tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61234204189508349152024-03-14T14:49:39.002-04:00GehioGeocaching+History+Ohio
=<br>A tour blog of Ohio Valley historyGehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.comBlogger145125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-44083675202898761722019-03-20T14:36:00.004-04:002019-03-20T14:40:07.409-04:00Gehio UpdateIt's been a very rainy or very cold Winter in 2019. Thus, I've hardly geocached at all. My reading has slipped as well and many times those trips and books inspire or reveal some new topic I'd like to know more about and share in a Gehio post.<br />
I did take an AncestryDNA test in December 2018 and I'll have a post about that soon since it is related to my Ohio history. On a similar note, I have a short bio I've been working on for a post about my maternal great grandfather's emigration to Ohio from Germany in the mid 19th century, and the trials and tribulations he endured.<br />
I'm looking forward to nicer weather and new historical adventures!Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-33044855017047294832018-12-23T16:07:00.000-05:002018-12-23T16:07:41.717-05:00A Very Ge-hi-Ho-Ho-Ho Christmas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUPbNyu0CCppjlr-vwwf_eqY0f9nSeOUP2iPnAfuGeVmOLFzII4yypu1vtCWUfiGBbwOqfO5eW0Wl2y76hXKLXfvWkOSsx-BRNH07QKHSlxqG9EXNusksMadCHqMEWQCvcYlm62MoXTts/s1600/IMG_5556.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="456" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUPbNyu0CCppjlr-vwwf_eqY0f9nSeOUP2iPnAfuGeVmOLFzII4yypu1vtCWUfiGBbwOqfO5eW0Wl2y76hXKLXfvWkOSsx-BRNH07QKHSlxqG9EXNusksMadCHqMEWQCvcYlm62MoXTts/s320/IMG_5556.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christmas at Gehio Headquarters</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Christmas wasn't always what we think it was. Many folks have a notion that the celebration of this holiday was some scared static thing that degraded in modern times. If there was a War on Christmas, it was really that way from the beginning...by Christians.<br />
<a href="https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/301-600/celebrate-christmas-but-when-and-how-11629663.html" target="_blank">The first Christians didn't celebrate Christmas at all</a> and it was about 400 years before we see any evidence that they did. And when they finally did it was mainly to replace the last traces of pagan worship practices in the Holy Roman Empire.<br />
<br />
The first Christmas in America at Plymouth on December 25, 1620, went unobserved. <a href="https://theweek.com/articles/479313/when-americans-banned-christmas" target="_blank">"Foolstide"</a> as they called it, was considered by these non-Catholics as sinful, immoral, wasteful and pagan in origin with no Biblical basis and was thus banned. Many Protestant groups in the US and Britain disapproved of any celebration of Christmas which was punishable by fines in those days.<br />
Throughout the 18th century, Christmas was celebrated or not in the US in various ways depending on your ethnic background and geographic location but was still not that big of a deal. Easter was where it was at.<br />
In 1820, the American author Washington Irving published the popular book <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sketch_Book_of_Geoffrey_Crayon,_Gent." target="_blank">"The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent."</a>. It was a collection of essays notable for <i>"Rip Van Winkle" </i>and <i>"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"</i> but also included five Christmas themed stories which depicted long abandoned English festival traditions supposedly dating back to medieval times. Then there was the popular Clement Moore 1823 poem <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Visit_from_St._Nicholas" target="_blank">"A Visit From St. Nicholas"</a> aka "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" which borrowed from Irving and help popularize Santa Claus.<br />
<br />
However, the modern notion of "traditional" Christmas took hold in the Victorian era after the English author Charles Dickens published the popular goodwill story <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol" target="_blank">"A Christmas Carol"</a> in 1843 and revived some of the same old holiday traditions. Dickens cites Irving's stories as an influence. Americans also adopted some of these practices after having shunned all things English for many years after the American Revolution. Christmas was more or less a second-rate holiday in England prior to Dickens and Dickens' book wasn't in wide circulation in the US until after the American Civil War. Easter was still the main event in the Christian religion at that time. Christmas Day didn't even become a US Federal holiday until 1870. That was about 1,520 years after Rome did.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ROuyjNjJAIzJXYnBAVf73e_0Ra-wdXnKbJaAIAjeR-alapaQUeCTdymOtj87kandDTPVSg-ZTO9cLjR1CZs_1hyQgBsENdnm88r03UhIpbY_ezbaeWP7oLjdUU1lQvezRMi8SpacqXg/s1600/0613000947a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="811" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ROuyjNjJAIzJXYnBAVf73e_0Ra-wdXnKbJaAIAjeR-alapaQUeCTdymOtj87kandDTPVSg-ZTO9cLjR1CZs_1hyQgBsENdnm88r03UhIpbY_ezbaeWP7oLjdUU1lQvezRMi8SpacqXg/s320/0613000947a.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the "first" church Christmas Tree sign</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>So what does this have to do with Ohio history or geocaching?</b> The <a href="http://www.zioncleveland.com/about.html" target="_blank">first Christmas tree displayed in a church in America</a> was allegedly in 1851 by German pastor Henry Schwan in Cleveland OH at Zion Lutheran Church. I saw it on a <a href="https://readtheplaque.com/plaque/the-first-christmas-tree-in-america" target="_blank">sign </a>there once when I was geocaching many years ago. I did a bit more research and found that this immigrants tradition was not entirely welcome.<br />
<br />
A local newspaper called this Christmas tree <i>"a nonsensical, asinine, moronic absurdity."</i> It editorialized against <i>"these Lutherans . . . worshiping a tree . . . groveling before a shrub"</i> Worse, it recommended that the good Christian citizens of Cleveland ostracize, shun and refuse to do business with anyone <i>"who tolerates such heathenish, idolatrous practices in his church."</i><br />
<i>"A tree in the chancel?"</i> roared an indignant man. <i>"What kind of a minister are you?". </i>So they basically called for a boycott because they were offended by differing views. Some things never change. keep in mind that this part of the 19th century was <a href="http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/German_Ohioans" target="_blank">an era of violent anti-German sentiment</a>, especially in Ohio.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFE7x2P7n619FzUsn-2uZnl8erEbsM21tZ01QosBnlhtfD9srSsRwE-YnUO4plHq3SCAtcHtoa22mwBHhd0FQ_pFlxZijzIr-u-1GXmrtsdO3PFrNO0WJFreGaCZkaL2E4VuQkVvpQeIk/s1600/IMG_1816.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="811" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFE7x2P7n619FzUsn-2uZnl8erEbsM21tZ01QosBnlhtfD9srSsRwE-YnUO4plHq3SCAtcHtoa22mwBHhd0FQ_pFlxZijzIr-u-1GXmrtsdO3PFrNO0WJFreGaCZkaL2E4VuQkVvpQeIk/s320/IMG_1816.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Obligatory Cleveland Christmas stop</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So what's odd is that many of the practices of what people perceive as a traditional Christmas with the food and the trees and the caroling and even the church services themselves came from the Victorian era which was really a throwback to the Middle Ages. Oh, and I have to point out to the "Xmas" haters that <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/12/14/7374401/jesus-xmas-christmas" target="_blank">the use of X as a symbol for Christ</a> is rooted in Greek from 1000 years ago and most certainly does not "take the Christ out of Christmas". So chill out on that one.<br />
<br />
I'm definitely not trying to be a humbug here. Celebrate Christmas how you want. Secular or religious or a combination of both. Say "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas". Sing "Silent Night" or "Jingle Bells". Write Xmas or Christmas (it's the same thing, see above). Go to church on Christmas morning and/or open presents from Santa. Or don't do anything. If you are going to complain about the secularization of modern Christmas, blame Irving and Dickens. Their beloved 19th-century stories not unlike most popular 20th-century Christmas movies such as A Christmas Story or the Grinch aren't anything about the birth of Christ and are more about giving, hope, and redemption...and sometimes ghosts and good food.Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com0500 Lakeside Ave E, Cleveland, OH 44114, USA41.5035383 -81.69293570000002141.1229773 -82.338382700000025 41.8840993 -81.047488700000017tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-90542936104354784772018-10-27T07:00:00.000-04:002018-10-30T13:00:03.742-04:00The Great Big WHH Presentation!<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoqcKdYI-e32vJyWk4klbhscANsqgVSz7vZeAUDDABvKVn7CcYl5c0uq0y77SqLH77YSJFdfLP2cFLxJwpCXXilc76idfjNj7cD8wrIdSNsKNcQg_QKVgtVQkCpT7GsZC6S984UwTypNY/s1600/IMG_1927.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="426" data-original-width="746" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoqcKdYI-e32vJyWk4klbhscANsqgVSz7vZeAUDDABvKVn7CcYl5c0uq0y77SqLH77YSJFdfLP2cFLxJwpCXXilc76idfjNj7cD8wrIdSNsKNcQg_QKVgtVQkCpT7GsZC6S984UwTypNY/s320/IMG_1927.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>
I broke my <i>"at least one blog post per month"</i> rule for the first time in seven years, but it was for a good cause.<br />
My writing and research energy over the past two months was being used for a presentation I mentioned here before. <a href="http://gehio.blogspot.com/2018/05/oxbows-books-and-geocaches.html" target="_blank">In May 2018</a>, I was recommended by my friend Mark Fischer to Meg Riestenberg to give a talk to a local nature conservation group Meg belongs to in Lawrenceburg IN called the <a href="http://www.oxbowinc.org/" target="_blank">Oxbow</a>. Mark had given previous talks here on Geocaching and the 2017 Solar Eclipse. I'd never done anything like this before but after some trepidation, I accepted as I felt I was up to the challenge.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjJcbWolvJ4rNNNsQ5aO77CX_Dy0pQtYEh2gzwnX3XAwedf2sSAy1AsNDjP_SZFkNRymfnfliPuU-JA0XKsY-Jg8h6R2f1L5zK6ZQwirUaEVQ0AEx71Oittk6CP7kPXpnl5R3F_aOSMeQ/s1600/oxbow+cal.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="211" data-original-width="383" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjJcbWolvJ4rNNNsQ5aO77CX_Dy0pQtYEh2gzwnX3XAwedf2sSAy1AsNDjP_SZFkNRymfnfliPuU-JA0XKsY-Jg8h6R2f1L5zK6ZQwirUaEVQ0AEx71Oittk6CP7kPXpnl5R3F_aOSMeQ/s320/oxbow+cal.PNG" width="320" /></a>This was more of a nature interest group but Meg said they enjoy hearing about local history too. A captive audience! The idea I came up with for them was <b>"Tippecanoe and Trivia Too!"</b>. This would be a talk about the local ties that William Henry Harrison had to the Ohio Valley. I also decided to bust some of the myths that surround his life. To keep folks engaged, I added in a mini trivia night similar to the ones that are popular in many bars nowadays. I decided that the winning team would get the theme appropriate gift of a six-pack of Cincinnati made Hard Cider from <a href="https://www.marchfirstbrewing.com/" target="_blank">March First Brewing.</a><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnIJ4NBHvhAtmV4-Hisp1V9-gii7PvjYZ0X_PTtakaLP9v3mYrmxMSoBkG2F3MaOVKJD79GzEVmsHoJaz5dcXZoXN8swny0XeyNVZ-H1HbLsFcfM6Fwx0uZh9uIS6IYpsYvvGFVQyUUkw/s1600/bookmark.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="387" data-original-width="127" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnIJ4NBHvhAtmV4-Hisp1V9-gii7PvjYZ0X_PTtakaLP9v3mYrmxMSoBkG2F3MaOVKJD79GzEVmsHoJaz5dcXZoXN8swny0XeyNVZ-H1HbLsFcfM6Fwx0uZh9uIS6IYpsYvvGFVQyUUkw/s200/bookmark.JPG" width="65" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>one of the team bookmarks</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I volunteered Mark to help out with the logistics of the trivia. He came up with a clever and time efficient way to divide up teams. The added bonus was a way to plug my blog and have a takeaway souvenir that could be used as a bookmark.<br />
<br />
On the evening of the presentation on October 9th, we arrived a bit early and found no one there yet. What are two geocachers going to do to kill time? Hmmm. Once we grabbed a couple of caches, one with a spectacular view of the Ohio River I must say, we headed back to the Lawrenceburg conference room and I got all set up. After some Oxbow updates by Jon Seymour and Meg Riestenberg and an introduction by Mark, I gave my presentation.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWv3-keNjwBbN-glRdBrwkjTKZvH7WgtY5kN67QZRYnp5c1XCTvzcGfYH8cbdbfLNBe1cUdN7anQjq05b7tK0bu7Ux2bKSIW_72ABJ3p3VRDmrPp50uje84S40BvtAeSyxAdJuzdm6IEg/s1600/IMG_1925.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWv3-keNjwBbN-glRdBrwkjTKZvH7WgtY5kN67QZRYnp5c1XCTvzcGfYH8cbdbfLNBe1cUdN7anQjq05b7tK0bu7Ux2bKSIW_72ABJ3p3VRDmrPp50uje84S40BvtAeSyxAdJuzdm6IEg/s400/IMG_1925.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A 1960s reproduction of a 19th booze bottle with<br />the WHH Pez and the trivia team/bookmarks by Mark. <br />Presenter selfie with a couple of candid shots from the evening.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
There were about 40 people in attendance (a full house!) for my one-hour presentation which was only 45 minutes short of Harrison's speech. On trivia nights they usually play a song while the teams ponder their answer. I had one technical glitch in that I had no audio for the first two trivia question songs. That was a pretty major component of the entertainment factor so that was a bit distressing. Three songs were renditions of 1840 era campaign songs by a man named <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Brand" target="_blank">Oscar Brand</a>. Another was a W.H. Harrison inspired song by a band called <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39qlI8XU0hQ" target="_blank">The Executive Branch</a>, and the fifth was a version of <i>"Tippecanoe and Tyler Too"</i> by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFaRklAYanY" target="_blank">They Might Be Giants</a>. I finally got the sound figured out and I was pretty pleased with how it all went after that. The audience seemed receptive and engaged. They even laughed at my jokes. One where I said I was going to now read the two-hour speech but was told I didn't have time. My "parley animal" joke went over pretty well too. They even had a few of their own. For example, when it got misconstrued that the trivia answers would be based on something I said, similar to a quiz, I corrected this by saying they would be mainly multiple choice or true/false questions on something I hadn't covered yet. Someone then shouted, <i>"so we really don't have to pay attention then??".</i> That got a good chuckle from everyone including myself.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPIdbTJofYTTAhqdu8cHplbECXSY0vJS0BPUU8JrAdWDWNIXvvvP4WsawDpPTYxBlLfSY7VxQbejpX4W4IgXjuQzuY5QXKri1i8b-u35VnnBkDdfcws8499gc7FxoJKKpM6dYFIEBxABk/s1600/whh+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1300" data-original-width="1300" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPIdbTJofYTTAhqdu8cHplbECXSY0vJS0BPUU8JrAdWDWNIXvvvP4WsawDpPTYxBlLfSY7VxQbejpX4W4IgXjuQzuY5QXKri1i8b-u35VnnBkDdfcws8499gc7FxoJKKpM6dYFIEBxABk/s200/whh+copy.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NWA inspired graphic </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I have to add that this might be the only public WHH discussion where NWA gets mentioned! Although I am pretty positive only one person got that reference.<br />
<br />
I had thought of recording my presentation but decided against it so I have no video to show you here. My PowerPoint isn't really suitable for sharing either as it is mostly image based and I relied on my notes vs having so much text on the screen. I can share a few highlights though!<br />
<br />
Several of the big myths I busted are written about <a href="http://gehio.blogspot.com/search?q=harrison" target="_blank">on this very blog</a>. The <a href="http://gehio.blogspot.com/2016/04/william-henry-stemwinder.html" target="_blank">circumstances and cause of his death</a>, the <a href="http://gehio.blogspot.com/2018/02/wishing-if-i-had-photograph-of-whh.html" target="_blank">confusion surrounding the first photo of a President</a>, and <a href="http://gehio.blogspot.com/2016/10/19th-century-booze-news-you-can-use.html" target="_blank">the popularizing of the word booze</a>. I added a bit about the <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-curse-of-tecumseh/" target="_blank">alleged death curse on US Presidents</a> starting with Harrison sometimes attributed to Tecumseh and other times to his brother The Prophet. For local history, I highlighted the two homes in North Bend and talked about his time as a public servant in Ohio and Indiana and of course his military history in the vicinity during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.<br />
<br />
It turns out that my trivia questions were harder than I anticipated. This was my fault due to some red herrings I added since I thought the questions might be too easy. Here is a sample of the questions...Do you know the answers? No Googling!<br />
<style>
#mytable{
width:100%
}
#mytable, th, td {
border: 0px solid black;
border-collapse: collapse;
}
#mytable th, #mytable td {
padding: 0px;
text-align: center;
}
</style>
<br />
<table id="mytable">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><br /></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMVyPPfx5wB7TT0wGG6HHy6V-7zDjapDekUApvdh3lLvHoFcjmD2e0Hipl_pHb0ABsVTOw5nVU27aIaJliEvFPeHX_xga_BTAHM38LXQ7asFnXaZPnkHOqg5T-hMYhOWlVfZfBLDTL1rE/s1600/IMG_1930.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="731" height="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMVyPPfx5wB7TT0wGG6HHy6V-7zDjapDekUApvdh3lLvHoFcjmD2e0Hipl_pHb0ABsVTOw5nVU27aIaJliEvFPeHX_xga_BTAHM38LXQ7asFnXaZPnkHOqg5T-hMYhOWlVfZfBLDTL1rE/s200/IMG_1930.PNG" width="200" /></a></td>
<td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxYboPYE43O9FPyLlwWv6j8VgXvsKzZy4XTH9eJPA5LD0VihZp9mxa2hY6jHlCjV9pNtFQ4GwxSOyYfAL8lF4C4omcOVwaW7OckOydjs8dHMB9d67Yvdp1kZ1QEkv8coiQP4TM72BgCrE/s1600/IMG_1929.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="711" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxYboPYE43O9FPyLlwWv6j8VgXvsKzZy4XTH9eJPA5LD0VihZp9mxa2hY6jHlCjV9pNtFQ4GwxSOyYfAL8lF4C4omcOVwaW7OckOydjs8dHMB9d67Yvdp1kZ1QEkv8coiQP4TM72BgCrE/s200/IMG_1929.PNG" width="200" /></a></td>
<td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrNzazRDIWZAn5_h8Vt8HZHhp_xb7ry0Wxtp-NjKGvpnHXTD8BIi5tdeFUgrv_Ur3CI8ObOT4x6UTUW9sr3bBA-2lnppdOD0QB5yy9gADHxes_hvBtUV3Mm_KP-NcFsPK9MUL5I1AD2A8/s1600/IMG_1928.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="732" height="116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrNzazRDIWZAn5_h8Vt8HZHhp_xb7ry0Wxtp-NjKGvpnHXTD8BIi5tdeFUgrv_Ur3CI8ObOT4x6UTUW9sr3bBA-2lnppdOD0QB5yy9gADHxes_hvBtUV3Mm_KP-NcFsPK9MUL5I1AD2A8/s200/IMG_1928.PNG" width="200" /></a></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
To wrap things up I ended with the very amusing spoof of the Hamilton musical by <a href="https://www.offthetop.nyc/" target="_blank">Off The Top</a>.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du1i6qvk5qE/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Du1i6qvk5qE?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
