Author: Dan

12 Jun

Posted at 09:37h in Newsletter

A count of families in the fifteen slave-holding states in 1860: ▪ 73,230 members of families holding 50 or more slaves or 1% ▪ 986,895 members of families holding 5 - 49 slaves or 12% ▪ 931,280 members of families holding 1 - 4 slaves or 11% ▪ 6,120,825 non-slaveholding whites or 75% I would not have guessed that 75% of "southern families in 1860" were not slaveholders. The Man Who Inspired Father’s Day Was a Single Dad and a Civil War Vet written by John D. Trausch Father’s Day is a relatively new holiday, having only become “official” in 1972. But its origins go back to a...

29 May

Posted at 18:19h in Newsletter

Memorial Day, initially referred to as Decoration Day, was observed by many communities after the Civil War, when the nation suffered more than 620,000 military deaths, roughly 2 percent of the total population at the time. John A. Logan, the Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of Republic, chose May 30, 1868, to be the day to decorate the graves of Union troops across the nation. From this beginning, Memorial Day is now designated as an annual day of remembrance to honor all those who have died in service to the United States during peace and war. Veterans Day, November 11,...

15 May

Posted at 15:13h in Newsletter

How long before your kids start talking about DNA? They think it stands for "Dan Nelson's Ancestry," but here is a resource if you want to set them straight: https://owlcation.com/academia/explaining-dna-to-a-six-year-old Vaccines a gift or curse- the arguments come around every time. During the World Wars, you had the British citizens fearing the risk of bringing in unvaccinated refugees (below) and Belgian citizens fearing the German-provided vaccines were poison (right). It seems that medical fitness was of concern to the authorities dealing with the arrivals from Belgium, not just those refugees who had been wounded in the fighting. At an early volunteer meeting for this...

15 May

Posted at 11:22h in Newsletter

How long before your kids start talking about DNA? They think it stands for "Dan Nelson's Ancestry," but here is a resource if you want to set them straight: https://owlcation.com/academia/explaining-dna-to-a-six-year-old Vaccines a gift or curse- the arguments come around every time. During the World Wars, you had the British citizens fearing the risk of bringing in unvaccinated refugees (below) and Belgian citizens fearing the German-provided vaccines were poison (right). It seems that medical fitness was of concern to the authorities dealing with the arrivals from Belgium, not just those refugees who had been wounded in the fighting. At an early volunteer meeting for this...

01 May

Posted at 23:01h in Newsletter

    HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! Mother's Day became an official holiday in 1907. However, it was being celebrated (at least by advertisers) as early as 1902, when this ad was run.     You thought the risk of catching COVID on a cruise ship was bad, look at what our ancestors went through...

17 Apr

Posted at 12:49h in Newsletter

There is a lot of controversy about changes in election laws. One issue was providing water and food to people waiting to vote. It used to be common for candidates to provide alcohol to their voters (see above). Sometimes the alcohol and food were labeled with the candidate's name or logo. They must have felt that they could influence those "under the influence."! When I was a kid, I remember my grandpa telling me the story of when he was a kid (age 11), that he remembered older boys coming to the farm and telling him and his older brother, who was...

17 Apr

Posted at 10:43h in Newsletter

  HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! Mother's Day became an official holiday in 1907. However, it was being celebrated (at least by advertisers) as early as 1902, when this ad was run.   You thought the risk of catching COVID on a cruise ship was bad, look at what our ancestors went through...

03 Apr

Posted at 16:33h in Newsletter

John Morris was a Daguerrotypist, meaning he used an early photographic process employing an iodine-sensitized silvered plate and mercury vapor. Before John enlisted in the Arkansas 4th Confederate Infantry, he had a color tintype photograph made of own family- wife Nancy, and toddler son, Thomas Ruffin Morris. After the color tintype was made, John left his wife and child in the care of his parents, Harrison Ruffin Morris & Martha Ann Cheatham Morris because Nancy's parents were both dead and her sister had a large family of her own and was unable to have Nancy and her son live with them. John...

20 Mar

Posted at 15:52h in Newsletter

WE HAVE HEARD A LOT LATELY ABOUT FILIBUSTERS. DID YOU KNOW THE WORD EVOLVED FROM A TERM FOR BUCCANERING AND THEN FOR FOMENTING INSURRECTION (NOW ANOTHER TOO FAMILIAR TERM)? Originally, the Spanish form filibustero applied to French, Dutch, and English privateers and buccaneers infesting the Spanish American coasts, with whom Spain was constantly at war. However, it was later applied to the military expeditions of Narciso López in Cuba, who fomented a revolution, and liberated the island from Spanish rule. It designated American adventurer William Walker who, influenced by López, launched several filibustering campaigns in former Spanish colonies in Central America. So...

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