Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Americana
As the clock chimed eleven times, on the 11th of November, in the year of our Lord 1918, the Allied nations and Germany set into effect an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, effectively ending the First World War. A year later, the President of the United Stated proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration […]
Wednesday 26 October 1881, is said to have been a chilly day at Tombstone, at an elevation of 4,500 feet in Arizona Territory. By this time, the mining town had a population of over 3,000 residents and hosted 110 saloons, 14 gambling halls, and untold houses of ill-repute. Deputy US Marshal Virgil Earp, his brothers […]
Ten Years ago, I followed the journey of my 3rd great-grandfather Orrin Brown (1836-1909) as documented in his Civil War diary and passed down through the generations of the Pugh and Brown family. He mustered into the service on 3 October 1864. In case you missed it, here is where I began. As best we […]
Fort Hartsuff was established in the North Loup Valley of the Nebraska Sandhills in 1874, and was active until 1881. The fort was named for Maj. Gen. George I. Hartsuff, who died in 1874 from wounds received in the Civil War. The town of Calamus was platted in September 1874, near the Fort, on the […]
Happy anniversary to my parents. On September 10, 1966, Ruth Ellen Woodman married Robert Carl Shepard, at the First Presbyterian Church in Paw Paw, Van Buren County, Michigan. It is said, if you go back far enough we are all related. And that families don’t always get along. Way back in Genesis we are told […]
The Spanish founded the city of Santa Fe in 1610 on top of a native Pueblo, as La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís–the capital of Nuevo Mexico. The province became part of the nation of Mexico after independence from Spain in 1821. Spain wanted trade to go through Mexico, […]
In honor of the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, I blogged the diary of my ancestor Pvt. Orrin Brown, Co. E, 14th Michigan Infantry, who marched through Georgia and the Carolinas with General Sherman. It remains some of the most popular material on this blog, now five years later. As best we know, […]
Martyr: 1: a person who voluntarily suffers death as the penalty of witnessing to and refusing to renounce a religion. 2: a person who sacrifices something of great value and especially life itself for the sake of principle. It is difficult in this day and age and place to wrap our heads around the idea that […]
At the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the year of our Lord 1918, an Armistice came into effect ending open hostilities in the War to End all Wars. The peace took more time, until the Treaty of Versailles signed 28 June 1919, but OUR boys were […]
The Civic Center in Denver, at the intersection of Colfax and Broadway, is the beating heart of Colorado, stretching from the Colorado Capitol to Denver City Hall. The statue on the west steps of the Capitol Building is a Civil War cavalryman, dismounted with rifle in hand, in Memorial of the Colorado soldiers who fought […]