Afterward, several folks stuck around to chit chat with me. I learned of a few other local Harrison tidbits from a couple of attendees that I'll likely explore further. This was a pretty great experience for someone like me with almost no experience at public speaking. I have to highly recommend the book that helped me out a great deal in preparing for this called, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Speak-Easy-essential-speaking-public/dp/1921966858" target="_blank">Speak Easy by Maggie Eyre</a>.<br />
<br />
Huzzah!...as Harrison might say.Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com0Oxbow Nature Conservancy, 17160-17278 Reardon Dr, Lawrenceburg, IN 47025, USA39.1208165 -84.846359513.598781999999996 -126.1549535 64.642851 -43.537765500000006tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-55019715758159774992018-07-31T07:00:00.000-04:002018-07-31T08:31:01.700-04:00Yo! Pigman!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg09EP6Y0LOSZ-SwhrA6e9EZP8ycNrFEvXFD5iUYRgHev0eEN4vceFsLsSK34oF8NCYEpBmS5rLxanyvHTqPgAzHdZZB7u5uwvQFjJ7ZEL2NRQiwBm72n6TNHzr9rH0pejllVxJkzAbJsw/s1600/IMG_1515.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg09EP6Y0LOSZ-SwhrA6e9EZP8ycNrFEvXFD5iUYRgHev0eEN4vceFsLsSK34oF8NCYEpBmS5rLxanyvHTqPgAzHdZZB7u5uwvQFjJ7ZEL2NRQiwBm72n6TNHzr9rH0pejllVxJkzAbJsw/s320/IMG_1515.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
I was out <a href="https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC1ATQ7_indiana-spirit-quest-610-frontier-garrison" target="_blank">geocaching</a> in rural Indiana with my frequent geocaching partner when we ran across a strange surname of "Pigman". Mark and I thought that was funny and we kept thinking of the "pig man" episode on Seinfeld where Kramer was convinced he has seen a half-man/half pig which was the result of a government genetic experiment to produce an army of pig warriors. I am a grown man and I laugh at Uranus jokes too.<br />
<br />
<i>"They're probably creating a whole army of pig-warriors!"</i><br />
- Cosmo Kramer, in Seinfeld: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bris" target="_blank">"The Bris"</a><br />
<br />
After the obligatory Seinfeld references were made, I snapped a pic of <a href="https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50120923/jesse-pigman" target="_blank">Jesse Pigman's grave marker</a> because I noted he was a very young Revolutionary War veteran and thought I'd look up this Pigman warrior later. Incidentally, we were on our way to Connersville Indiana when we stopped at the Mount Garrison cemetery for a geocache find. We would later learn that this nearby community has a <a href="http://newsexaminer.com/common/story.php?ID=44809" target="_blank">gigantic drug problem</a>, mainly methamphetamine and heroin. So, I found it interesting that when I was researching, I kept getting hits on <a href="http://breakingbad.wikia.com/wiki/Jesse_Pinkman" target="_blank">Jesse Pinkman</a> from Breaking Bad. Hmmm.<br />
<br />
<i>“Yo! What good is being an outlaw when you have responsibilities?” </i><br />
- Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad: <a href="http://breakingbad.wikia.com/wiki/Kafkaesque" target="_blank">"Kafkaesque"</a><br />
<br />
We saw several other Pigman's that day. Twenty are buried in the same cemetery with Jesse. I was getting confused in my online searches because there are two Jesse Pigman's. It turns out they were father and son but there aren't many online records for either. I did, however, uncover some interesting things.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqTnegloPFM-ROHfYRpMbLfoZ_Gup55tN4vD2_PkoYXRZCpNL7mpqW4g27LRgZg4GRabDfEfp5Slqwfc-qhRl5GGn5jGtK5sF5tnkyaUrBgCcnxRdI1asDDbB4f4Kcnq2EndL0b6mQWtg/s1600/250px-Westsylvaniamap.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqTnegloPFM-ROHfYRpMbLfoZ_Gup55tN4vD2_PkoYXRZCpNL7mpqW4g27LRgZg4GRabDfEfp5Slqwfc-qhRl5GGn5jGtK5sF5tnkyaUrBgCcnxRdI1asDDbB4f4Kcnq2EndL0b6mQWtg/s1600/250px-Westsylvaniamap.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The almost great state of Westylvania</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Both Jesse's along with other Pigman's are listed on the <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=UM7gBFLDzvkC&lpg=PA191&dq=%22jesse%20pigman%22&pg=PA191#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">petition for the proposed 14th state of Westsylvania</a> right after the war. If successful, this state would have been carved mostly out of Virginia and Pennsylvania essentially where West Virginia is now. This would have been the first US state after the original 13 colonies. <a href="https://vermonthistory.org/explorer/vermont-stories/becoming-a-state/the-14th-state" target="_blank">Take that Vermont</a>! Their chief complaint? The distant government was too far removed to protect them and understand their needs. The <a href="https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/west-virginia/westylvania-wv/" target="_blank">Westsylvanian </a>dream was short lived as the newly formed US Congress never even voted on it. A prominent Federalist named <a href="http://old.post-gazette.com/regionstate/20000102brackenridge1.asp" target="_blank">Hugh Brackenridge</a> got the Pennsylvania Assembly to squash the idea by declaring such independence talk treasonous and punishable by death. Didn't we just finish a war over something similar?<br />
A little more background to the proposed state. Prior to the big war of independence against Britain, the settlers along with the help of Ben Franklin tried to have that area become the <a href="http://mentalfloss.com/article/59183/15-things-you-might-not-know-about-west-virginia" target="_blank">14th colony called Vandalia</a> but it was rejected by the British Crown. The irony gets thicker. Two attempts at separation. But wait, there's more!<br />
A third and final attempt at secession occurred in 1863 when its pro-Union residents separated successfully from Virginia to form <a href="https://aaregistry.org/story/west-virginia-created-by-secession-from-southern-confederate-state/" target="_blank">West Virginia</a> during the Civil War. Yo, they really seem to have secession fever in their blood!<br />
<br />
Back to Jesse Pinkman, er Pigman. He was married at least one time to <a href="https://www.geni.com/people/Jesse-Pigman-Jr/6000000012389409513" target="_blank">Luren Newland</a> and had six children. Lurene died in 1805 I am assuming in or after the birth of Rachael who was born that year. We are reminded again of how hard life was back then. With Jesse being only 40 years old and having several young children to care for, I would expect that he married again but I found no record of a second marriage.<br />
<br />
He wrote about his military service in his <a href="http://revwarapps.org/r8250.pdf" target="_blank">pension application</a> in 1844 at the age of 79. There is a Q&A section along with witness testimony. From this, I learned he mostly fought Indians in the Wheeling area under his father Captain Jesse Pigman beginning in March 1780 when he was drafted as a 15 year old Private. After 6 months he served as an Ensign in a "spy company" under a Captian Joseph Van Meter for just over a year until November 1781 after which he was discharged following Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown. The Ensign rank, by the way, was discontinued in the Army in 1815 but was equivalent to a Second Lieutenant. He states in this document that he received a commision but the paperwork was lost. He admits he was illiterate at the time but recollects it was signed by Governor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Henry" target="_blank">Patrick Henry</a>. Yes, that one. Per the Pension Act of 1832 veterans who served less than two years could apply for pensions at half their pay. He applied for his pension in 1834 but it was rejected for insufficient information. I wasn't able to determine if his 1844 application was successful but he died eight years later in 1852. <a href="https://allthingsliberty.com/2014/03/the-worth-of-a-continental/" target="_blank">Ensigns earned about $10 per month</a> in the war so he would have been applying for half that which is roughly $80 today. We seem to have a history of taking veterans for granted.<br />
<br />
Other notable burials at Mount Garrison Cemetery include English born Reverend Robert Worster (1729-1830), a Methodist Episcopal minister who allegedly preached the first sermon west of the Alleghenies and lived to 101 years old. Quite an accomplishment then and even now.<br />
Other veterans include Revolutionary War soldiers, Amos Milner (1759-1851), Harrod Newland (1766-1848), War of 1812 veteran, Adam Pigman (1789-1876) and Civil War veterans James W Nuxum and Francis Marion.<br />
<br />
Oh by the way. Do you know how we learned Connersville Indiana has a big drug problem? When Mark and I were geocaching, at one stop we were visited by three police cruisers. After the officer snatched up the geocache from its hiding spot and inspected it, we explained, "It's ok we are geocachers!" He had heard of geocaching so after he ran our IDs, he rolled up the log and put it back, we had a short congenial chat and we were on our way. All good. That afternoon, we were also visited by a concerned citizen who also mentioned the drug problem. Then we are positive we were photographed at another location. Jesse Pinkman wouldn't have lasted a day in this town.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">- <a href="https://bloomfield.lib.in.us/uploads/4/9/0/2/49026837/roster.pdf" target="_blank">Jesse Pigman listing</a> on the <i>Roster of Soldiers and Patriots of the American Revolution Buried in Indiana</i>, page 292</span>Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com0300 E 5th St, Connersville, IN 47331, USA39.64059509088576 -85.1358032226562539.542816090885758 -85.297164722656248 39.738374090885763 -84.974441722656252tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-30983605885942395512018-06-27T12:02:00.000-04:002018-06-27T18:52:05.663-04:00Review: The Wright BrothersGehio is 7 years old today. Here's a short book review of one of my favorite authors!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22669004" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Wright Brothers" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1427161108m/22669004.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22669004">The Wright Brothers</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6281688">David McCullough</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1510488687">5 of 5 stars</a>
<br />
<br />
I opted for the audiobook in 2016 because what more could I want? It's David McCullough reading a David McCullough book! Bonus: It tells the story of two great Ohioans whose name is familiar to many. I happened to be driving to Dayton during part of this and it made it all that much better seeing all the Wright references.<br />
One thing I came away with about this book had nothing to do with airplanes. It was the technological jump made by the safety bicycle (vs the cumbersome penny-farthing). For the first time, people could travel great distances without the need of much money or expertise. It was a huge technological jump that often gets overlooked.<br />
What's fascinating about the invention of powered sustainable air flight is the fact that so many people who had heard of all the dismal failures thought this was simply unobtainable and the Wright Brothers were big fat liars. In fact, a <i>beekeepers </i>magazine was the only periodical to run a story about the Huffman Praire flights near Dayton in 1904.<br />
It is also so amazing that <a href="https://gehio.blogspot.com/2011/08/happy-140th-birthday-to-orville-wright.html" target="_blank">Orville lived until 1948</a> through bicycles to simple powered flight and finally seeing jet engines and the breaking of the sound barrier. Wilbur died in 1912 of typhoid.<br />
McCullough's voice is sounding his age a bit but as usual, another great work from a great historian.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1510488687">View all my reviews</a>
Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com0Dayton, OH, USA39.7589478 -84.19160690000001139.5637908 -84.5143304 39.9541048 -83.868883400000016tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-64879565693044903212018-05-25T16:17:00.002-04:002018-05-25T16:30:07.170-04:00Oxbows, Books, and Geocaches<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
This update has all the things that named my blog "Gehio", <u>Ge</u>ocaching+<u>Hi</u>story+<u>O</u>hio<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfsJBlHEoierDVfctH3KhuYNWHLqtiKo73auRYXVNZGRTmwGOEKGrsUuvgakaCYv182Q1IvvjLN2Mh85sypJj114v8uX1OT04HyJ4tMebCh0A0dPiGKCC7iAoSo2UsxX08L5EI199oo0I/s1600/oxbowlogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="548" data-original-width="637" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfsJBlHEoierDVfctH3KhuYNWHLqtiKo73auRYXVNZGRTmwGOEKGrsUuvgakaCYv182Q1IvvjLN2Mh85sypJj114v8uX1OT04HyJ4tMebCh0A0dPiGKCC7iAoSo2UsxX08L5EI199oo0I/s200/oxbowlogo.jpg" width="200" /></a>Thanks to the person who got me into geocaching, Mark Fischer, I was invited to speak at the <a href="http://www.oxbowinc.org/" target="_blank">Oxbow </a>Tuesday Lecture on October 9th to discuss a local history subject of my choosing. The Oxbow is a wildlife conservation group in SE Indiana. Mark recently did a lecture on Geocaching which I attended. My name got mentioned as a local early area history expert for possible upcoming topics. I haven’t firmed up my material yet but it will be in some way shape or form about William Henry Harrison regarding some myths and legends about his life and ties to the area. I'm going to have to brush up on some public speaking skills!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1226624577l/2890714.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="240" height="200" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1226624577l/2890714.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
My reading has slowed down as the weather warmed up. I typically read on my lunch breaks and to be honest there have been lots of new geocaches near my office, so I’ve been indulging in that instead. I’m currently about 3/4 into an interesting book from the 1980s on Tekamthi called <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2890714-god-gave-us-this-country" target="_blank">God Gave Us This Country</a>. I ran across it by accident at the library. Who the hell is Tekamthi??? The author insists on using what is believed to be Tecumseh’s Shawnee name before it became anglicized. The Shawnee language is actually a bit lispy and European speakers would remove this from the pronunciation as being somewhat effeminate. Ironic since the Shawnee were pretty fierce. One thing that is a bit jarring is the author insists on using the term “reds” and “red men” throughout the book. These are terms all considered dated and a bit derogatory to modern ears. Otherwise, despite the terrible cover and title, it’s a great read and well-sourced book that was previously unknown to me. In fact, I went ahead and bought a copy of my own just for the source notes. I've already made note of some Harrison info I wasn't aware of that will come in handy for the aforementioned lecture.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1441342765l/1689891.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="317" height="200" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1441342765l/1689891.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
On my to-do list is another book I recently became aware of called <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1689891.The_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_American_Whig_Party?from_search=true" target="_blank">The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War</a>. I guess it could be titled <i>“Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know About the Whigs But Were Afraid To Ask”</i>. It’s 1300 pages! Oh, and the print is tiny. At the rate I read it may take me as long as the Whig party existed to finish it. So far, everyone I know that has this book never read the whole thing. Regardless, this doorstop will at least serve well as reference material. Oh and a tip to used book buyers.<br />
<br />
I also picked up an interesting old title called <a href="http://resources.ohiohistory.org/ohj/browse/displaypages.php?display[]=0066&display[]=422&display[]=446" target="_blank">The Intimate Letters of John Cleves Symmes and His Family</a>. I've seen reference to this early 20th-century book many times where Cleves is mentioned. Don't get too excited. These aren't like the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/13/magazine/letters-warren-g-harding.html" target="_blank">Harding letters</a>. "Intimate" in this case just means "personal". No extensive bio of this important man to the history of the Ohio Valley exists due to most of his letters and journals being burned in a fire. Some say it was arson. There were many lawsuits against the man due to his questionable land business dealings. The letters that do exist were compiled here from some of his recipient's collections that survived. It sort of humanizes a person that tends to be just a static character in the story of others without any idea of his personal thoughts. One weird thing I learned. Cleves kept referring to a daughter he called "Nancy". He only had one daughter named "Anna" (who married William Henry Harrison) so that was confusing. It turns out "Nancy" was originally a nickname for "Anna". I never knew that.<br />
I got this and the Whigs Tecumseh from <a href="https://www.abebooks.com/" target="_blank">AbeBooks</a> for just a few dollars each with free shipping. Ironically I've learned this has been owned by Amazon since 2008 but Amazon's used prices were very high for each of these. I'll be shopping there more often for good used book deals!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://geowoodstock.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/gws2018-logo-006.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="615" height="133" src="https://geowoodstock.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/gws2018-logo-006.png" width="200" /></a></div>
Speaking of geocaching, the reason so many new caches are getting published around town and my reading has slowed is that a major Geocaching event called <a href="https://geowoodstock.us/" target="_blank">GeoWoodstock 2018</a> will be held May 26th, 2018 at Coney Island in Cincinnati. This event is expected to bring over 5000 geocachers from all over the world. In fact, a geocacher from France contacted me about carpooling from their Airbnb since I have a cache near the event. I had to politely decline as I don’t really know my full schedule for that day, but I will be attending! How could I not be with "my people" that day?<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicVgpH1_Vq7sDIRGop4zrae9KvqytzD6KElW3zXgoHOy92WnF88-zmE6BNQrTXZWLKSI36MP3UhhiS1T4VFdKAyPNiTWoXlN47lkrhMoHRbZ6gJzc4KzKFK-G3hnu3jQhJoXQU1nuUh3E/s1600/IMG_0616.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicVgpH1_Vq7sDIRGop4zrae9KvqytzD6KElW3zXgoHOy92WnF88-zmE6BNQrTXZWLKSI36MP3UhhiS1T4VFdKAyPNiTWoXlN47lkrhMoHRbZ6gJzc4KzKFK-G3hnu3jQhJoXQU1nuUh3E/s200/IMG_0616.JPG" width="200" /></a>In <a href="https://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=2e8f4e94-b837-4bf3-882c-f5439b6c034e" target="_blank">personal geocaching news</a>, I'm currently sitting at find 6,408 and have had some interesting cache runs lately. Lot’s of new FTF’s (<a href="https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2014/11/how-to-claim-a-geocaching-ftf-first-to-find/" target="_blank">First To Finds</a>), including a <a href="https://www.geocaching.com/help/index.php?pg=kb.chapter&id=127&pgid=172" target="_blank">Wherigo </a>(a first FTF of this type if you will). That makes FTF 101 for me. Mark Fisher and I hit not one or two, but three “tunnel” caches in so many weeks. These are caches where you go into a large drainage tunnel, usually with a flashlight. The photo to the left is (eventually) 400' into a tunnel and about that many feet below I-74. I used to be pretty adverse to doing these. In one of them, I was ankle deep in water. Those were some fun adventures!<br />
