Category: SITES, BLOGS, APPS

Greatest Leaders of the American Revolution You Have Never Heard Of

Excellent history, posted on a great site! Please pay it a visit.

Part One

When I was completing my graduate degree in American history from George Mason University a few years back, I took on the challenge of trying to examine the motivations of American soldiers during the American Revolutionary War.

The basis was to examine, “why they fought” if I can borrow a line used frequently by Civil War scholars and historians.

Being a native Marylander, I narrowed my focus on soldiers from that colony/state.

Yet, I was struck by the continued emergence of one name in particular and this gentleman became a focal point of mine.

This gentleman became through the war and could not be ignored with any mention of Maryland and her patriotic citizenry’s service in the war. His name is Otho Holland Williams.

Otho Holland Williams

First a little background on Otho Holland Williams. Otho Williams’ early life mirrors that of many early American colonists. His parents…

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from Clio: Portsmouth, NH

Hey folks, there have been some interesting developments regarding the Clio app. For those who are unfamiliar, Clio is an app that connects users to historic locations. A user who may be in, or will soon visit, a given area can access entries that detail many of that area’s historic sites. Each entry provides the location’s GPS coordinates, street address, hours of operation, fees, story, and much more. I had the privilege of creating many Clio entries. If you want to get a feel for the app, I have provided links to four Clio entries I created for historic sites in the Portsmouth, NH area. There is also a link to an article by Lacie Pierson, of the Huntington Herald Dispatch, that describes Clio’s new features.

Hey folks, please visit this blog. Great histories.

Firelands History Website

George Woodruff and the other men started work the day after they arrived at Village House, clearing enough land to plant corn that spring. The soil in the area was a clay loam “well suited for agriculture, but before they could take advantage of its fertility, they needed to clear away the trees.

This was no easy matter. The forests were heavily timbered with enormous white oaks, whitewood and black walnut, generally eighty to one-hundred feet in height and three feet in diameter. Some were as much as six foot in diameter, and as they began to cut them down, George and the others found by their rings that those giants were upwards of three-hundred years old.

Game was abundant; deer and wild turkey, especially, and provided them with much needed food to supplement what they had brought with them. Wolves were also numerous, and their howling kept George…

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Georges Nadon – Spitfire pilot, flew 277 sorties

A remarkable story, a great blog that references other great blogs! A lot of history.

Aviation Trails

War creates some remarkable heroes. It makes people perform beyond the limits of normal human endurance; through immense pain and suffering, these heroes are able to perform duties beyond those expected or even believed possible.

There were many airmen who carried out these duties with little or no recognition for their actions, never to speak of them or be acknowledged for them.Georges Nadon, a French-Canadian Spitfire pilot, is one of them.

Georges had a long career, he fought both in the skies of Britain and Malta, and completed two ‘tours’ that amounted to an incredible 277 operations and more than 500 hours in the air.

Georges Nadon’s flying career began with 122 Squadron based at RAF Hornchurch, where he flew Spitfires. Of the 27 original pilots of 122 Sqn, only Georges and one other pilot survived. On Christmas Eve 1943 he sailed to Malta, where he would fly – on…

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Duesenberg-Milton Land Speed Record Car

If you are into cars, this is a great article.

Old Machine Press

By William Pearce

After winning the Elgin National Road Race, held in Elgin, Illinois on 23 August 1919, Duesenberg race car driver Tommy Milton began to focus on one of his top goals: establishing a new land speed record at Dayton Beach, Florida. The current record was held by Milton’s rival Ralph De Palma at 149.875 mph (241.001 km/h). Milton had been contemplating a land speed record (LSR) car for a long time. In December 1916, he and Fred Duesenberg entered into an agreement* to build a car to Milton’s specifications provided Milton would partially fund the vehicle. With his share of the Eglin winnings, Milton was one step closer to building the LSR car.

Tommy Milton sits in the Duesenberg-Milton LSR car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (most likely in May 1920). The burnt paint on the engine cowl was a result of a fire during its speed runs…

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When Did Passenger Trains Begin to Run between New York City and Montreal?

Well researched, interesting history

PenneyVanderbilt

It all started out with a question from a reader wondering if there was a railroad that went from New York City to Montreal circa 1855? He had some of John Stover’s books and with maps that show a line going from NYC to the Canadian border as early as 1850. But it’s really not too clear and there is no text stating that.

Our reader found the answer – no direct line, but there was a line through Vermont that then crossed over to Rouses Point and connected up with the Plattsburgh to Montreal line that opened in 1852. Yup, that bridge eventually became part of the Rutland line to Ogdensburg, NY

The D&H at created a line from Albany / Troy to Rouses Point. Then they bought a subsidiary, Napier Junction Rwy, that got them into Montréal. Connections NYC to Albany were not in place 1855.

If you…

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The More noble..the more humble

This gallery contains 3 photos →

Semi-Pro Football

1946hollywood-bears charlestonrockets

Hollywood Bears Charleston Rockets

(www.oldestlivingprofootball.com) (www.logoserver.com)

A couple gifts for a Sunday. A little history on two stadiums with important connections to Semi-Pro Football. Stadiums, leagues, teams, and players important to the history of the game.

A Post About Clio

Though often unrecognized, history constantly brushes against us. It is present in all the places we visit, in houses we walk past, and the roads on which we drive. Stored in libraries and archives the world over, these histories link people to place, but they are not easily accessible. Wireless devices allow us to access an incomprehensible amount of information, if we know what to enter in a search field. How can the history buff easily connect with the history around them? How can a football fan travelling through Portsmouth, OH, quickly discover the local stadium NFL Hall of Fame members once called home? If a naval enthusiast gassed up in Portsmouth, NH, how could they casually learn of William Badger’s 1800’s shipyard? Clio connects you with historic places, people, and events with which you are not familiar. It is free and simple to use.

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