Martha Washington Fudge

This is from the recipe drawer of Pat.  I have always wondered about the name of this recipe...  did it really come from Martha Washington?  I did a little googling on it and what I could find is just that it is a southern holiday candy recipe.  There are a few variations, but they were all very similar.  This is another recipe that my mom got from her friend and neighbor in Inola, OK.  Boy am I glad that she did!  I cannot remember a single holiday season going by without making and EATING this awesomely, delicious candy.

*1 stick oleo (margarine or butter)
*1 1/2 boxes powdered sugar (24 oz)
*1 can Eagle Brand Milk
*1 can Angel Flake Coconut (3.5 oz)
*2 cups chopped pecans

Combine all ing. and let stand in ref. for 3 to 4 hours.  Roll into balls.
Melt in double boiler:
*1 large pkg. choc. chips
*1/2 stick parafin

Dip balls in chocolate.

So I am encountering in this project the way that recipes can be changed, tweaked and morphed into other recipes.  My own personal copy of this recipe is just slightly different.  I am sure that this accounts for all of the slight variations that I found when I went out looking for explanations of the name.  Each person changes it just slightly as it gets passed down and around.
The amounts are interesting.  Powdered sugar now comes in bags, but the 24 oz. is still the amount I have in my version (1 1/2 lbs.)  Coconut doesn't come in cans any more that I know of, and the recipe that I have calls for 7 oz.  I wonder if that means that I wrote it down wrong, or my mom liked it with more coconut and passed that along to me?  Although my recipe did have 2 cups of chopped pecans, I always found that to be a lot, and have noted on mine to just put 1 cup.  In the past, 12 oz of chocolate chips was a big bag, as the small bag was only 6 oz.  They don't make 6 oz. any more and the 12 oz (large bag) is now actually the smallest bag, as there are now 24 oz and 36 oz bags.  Lastly, my recipe only calls for a 1/4 stick of paraffin.  I am wondering again if my mom just found a 1/2 stick to be too much and adjusted it when she gave it to me?  I tend to use the freezer as well.  Maybe that was just to speed up the process.  The dough gets pretty stiff that way, the balls get harder and tend to melt less when you dip them and the candy keeps forever in the freezer.  (Well, not FOREVER... we eat it too fast for that!)  Any way you make it, these are amazing candies.   Hmmm... I wonder how my daughter and future grandchildren will make it??