<br />
See you in June!<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com0Cincinnati, OH, USA39.1031182 -84.51201960000003138.906058699999996 -84.834743100000026 39.3001777 -84.189296100000035tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-69240214115934439972018-04-29T19:00:00.000-04:002018-05-01T07:00:53.859-04:00Fine Young Cannibals<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL02QbCzCfctVfhyMaJ1FprXQdYeDa0N0GsI3iuT_xmJEok52xviyxAnQnqgVImq_l7ApaT0lYdcpeSwW3PFTVtGMt7HnM-_W_bPtm7iQ-dWucShUxi4i_M0zS_3ch4CHQzuJUo8z9sk4/s1600/698_108355.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="411" data-original-width="550" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL02QbCzCfctVfhyMaJ1FprXQdYeDa0N0GsI3iuT_xmJEok52xviyxAnQnqgVImq_l7ApaT0lYdcpeSwW3PFTVtGMt7HnM-_W_bPtm7iQ-dWucShUxi4i_M0zS_3ch4CHQzuJUo8z9sk4/s320/698_108355.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">no mention of the cannibalism</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<p>I scooped up a random book last month called <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12129323-the-first-frontier" target="_blank">The First Frontier</a> by Scott Weidensaul. It promised <i>“The Forgotten History of Struggle, Savagery, and Endurance in Early America”</i>. That sounded like something for me to chew on! It turned out to be a marinade of forgotten American history through the mid-1700s. It contained all sorts of interesting morsels I didn’t know about. This post is about one of the more savory ingredients.<br /></p>
The author mentions a <a href="http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Miami_Indians" target="_blank">Miami</a> chieftain named <a href="http://fiwar.wikidot.com/memeskia" target="_blank">Memeskia</a> who had a village near modern Piqua OH called <a href="http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Pickawillany" target="_blank">Pickawillany</a>. I’ve been there before and if you can get past the 20th-century scramble of strip malls there is a lot of palatable history there. In the early part of the 18th century, the Miami aligned themselves with the French who were battling the British for control of these new (to them) lands. Memeskia was known to the French as La Demoiselle, which translates literally to “young lady”. It is believed that this was a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Rfz1AAAAQBAJ&pg=PT95&lpg=PT95&dq=La+Demoiselle+memeskia+dragonfly&source=bl&ots=2oT0yJZALG&sig=i67-VAhLY09yzyzCh0ciJ6f2-aY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi20OPY2tPaAhUDVa0KHaJLCjY4ChDoAQg0MAI#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">grandiloquent translation of his Indian name</a> which meant "dragonfly", both meaning impulsive and unpredictable.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7GOuwksJjOs5WnEvvo-VZdB1qpWqnvvmxa0HJY_SBNie0YEYlFbANHnz7T4gTsolOQ5SaIkp-AwWR8LuMbSBdZD8uGv69xw2CwWxxUXOKFMgOnrfwIW5ITnOCwB4JgCWgedkVHxUIAkk/s1600/e227323751ad02bb0f2f3ca2409ca7ff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="500" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7GOuwksJjOs5WnEvvo-VZdB1qpWqnvvmxa0HJY_SBNie0YEYlFbANHnz7T4gTsolOQ5SaIkp-AwWR8LuMbSBdZD8uGv69xw2CwWxxUXOKFMgOnrfwIW5ITnOCwB4JgCWgedkVHxUIAkk/s200/e227323751ad02bb0f2f3ca2409ca7ff.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Over the years the native people had become on reliant French and British traders for goods and allied themselves with one or the other. The Native Americans provided animal skins and furs in return for a thriving European market. These arrangements were often choppy. Memeskia broke with the informal Miami/French coalition believing he and his new village could gain more power and prestige by serving the British. Now essential British trade items such as weapons, cloth, food, and metal cooking items were now being produced in the Colonies to the East and thus becoming better and cheaper than imported French goods. This change in alliances earned the chieftain the new name of Old Briton.<br />
<br />
Needless to say, this steamed the French who feared the idea would boil over into bands of other Miami and they would slowly lose control of New France to the British. Tensions were simmering to a boil. Eventually, a full course attack was ordered on Old Briton's village. On June 21st, 1752 the village was attacked by a blended force of pro-French Ottawa, French Canadians, and Ojibwa led by Charles Langlade, a French/Ottawa fur trader. Cheddar-heads may know this name from local history class as <a href="https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS1667" target="_blank">"The Father of Wisconsin"</a>.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZppk20jvQiOcR6MxBN77wpb8-p0J81aqawLeuNaDi3N7dcGayZooxadekxfvn5zVJjY5MWacakklkBbWu1rS8WRJ4DGBjZOqcF3ryJ8O8UrpAeoSSXXFw9hXMwGcG0HcQ-aWkx4OaJN0/s1600/Pickawillany-Rock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZppk20jvQiOcR6MxBN77wpb8-p0J81aqawLeuNaDi3N7dcGayZooxadekxfvn5zVJjY5MWacakklkBbWu1rS8WRJ4DGBjZOqcF3ryJ8O8UrpAeoSSXXFw9hXMwGcG0HcQ-aWkx4OaJN0/s320/Pickawillany-Rock.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photos courtesy of <a href="http://remarkableohio.com/" target="_blank">remarkableohio.com</a> <br />
because mine are terrible</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This story sounded familiar to me since I had been to Piqua a few times. There is an <a href="http://www.remarkableohio.org/index.php?/category/1101" target="_blank">Ohio historical marker there for this battle</a> as it was a flashpoint to the French and Indian War. The marker states rather blandly that after Langlade and his men destroyed the village, <i>“Memeskia was executed”. </i><br />
That's it.<br />
They left out the spicy part.<br />
As it turns out, Old Briton was ritually cannibalized in front of the survivors. Yep. They boiled him in a pot and gobbled him up. No mention of a side dish.<br />
Unfortunately, I was unable to drum up any more bits about this post-battle dinner party because the <a href="https://ia800200.us.archive.org/20/items/journalofcaptain00tren/journalofcaptain00tren.pdf" target="_blank">primary source</a> does not offer any. As it turns out two of the six English that were taken prisoner, Thomas Burney and Andrew McBryer, two English traders who were hidden during the attack told what happened at Pickawillany to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Trent" target="_blank">Captain William Trent</a> (the founder of Trenton NJ). He, in turn, wrote to Governor Dinwiddie of colonial Virginia on July 6th, 1752:<br />
<i>"They killed one Englishman and took six prisoners, one Mingoe and one Shawanees killed, and three </i><i>Twightwees </i>(an alternate term used then for the Miami)<i>; one of them, the old Pianguisha </i>(Memeskia's Miami band)<i> king, called by the English Old Britain, who, for his attachment to the English, they boiled, and eat him all up. "</i><br />
There is also an <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=0r_UAAAAMAAJ&lpg=PA340&ots=WTJ0QxsjhV&dq=we%20saw%20our%20great%20Piankashaw%20King%20taken%2C%20killed%2C%20and%20eaten%20within%20a%20hundred%20yards%20of%20the%20fort%20before%20our%20faces&pg=PA340#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">August 1752 letter</a> from the Miami that formerly resided at Pickawillany delivered by Burney to the Governor of Pennsylvania, still asserting their allegiance to the English. It said in part, <i>"Brother Onas*</i><i>...we saw our great Piankashaw King taken, killed, and eaten within a hundred yards of the fort before our faces".</i><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH5DWRiKOKJUalT6M2nfqsreizqukPvc78i69DbHaHV2uamGClOpfPFuHdgT8rhUOY_HF5U39Jvq9CLETjQxGornvGKarj618shNA1Cz4r2J20Q14cEP7KMEHGu_TXbmI__IUpGzgxM4E/s1600/Eats04_R1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="449" data-original-width="550" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH5DWRiKOKJUalT6M2nfqsreizqukPvc78i69DbHaHV2uamGClOpfPFuHdgT8rhUOY_HF5U39Jvq9CLETjQxGornvGKarj618shNA1Cz4r2J20Q14cEP7KMEHGu_TXbmI__IUpGzgxM4E/s320/Eats04_R1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1592 depiction of Indian cannibalism</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Historians have speculated it's possible that this act was a way to literally absorb Memeskia back into the pro-French body while also providing a simply gruesome warning to the others to not trifle with the French alliance. Memeskia's people did move back to French-controlled Indiana so I suppose they got the message loud and clear.<br />
<br />
You may have noticed that Burney is connected with the only two written records of this account. In fact, most of what we know about the battle was from Burney.<br />
<br />
Keep in mind that nearly all Indians were illiterate and many whites were at that time too, so we rely on literate white men for these written accounts. It's possible the cannibalism never occurred at all and was invented by Burney to drum up revenge against the dreaded French and their "savage" Indian allies. Military leaders were also known to inflate the size of the enemy in their reports. While Burney surely met with the Miami for the letter that was delivered later, he may have added on the gruesome story there as well. As an English trader with his livelihood at stake, this would surely be a motive. There are no written records from the only other white survivor, Andrew McBryer who died later in 1752. I have also found no specific recollections by any surviving Miami told to anyone else either way.<br />
<br />
As far as plausibility, I'd heard of Indians consuming the hearts of freshly killed enemies to ingest the courage of the victim, in fact, this supposedly did happen to one of the other English traders here. But as far as I know, full on cannibalism was fairly uncommon and taboo among most American Indians. It did <a href="https://www.ohio.edu/orgs/glass/vol/1/14.htm" target="_blank">supposedly occur among the Iroquois</a> and some <a href="https://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-chippewa/" target="_blank">Ojibwa</a> bands. There were definitely Ojibwa in Langlade's force.<br />
Food for thought.<br />
Oof. You've noticed all the other culinary references in this post too right?<br />
<br />
One wonders why the <a href="https://www.ohiohistory.org/" target="_blank">Ohio Historical Connection</a> would leave out one of the most intriguing and sensational aspects of this battle on the sign? Maybe they felt there was not enough evidence to warrant its mention. But again Burney's account is the only one. Maybe Memeskia was simply killed during the battle versus "executed". No wonder many find history dull and boring. I think it's worth a mention as "alleged" or plausible. To think! Ritualized cannibalism right here in Ohio (possibly)! Wow! Teach that in a history class (or a sign) and folks might actually pay attention.<br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">*<a href="http://www.delcotimes.com/article/DC/20110407/NEWS/304079953" target="_blank">a friendly term</a> originally used by the Iroquois for William Penn extended to the current Governor. <a href="http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=eggleston&book=great&story=penn" target="_blank">Onas </a>means feather or quill.</span></i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">additional reading and references: </span></i><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7701519-american-indian-leaders" target="_blank">American Indian Leaders: Studies in Diversity</a> by R. David Edmunds</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50329.The_Miami_Indians_of_Indiana?from_search=true" target="_blank">The Miami Indians of Indiana: A Persistent People, 1654-1994</a> by Stewart Rafert</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/journalofcaptain00tren" target="_blank">Journal of Captain William Trent from Logstown to Pickawillany, A.D. 1752</a></span><br />
<br />
<br />Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com0Piqua, OH 45356, USA40.1447732 -84.2424449000000140.047675700000006 -84.403806400000008 40.2418707 -84.081083400000011tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-34079082111797964442018-03-27T20:46:00.002-04:002023-11-28T18:07:58.265-05:00Clarks, Corblys, Suttons, and Cold Plagues<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0cS_uNkXWDuyXFDvOwbHD0Vr5-ewzTKXYSfJkayDlwuivjanElGF0KNM5g1j_oIGgh5VJIMiELVeBiefD0nsocyhvCIZ_wJcBZTrjUa4w-ynI280FsYyj6dwx5J9AZrTH4nMYVWN_C74/s1600/0520111308.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0cS_uNkXWDuyXFDvOwbHD0Vr5-ewzTKXYSfJkayDlwuivjanElGF0KNM5g1j_oIGgh5VJIMiELVeBiefD0nsocyhvCIZ_wJcBZTrjUa4w-ynI280FsYyj6dwx5J9AZrTH4nMYVWN_C74/s320/0520111308.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clough Cemetery in 2011, Gerard is the tall one</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There is a plant nursery near my office that I've passed many times called <a href="http://www.greenfieldplantfarm.com/" target="_blank">Greenfield Plant Farm</a>. It sits at the corner of Clough (pronounced like "tough") and Hunley roads in Anderson Township close to the <a href="http://gehio.blogspot.com/2012/09/soy-un-perdedor-im-leuser-baby.html" target="_blank">1796 Miller-Leuser Log House</a>. Their sign mentions that it's the site of the "James Clark Homestead". I never looked into that much, just a quick Google search but with such a common name, I didn't come up with much or think much more of it at the time.<br />
<br />
I'd been aware of a nearby graveyard known as the <a href="https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/42410/clough-baptist-church-cemetery" target="_blank">Clough Baptist Cemetery</a> (AKA Newton Cemetery and Wagon Train Cemetery) for a while thanks to geocaching. It's quite hidden away on quiet Bridges Road and nearly in someone's yard. The bulletin board at the front notes that several Revolutionary War Veterans are buried here and lists their names. That sort of thing always gets my attention.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH75X7okF5ByYs0E63OnUQW_DFLTEGcGUHwvpbgYZ-iQSpJjZzyNU70PFcCVp88EI3O1Vx9Vg75ywCgU2dlA6zx-AP3hjYqQp4BPL7UD7NTWUxuC1ZmEKV1kQtAEF8RzOIBYLC9PSeVE0/s1600/0518111529.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1366" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH75X7okF5ByYs0E63OnUQW_DFLTEGcGUHwvpbgYZ-iQSpJjZzyNU70PFcCVp88EI3O1Vx9Vg75ywCgU2dlA6zx-AP3hjYqQp4BPL7UD7NTWUxuC1ZmEKV1kQtAEF8RzOIBYLC9PSeVE0/s320/0518111529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sutton's 1795 Log Home in 2011<br />
(but not his SUV or DirectTV dish)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
One resident is Jonathan Gerard who I had always assumed was the same John Garard (there are multiple spellings of this surname) who built the <a href="https://coord.info/GC2JX3J" target="_blank">1790 fortified station</a> near the mouth of the Little Miami River now on Este Rd. It turns out he was a relative that came later.<br />
<br />
Another is Stephen Sutton, one of the <a href="https://www.tpwhite.com/our-history" target="_blank">founders of Mt Washington</a> in 1795. Sutton Road would be familiar to anyone in this area. Sutton's log house is still standing. But it's not like the aforementioned historic looking Miller-Leuser Log House. This is a private residence in the middle of a neighborhood with <a href="http://digital.libraries.uc.edu:8180/luna/servlet/detail/univcincin~27~27~127161~112539" target="_blank">additions and siding</a> added to it over the years making it a 3 bedroom home. Fortunately, in recent years an attempt has been made to <a href="https://www.toptenrealestatedeals.com/homes/weekly-ten-best-home-deals/2012/02-28-2012/7/" target="_blank">make it look more...historic</a>.<br />
<br />
Then there is James Clark. It is believed he was a <a href="http://www.history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/volume2/october03/drummers.cfm" target="_blank">drummer boy</a> at the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/york/index.htm" target="_blank">1781 Battle of Yorktown</a> at age 16. I hadn't given this much thought until I tried to dig up more info on this guy. No pun intended. I ended up stumbling across a document buried in the website of...the Greenfield Plant Farm.<br />
I'm sure you guessed it by now.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMSoVsa60-Fy4yNySgBWptfNNGqtitizJQFo0lxmd9OG3-1xQrPbeeK-tW5TM8JbJcdpXPlPP6nLlVKR28EYO_bu39H_gNtw5bhRZPe8qnZqNpZLCqmYXS5E7NExmf7gH9saQ_0AW5aVo/s1600/clark+stone+house.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="441" data-original-width="585" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMSoVsa60-Fy4yNySgBWptfNNGqtitizJQFo0lxmd9OG3-1xQrPbeeK-tW5TM8JbJcdpXPlPP6nLlVKR28EYO_bu39H_gNtw5bhRZPe8qnZqNpZLCqmYXS5E7NExmf7gH9saQ_0AW5aVo/s320/clark+stone+house.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1802 Clark Stone House in 2009 - <a href="http://www.greenfieldplantfarm.com/media/documents/CLARK%20STONE%20HOUSE%20info%202%2010%202015%20jlh.pdf" target="_blank">source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It's the same James Clark mentioned at the nursery and his 1802 stone house is still alive and well on the property. The article goes on to say it is likely the oldest standing stone house in the state of Ohio. It's sitting "right there" not far from the main road. Even a history nerd like me never saw it. Hidden in plain sight... like many geocaches. <a href="http://www.greenfieldplantfarm.com/media/documents/CLARK%20STONE%20HOUSE%20info%202%2010%202015%20jlh.pdf" target="_blank">You can read the whole article here along with several photos of the house over the years.</a> I unearthed a couple of other interesting tidbits. Members of the Leuser Family (whose ancestors built the Miller-Leueser Log House) purchased this stone house in 1854 from the Clarks. It operated as a greenhouse and plant farm then just as it does today. Also, Hunley Rd was called Leuser Rd until at least 1926. I'd like to see proof of the drummer boy claim. I haven't been able to come up with any solid evidence though.<br />
<br />
The Baptist church that once stood adjacent to these folks final resting place was founded by <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=PeaRxwimacYC&lpg=PA271&dq=Clough%20Baptist%20Church%20Cemetery%20anderson%20township&pg=PA271#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">Rev. John Corbly Jr</a>, another name local residents will be familiar with due to Corbly Road. In fact, as Hunley (formerly Leuser) crosses Clough it becomes Corbly. As Corbly Road runs West it bends south and becomes Sutton Road toward the Ohio River. Rev. Corbly died in 1814 at age 46 of what was called <a href="https://hcgsohio.blogspot.com/2012/05/pioneer-diseases.html" target="_blank">cold plague</a>, a new strain of influenza ravaging the US during the War of 1812 and <a href="http://hendersonkyhistory.com/coldplague.htm" target="_blank">characterized by severe shivering</a>. They say you rapidly froze to death, hence the name. He and other members of the Corbly family are also interred here. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-RDDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA73&dq=Clough%20Baptist%20%20Cemetery%20anderson%20township%20historical%20society&pg=PA71#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">The church was unused by 1905</a>. The walls and roof collapsed in the 1930s. Most of the remaining stones were used to build a Methodist church on Kellogg Road in the 1950s.<br />
<br />
