Category: American History

The Food that Fueled the American Revolution

With many of our holidays food makes can make up an essential part of the festive celebrations like Easter’s eggs, and the Thanksgiving turkey, but what of Independence Day? I likely candidate for the 4th of July is a good old cookout of burgers, hotdogs and the like, huh? It is true our forefathers in the American Army during the Revolution would have mostly been cooking over an open fire, but many times the vittles would have been less that appetizing, sometimes nauseating and often nonexistent. With the our enlisted men living on “fire cakes” which was nothing more flour mixed with water, rapped around a bayonet then cooked over an open fire, and meat if they got may be spoiled. The Smithsonian.com has a short article of the food during the war that is worth a look. Remember all what our ancestors suffered and sacrificed for on this up and coming Independence Day.
Here is the link: The Food that Fueled the American Revolution

Categories: American History British History The American Revolution

With St. Patrick’s day coming up:

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With St. Patrick’s day on it’s way, my daughter Autumn Rhodes who is an Irish musician, told me about an interesting webpage from http://www.esri.com. Have you ever wondered where your Irish relatives may have been living in Ireland in the 1800s? Go to the Geo-Genealogy Irish surnames map page, type in a their Irish surnames, and it will show where in Ireland they were living according to the 1890 census.

Again, here is the link: Geo-Genealogy Irish surnames map
Geo-Genealogy Irish surnames map

Categories: American History British History Continental European History General History

The Story of English, the documentary

First, a couple of little facts about English, the language we speak. Did you know that the word “husband” is from the Vikings, while “wife” is of Germanic origin? The television documentary The Story of English was an Emmy Award-winning nine-part series that was produced in 1986 for BBC and PBS television. The series details the development of the English language from early times in English history to the present, with its influence throughout the world during modern time. I vividly recall when I first saw the series in 1986; it made such an impression me that decades later, I would relay to my daughter and others what impact it made on me in understanding the language and how we speak it today. The Story of English was originally broadcast with a companion book, and the series was released as a 5-tape box set in 2001, running 495 minutes. The book and series have been used in University courses. Now, thanks to the information age and the internet we can see this great documentary once more. Of course, you will find some of it is a little dated since it’s from the 1980’s, but history is history. It is definitely my favorite documentary and is a must-see in my opinion.
Here is the video of the documentary in its entirety:

[youtube 7FtSUPAM-uA&list=PL6D54D1C7DAE31B36 nolink]

Categories: American History British History General History

The Puritans and Religious Freedom?

I have within the last week or so discovered some ancestors that immigrated to the Massachusetts Colony in during the Puritan times. My ancestor Eleanor Moulton/Phelps/Trusler, and her second husband Thomas Trusler were members of the first church of Salem Massachusetts by 1639. As an American, I was taught in school the Puritans came to the Colonies for religious freedoms, which is true, but the Puritans did not reciprocate that notion to others with different religious beliefs. On the contrary–in 1658 John Smith had helped the Salem constable arrest Quakers. Nicholas Phelps, Eleanor’s son was arrested, jailed and badly beaten for having a Quaker church meeting in his home. June 1, 1660 a Boston Quaker Mary Dyer was hung for refusing to repent her Quaker believes. About 1661 Samuel Shattuck and Nicholas Phelps sailed to England to petition parliament to help the Quakers. Returning to New England Nicholas, weakened from the voyage died not long after. The letter delivered in 1661 to King Charles I, was what it took to stop much of the Quaker persecutions.

Categories: American History

THE LAST MEN OF THE REVOLUTION

Samuel Downing, Revolution War veteran

My daughter Autumn Rhodes on many occasions has sent me to interesting websites, and once again she comes through with one that I feel inclined to send your way. The site is part of AmericanRevolution.org, the link off this site is called “THE LAST MEN OF THE REVOLUTION“. The pages of this website are from a book of the same name by REV. ELIAS B. HILLARD, which was originally published in 1864. The site features a half a dozen of the last known Revolutionary War servicemen who where still living in 1865. The site gives autobiographies on the men, photos of them, color sketches of their homes, and more. If you would like a copy of the original 1864 publication of the book it can go for well over $7800.00, fortunately it was reprinted in 1968 and that copy sells from about $98 via Amazon.com.

Categories: American History The American Revolution

A wonderful Vintage Era Blog

I have discovered a couple of great blogs from an anonymous woman of France. The blogs featuring vintage illustrations and photos, with items dating from the mid-1800’s through the 1930’s, and a few of them a little later. The first site is simply entitled: Vintage Blog. Another blog by the author, that runs along the same time period is called: Vintage Photography, it also has some awesome images. I encourage you to check them out.

Vintage Photography

Again here are links to them:
Vintage Blog
Vintage Photography

Categories: American History British History Featured website