heritage Tag

29 Jan

Posted at 12:29h in Newsletter

GENEALOGY- WITH THE SUPER BOWL COMING, WE WONDERED WHICH PRESIDENTS HAD PLAYED FOOTBALL? Dwight D. Eisenhower (Army): Before he went on to his military career and then the Presidency, Ike served as both a running back and linebacker in the Army, starting on both sides of the ball. Dwight Eisenhower said, “Not making the baseball team at West Point was one of the greatest disappointments of my life, maybe my greatest.” However, that disappointment led him to make the West Point football team (pictured below left), where he was a varsity starter as both running back and linebacker and tackled the...

11 Jan

Posted at 13:25h in Newsletter

ANCESTOR- “IT’S LIKE MAKING YOUR EX D.J. YOUR WEDDING,” JIMMY KIMMEL SAID OF KAMALA HARRIS PRESIDING OVER THE CERTIFICATION OF TRUMP’S WIN” There had to be some awkwardness at Carter's funeral with the seating arrangements (above). However, as Kimmel pointed out, lots of attention was given to the awkwardness of Vice President (VP) and former presidential candidate Harris's role as VP in certifying the election results, where she formalized her loss. How many times has this happened in the past? Seven times, the first time was perhaps the oddest: VP John C. Breckenridge, whom we wrote about in November (pictured) , and was the...

30 Dec

Posted at 13:36h in Newsletter

ANCESTRY- MORE OF HENRY CLAY'S EXTENDED FAMILY William Campbell Preston Breckinridge (1837 – 1904) was a prominent lawyer and Democratic politician from Kentucky. He served as a U.S. Representative from 1885 to 1895. He was part of the esteemed Breckinridge political family, the grandson of Senator John Breckinridge and a first cousin of Vice President and presidential candidate John C. Breckinridge. Breckinridge graduated from Centre College in 1855 and earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Louisville in 1857. He practiced law in Lexington, Kentucky, where he married Lucretia Clay, Henry Clay's granddaughter. William joined the Confederate States Army in 1861 despite...

14 Dec

Posted at 13:04h in Newsletter

GENEALOGIST- ONE KILLING LEADS TO ANOTHER 20 YEARS LATER We’ve all seen various lithographic recreations of Lincoln’s assassination. We know the stories related to the fates of the President, the First Lady, and John Wilkes Booth. What about the other two people in the image? Future Brevet Colonel Henry Rathbone (1837-1911) and his fiancé Clara Harris had known each other for 15 years. Henry’s widowed mother had married Clara’s widowed father, so they were stepsiblings who met at ages 11 and 14 and became close friends. Both families were prominent, with Henry's father in 1845 leaving him $6.3 m in today’s dollars....

01 Dec

Posted at 12:59h in Newsletter

GENEALOGY- BRAVE ABOLITIONISTS CARRIED THE MORAL ARGUMENT FORWARD AGAINST SLAVERY. WHAT ABOUT THE ECONOMIC DILEMMA? When Britain abolished slavery in 1833 through the Slavery Abolition Act, it essentially "bought the freedom" of enslaved people by paying a large sum of compensation, amounting to £20 million, directly to the slaveholders. This represented 40% of the government's annual budget, equivalent to roughly 5% of the British GDP. The argument is made that parliament did not do this to reward the slaveholders but to reduce their incentive to oppress the freed people post-slavery through other methods because the enslavers would not feel economically hurt. Whether...

17 Nov

Posted at 14:32h in Newsletter

IN CASE SOUTH DAKOTA NEEDS MORE MONUMENT HERITAGE I wrote an article in 2023 called Dejavu at the Ballot Box . Dejavu election that showed the number of times we had the same choice for president on the same ballot. Of course, with President Biden dropping out, that did not happen. We did, however, for the second time, have a president elected to a non-sequential second term. Of course, we have seen many mentions of Trump doing a Grover Cleveland. Think of Grover in his grave, wondering why it took so long for him to become a verb. By the way, Grover Cleveland...

05 Nov

Posted at 19:46h in Newsletter

ANCESTOR- LINCOLN STARTED THE TREND OF BEARDED PRESIDENTS Some noise was generated this election when a bearded V.P. candidate (J.D. Vance) was chosen by a major party. Beards were not a feature from 1789-1861 among the first 15 presidents. After Lincoln wore his, and of the next seven presidents only Johnson and Cleveland did not have beards as Grant, Hayes, Garfield, and Harrison all sported beards. Likely just a leftover fashion trend created by Civil War Generals. Other than Lincoln all of them were Civil War Generals, who as Commander-in-Chief outranked all of them. I even included a picture of my bearded distant...

19 Oct

Posted at 13:17h in Newsletter

RUTHERFORD B. HAYES PURSUED HIS ANCESTRY Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822 – 1893) was the 19th president of the United States, serving from 1877 to 1881. An attorney in Ohio, Hayes was Cincinnati's city solicitor and a staunch abolitionist. During the Civil War, he joined the Union Army, earning a reputation for bravery and rising to brevet major general. Post-war, Hayes became a prominent Republican, serving in Congress and as governor of Ohio. Despite losing the popular vote, Hayes won the 1876 presidential election (see the last article) against Samuel J. Tilden through the Compromise of 1877. The deal ended federal support for...

06 Oct

Posted at 11:44h in Newsletter

ACCORDING TO THIS GENEALOGIST THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME A MAYOR OF NEW YORK HAS BEEN CHARGED WITH A FEDERAL CRIME WHILE STILL IN OFFICE There has been a lot of press lately about Eric Adams, the first Mayor of New York City ever to be indicted for a crime while in office. However, I doubt Adams will face execution. My wife’s sixth-time Great-Uncle, David Mathews, was appointed Mayor of New York City in February 1776 by the British Governor of the Province of New York. That same year, Mathews was implicated in a plan to kidnap George Washington, the Commander in...

21 Sep

Posted at 13:35h in Newsletter

THANKS FOR DOING MY GENEALOGY, NOW YOU MUST DIE! In Bergen, Norway, we took a walking tour of the city, and the guide took us to the statue of Snorri Sturluson (1179 –1241). He was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of the Prose Edda, which is a major source for what is today known about Norse mythology and alliterative verse, and Heimskringla, a history of the Norse kings that begins with legendary material in Ynglinga saga and moves...

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