As for the cemetery itself. Most of the stones are illegible, falling over or buried now. Anderson Township does it's best to keep it looking nice. I tried to get some updated photos for this post but Cincinnati weather in March was not cooperating.Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com0Cincinnati, OH 45230, USA39.093101999999988 -84.3661984000000339.092331999999985 -84.367458900000031 39.09387199999999 -84.364937900000029tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-43618954577680168632018-02-09T06:00:00.000-05:002018-02-09T08:33:24.715-05:00Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of WHH)<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv_WW_UejYPnn-R5bskCW0ZyjPLkMjoOHTNnOxDyViGw6vBDlE46VwfQzub9EcF9HjVtUdwFXpvWnwx7exXQf10-ijWpFJJQ6Pz1YAuPuTgv2Tt4Csp3FwOCM_NP9b9aNSP_hOmCNou3U/s1600/1850+harrison.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="456" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv_WW_UejYPnn-R5bskCW0ZyjPLkMjoOHTNnOxDyViGw6vBDlE46VwfQzub9EcF9HjVtUdwFXpvWnwx7exXQf10-ijWpFJJQ6Pz1YAuPuTgv2Tt4Csp3FwOCM_NP9b9aNSP_hOmCNou3U/s320/1850+harrison.jpg" width="274" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>not the 1841 photo or the 1850 copy you think it is</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
For many years I was under the impression that <b>William Henry Harrison was the first President to be photographed while in office</b>. While this is true, all is not as it seems or what we have been led to believe.<br />
<br />
<i>I've been looking so long at these pictures of you</i><br />
<i>That I almost believe that they're real </i>- <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8UR2TFUp8w" target="_blank">The Cure</a><br />
<br />
A <a href="http://www.daguerreobase.org/en/knowledge-base/what-is-a-daguerreotype" target="_blank">daguerreotype </a>(an early form of photography introduced in 1839) WAS in fact taken of the new President at the US Capitol on inauguration day March 4, 1841. According to the photographer Justus F. Moore, <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/a-dark-horse-in-sunlight-and-shadow" target="_blank">President Harrison was “delighted with the results.”</a> We'll have to take his word on that since it was never seen again and no known copy exists. The image often implied and misreported to be an 1850 photographic copy of that lost image is likely <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/268344" target="_blank">a daguerreotype made by Albert Southworth</a> of <a href="https://www.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.67.5" target="_blank">an oil portrait by Albert Gallatin Hoit</a> that Harrison sat for in 1840.<br />
One might wonder, perhaps the painting was done from the photo? Good question!...but according to <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=quBEK5sya8MC&lpg=PA123&ots=pkLIWFF0zd&dq=%22Albert%20Gallatin%20Hoit%22%201840&pg=PA122#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">a Salmon P Chase diary entry</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Gallatin_Hoit" target="_blank">Hoit </a>(sometimes spelled Hoyt) traveled from Boston to <a href="http://www.northbendohio.org/" target="_blank">North Bend OH</a> in May 1840 to paint this portrait of Harrison, then a candidate for President, for the Boston Whig Association.<br />
<br />
I have seen the <a href="https://www.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.67.5" target="_blank">digital version of the painting</a> and the <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/268344" target="_blank">1850 photo</a> previously and while it occurred to me they are very similar it hadn't dawned on me that they are basically the same image. Everything seems to match up. The photo seems to be tilted a bit counterclockwise from the original. and the early crude photographic process adds some slight variances. Just like an Instagram filter, it also produces some shadowing and contrast changes which give the daguerreotype a more life-like three-dimensional appearance. It's no wonder this myth came to be. It looks very much like a photo and not a photo of a painting. Other engravings were also based on the painting such as <a href="https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/ss:10638600" target="_blank">this one</a>.<br />
<br />
<i>Every picture tells a story, don't it? </i>- <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmyGa29zIqk" target="_blank">Rod Stewart</a><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghflwQbrPQsVpyXy1-aJ8XcoBK6YxAx90sEK5RGJ6qlrdL3KTRraf0pvdyUScYxg0evam2eGdMOYedd04OLf9w__9YToIvq5R4AYByhct3EZmHJI_Ukuhbxh2V7UVhju0h2Op4xVyRakU/s1600/hoit+copy.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="456" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghflwQbrPQsVpyXy1-aJ8XcoBK6YxAx90sEK5RGJ6qlrdL3KTRraf0pvdyUScYxg0evam2eGdMOYedd04OLf9w__9YToIvq5R4AYByhct3EZmHJI_Ukuhbxh2V7UVhju0h2Op4xVyRakU/s320/hoit+copy.jpg" width="274" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>the 1840 Hoit painting used for the photo </i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I asked my new friend over at <a href="http://whhpodcast.blubrry.com/" target="_blank">Harrison Podcast</a> about the matter thinking I'd just been mistaken all along (can you believe there is a bigger Harrison fan than I?) and he was also unaware of any of this and is respectfully not completely convinced of my findings. He takes a much more measured and scholarly approach to such things and would like to examine this more before reaching a final conclusion, although I think I have him leaning my way. I respect his work and look forward to any new evidence and will report back as needed. However, for now, I feel that the visual evidence, as well as the dated journal entry by Chase, confirm my findings.<br />
So alas, while Harrison <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/02/the-oldest-known-photographs-of-a-us-president/272872/" target="_blank">does indeed get the honor to be the first President to be photographed in while in office</a>, no one has seen it since 1841 and what we often see credited as an 1850 copy of that photo is an 1850 photo of an 1840 painting.<br />
<br />
Sorry to break the news on William Henry Harrison' s 245th birthday, born on this day 1773. President's Day is on the 3rd Monday of February. Did you know only four US Presidents were born in February? Washington, Harrison, Lincoln, and Reagan.<br />
<br />
In case you are wondering, the <a href="http://www.historybyzim.com/2013/02/first-president-photograph/" target="_blank">oldest surviving original photo of a sitting US President</a> is that of <b>James Polk</b> from 1849. The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/16/arts/design/john-quincy-adams-daguerreotype-sothebys-auction.html" target="_blank">oldest surviving photograph of a US President</a>, recently discovered, is that of elderly <b>John Quincy Adams</b> taken in 1843, well after his time in office.<br />
<br />
<i>If I had a photograph of you</i><br />
<i>It's something to remind me</i><br />
<i>I wouldn't spend my life just wishing</i> - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opkzgLMH5MA" target="_blank">Flock of Seagulls</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">A note about the images used. The daguerreotype was taken directly from the <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/268344" target="_blank">Metropolitan Museum of Art</a> website and while slightly cropped by me to match the size of the painting is otherwise an untouched image. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:William_Henry_Harrison_daguerreotype_edit.jpg" target="_blank">Retouched versions of this photo</a> with the scratches and marks removed routinely appear online. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Hoit portrait image was taken from a general internet image search also resized and cropped by me for comparison purposes. The original painting and image can be seen at the <a href="https://www.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.67.5" target="_blank">Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery</a>. </span></i><br />
<br />
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com3Washington, DC, USA38.9071923 -77.03687070000000938.7094553 -77.3595942 39.104929299999995 -76.714147200000014tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-15656947760444571922018-01-10T08:00:00.000-05:002018-01-11T09:10:15.601-05:00Greene Day<div dir="auto">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoxDeae6N9WVt6wFyE1y-tuw9y9-Iwqbhq3KtYQA-BmuMdJMpcSclrbLl7X6YL35PoQbKnZEsXbWX2O29K8bvqESk7-lmfc1Fjnl6ZhjLUdW_8hqPX7f9SrUyUweGeu8e5G_D4zMPN_pc/s1600/2014_01_30_21_23_01_000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="672" data-original-width="1076" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoxDeae6N9WVt6wFyE1y-tuw9y9-Iwqbhq3KtYQA-BmuMdJMpcSclrbLl7X6YL35PoQbKnZEsXbWX2O29K8bvqESk7-lmfc1Fjnl6ZhjLUdW_8hqPX7f9SrUyUweGeu8e5G_D4zMPN_pc/s400/2014_01_30_21_23_01_000.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">working copy in Greenville</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
The 20th-century painter <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Chandler_Christy" target="_blank">Howard Chandler Christy</a> was born on January 10th 1872 in <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/6BmxyK2RXfT2" target="_blank">Morgan County Ohio</a> east of Columbus. I'm not going to go into a biography of him, you can look to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Chandler_Christy">Wikipedia</a> for that, but you are familiar with his work and don't know it. Christy's most famous painting is a depiction of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scene_at_the_Signing_of_the_Constitution_of_the_United_States" target="_blank">Signing of the US Constitution</a> which has been reproduced in countless history books and publications. He has many other notable works but the one I want to focus on here is his 1945 <i><b>Signing of the Treaty of Greene Ville</b></i>, or simply, <b><i>The Signing</i></b>. Christy, a native Ohioan, was commissioned for the work to commemorate the <a href="http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/greenvil.asp" target="_blank">150th anniversary of the treaty</a> which technically ended the Northwest Indian Wars and formed most of the future state of Ohio. Again this post is mostly about the painting and not Christy, the <a href="http://gehio.blogspot.com/2011/08/the-battle-of-fallen-timbers.html" target="_blank">preceding events</a>, or the <a href="http://gehio.blogspot.com/2011/08/treaty-of-greenville.html" target="_blank">treaty</a> itself.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC83WWtTH2Y4PTyqlaAuOybqAsznh_R4QfDiymhm14X7n-gQXezze5JN6f_BijnCa9iTpUOOrZCUZCqtv3Hbpf9P02aXR0MFT-DhKNloqqEkCTRUL4kFGCvtukmDjy7hx1r7FJDpBm8JM/s1600/ToGfinal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="561" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC83WWtTH2Y4PTyqlaAuOybqAsznh_R4QfDiymhm14X7n-gQXezze5JN6f_BijnCa9iTpUOOrZCUZCqtv3Hbpf9P02aXR0MFT-DhKNloqqEkCTRUL4kFGCvtukmDjy7hx1r7FJDpBm8JM/s400/ToGfinal.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the final in Columbus</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
I'd originally seen the painting <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/BFpTeygYKTEA2F4p2" target="_blank">in person at the Garst Museum</a> in Greenville Ohio (formerly known as Greene Ville) but I was a bit confused as it didn't look exactly like the one I'd seen in print. Then I learned the "real" painting was located in the <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/VgG9Dqq2Kx22" target="_blank">Ohio Statehouse</a>. I thought maybe the one in the museum was a reproduction. It turns out that there are two versions of the artwork. The painting above the fireplace in the <a href="https://www.garstmuseum.org/" target="_blank">Garst Museum</a> is what is known as the <a href="http://emptyeasel.com/2009/07/14/the-painted-study-one-little-used-secret-to-creating-exceptional-paintings/" target="_blank">working copy</a>, which is basically a practice version. The painting in the <a href="http://www.ohiostatehouse.org/Assets/Files/113843.pdf" target="_blank">Ohio Statehouse Rotunda stairway</a> is the final version. Both were painted by Christy and there are a few obvious differences. Don't let the difference in colors in my examples fool you. That isn't really an accurate representation. Both are pretty muted when you see them in person.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
The working copy measures 6' x 7' whereas the final is a whopping 22' x 17' and the largest painting exhibited in the Ohio Statehouse. I got to <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/DLHQjb7yt2ekFEEY2" target="_blank">lay my eyes on the final</a> when I visited Columbus last month.<br />
<br />
The central figures are <a href="http://gehio.blogspot.com/2012/07/rise-and-fall-of-little-turtle.html" target="_blank">Little Turtle</a> (Miami) on the left with outstretched arms presenting the <a href="http://teachmyaamiahistory.org/contents/section4/primary-sources/153-wampum-belt-presented-to-anthony-wayne" target="_blank">wampum</a>, interpreter <a href="http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/William_Wells" target="_blank">William Wells</a> in the center, and <a href="http://gehio.blogspot.com/2012/10/mad-anthony-stew.html" target="_blank">General Mad Anthony Wayne</a> to the right. On each side are various individuals representing Indian and American figures that signed the treaty. In the background of the Indian side, we see Fort Greene Ville. The council house appears behind the Americans.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
One major difference between the two is the <a href="http://www.usflag.org/the.15.star.flag.html" target="_blank">15 star US flag</a> at the top. It seems more faded in the working copy and not as prominent as in the final. It often gets cropped out of reproductions of the working copy. I was hard-pressed to find an uncropped version suitable for this post but it can be seen <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tgP4BFBHDpY/Te_8uY3NOlI/AAAAAAAAErI/uNOFBQBdBXk/s1600/0130110744.jpg" target="_blank">here</a>. The postcards sold at the Garst Museum show this cropped version as illustrated in the photo at the top. As you can see there is a lot of space between the subjects and the flag so I can see why this is done.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTkqB6A1j7X5MGETqcGSBUWyNw87C-68uk6bWbwZN9mHYqfCi40FeEJzClD-_vzQapSWHMtDGZfidzFj_qJvAMy2zBORa3kUL8KM8V6eOijHhzq326KnEw2ys9CD9RXgp-6SCYOWerlCw/s1600/ToGcompare-edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="736" data-original-width="561" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTkqB6A1j7X5MGETqcGSBUWyNw87C-68uk6bWbwZN9mHYqfCi40FeEJzClD-_vzQapSWHMtDGZfidzFj_qJvAMy2zBORa3kUL8KM8V6eOijHhzq326KnEw2ys9CD9RXgp-6SCYOWerlCw/s320/ToGcompare-edit.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a couple of areas of key differences</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There are other reproductions around the town of Greenville. One is a very large uncropped reprint <a href="http://gehio.blogspot.com/2011/08/treaty-of-greenville.html" target="_blank">in the lobby</a> of the <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/nAqCciV1u7u" target="_blank">Wayne HealthCare Hospital</a>. It appears to be nearly as large as the final version. This is something I wouldn't have known about but an old friend of mine was partially responsible for this reproduction and installation and tipped me off. Another is etched on a granite monument at <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/CCUeEgUpKno" target="_blank">Elm and Main</a> near the location of the proceedings at <a href="https://www.archaeologicalconservancy.org/fort-greenville-ohio/" target="_blank">Fort Greene Ville</a>.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
Several individuals have slightly different appearances in the two paintings. The one I noticed right away is with 22-year-old <a href="http://gehio.blogspot.com/search?q=william+henry+harrison" target="_blank">William Henry Harrison</a>, aide de camp to General Wayne. It's probably the best way to tell the difference between the two versions in print. Harrison is standing behind the General and one person over to his left. In the working copy, he looks straight ahead, breaking the 4th wall of the scene. He doesn't resemble Harrison much and has bright ruddy cheeks. In the final, we see him facing to his right and toward Wayne and looking much like the <a href="http://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.75.27" target="_blank">Rembrandt Peale painting</a> of him from 1813. Chaplain David Jones is standing immediately to Harrison's left and whispering to him in the working copy. Perhaps he has some divine knowledge and is saying to Harrison, "when you give your inaugural address in 46 years don't forget to wear your hat and coat". Jones is seated away from the future President in the final and not whispering to him. Perhaps that explains why things turned out the way they did with Harrison.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br />
Lieutenant William Clark (of later <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/lewis-and-clark" target="_blank">Lewis and Clark</a> fame) stands to the right of Harrison and looks more toward his left in the final. Meriwether Lewis is there too by the way. He is behind The Sun (Potawatomi) signing the treaty at the table. It's not that noticeable of a difference but it gives me an excuse to mention that this is <a href="https://www.garstmuseum.org/historic-events" target="_blank">where the duo met</a>.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhphrGAoUR7lnxHwhm9b73aQiudyyerEAkZ47AY74O4n2Kxk9kG9soty6V3irrFnjrOD8sh8SCPOR1-SjvikE9UQMohEpt4uKpWMN1ab7gxuzvcJKTmHujbduyCb85l4HVcUlEAPd_1G4/s1600/who.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="269" data-original-width="448" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhphrGAoUR7lnxHwhm9b73aQiudyyerEAkZ47AY74O4n2Kxk9kG9soty6V3irrFnjrOD8sh8SCPOR1-SjvikE9UQMohEpt4uKpWMN1ab7gxuzvcJKTmHujbduyCb85l4HVcUlEAPd_1G4/s400/who.JPG" width="400" /></a><a href="http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Catahecassa" target="_blank">Black Hoof </a>(Shawnee) and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish" target="_blank">Bad Bird</a> (Chippewa), in the foreground to the left and right of standing Little Turtle (Miami), appear to have mohawks in the working copy and instead have horns and feathers adorning their hair in the final.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
The treaty itself has had markings added to it in the final.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
As I researched this work I came across <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=WBYwC2Waq7EC&lpg=PA235&dq=treaty%20of%20greenville%20painting%20christy&pg=PA235#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">an interpretation of the painting</a> that felt the scene represented the growth of civilization. For example, as we move from left to right, we have half naked crouching Indians while Little Turtle stands. In the shadowy center, there is William Wells, a white captive raised by the Miami, who went back and forth between the two societies. Wells served as the interpreter here. He was also married to Little Turtle's daughter. So that's his father in law to his right. Further right in the scene, we see well dressed and seated men with literate scribes representing civilization. I think it's a good theory whether Christy intended it or not.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5wmbZiyclO1VHkmf48XOajCBR4Btw00vzeZh2-jYn7fzHk9DWKATH_lnY3RbAXTVtsXl-R90kk9ZAkaNUUO2jfXZ2Go1BwhGVC24SGc4wjj4ICVDvbBwrCgQNBJOqA_KnKIEoenTjGyQ/s1600/1023000841.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5wmbZiyclO1VHkmf48XOajCBR4Btw00vzeZh2-jYn7fzHk9DWKATH_lnY3RbAXTVtsXl-R90kk9ZAkaNUUO2jfXZ2Go1BwhGVC24SGc4wjj4ICVDvbBwrCgQNBJOqA_KnKIEoenTjGyQ/s320/1023000841.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">granite version in Greenville</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
