Diary of Orrin Brown, Kalamazoo, Michigan Monday–Oct. 10th Came off warm and pleasant, got my breakfast and went down town, found Norman, we went and got my furlough extended to Tuesday evening at 6 Oclock, went and bought some toys for the children to the amount of $2.50. Fisher and Buckman came about noon, they […]
Diary of Orrin Brown—Oct 9, 1864
Diary of Orrin Brown, Kalamazoo, Michigan Sunday–Oct. 9th Clear and pleasant and bids fair to be a warm day, went to the Burdick House and Norman and I with some of the other boys went up to the Unighted Brethren Church and heard a good sermon. Norman and I went and took a walk around […]
Diary of Orrin Brown—Oct 8, 1864
Diary of Orrin Brown, Kalamazoo, Michigan Oct. 8th Arrived at Kalamazoo at about 4:30AM, rained the most of the time yesterday and last night. Took Breakfast and dinner at the Burdick House, got some tintypes taken, found out that the boys had gone on to Jackson, sent the box to them. Reported and get my […]
Diary of Orrin Brown—Oct 7, 1864
Diary of Orrin Brown, Niles, Michigan. First Part of his Journal. Commencing, Oct. 7th A.D. 1864 Cloudy and cold with a high N.W. wind, made a box to put some provisions in for the boys that were drafted, started to St. Jo at 11 AM arrived home at 5 PM. Norman and I started for […]
The Diary of Pvt. Orrin Brown: Marching Through Georgia and the Carolinas with General Sherman
As best we know, Orrin O. Brown was born in September 1836, at Wayne County, Michigan, to Orrin Brown, Sr. and Rhoda Weaver Brown of New York State. Orphaned at birth, his mother moved in with family in Will County, Illinois, only to become sick and die, leaving the baby to the care of relatives. […]
Cheyenne-Laramie County, Wyoming, Historical Timeline
A summary of major (and interesting) events in the history of Cheyenne and Laramie County, Wyoming. 1833 Fort William, later Ft John/Ft Laramie, established by trapper William Sublette at the confluence of the Laramie and North Platte rivers. 1849 US Army purchases Ft Laramie from American Fur Company. 1850 US Army engineers survey guided by […]
Cheyenne Frontier Days
After 117 years, Cheyenne has learned how to throw a party. Just before the turn of the last century, a railroad promoter & a local newspaper editor organized a small festival to bring folks in from out of town. The first Frontier Days was born, with much frolicking and Western exhibition. The entire 10-day festival […]
Presidents Day Thoughts on the Failure of Politics
I try to avoid getting too political on this blog, although this month with my tributes to President Reagan’s 100th birthday it might not seem that way. Politics inevitably invades all human endeavors. It starts when we are young—watch groups of elementary kids closely and the pecking order soon becomes apparent. Some of us are […]
Family History
[v=tFtVn8q6SR8] I’ve added a personal page to JCShepard.com with some clutter on history and genealogy: All Things Shepard. There’s a handy link over to the left of this blog’s main page, and on the top of individual post pages. I started this page on my old (pre-blog) personal website, which was mostly a collection of […]
That History of Britain documentary
[v=vv-ckMLdRsA] Several years ago, historian Simon Schama came out with an extended BBC documentary called “A History of Britain”. I bought the 3 books that went with it, but the 15-episode DVD collection was a bit beyond my budget. Still is. Now we have a couple options. The TV shows have found their way onto […]