Newsletter

11 Dec

Posted at 11:03h in Newsletter

The above cartoon ran in 1901. Below are six of the many predictions from 1900 made for the next 100 years by John Elfreth Watkins. The first three came true; the next three did not. 1. Digital color photography- Watkins did not, of course, use the word "digital" or spell out precisely how digital cameras and computers would work. Still, he accurately predicted how people would come to use new photographic technology. 2. Television- "Man will see around the world. Persons and things of all kinds will be brought within focus of cameras connected electrically with screens at opposite ends of circuits,...

27 Nov

Posted at 17:50h in Newsletter

We had the opportunity to see "Hamilton" and that reminded me of a duel in our own family tree. In May of 1798, Brockholst Livingston (above), a Republican, insulted James Jones, a Federalist (like Alexander Hamilton) in an anonymous newspaper article. Jones responded by first caning Livingston and then trying to wring his nose, which prompted a discussion of “just how much of Livingston’s nose had been grabbed.” The confrontation led to a duel at the Weehawken Dueling Grounds (where Alexander Hamilton met his fate five years later). The newspapers of the day reported that “the men fired simultaneously, and Jones...

13 Nov

Posted at 12:20h in Newsletter

The ad above was written in 1942. It only took 79 years to become famous or infamous depending upon your perspective. Torturing candidates and office-holders with easy-to-chat taglines have been happening for a long time. Grover Cleveland was accused of fathering a child out of wedlock. The crowds chanted at him: “Ma, ma, where’s my Pa?”. Cleveland went on to win his second term. He was the only president to marry in the White House, when in his first term at age 49, he married a 21-year old, who he had been a guardian of since she was an infant. That is...

30 Oct

Posted at 21:12h in Newsletter

WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT EUGENICS IN MY JAMESTOWN VISIT In 1924, the Virginia General Assembly enacted the Racial Integrity Act. The Act reinforced racial segregation by prohibiting interracial marriage and classifying as "white" a person "who has no trace whatsoever of any blood other than Caucasian." The Act, an outgrowth of eugenist and scientific racist propaganda, was pushed by Walter Plecker, a white supremacist, and eugenist. He held the post of registrar of the Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics. The Racial Integrity Act required all birth certificates and marriage certificates in Virginia to include the person's race as either "white" or "colored."...

16 Oct

Posted at 14:09h in Newsletter

PRESERVED IS PRESERVED FOREVER! HIS MOTHER'S MAIDEN NAME WAS FISH, WHICH ILLUSTRATES WHY YOU SHOULD ALWAYS PRONOUNCE ALL OF THE VARIATIONS OF A NAME BEFORE BLESSING A CHILD WITH THEIR NAME. MOST PEOPLE BELIEVE THE 1ST EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES OCCURRED IN 1862. ACTUALLY, THERE WAS AN EARLIER EMANCIPATION...

02 Oct

Posted at 09:01h in Newsletter

  AMERICANS HAVING HARD FEELINGS AGAINST THOSE WHO HAVE UNPOPULAR HERITAGE IS NOT NEW The article on the very top was recently shared on a historical forum. I was surprised to see my great grandfather as a signee. I suspect many of our ancestors had hard feelings against those who descended from countries we were fighting in wars.     DANCESTORS HAS SKILLED AND EXPERIENCED RESEARCHERS FOR THOSE OF AFRICAN DESCENT TO LEARN ABOUT THEIR ROOTS! Digital records from the 19th Century give Black families a glimpse of their ancestry https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/digital-records-19th-century-give-black-families-glimpse-ancestry-rcna2060?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=news_tab&utm_content=algorithm     GRAVEYARD TREATS! A gravestone missing for almost 150 years was being used as a marble slab to make...

18 Sep

Posted at 17:53h in Newsletter

AN ODD APPROACH TO ENDING SLAVERY IN THE SOUTH Matthew Fontaine Maury (January 14, 1806 – February 1, 1873) was an American astronomer, historian, oceanographer, meteorologist, cartographer, author, geologist, educator, and naval officer for the United States and then the Confederacy. He was a devout Christian and, after reading Psalm 8:8, was determined to find "the paths of the seas". He was nicknamed "Pathfinder of the Seas" and "Father of Modern Oceanography and Naval Meteorology" and later, "Scientist of the Seas" for his extensive works in his books, especially The Physical Geography of the Sea (1855), the first such extensive and comprehensive...

04 Sep

Posted at 11:12h in Newsletter

OLD BONES FOR FERTILIZER? In the 1700's Europe's fields were becoming exhausted. The solution became to use the bones of dead soldiers amongst others to fertilize the fields. Fortunately, a replacement fertilizer was found in the Chincha Islands off of Peru in the form of Guano, 150 feet deep. In November 1802, Prussian geographer and explorer Alexander von Humboldt first encountered guano and began investigating its fertilizing properties at Callao in Peru, and his subsequent writings on this topic made the subject well known in Europe. As many as 160 ships at a time were anchored off the islands while the "hard to recruit" guano...

21 Aug

Posted at 18:27h in Newsletter

What would Ben do? The article above is from 1724 Edinburgh, Scotland. It speaks to the beginnings of inoculation. I have included articles below from early London and 1869 New York City, showing that in the past there has been people on both sides of the discussion of to vaccinate or not to vaccinate. Lots of the wisdom we have heard since school days came from Ben Franklin. One of his many interests was public health. Here is some interesting perspective from Ben's early days dealing with smallpox: https://www.firstpost.com/living/how-benjamin-franklin-championed-science-to-a-colonial-america-divided-over-smallpox-inoculation-9783321.html         Doug's relatives thought brevity made the point better than a long exhaustive obituary. So, if...

07 Aug

Posted at 19:02h in Newsletter

What makes a sport or game Olympic? Over the years, sports and games (as in Olympic games), have been added and removed. While all events involved competition, they often involved activities that the host country might have an advantage of.  In 1912, the IOC removed motorboating since it was not human-powered, which became another definition of an Olympic sport. From 1912 to 1948, they had Olympic Art medals, where you could enter your Olympic-themed artwork. The idea of the artworks being medal-worthy came from Baron Pierre de Coubertin (see his name on the left). Coincidentally he won an award for a poem...

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