This painting, like the Signing of the Constitution painting, is a romanticized scene and the events took place over a period of time. In Greeneville's case, these negotiations occurred over the first eight months of 1795 and then signed by representatives on August 3rd. So it is possible that many of the men depicted here were never present together and certainly not like this.</div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
Incidentally, there is a <a href="http://digitalcollection.chicagohistory.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16029coll3/id/1660" target="_blank">less idealized contemporary oil painting</a> of the 1795 events that was created by an unknown artist but believed to be one of Wayne's officers present at the proceedings. This one is displayed at the Chicago History Museum. This depiction is certainly much more barren than Christy's.<br />
<br />
Happy birthday 146th birthday Howard Chandler Christy. Thanks for giving back some of your talents to represent Ohio.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Additional info:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">- <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://www.remarkableohio.org/picture.php?/6684&source=gmail&ust=1515079180052000&usg=AFQjCNEIBpDT0FFLYdnIL3rTvb1vLnNyuw" href="http://www.remarkableohio.org/picture.php?/6684" target="_blank">Christy at the unveiling</a></span></i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">You can zoom in on these to get a better look:</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">- <a href="http://www.ohiomemory.org/cdm/ref/collection/p267401coll36/id/19936" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Working copy info in Garst Museum</a></span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">- <a href="http://www.ohiomemory.org/cdm/ref/collection/p267401coll32/id/8393" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Final version info in Ohio Statehouse</a></span></i><br />
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<br /></div>
Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com0Ohio, USA40.4172871 -82.90712300000001334.2262786 -93.2342715 46.608295600000005 -72.57997450000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-47822219580791704772017-12-30T17:05:00.001-05:002018-06-21T11:54:32.067-04:00Review: The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/110045" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387669191m/110045.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/110045">The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14743">Robert M. Utley</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/406700892">5 of 5 stars</a>
<br />
<br />
I've had a paperback copy of this book in my possession for a couple of years. I picked it up second hand somewhere but never got around to reading it.<br />
I actually haven't even finished the book but I'm on the last chapter and I felt compelled to write a quick review. This book is an amazing account not just of Sitting Bull and his times but of his way of thinking and the Sioux way of doing things. Popular culture has diluted this man and created a caricature of him that's hard to shake but the author does a good job, warts and all. The book is packed full of detail but it is easy to read and heavily sourced. I do however wish the author included more about his time with Cody's Wild West Show.<br />
Near the end, I learned of his friendship with Indian advocate Catherine Weldon and discovered there is a book about her and a movie based on that book has just been released in September 2012 but I'm having trouble locating the 2002 book Woman Walking Ahead by Eileen Pollack at a reasonable price. It also seems like the movie is currently seeking US distribution.<br />
This is one of those books I'll be sad when it ends! Will we ever get a proper movie biopic of Sitting Bull?<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/406700892">View all my reviews</a>
<br />
<br />
Update to the review posted to Goodreads: I finished this book in October 2017 and did end up reading the informative <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/654199.Woman_Walking_Ahead" target="_blank">Weldon book</a>. The movie should be out in 2018.Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-78742898296106009442017-11-29T20:00:00.000-05:002017-11-29T20:00:27.721-05:00Famous Ohio Indians glasses<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaZVLBv_gV_TwNlnejCKIAfMXM7lOjmZW0YUiFLb8i-RMzmXWef0wN1ePqJ9m0ZOhI4RoGU4ascr-XRy1pfb7AfrMueKm4NX4NMQ3WAqFcLDq1EHPH-hXH6-7K3q7A2qVLe-YuXAYQieY/s1600/IMG_5731.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="873" data-original-width="1600" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaZVLBv_gV_TwNlnejCKIAfMXM7lOjmZW0YUiFLb8i-RMzmXWef0wN1ePqJ9m0ZOhI4RoGU4ascr-XRy1pfb7AfrMueKm4NX4NMQ3WAqFcLDq1EHPH-hXH6-7K3q7A2qVLe-YuXAYQieY/s400/IMG_5731.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cornstalk, Little Turtle, Pontiac, Logan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In a recent post, I told you all about some <a href="http://gehio.blogspot.com/2017/09/frosted-ohio-presidents.html" target="_blank">Ohio Presidential glassware</a>. This time it’s Ohio Indian glassware featuring <b>Famous Ohio Indians: </b>Blue Jacket, The Prophet, Tecumseh and Cornstalk (all Shawnee), White Eyes (Delaware), Little Turtle (Miami), Chief Logan (Mingo), and Pontiac (Ottawa). Each painted glass is 16 ounces and measures 6 1/2" tall and 2 3/4" across. It's clear that no attempt was made to resemble the person they are depicting. These are generic looking Indians but at least they appear to be an attempt at an Eastern Woodland look. In other words, there are no big Plains Indian war bonnets. I'll give them points for that.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn77kpGp3gRVsa1_0mCMq2O0EHQ4K4eEMtpO7k5rW_Nja9VIVzFBnwZx11w-I5J9cqYlbSi1H8HiY1Zv34agGvarRehjEpZqJ7EKybQyXf7w8PuBC08gSCUijJOSZ95d6NeDTSYJp_BIk/s1600/Ohio+Indians+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="169" data-original-width="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn77kpGp3gRVsa1_0mCMq2O0EHQ4K4eEMtpO7k5rW_Nja9VIVzFBnwZx11w-I5J9cqYlbSi1H8HiY1Zv34agGvarRehjEpZqJ7EKybQyXf7w8PuBC08gSCUijJOSZ95d6NeDTSYJp_BIk/s1600/Ohio+Indians+box.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">very rare original box sighting</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A funny coincidence. Eight Ohio Presidents, eight Ohio Indians. Both are also kind of loose with the "from". For example, of the Ohio Presidents, WH Harrison was born in VA but lived much of his adult life in Indiana. He ran for POTUS with his home state as Ohio and served in government there. Ohio and VA both claim him. For Grandson Ben, he was born in Ohio but served the state of Indiana and that state was his home state when he ran for President. Ohio and Indiana claim him. Grant was born in Ohio but lived most of his life elsewhere and Illinois was his home state. Ohio and Illinois claim him. You get the idea...<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnFA75chSY-aOhMad68lNnDNR-5B1Karp6Ule-MoeWWmUMrfVZfOmLZgl5wQAhxGNbDvwihKcaJbTQNMmFKI17cTBM8Y8WjBmR986kccXca3l5sCVKQudnCVVG6SqJRSxqWZM58Pyy3Pg/s1600/IMG_5732.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="869" data-original-width="1600" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnFA75chSY-aOhMad68lNnDNR-5B1Karp6Ule-MoeWWmUMrfVZfOmLZgl5wQAhxGNbDvwihKcaJbTQNMmFKI17cTBM8Y8WjBmR986kccXca3l5sCVKQudnCVVG6SqJRSxqWZM58Pyy3Pg/s400/IMG_5732.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White Eyes, Tecumseh, The Prophet, Blue Jacket</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Exact Indian birthplaces from that time period are hard to determine in many cases. Pontiac was likely born in MI although some think it was Defiance Ohio. Little Turtle was likely born in Indiana. Cornstalk and White Eyes, probably PA by birth. Logan was born somewhere East of Ohio, maybe WV. Most historians agree that the Shawnee Indians Blue Jacket, Tecumseh, and The Prophet were all born in Ohio. Regardless of those details, important aspects of all their legacies are tied to Ohio in some manner.<br />
<br />
<i>Oh, my. Here am debating the historical accuracy of frosted glass tumblers!</i><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO03hShPSPZY5TMZ-kqV9P1u1sCfaeFPcb5IA6kVmhfgt4P4ZG65ek1OGo8X4fad1MMqW1gwbaFMC2oO2ItZFErv4IG3JND7z4jgeyHDijIAuERsR3uOVIvc2pAZlSQ0PxOPZ3VftknQE/s1600/blue+jacket.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="167" data-original-width="119" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO03hShPSPZY5TMZ-kqV9P1u1sCfaeFPcb5IA6kVmhfgt4P4ZG65ek1OGo8X4fad1MMqW1gwbaFMC2oO2ItZFErv4IG3JND7z4jgeyHDijIAuERsR3uOVIvc2pAZlSQ0PxOPZ3VftknQE/s1600/blue+jacket.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue Jacket</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I'd originally seen an entire set at a local antique mall for $45 and I was kicking myself for passing it up. I ended up cobbling together my eight-piece set as individual purchases and Christmas gifts over a year or so. I certainly paid more than $45. Lesson learned<br />
<br />
The set is from the late 1950s or early 1960s (I've never determined exact years) and was <a href="https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/3623-glassware-famous-ohio-indians" target="_blank">promoted by Bonded Oil</a>. One glass was <a href="http://vi.vipr.ebaydesc.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemDescV4&item=180763274472&t=0&tid=10&category=29553&seller=ladyluck82&excSoj=1&excTrk=1&lsite=0&ittenable=false&domain=ebay.com&descgauge=1&cspheader=1&oneClk=1&secureDesc=0" target="_blank">awarded for every $2.50 in gas purchased</a>. Gas was <a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/1675884/how-much-stuff-cost-in-1960" target="_blank">about 25 cents a gallon</a> then, but before you get too nostalgic on the gas price, keep in mind that with inflation that would be <a href="https://www.dollartimes.com/inflation/inflation.php?amount=1&year=1960" target="_blank">$2.10 a gallon in 2017 money</a>. So roughly the same. I guess this was sort of like <a href="https://www.kroger.com/topic/fuel-program" target="_blank">Kroger Fuel Points</a> in reverse.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN_FCWfM1_ESdPgRmsN5mI43j5aCajpBusEJRc2nFi2qHn7IDC2jZVrl09HswthR5FUjCsD7zj8lyg0uoTHNJVbONRefcPnMTOkW9qIyCOf2Ivl6RMjNMb6tQhyQyziKfs9RMYl4q-oAk/s1600/white+eyes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="172" data-original-width="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN_FCWfM1_ESdPgRmsN5mI43j5aCajpBusEJRc2nFi2qHn7IDC2jZVrl09HswthR5FUjCsD7zj8lyg0uoTHNJVbONRefcPnMTOkW9qIyCOf2Ivl6RMjNMb6tQhyQyziKfs9RMYl4q-oAk/s1600/white+eyes.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White Eyes</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Unlike the Ohio President glasses, I’ve never been able to determine who made this series. A seller on eBay said Hazel-Atlas but that company had a distinct marking that I have not seen here. But as I’ve mentioned before, <a href="http://gehio.blogspot.com/2016/01/heartland-of-glass.html" target="_blank">Ohio was one of the world’s leading glass producers</a> so it’s pretty safe to say that given the context, they were made in Ohio.<br />
<br />
I <a href="http://www.petrolianacollectibles.com/glasses-bonded.htm">found a mention online</a> that indicated that the art itself was done by <a href="http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=BL013" target="_blank">Indian artist Acee Blue Eagle</a>. The font in the heading is even the same as another collection he is known to have designed. That was an exciting development! However, I was able to quickly debunk that theory. I saw <a href="http://www.pgcaglassclub.com/articles_archives/acee.htm" target="_blank">another article online</a> that first appeared in an antique magazine in 1991. That person makes a good case that Blue Eagle had nothing to do with the Ohio glasses. They ARE very similar to <a href="https://www.adobegallery.com/art/Famous_Oklahoma_Indians_Glass_Set_SOLD117373931564158" target="_blank">a set of Oklahoma Indian glasses</a> he painted and released in 1959 for a similar promotion by Knox Oil, but having been well known at the time, his artwork would have incorporated his name. The Ohio glasses are likely just a copycat design by another gas station chain capitalizing on mid-century America's Indian nostalgia thanks to movie Westerns and TV shows like The Lone Ranger.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7i-i29IMKNcAEm-fuO2ccUfXqVrEYZmDPgmQZx5CiN5rnZQjxB4IaEFCGnKy_7kOGHzH2igMIbS9D4xCutYQtKwFvJ_bg5qVqF3uhfDZXrnrTkydfdwNHA11DGZ2WPNb6C5dVxlxPnVg/s1600/pitcher+and+box.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="301" data-original-width="400" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7i-i29IMKNcAEm-fuO2ccUfXqVrEYZmDPgmQZx5CiN5rnZQjxB4IaEFCGnKy_7kOGHzH2igMIbS9D4xCutYQtKwFvJ_bg5qVqF3uhfDZXrnrTkydfdwNHA11DGZ2WPNb6C5dVxlxPnVg/s200/pitcher+and+box.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pitcher and original box - on my wishlist</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There is also a <a href="https://picclick.com/Bonded-Oil-Co-Famous-Ohio-Indians-Frosted-Glass-222626400889.html" target="_blank">2-quart pitcher</a> that goes with the set. I don’t have one and have never seen one in person. They show up on eBay from time to time. I'm hoping one shows up under my Christmas tree this year.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjysEPV9OymV0VkIYvbg75SP_hIQEjWzchB2hIu9AqWPQLlDhljdr2dcgpg3ZY0IFoZuVr_8rWetCyy-hn0kR3PZHsnFhoZC-EKq0xBBioh6y0iS1dwfAUZq3_n6WfaYzYTmB1dCP4sbKc/s1600/bonded.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="231" data-original-width="300" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjysEPV9OymV0VkIYvbg75SP_hIQEjWzchB2hIu9AqWPQLlDhljdr2dcgpg3ZY0IFoZuVr_8rWetCyy-hn0kR3PZHsnFhoZC-EKq0xBBioh6y0iS1dwfAUZq3_n6WfaYzYTmB1dCP4sbKc/s200/bonded.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"c. Bonded" marking</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
For a while, I speculated that the pitcher was not really part of the set as it doesn’t have “Famous Ohio Indians” on it and also does not have “c. Bonded Oil Co.” anywhere like the glasses do. The artwork is even a bit different. However, I found that the original box with those words is printed on it. So the pitcher is definitely part of this set. Supposedly the pitcher was the bonus after you collected all eight glasses.<br />
<br />
Now for a couple of unsolved mysteries.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOmLYyVCIQ_oiCRG9zF9qv6QYlUCG7_FpwfBN7jmQEagZEyCMJEfWc0wgjtrq3x8-Ja0b9lbfz-34xNzKKYnZUDJBRIXkcytSERgp9NOwXVVyg_uNDdzEEZy9gZCNE15_mqaV243DmLrM/s1600/juice+glasses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="732" data-original-width="1588" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOmLYyVCIQ_oiCRG9zF9qv6QYlUCG7_FpwfBN7jmQEagZEyCMJEfWc0wgjtrq3x8-Ja0b9lbfz-34xNzKKYnZUDJBRIXkcytSERgp9NOwXVVyg_uNDdzEEZy9gZCNE15_mqaV243DmLrM/s320/juice+glasses.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">4 smaller glasses - also on the wishlist</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bonded-Oil-Collectible-Famous-Indians-Drinking-Glass-Tumbler-Set-Of-4-RARE-/282362406223" target="_blank">I've seen 4 smaller 4 3/4 oz glasses</a> being sold sometimes with the pitcher and the eight large glasses which are: Little Jumping Rabbit, Princess Little Fawn, Little Princess Red Wing, Little Running Bear. These are all just generic names and cartoonish compared to the full-size glasses. None of them have a tribe listed or a mention of Ohio. I'm not really sure if they really go with this series or not but they do have “c. Bonded Oil Co.” on them and as far as I know, this is the only promotion like this that Bonded issued. They seem to be hard to find.<br />
<br />
There may have even been a <a href="https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/set-famous-ohio-indian-glasses-bonded-1721558028" target="_blank">metal rack for the eight glasses</a> but I've only seen one mention of that anywhere.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX3UCoQg5ufNeiWPc39Dh-mfM_11HWNBn8B9vwQQH8atRecxDBNIcjVxoKQv5IO4TbRsxTmDvL07r3CJiieDC4djo2Td37ArKKlqzMiXC8r8VaTzJ7bg-OdPVd9xXolJDb_r74HG2bjG0/s1600/IMG_5733.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1088" data-original-width="1087" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX3UCoQg5ufNeiWPc39Dh-mfM_11HWNBn8B9vwQQH8atRecxDBNIcjVxoKQv5IO4TbRsxTmDvL07r3CJiieDC4djo2Td37ArKKlqzMiXC8r8VaTzJ7bg-OdPVd9xXolJDb_r74HG2bjG0/s200/IMG_5733.JPG" width="199" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the lone Pontiac mystery glass</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
During my research, <a href="https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/famous-ohio-indian-pontiac-frosted-133590461" target="_blank">I discovered another oddity</a>. Besides the eight glasses, there is a ninth “bonus” glass with the heading “Famous Ohio Indian” (note the singular), and “Pontiac/The Red Napoleon” at the bottom with a depiction of this chief but no tribal affiliation. It doesn’t have “c. Bonded Oil Co.” on it either. I’m not sure what the story is here. It's not the same artwork as the Pontiac in the full set but overall is similar in design. Perhaps it was prototype before the whole series was made? If so, I'm not sure why they would choose Pontiac. Tecumseh would be more "Ohio" than the others. This Ottawa leader was active in Ohio but his birthplace is open for debate and most historians think he was born in Michigan where his famous rebellion occurred. Maybe it was because of the Pontiac car and these were gas station giveaways? I have no idea and I was unable to find any more information. I did, however, find one on eBay and snapped up this outlier for $13!<br />
<br />
It’s one of my favorite glass collections. They are beautiful to look at and the set represents American Indians in the Ohio Valley from a time period I fell in love with many years ago.<br />
<br />Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com7Ohio, USA40.4172871 -82.90712300000001334.2262786 -93.2342715 46.608295600000005 -72.57997450000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-65578959406488963612017-10-30T19:00:00.000-04:002017-11-10T11:40:44.267-05:00Review: Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26827446" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1474647216m/26827446.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26827446">Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/44565">Candice Millard</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1637254402">5 of 5 stars</a>
<br />
<br />
In 2016 I was delighted to learn of the third book from New York Times best-selling author Candice Millard. Her first book <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10335318-destiny-of-the-republic?from_search=true" target="_blank">Destiny of the Republic</a><b>,</b> about President Garfield's death, is one of my favorites. Ohio, an obscure President. That's right up my alley. Her second book <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/78508.The_River_of_Doubt" target="_blank">River of Doubt</a><b> </b>on Teddy Roosevelt's post Presidential exploration of a river in the Amazon rainforest was like an adventure novel.<br />
I just love her writing style. She really brings history to life in a highly readable fashion. If more teachers taught like she writes, we would have more students interested in how the world came to be, which to me is one of the major points of studying the past.<br />
<br />
I will admit I was a bit hesitant to read the new book as the topic is outside my normal historical focus. It definitely has nothing to do with Ohio. It's not American or Presidential and it takes place at the turn of the 20th century. Hmmm.<br />
