens confronting their own family relationships and difficult decisions.

Lynn Biederman was featured in The New York Times in a piece about her relationship with her own mother, which partially inspired UNRAVELING. Lynn has worked as a waitress, an insurance broker, a Macys department store manager, a child abuse litigator, an adoption lawyer, a journalist for a nationally syndicated sounds-of-nature radio show, and an elementary and high school librarian. Lynn lives in Bedford, New York, with her husband and their two children. www.lynnbiederman.com

Michelle Baldini works for the School of Library and Information Science at Kent State University in Ohio. She earned a masters degree in library science, specializing in childrens literature, from Long Island University. Michelle lives in Silver Lake, Ohio, with her husband and their four children.

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