It’s the 1621 Plymouth Thanksgiving dinner that’s linked to the birth of our modern holiday. But, much of what we consider traditional Thanksgiving fare was unknown at the first Thanksgiving at “Plimoth Rock.” White potatoes and sweet potatoes hadn’t yet become staples of the English diet, for example. And, cranberry sauce requires sugar—an expensive delicacy in the 1600s. Likewise, pumpkin pie went missing due to a lack of crust ingredients.
We do know that the Wampanoag Indians killed five deer for the feast, and that the colonists shot wild fowl—which may have been geese, ducks, or turkey. The feasters likely supplemented their venison and birds with fish, lobster, clams, nuts, and wheat flour, as well as vegetables such as pumpkin, squash, carrots, and peas. This variety continued to grace tables in the late 1800s – and, except for the seafood, was certainly part of Sebastian Walby’s tradition.
The first “real” Thanksgiving happened more than two centuries after Plymouth. It has been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863, when during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday, November 26. This event inspired New England artist George H Durrie to paint “Home to Thanksgiving.” This scene was popularized when the firm Currier & Ives published a lithograph. The work depicts a young man, having returned home by sled, being greeted by his family on the front porch of their home. It has become one of Durrie’s most iconic images. 
Lithographs of this and other farm scenes sold for a dollar and a half to three dollars. “Home to Thanksgiving” was one of the biggest sellers. Sebastian Walby, like so many other immigrants who had started life on a farm, could see in one of Durie’s paintings the reflection of his own boyhood in the “mellow light of memory.” Chances are, Sebastian and his wife Mary Jane purchased this print for their parlor. Notice how the farmhouse porch resembles the Walby family photo. The barn and equipment in the shed are reminiscent of Sebastian’s inventory, too.
walbyancestry 