Based on my love of her first two books I ended up getting the Kindle version and also checked out the audiobook from the library to listen to on my work commute.<br />
<br />
This book turned out not to be just a biography on Churchill as a young man, it's also a primer on a war I suspect most people outside England or South Africa don't know anything about, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War" target="_blank">Second Boer War</a> which implies there was a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Boer_War" target="_blank">First </a>I also never heard of. I didn't even know what a Boer was before I read this book. It turns out they are descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of southern Africa. They grew to hate British rule and also treated the indigenous people such as the Zulu terribly. All of this tension resulted in armed conflict with all of those groups. As a student of American history, this sounds familiar.<br />
Given my interests, I saw some parallels. The Boers as the Americans, the British as...well the British imperialists trying to retain a colony, and the Native Africans as the Native Americans caught in the middle trying to hang on to what they had before the Europeans showed up.<br />
<br />
Churchill arrived in South Africa in 1899 at age 29 as a war reporter and was captured by the Boer after two weeks during a train ambush. This was a setback for a man who was convinced greatness was his destiny. He remained a Boer prisoner for several months always observing and plotting his escape. It was amazing to me that POWs like Winston and captured officers unlike the average captured soldier here were allowed quite a few luxuries by their captors. They had access to haircuts, a camp store, decent food, and a degree of freedom within the camp. As the book states, this was more due to the Boers trying to show the world that they were not the curs the British made them out to be. They wanted respect in the eyes of the world. This desire certainly was an enabling factor in Churchill's successful escape. Millard covers in exciting detail how young Winston would make that escape alone over hundreds of miles in a hostile land with only a few meager provisions, his wits, and a few sympathetic South Africans.<br />
<br />
My overall impression of Churchill from this book was that he was a blue-blooded overly confident and sometimes reckless and selfish man. We see this a lot in history. Men doing things for honor to gain a better station in life. We still see it but now but it's hardly ever at the risk of one's own life in war. He was a product of his time and heritage. Churchill's world would soon need a fearless leader like this. Those unrefined traits were sharpened during this period and came in handy later in helping win WWII.<br />
<br />
I have an interesting takeaway mentioned in the epilogue, I had no idea that the term "concentration camp" was introduced by this war. Thousands of homeless Boer civilians perished in horrible conditions after their farms and towns were burned as part of a systematic British scorched Earth policy. It reminded me a bit of the regretful Trail of Tears in the US as well as the horrors of US Civil War campaigns such as Sherman's March. Regretfully we sometimes repeat the worst of history as we would also find out in Nazi Germany in WWII.<br />
<br />
Millard really did it again with Hero of the Empire, another New York Times bestseller and a riveting page-turner on how a legendary historical figure got to be that way.<br />
<br />
According to her Twitter account @candice_millard, the next book is about the discovery of the source of the Nile. Anything she writes is pretty great so I am definitely looking forward to it from the author of Amazon’s number one history book of 2016.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1637254402">View all my reviews</a>
Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com0South Africa-30.559482 22.937505999999985-56.7802775 -18.371088000000015 -4.3386864999999979 64.246099999999984tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-60063086274356794482017-09-30T10:02:00.000-04:002017-11-10T11:42:41.264-05:00Frosted Ohio Presidents<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNBnqa622WAYw0_XRsTwcWceBvMU8vMw0yweDW83TDgwWoND5OpeKHaQYQx9rj_ejJ0HcHyE6NKISjECbgQpnSfK_xLD5niuImhMSnqaceh2U78Nquw6bO8EgYFrMIqXnBXABaIAanuTI/s1600/IMG_5543.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNBnqa622WAYw0_XRsTwcWceBvMU8vMw0yweDW83TDgwWoND5OpeKHaQYQx9rj_ejJ0HcHyE6NKISjECbgQpnSfK_xLD5niuImhMSnqaceh2U78Nquw6bO8EgYFrMIqXnBXABaIAanuTI/s320/IMG_5543.JPG" width="320" /></a>Never in my life did I think I would get excited about mid 20th-century frosted glass tumblers, but here I am blogging about it. Again. I now have several different sets of Ohio related drink-ware and <a href="http://gehio.blogspot.com/2016/01/heartland-of-glass.html" target="_blank">I've posted about one them before</a>. I learned from my previous research that Ohio was a leader in the glass industry from the late 1800's to the mid 20th century so there are many Ohio themed glasses from that period.<br />
<br />
I started this next set of <i><b>"Presidents From Ohio"</b></i> glass tumblers by picking up three of them for a good price at an antique mall several years ago. I've seen the rest on eBay but at $8-14 a piece plus several dollars for shipping that was going to set me back a bit to get the entire set of eight. I'm kind of a cheapskate. Another website had an incomplete set of 6 for $120. Ouch.<br />
<br />
Thanks to the sharp eye of an old friend browsing at a local antique mall who sent up the Gehio signal (he texted me), yours truly is now the proud owner of an entire eight-piece set. The best part? Only $35!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijw0gdKy1o5j0h3KBI06drUF-LZO_dw5H8M2Oq7CCvuh1m65To05f__SIb3BWHMUzvDKs936QrDeipPpUFdPOKno4-XGnKSSwiHW0Qhz0V36c1gteGJqH5BvpZtv2B1yBE-OAApZfv520/s1600/IMG_5544.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijw0gdKy1o5j0h3KBI06drUF-LZO_dw5H8M2Oq7CCvuh1m65To05f__SIb3BWHMUzvDKs936QrDeipPpUFdPOKno4-XGnKSSwiHW0Qhz0V36c1gteGJqH5BvpZtv2B1yBE-OAApZfv520/s320/IMG_5544.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
This series was designed by <a href="https://diaryofaruralnomad.wordpress.com/tag/gay-fad-studio/" target="_blank">Fran Taylor</a> and produced by her company, <a href="http://www.santafetradingpost.com/gay_fad.html" target="_blank">Gay Fad Studios</a> of Lancaster, OH which was open from 1945-1962. Fran obtained blank glassware from various Ohio manufacturers such as <b>Hazel Atlas Glass</b> in Zanesville and <b>Federal Glass</b> in Columbus. Another was <b>Anchor Hocking</b> which was a few doors down from Fran's Pierce Avenue studio. The blanks were then stenciled and hand-painted. Because I had duplicates, I compared them. I noticed that the coloring on the birthplaces is somewhat different. That makes each one is unique.<br />
<br />
The 12-ounce frosted glass tumblers are 5" high with a rim diameter or 2-3/4". The front of each President’s glass features his portrait, a facsimile of his signature, and his years in office (or year of the month in W. H. Harrison's case) with “Presidents From Ohio” above, all in brown, while the back shows his birthplace* in brown with colorful accents. In all my research I've never been able to determine the exact year these were made. Perhaps the secret is contained within the two-volume 610 page book published in 2011, <a href="http://www.santafetradingpost.com/gay_fad_book.html" target="_blank">Gay Fad: Fran Taylor’s Extraordinary Legacy</a> by <a href="http://www.journalreview.com/news/article_c6888a4c-d29d-11e0-bac5-001cc4c002e0.html" target="_blank">Donna McGrady</a>. At $150 that's too rich for my blood to find out. I'm not so much obsessed with Fran's entire impressive career and work as I am about this particular set of glasses. It would be nice to know how many were made since as I stated before, being hand painted, they are all slightly different.<br />
<br />
*Since I am William Henry Harrison obsessed, I noticed that being a Virginian by birth, Harrison's is not a birthplace, but a home in Ohio when he was elected. However, <a href="http://gehio.blogspot.com/2013/02/tippecanoe-and-trivial-pursuit-too.html" target="_blank">he never lived in a home that looked like a log cabin</a>. The same scene is used in grandson Ben Harrison's birthplace. Ben was born on William's farm in North Bend OH but it <a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-cabin-belonging-to-president-william-henry-harrison-and-news-photo/3088934#circa-1841-the-cabin-belonging-to-president-william-henry-harrison-picture-id3088934" target="_blank">was more like a mansion</a>. All the others seem pretty accurate.<br />
<br />
I have a couple of other full Ohio related glassware sets to write about waiting in the wings, so look for that...Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com4220 Pierce Ave, Lancaster, OH 43130, USA39.7158711 -82.61897729999998339.7158471 -82.619016799999983 39.715895100000004 -82.618937799999983tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-45406442934655083712017-08-31T19:00:00.000-04:002017-11-10T11:43:15.844-05:00Review: Last Stand<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8303290" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Last Stand" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328325357m/8303290.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8303290">Last Stand</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/108318">Michael Punke</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/731205140">4 of 5 stars</a>
<br />
<br />
A story of greed, survival, and redemption in America. Punke tells us how mankind can have a devastating impact on the environment and how one man helped turn it around.<br />
<br />
This is more than just a book about how American thirst for land nearly destroyed the buffalo and how one man led a cause to halt it. Once again I am reminded of the way movies and cartoonish history books have shaped our views of the past and make everything seem so clean and noble. Most Americans likely believe that mere rugged individuals set out and tamed the wild west in a quest for adventure. Yee haw..the end. That sentiment is partly true but it is not even close to the whole story. Oftentimes history and its cast of characters can be a paradox.<br />
<br />
In the late 19th century the West was tamed, or plundered if you will, in part by the robber barons and railroad men of the Eastern US who held great influence over Congress. The frontier men doing the dirty work were generally Army deserters, fugitives, and men who could make more money poaching and panning for gold vs Army life, mining or ranching. Both groups of people knew that protection laws and Native American treaties barely had a penalty and rarely enforced if they could be enforced at all. The robber barons made sure of that via their lobbyists in Washington during the scandalous Grant Administration. I find it ironic that the US Army was sent to patrol Yellowstone and prevent the further demise of the buffalo when just a few years earlier they were the very ones sent to help wipe out the Plains Indian in part by destroying the buffalo which they relied on for almost every need. That policy forced American Indians into the reservation system.<br />
<br />
George Bird Grinnell witnessed this all first hand. He was born into a privileged class and could have been another robber baron but instead became a naturalist, author, and editor of Forest and Stream, the leading natural history magazine in the US during a time of wanton greed and reckless over-hunting. Many of the characters such as Grinnell, Teddy Roosevelt and William Tecumseh Sherman, like Daniel Boone before them, would come to lament the passing of the wild frontier and the near extinction of the buffalo, something which they helped cause.<br />
<br />
Like all history, context is important and it is difficult to judge the zeitgeist of the past by today's standards but there were people then who found some of these policies and ideas unjust and worked to change conventional wisdom and in some cases redeemed themselves from a deplorable past. To me people such as this are the true heroes of history yet Grinnell, who later founded the Audubon Society, savior of Yellowstone and the buffalo, among other great successes, was a man the NY Times called in 1938 the "father of American conservationism" remains an obscure historical figure.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/731205140">View all my reviews</a>
Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-25510764403847113712017-07-30T08:00:00.000-04:002017-11-10T11:45:45.710-05:00Muse Over MiamiAround the 2nd century BCE, the concept of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation_state" target="_blank">modern nation-state</a> is a long way off. Most folks at this point identified with a particular tribe or clan. During this period the Romans were the first to call the people in the land we now call Germany, <a href="http://linguaphiles.livejournal.com/344988.html" target="_blank">Germans</a>, meaning <i>spear man</i>. By the 2nd century CE, they were called <a href="http://www.ancient.eu/Saxons/" target="_blank">Saxons</a>, whose name developed from the type of knife they carried, the <i>seax</i>. They called themselves <i>Diutisg</i>, meaning <i>"of the people"</i> which formed into Deutsche and <a href="http://mentalfloss.com/article/71529/why-does-germany-have-so-many-different-names" target="_blank">Deutschland</a>. This is what they still call themselves, while the rest of the world calls them Germans. In the 8th century CE the Franks and others called new seafaring invaders from this region Northmen or <i>Norsemen</i>. The kingdoms in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britain_(place_name)" target="_blank">Britain</a> called them <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danes_(Germanic_tribe)" target="_blank">Danes</a> which has unclear origins but is where Denmark gets its name. The Slavs to the East called them <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rus%27_people" target="_blank">Rus</a>, which meant <i>"the men who row"</i>. This is where Russia gets its name. These raiders and explorers may have called themselves <i>Víkingr</i>. In the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagas_of_Icelanders" target="_blank">Icelandic Sagas</a>, they use the phrase <i>"to go on a vikingr"</i> or to raid. The English variation "<a href="http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/text/word_viking.htm" target="_blank">Viking</a>" came along later.<br />
By the 11th century, the seafaring Vikings encountered people they called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skr%C3%A6ling" target="_blank">Skraeling</a>, believed to be ancestors of the modern <a href="https://www.uaf.edu/anlc/resources/inuit-eskimo/" target="_blank">Inuit, or Eskimo</a>, the northernmost inhabitants of the New World. Skraeling meant "barbarian". This is ironic since that's what the English and the Franks thought of their Norse invaders. How's that? 12 centuries of European history in 300 words or less?<br />
<br />
Great, but what does this have to to with Ohio history?<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUu_xFE3jDscZ5tLHxS4gPSJLNZBNbe4Cew_g5ZoeJpkWv3npYE_jMEUnLk9FouPgHDqVe7hJPS2YsacHg5LpkYs6Sy0M7glum8no4zhLvoDmV7jJUFMbT61fSckEc-kRE7GKBCuurwiU/s1600/ftmiamis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="664" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUu_xFE3jDscZ5tLHxS4gPSJLNZBNbe4Cew_g5ZoeJpkWv3npYE_jMEUnLk9FouPgHDqVe7hJPS2YsacHg5LpkYs6Sy0M7glum8no4zhLvoDmV7jJUFMbT61fSckEc-kRE7GKBCuurwiU/s320/ftmiamis.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fort not built by the Miami, also not in Florida</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We all know that the general term <i>Indian </i>itself is technically incorrect. 15th-century folks thought they reached a shortcut to the East Indies. Individual Indian tribal names can be as perplexing as European tribal names a half a millennium earlier before those groups formed into the nations of England, France, Germany, Denmark, etc. with a central authority.<br />
<br />
We see similar names such as Cree and Creek, <a href="http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-sioux.html" target="_blank">Dakota and Lakota</a>, <a href="http://www.native-languages.org/mohicans_words.htm" target="_blank">Mahican and Mohegan</a>, for example. Are they the same tribes? Is there any relation? It can get complicated. To add to the confusion, different bands or septs within the same tribes sometimes used different or multiple names as well. I'm not going to research or attempt to explain them all in a mere blog post, but two tribes I've always found interesting are the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algonquian_peoples" target="_blank">Algonquian</a> language speaking Delaware and Miami people.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlkSzakuKq4jFktfTTsTvtRkspdNTR5K2yy2wYylMR0DFbmSEVboY_ggRxEMafep-gzAmH6NvQlz7u4e2-IjSiuGWuDS4OzLhtodKvR8wgtau16M8I0-36utIeePgpkHWq0hRaBv6PkgY/s1600/200px-3rdLordDeLaWarr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="248" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlkSzakuKq4jFktfTTsTvtRkspdNTR5K2yy2wYylMR0DFbmSEVboY_ggRxEMafep-gzAmH6NvQlz7u4e2-IjSiuGWuDS4OzLhtodKvR8wgtau16M8I0-36utIeePgpkHWq0hRaBv6PkgY/s1600/200px-3rdLordDeLaWarr.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lord Delaware, definitely not Indian</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Many times European explorers didn't bother with the difficult to pronounce or unclear indigenous name. This is true with the Lenni Lenape people who were renamed the <a href="http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Delaware_Indians" target="_blank">Delaware</a> by settlers. As is the case with many autonyms in the world, Lenni Lenape means <i>original people</i>. They also lived near a river named after <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_West,_3rd_Baron_De_La_Warr" target="_blank">Lord De La Warr</a>, the first Governor of the Virginia English colony. So they were called the Delaware for many years. The state of Delaware derives its name from the same source. As settlers moved in, the Delaware people were pushed West to the Ohio Valley. Their descendants have since reverted to the name Lenape. There is also a town and a county named <a href="http://www.delawareohio.net/" target="_blank">Delaware</a> in Ohio.<br />
<br />
Other times the modern tribal name is a European corruption of the tribe's autonym and/or a version of what one tribe, called another tribe. The <a href="http://westernreservepublicmedia.org/onestate/miami.htm" target="_blank">Miami</a> (or Maumee) people of the Ohio Valley, who incidentally are thought to be descendants of their Lenape or Delaware "grandfathers", fall into this category. So at least an attempt was made to use the correct name, even if it wasn't. More on that in a bit.<br />
<br />
In the state of Ohio, we have the <a href="http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Maumee_River" target="_blank">Maumee River</a>, the <a href="http://epa.ohio.gov/dsw/tmdl/GreatMiamiRiver.aspx" target="_blank">Great </a>and <a href="http://watercraft.ohiodnr.gov/littlemiamisr" target="_blank">Little </a>Miami Rivers. Places called <a href="http://www.maumee.org/" target="_blank">Maumee</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miamitown,_Ohio" target="_blank">Miamitown</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miamiville,_Ohio" target="_blank"><span id="goog_1285815510"></span>Miamiville<span id="goog_1285815511"></span></a>. <a href="http://www.ci.miamisburg.oh.us/" target="_blank">Miamisburg</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Miami,_Ohio" target="_blank">New Miami</a>, <a href="http://www.co.miami.oh.us/" target="_blank">Miami County</a>, <a href="http://www.miamitownship.com/" target="_blank">Miami Township</a>. A park named <a href="http://www.greatparks.org/parks/miami-whitewater-forest" target="_blank">Miami Whitewater Forest</a>. <a href="http://miamioh.edu/about-miami/diversity/miami-tribe-relations/" target="_blank">Miami University</a> in Oxford OH. The British built <a href="http://touringohio.com/history/fort-miamis.html" target="_blank">Fort Miamis</a> near Toledo. In Indiana and Kansas, there are similar cities, counties, and townships.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitDH9OPvv7PW0KMlPvfueEONACjB0FK98XY5Epo9iGdZGCLKwd41QfhClyiQAp4Hqim6YHmrfRhkU74aicbidBJbYBwXTax2PzRb1w7hNBsjwp-4tCQhkOpzAkBTRcJi990KiucuVkBZM/s1600/miami.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="417" data-original-width="371" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitDH9OPvv7PW0KMlPvfueEONACjB0FK98XY5Epo9iGdZGCLKwd41QfhClyiQAp4Hqim6YHmrfRhkU74aicbidBJbYBwXTax2PzRb1w7hNBsjwp-4tCQhkOpzAkBTRcJi990KiucuVkBZM/s320/miami.jpg" width="284" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">WTF?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Then there is <a href="http://www.miamigov.com/home/" target="_blank">Miami Florida</a>...a thousand miles south of Ohio. What's the story here? I've read that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suwannee_River#Etymology" target="_blank">Suwanee River</a> in Florida might be connected to the Ohio Shawnee who migrated south at one point. Did the Miami people do the same?<br />
<br />
The French were the first Europeans to encounter this Algonquin speaking Maumee in the mid 17th century. Miami comes from Maumee, a French corruption of Myaamia, which meant <i>downstream people</i>. Another source says it meant <i>allies</i>. Either way, it appears to be a name given by another tribe. These are just examples of the names. <a href="http://www.dickshovel.com/mia.html" target="_blank">It's actually a bit more complicated.</a><br />
<br />
When those French explorers encountered the Myaamia, they recorded a confederation of six bands. The French did their best to distinguish each of them by calling them "Maumee of the Ohio (river)", "Maumee of the Lake (Erie)", Maumee of the Woods", etc. This group was also known by other names by other tribes. For example, the Lenni Lenape people probably called them <a href="http://www.dickshovel.com/mia.html" target="_blank">Twightwee</a> which has unclear origins. One theory regarding Twightwee is that it's a reflex of Twatwa which could be the original name of the Miami people. Twatwa itself might come from the sound their sacred bird the <a href="http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/species-and-habitats/species-guide-index/birds/sandhill-crane" target="_blank">sandhill crane</a> makes. Whichever it is, the Miami name stuck and the Miami use the name to this day.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBsUWX6qEPhxuyL7A6ZvX11EFer3cQtIviUoNpmjZoEtGVwQ5CsZ1O1j6bWxT9Eodk_sW5v15qQ38r-GUavyg7rHBvA3_5jT7_kEjZ6haeG8vdESyGbumxZdkRs811ti05YvM9YEnoIZ8/s1600/20130519_171149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="664" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBsUWX6qEPhxuyL7A6ZvX11EFer3cQtIviUoNpmjZoEtGVwQ5CsZ1O1j6bWxT9Eodk_sW5v15qQ38r-GUavyg7rHBvA3_5jT7_kEjZ6haeG8vdESyGbumxZdkRs811ti05YvM9YEnoIZ8/s320/20130519_171149.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the many "Miami's" in Ohio</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Through warfare, disease, and consolidation in the fight for self-survival during the French and British years, many <a href="http://westernreservepublicmedia.org/onestate/miami.htm" target="_blank">Miami</a> bands merged. By the end of the 18th century, there were only three bands. The Miami people were then pushed into the modern state of Indiana by United States expansion. In 1846 due to forced relocation by the US government, the Miami moved to Kansas and then to Oklahoma. By the end of the 19th century, there was basically one band, the <a href="http://miamination.com/node/11" target="_blank">federally recognized Miami Tribe of Oklahoma</a>. There have been efforts to legally recognize <a href="http://www.miamiindians.org/" target="_blank">an Eastern group that returned to Indiana</a> in the 20th century. Both of these modern groups consider themselves to be the same people.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9q2hWWFj3yssygH_7e4Yd5kqQ401wxKX5nUmH2ZqP9aGBaMWxvkeDPG1fYzq9Lr9yjKcyWHsTXHZEjF5-MkCmR06j7aqPd1-E6M9WDo-rYx1DwabmenHn298GKO85TWrPmQZanMKjREM/s1600/miami-nation-seal_1421403309654_12489550_ver1.0_640_480.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9q2hWWFj3yssygH_7e4Yd5kqQ401wxKX5nUmH2ZqP9aGBaMWxvkeDPG1fYzq9Lr9yjKcyWHsTXHZEjF5-MkCmR06j7aqPd1-E6M9WDo-rYx1DwabmenHn298GKO85TWrPmQZanMKjREM/s200/miami-nation-seal_1421403309654_12489550_ver1.0_640_480.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">flag of the Miami Nation<br />
note the Twatwa </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So how is Miami Florida related any of this? In Florida's case, "Miami" derives from the native people of that area of southern Florida through the 1740s until they became extinct. The indigenous people there referred to the large lake in that area as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayaimi" target="_blank">Mayaimi</a>, meaning <i>Big Water</i> (this is now <a href="http://www.visitflorida.com/en-us/things-to-do/florida-fishing/lake-okeechobee-clewiston-florida.html" target="_blank">Lake Okeechobee</a> from the <a href="http://www.native-languages.org/hitchiti.htm" target="_blank">Hitchiti</a>, another extinct tribe), so similar to the English with the Delaware, the Spanish called them Mayaimi. In other words, the names are just a coincidence and "Miami" was in use in the Ohio Valley well before Florida's Miami.<br />
<br />
I was attempting to draw parallels between ancient European history and comparatively recent American history but that's where the similarities mostly end. American Indians seem to have a unique place in this world. Today there are over <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/research/state-tribal-institute/list-of-federal-and-state-recognized-tribes.aspx" target="_blank">500 federally recognized self-governing nations</a> within US borders, however, they are not completely sovereign like the nation states of Europe. Federal tribes are technically citizens of the United States, the US state in which the tribe resides, and the tribe itself. The Old World eventually would have found and explored the New World. Had history taken different courses, perhaps if European discovery occurred earlier, or had the people in the Americas been better armed, or maybe just more resistant to devastating European diseases, it's possible there would be a large multicultural Indian nation-state or even several bordering the modern United States or a different modern nation altogether. Don't laugh, <a href="http://gehio.blogspot.com/2012/09/congressman-white-eyes-from-state-of.html" target="_blank">the idea of a US-run Indian state was considered</a> (sort of) at least once...with the Lenape...in Ohio!<br />
Quiz time.<br />
What's the largest ethnic group in Ohio comprising <a href="http://names.mongabay.com/ancestry/Ohio.html" target="_blank">25% of the population</a>? Hint: It's also the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2408591/American-ethnicity-map-shows-melting-pot-ethnicities-make-USA-today.html" target="_blank">largest in the US overall</a>...Germans!<br />
Oh, and who loves <a href="https://www.internations.org/miami-expats/germans" target="_blank">Miami Beach</a>?...Germans!<br />
<br />Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com0Ohio, USA40.4172871 -82.90712300000001334.2262786 -93.2342715 46.608295600000005 -72.57997450000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-66324789786168939282017-06-27T07:00:00.000-04:002017-11-10T11:46:20.847-05:00Review: Arthur St. Clair: The Invisible PatriotHow do you celebrate Gehio's 6th anniversary? With a review of a book on my favorite frontier General. I wish it was a regular blog post vs a review but June was a busy month.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23303853" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Arthur St. Clair: The Invisible Patriot" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1412391093m/23303853.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23303853">Arthur St. Clair: The Invisible Patriot</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8513990">R.W. Dick Phillips</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1941621060">1 of 5 stars</a>
<br />
<br />
I'm very interested in the time period and the subject, so I was excited to find this book. I gave it one star only because I could not give it zero stars. I read through the beginning and was very disappointed. It doesn't appear to be researched well. Phillips goes to great lengths to inform us of St. Clairs lineage and great deeds in order to remind us he shouldn't only be known for his infamous defeat but the author gets loose and repetitious with the facts right off the bat. That didn't instill confidence. Another reviewer mentions the misleading blurb about St. Clair being "President when the U.S. Constitution and the Northwest Ordinance were drafted." and "was America’s first and last foreign-born President". This should read that he was "President of the Continental Congress"... of which there were 14 men, including John Hancock, from 1774 until 1788. The author also asserts that one of St Clair's ancestors built Newport Tower in a pre-Columbian voyage to the New World. That's a fringe theory that's been debunked many times over. A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newport_Tower_(Rhode_Island)" target="_blank">quick internet search</a> shows that carbon dating & other 19th & 20th-century investigation of the mortar dates it to the mid-1600s. It was probably built by Benedict Arnold. No not THAT Arnold but an ancestor, the first Governor of Rhode Island. I thought that was a bit ironic. Stealing the glory of the ancestor of America's most infamous traitor and trying to give it to the ancestor of the General in charge of the worst American military defeat.<br />
<br />
So I'm sorry Art, it was my hope...but this is not the modern bio we've been waiting for. Your legacy is still mostly St. Clair's Defeat with the footnote that you re-named Losantiville to Cincinnati. I suppose it's better to be remembered for something than nothing at all.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1941621060">View all my reviews</a>
Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-74680535251271042362017-05-29T10:47:00.000-04:002017-11-10T11:48:22.157-05:00Celibate Christian Communists in Ohio<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ntOXMdBD_34/TfJtzRs4L_I/AAAAAAAAEFU/MNOgKYnAgtQ_sr3NdQEwuzCIIQ2PNXlpACPcB/s1600/0926001405.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ntOXMdBD_34/TfJtzRs4L_I/AAAAAAAAEFU/MNOgKYnAgtQ_sr3NdQEwuzCIIQ2PNXlpACPcB/s320/0926001405.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>kinda hard to read, see text to the right</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Several years ago I was out and about in rural Southwestern Ohio when I came across an old <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=43374" target="_blank">Shaker Cemetery</a>. There were a few individual markers in this relatively large graveyard but it was the <a href="http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMH9C9_Historic_Shaker_Cemetery_Whitewater_Township_Ohio_USA" target="_blank">large engraved stone</a> in the center that got my attention. It read:<br />
<i>Erected by the Society of Shakers</i><br />
<i>White Water Village</i><br />
<i>An Order Of Celibate Christian Communists</i><br />
<i>To Honor the Memory Of The Members Whose Mortal Remains </i><i>Are Interred in This Lot</i><br />
<i>1827-1916</i><br />
<br />
All I really knew of the Shakers was the fact that they produced plain, durable, handcrafted furniture. Maybe similar to the Amish but with added holy roller flavor. That "Celibate Christian Communists" phrase piqued my curiosity. I set out to learn more.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwQPo22ZMN39Pj12OR5Lr5oRA1UxKKRJ86Gfm75pevjI_WB36_uqCu_hmd0zKZ5NGwt85ndTZ_wWxfu69VuCmTm_dF6AJ4omnU0yH4Xxqv_ZY9QfXUHk1-ui9oBnuKOTRDJdQTW28Dwwk/s1600/chair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwQPo22ZMN39Pj12OR5Lr5oRA1UxKKRJ86Gfm75pevjI_WB36_uqCu_hmd0zKZ5NGwt85ndTZ_wWxfu69VuCmTm_dF6AJ4omnU0yH4Xxqv_ZY9QfXUHk1-ui9oBnuKOTRDJdQTW28Dwwk/s200/chair.jpg" width="131" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>One of those famous chairs</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The Shakers were predominantly an 18th and 19th-century religion with origins in <a href="http://www.quakerinfo.org/index" target="_blank">English Quakerism</a>. Eventually, they came to America and established their own communities.<br />
<br />
Officially they are called the <b>United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Coming</b> and their worship services tended to be frenzied and ecstatic, hence the name "Shakers". The Shakers believed in equality of the sexes, the second coming of Christ, and communal living, which was called communism well before Karl Marx.<br />
Overall they seem to fit in with 19th-century spiritualism. I've read of other communal religious societies from that time period such as the one in nearby ghost town <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia,_Ohio" target="_blank">Utopia, OH</a> and the more famous <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oneida_Community" target="_blank">Oneida Community</a> in New York that claimed future <a href="http://gehio.blogspot.com/2013/11/garfield-friends.html" target="_blank">President Garfield assassin Charles Giteau</a> as a member.<br />
<br />
It gets a bit more interesting...<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JCEUGmbJrbg/TfJty1oNSiI/AAAAAAAAEFQ/befjT60VEqI3qusbFDpKnvwatL4Izz-AQCPcB/s1600/0926001420.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JCEUGmbJrbg/TfJty1oNSiI/AAAAAAAAEFQ/befjT60VEqI3qusbFDpKnvwatL4Izz-AQCPcB/s320/0926001420.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Shaker Village to the North, looks nice but read the fine print</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
While identifying as Christian, Shakers did not consider Christ a deity but instead an agent of God. They believed men and women were made in God's image and equal. Since the first Christ was male, the second Christ would be female. They felt this already happened in the form of their religion's founder, English born former Quaker <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ann-Lee" target="_blank">Mother Ann Lee</a>, whose visions led her to this conclusion and brought her followers to America in 1774. Yup.<br />
This belief meant women took leadership roles in the church. That in itself was a radical idea in 18th century America and seems progressive on the surface. The fact is, living spaces were still segregated as were schools and work-related roles. Separate but equal I guess.<br />
<br />
Ok, that's great, now get to the sex part. Or lack thereof.<br />
<br />
Additionally and probably the most puzzling of all, the Shakers believed all sex was a sin and celibacy was a path to God. This didn't just apply to church leaders or the unmarried. Everyone. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=e--xrEx8u9gC&lpg=PA15&ots=WUifLsJ2oD&dq=%22the%20root%20and%20foundation%20of%20human%20depravity%22&pg=PA15#v=onepage&q=%22the%20root%20and%20foundation%20of%20human%20depravity%22&f=false" target="_blank">Mother Ann Lee taught that sex was "the root and foundation of human depravity"</a>. That's a big drawback for a commune and had to be a hard sell when they got to that page of the brochure. In fact, they didn't even believe in marriage. I guess it was OK for others to be depraved because instead of sexual procreation to multiply their flock, the Shakers adopted orphaned children into their communities and relied on conversion of adults.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTXOtR5dlYIEXrBZzGmTGOv-nhGcrcTxxl7CkLaB81G6J4bpRqOhQPRdY6cE1Hu_MrK3l7LcA3-A5iX3NfhmrcVf-PZrVkGXTabOew7_WUcOwIF6vrJRlqKvHSWBgEJwi2kItP6hG24hQ/s1600/Shaker+girl+falling+into+a+trance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTXOtR5dlYIEXrBZzGmTGOv-nhGcrcTxxl7CkLaB81G6J4bpRqOhQPRdY6cE1Hu_MrK3l7LcA3-A5iX3NfhmrcVf-PZrVkGXTabOew7_WUcOwIF6vrJRlqKvHSWBgEJwi2kItP6hG24hQ/s320/Shaker+girl+falling+into+a+trance.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>19th century Shakers shaking</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The Shaker movement began on another continent in the early 1700s and virtually disappeared by 1920. That's a long run compared to other communal societies that tend to fizzle out after a few decades at best. While it's no surprise that Shakers went extinct, it seems surprising that it took so long. If you aren't having babies then your membership is going to stall. As pacifists, they were conscientious objectors. They also didn't vote or generally participate in public life. This generated distrust from other Americans who expected otherwise. You would think all of the above would have done them in.<br />
It was the US Civil War that brought on a rapid change that the Shakers could not adapt to. Major industrialization occurred in the postbellum era which started an economic decline for the Shakers. Folks were now able to purchase cheaper mass produced items instead of more expensive Shaker made goods. Membership started declining as new converts were hard to come by as the Shakers became less financially prosperous. Existing members left when they found the lifestyle too difficult to adhere to. Similar to the Amish, at age 21, folks could decide to stay or go. Additionally, adoption laws started to be reformed in the late 19th century. The Shakers were separatists in a closed society. Technological advances in transportation and communication such as trains and the telegraph altered the world and increased the difficulty of maintaining that separation. Despite the popular notion, <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/americas-true-history-of-religious-tolerance-61312684/?no-ist" target="_blank">non-traditional Protestant Christian religions were not always welcomed in the US</a>. Just read about the hard times of the early Mormons, Quakers, and Catholics in the US. We were even <a href="https://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/JFK-and-Religion.aspx" target="_blank">debating the idea of a Catholic President in 1960</a>. What America really had going for it was land and plenty of it. Folks could spread out a bit and stay out of each other's way. For a while.<br />
Another odd bit, <a href="http://www.whitewatervillage.org/" target="_blank">The White Water Shaker Settlement</a> which was active from 1824-1916, south of this cemetery attracted former Millerites who believed in the April 1843 Christ's Second Coming. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Disappointment" target="_blank">Maybe you heard but that didn't pan out</a>. The Shakers convinced some of these greatly disappointed Millerites that this already occurred in the form of Mother Ann Lee.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghUKSNxfkHvR5kx-zTLZGg-Unfv7SbbmNrTe9pzXL34zkt7Pz0llkVwd1fxmDJwBKTiEVoULuL2gP9J-wUAln6WL1_H4WmUe9gi8E5ksfVvIpspkfAKrcyV6gUlOhejabk8iVkC3rgHg0/s1600/1816testimoniesmed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghUKSNxfkHvR5kx-zTLZGg-Unfv7SbbmNrTe9pzXL34zkt7Pz0llkVwd1fxmDJwBKTiEVoULuL2gP9J-wUAln6WL1_H4WmUe9gi8E5ksfVvIpspkfAKrcyV6gUlOhejabk8iVkC3rgHg0/s400/1816testimoniesmed.jpg" width="253" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>1816 Shaker text</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As stated before, the Shakers were known for their simple furniture styles but they were also known for many <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Shaker_inventions" target="_blank">inventions and improvements on existing items</a>. Since they were a closed society they didn't patent anything. It's difficult to verify but some of the items attributed to the Shakers are <a href="http://www.heritageandhistory.com/contents1a/2010/04/wooden-pegs-c47-or-a-clothespin/?doing_wp_cron=1493732584.4459979534149169921875" target="_blank">the one piece clothespin</a>, <a href="https://connecticuthistory.org/shakers-revolutionize-seed-packaging-who-knew/" target="_blank">packaged seeds</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabitha_Babbitt" target="_blank">dentures, and a circular saw.</a> For some reason, there is a <a href="http://www.kyhydropower.com/" target="_blank">hydroelectric power station in Kentucky</a> named after Mother Ann Lee. There was a <a href="https://shakervillageky.org/" target="_blank">Shaker village nearby</a> but it seems strange to me that such a high tech power installation such as this would be named after the leader of an old-time religion.<br />
<br />
The Shakers goal was to create a working Heaven on Earth during what they believed to be the time of the second reign of the Christ spirit while practicing the value of hard work. However, it is ironic their secular contributions such as furniture and labor-saving innovations will be their true legacy and not their Celibate Christian Communism.<br />
The Shaker movement peaked during the Civil War with 6,000 members and dozens of villages. By the 20th century there were only 12 active communities and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbathday_Lake_Shaker_Village" target="_blank">by 2017 there was one community</a> in Maine with 2 members.<a href="http://bustedhalo.com/features/the-last-of-the-shakers" target="_blank">They are still open to converts.</a><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>other sources and additional reading:</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/104479637/" target="_blank">- Cincinnati Enquirer 04/07/1968 article on a man who lived at the village</a> (scroll down to the OCR text)</span><br />
<a href="http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/shakers/about/" style="font-size: small;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-small;">- Ken Burns film on the Shakers</span></a>Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com0Crosby Township, OH, USA39.290750810386974 -84.741132259368939.289214810386973 -84.7436537593689 39.292286810386976 -84.7386107593689tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-54749503490654164912017-04-04T07:00:00.000-04:002017-11-10T11:48:50.945-05:00Review: A Child of the Revolution: William Henry Harrison and His World, 1773-1798A short book review on a biography I read in 2014 of William Henry Harrison on the anniversary of his death in 1841.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14462103" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="A Child of the Revolution: William Henry Harrison and His World, 1773-1798" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1434110866m/14462103.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14462103">A Child of the Revolution: William Henry Harrison and His World, 1773-1798</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/518679">Hendrik Booraem</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/759241746">4 of 5 stars</a>
<br />
<br />
The book's subtitle makes it clear that this is not a full biography of William Henry Harrison. It just covers the first 25 of his 68 years. Most books about Harrison cover his better-documented life after 1798 such as his second military career and/or his later political life through his Trivial Pursuit worthy death in 1841, so this is a nice addition. The author notes that there is scant primary source material on Harrison's early days. Therefore, much of what is in the book is somewhat speculative at times yet Booraem provides ample evidence to support those assumptions.<br />
<br />
What little records there are of Harrison's life before 1798 are obtained from a variety of sources and then compared with Harrison's own accounts written decades later as he was ramping up for a Presidential run. Much like today, folks running for political office like to fluff up the old résumé a bit and cast a better light on some of their more youthful indiscretions. Harrison was no different so we must take his words from the 1830s with some caution as most autobiographical accounts should. For those early gaps, Booraem takes Harrison's words, known events, customs and other evidence of the period and constructs educated theories of some of Harrison's early life and whereabouts. He does a fine job at it.<br />
<br />
Any student of William Henry Harrison's life or the early American Republic should consider this required reading to better understand how the son of a well-off slave owning Anglican Virginian planter who signed the Declaration of Independence can be transformed into an abolitionist, a military man, and a politician.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/759241746">View all my reviews</a>
Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-28063380917774939192017-03-17T07:00:00.006-04:002023-07-15T13:56:09.526-04:00Presidential Profile Wax<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_PyR6cK1SQQ/WMvatKGdENI/AAAAAAABUKs/VbwEp6H2ZwwS3bdr0R6Mx3m6oKYypC9qgCPcB/s1600/IMG_4346.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_PyR6cK1SQQ/WMvatKGdENI/AAAAAAABUKs/VbwEp6H2ZwwS3bdr0R6Mx3m6oKYypC9qgCPcB/s320/IMG_4346.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Ohio Irish Five</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Did you know that <a href="http://gotireland.com/2012/03/05/irish-american-presidents/" target="_blank">22 U.S. Presidents had Irish roots?</a> Five of them were from Ohio! More than any other state. I know what you are thinking though. You see Ben Harrison to the left and are wondering why William Henry isn't there. <a href="http://en.rodovid.org/wk/Person:82438" target="_blank">Ben was Irish on his Mothers side</a>.<br />
This concludes the Irish portion of the post. Feel free to use this trivia at your St. Patrick's Day shindig tonight.<br />
<br />
Last Summer I became aware of a collection of 35 “Presidential Profiles” 7-inch vinyl 33 1/3 RPM records from 1966 that were released with their very own coin! This was very exciting.<br />
Each one commemorates President’s Washington through Lyndon Johnson. Johnson was POTUS #36 but non-consecutive Grover Cleveland was included once. As he should be.<br />
Being a fan of oddball Presidential items, I managed to score a set (minus the original medallions) for the low low price of $22.49. That was a pretty good buy since a single record seemed to be selling anywhere from $5 to $25. The pricier ones were usually sealed and contained the 1.25-inch high relief bronze medallion. Each coin has a profile of the President on the obverse and an eagle and the words “Presidential Commemorative Medallion” on the reverse. Still yearning for a sampling of the coins I found a lot of 12 being sold separately for $10.95. That would have to do. So $33 bucks overall and some change still wasn't bad.<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For as many of these I found on <a href="http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=%22presidential+profiles%22+ebay&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.X%22presidential+profiles%22+baker.TRS0&_nkw=%22presidential+profiles%22+baker&_sacat=0" target="_blank">eBay</a>, there was very little information found online about them but I did manage to dig up some details.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp8FzaxcesLb7gSlKF9zq4gKpQqY8-EyRWIBtrxA1W1_gMswSg0eXi6SwYgPSz4joCWMfyBB3j3nKXEPqbcPiWK03RVCc0cWJ5u_U1BzeFwZIJUTB-8ELd088SE7e7kqw14OtqmK27aOE/s1600/IMG_0862.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp8FzaxcesLb7gSlKF9zq4gKpQqY8-EyRWIBtrxA1W1_gMswSg0eXi6SwYgPSz4joCWMfyBB3j3nKXEPqbcPiWK03RVCc0cWJ5u_U1BzeFwZIJUTB-8ELd088SE7e7kqw14OtqmK27aOE/s320/IMG_0862.jpg" width="245" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">William Henry Harrison reverse</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These were given out to children as promotional items by savings and loan banks. I guess this was to get kids interested in opening savings accounts and making going to the bank with their parents exciting by studying Presidential history. It's hard to believe this didn't catch fire. <i>"Get the new Beatles record or go to the bank with Mom?...hmmm"</i><br />
<br />
The recently martyred Kennedy kicked off the series in April 1966 and then it's random batches, Jackson, B Harrison, Jefferson, JQ Adams, Grant, Tyler, etc. I suppose the <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=lUAhAQAAIAAJ&lpg=RA2-PA30&ots=Qk7yTdua3V&dq=Catalog%20of%20Copyright%20Entries%20%22presidential%20profiles%22&pg=RA2-PA30#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">release order</a> was chosen to prevent a run on the "big" Presidents like Washington, Adams, Jefferson, etc. and then have a drop off for more obscure Presidents like Harrison, Tyler, Polk, etc. This went on until ending with the current LBJ in July 1966.<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The records were released by a company named <a href="https://www.discogs.com/label/261316-Kaysons-International-Ltd" target="_blank">Kayson’s International Ltd</a>. I can’t find much info on Kaysons but they seemed to be a Japanese based company that also sold china in the 1960s. This may have been the company's only foray into record distribution as I don’t see any other titles with their label other than this series.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The material itself was written by <a href="http://www.independent.com/obits/2014/apr/01/walter-charles-dallenbach/" target="_blank">Walter C. Dallenbach (1937-2014)</a> who later became the Southern California Press Secretary for Senator Eugene McCarthy in his '68 Presidential Campaign. He eventually broke into Hollywood and wrote scripts for hit shows such as Adam-12, Rockford Files, Law and Order. Based on the time-line, this stuff was probably some of Walter's first script writing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR_BwobXkoZodYb7Qje5TR9wEO4oaYl0dhthhDwJrIIeZhgp6zKaJCz6sKiinG0A0TKbfKGgQHXJlCsKLDNjbUI7FZQry9YnD5_ni4wzUY2B5Ljp9KVVZ1kDqPu7zID0H8h9A3FOBXfcY/s1600/PP+12a+medallions.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR_BwobXkoZodYb7Qje5TR9wEO4oaYl0dhthhDwJrIIeZhgp6zKaJCz6sKiinG0A0TKbfKGgQHXJlCsKLDNjbUI7FZQry9YnD5_ni4wzUY2B5Ljp9KVVZ1kDqPu7zID0H8h9A3FOBXfcY/s320/PP+12a+medallions.jpg" width="231" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">bronze coins included with each record</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The narration was done by the then well-known <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Baker_(actor)" target="_blank">Art Baker (1898-1966)</a> who appeared in over 40 films but was best remembered as the host of the 1950s television program "You Asked for It". It looks like Art died the year they were released making this his swan song.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The foldout sleeve includes important dates in the president’s life and while in office. Each record had an original color portrait of the President painted by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynold_Brown" target="_blank">Reynold Brown (1917-1991)</a>. Mr. Brown produced US Government posters during WWII and over <a href="http://www.americanartarchives.com/brown,reynold.htm" target="_blank">250 movie posters between1951 and 1970</a> such as Mutiny on the Bounty and Creature from the Black Lagoon. When you look at the posters you can definitely see that influence and style. <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10JR2r2azhdyafwu2JHFYBNYPPSj1Vyif?usp=drive_link" target="_blank">Have a look at them all here</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had to borrow a turntable to listen to them so I went ahead and converted them to MP3s while I did that. Now <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1STeAWhpt3dM81g-4eQyKBfzF3YSGzVp_?usp=drive_link" target="_blank">you can listen to them too</a>! I wish I kept better notes along the way but hearing them was like stepping back in time to those old grade school documentaries. Overall the audio style was very atypical of their period with the lordly narration and corny music. I didn't denote any political bias of any particular President. One thing I jotted down in a scribbled note was the complete lack of any mention of Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal policy. Not a word.<br />
Each track follows the same pattern where we eventually hear, as the subtitle suggests, each president "speak". Other than Art's narration no one is credited for the other voice work and we don't hear the actual President's voice until Hoover. The first President to be recorded was in fact Benjamin Harrison in 1889. I imagine there wasn't enough material or good quality material until the 1920s.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj72kgY9rAZ-gjUh-FIF3Wu9WxoWNbqn-ZrquV-0sEkeymKUWqIZ0h7HxDTszPFRzXrL6jCaEwUqVNEGA4HWNbPo1LX0NJ5pvrgSYBPwRJB2dwR_yv-xAgb0fLoMCs61RB0Deg0xm6ql-E/s1600/PP+Vol1a.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj72kgY9rAZ-gjUh-FIF3Wu9WxoWNbqn-ZrquV-0sEkeymKUWqIZ0h7HxDTszPFRzXrL6jCaEwUqVNEGA4HWNbPo1LX0NJ5pvrgSYBPwRJB2dwR_yv-xAgb0fLoMCs61RB0Deg0xm6ql-E/s320/PP+Vol1a.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1975 Bicentennial LP re-issue</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There are a few mistakes in the liner notes. Again with Jackson, he was "Old Hickory" not "Old Rough and Ready", which was Zachary Taylor. Andrew Johnson is listed as a Republican. While Johnson was the VP for Republican Lincoln, Johnson was a Democrat. This was a choice to help ease tension with the South. That seemed like a pretty big mistake on both counts.<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In researching I learned that the records were repackaged in 1975 as twelve LPs or cassettes (with no medallions) for the upcoming US 1776 Bicentennial with the tagline "American Revolution Bicentennial 1776-1976". Featured prominently on the originals, there is no mention of Art Baker on the 1975 LPs. That made me kind of sad to discover but I suppose they didn't want these 10-year-old records to seem so dated for a new generation. Kids must have wondered what happened to Nixon and Ford.<o:p></o:p><br />
This was a fun little project. I always enjoy seeing how history was portrayed in other time periods. As I mentioned before, it was interesting that Jackson's Indian Removal policy was not mentioned in his legacy. This was 1966 after all. While some controversies were noted, these biographies do read, or rather listen, a bit like the safe naiveté of a pasteurized 1950s era textbook.<br />
In case you missed the links above, listen to the MP3s <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1STeAWhpt3dM81g-4eQyKBfzF3YSGzVp_?usp=drive_link" target="_blank">here</a> and view the full gallery <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10JR2r2azhdyafwu2JHFYBNYPPSj1Vyif?usp=drive_link" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-50690572610221214982017-02-18T09:54:00.000-05:002017-11-10T11:51:26.395-05:00Review: A History of Jonathan Alder: His Captivity and Life with the Indians<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3085475" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="A History of Jonathan Alder: His Captivity and Life with the Indians" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1344609306m/3085475.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3085475">A History of Jonathan Alder: His Captivity and Life with the Indians</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/221880">Larry Nelson</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1839343765">5 of 5 stars</a>
<br />
<br />
I can't believe I just got around to reading this book that I've seen sourced in other history books many times. I've read a few other captivity narratives but this one is right up my alley in that it mostly happened in Madison County Ohio near Columbus. In fact, when I was in the middle of reading it, I happened to be off work for Christmas break so I took advantage of that timing and combined my hobby of geocaching and made the 90-minute drive to visit some of the places mentioned, including Alder's 210-year-old cabin and final resting place. It's always great when history becomes a hands-on experience.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TJKalr6Eijw/WGfI4i4WbFI/AAAAAAABSzQ/YJ4qjvlSMIAHO1ufe67n0As4uYUfhBbsACPcB/s1600/IMG_4008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TJKalr6Eijw/WGfI4i4WbFI/AAAAAAABSzQ/YJ4qjvlSMIAHO1ufe67n0As4uYUfhBbsACPcB/s320/IMG_4008.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Alder's 1806 cabin in Madison County</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Since Indians in that period had no written language we have to rely on what was told to Europeans and Americans regarding day to day life. Many times that is filtered through misinterpretation, misunderstandings, or prejudice. Alder was captured by Shawnee in Virginia and adopted by Mingo at eight years of age in 1781. He assimilated and was treated well so I think we get a pretty accurate look at his experiences, good and bad. Nelson's version denotes other versions and additions of the story by others in an italic font to what the author believes is the truest account of Alder's life. The actual story of Alder's story is a bit complicated and the author explains this in the introduction.<br />
<br />
Alder voluntarily left his adopted Mingo family in 1805 as white settlers arrived after the Treaty of Greenville. He reunited with his birth family in Virginia and returned to Ohio with them and his new wife 1806. He served as a Captain in the War of 1812. After the war, he became a farmer and befriended the famous pioneer Simon Kenton. Alder lived out his days in Madison County Ohio until his death in 1849.<br />
<br />
We learn so much about regular life as an Indian in Ohio in the early 19th century from Alder's excellent narrative. Nelson also provides additional footnotes throughout the story that details further what Alder was referring to at times or what he meant when in the vernacular. Definitely, do not skip out on those notes if you get this version of the book.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ASkipDRw1fc/WGfI4rSRXlI/AAAAAAABSzQ/0pcNLY4BUw4IbeypX92IFxuQjdqj8AkfQCPcB/s1600/IMG_3992.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ASkipDRw1fc/WGfI4rSRXlI/AAAAAAABSzQ/0pcNLY4BUw4IbeypX92IFxuQjdqj8AkfQCPcB/s320/IMG_3992.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Alder's grave in Madison County</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
All in all, this is a very easy read and should be required reading for any student of the history of the early United States and the old Northwest Territory.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1839343765">View all my reviews</a>
Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com0London, OH 43140, USA39.8864493 -83.448252939.788983300000005 -83.6096144 39.9839153 -83.2868914tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-43609870354354615362017-01-01T13:09:00.000-05:002017-11-10T12:07:35.682-05:00Review: Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman: Portrait of an American Hero<div>
As previously stated, I've decided to post some of my short <a href="http://goodreads.com/" target="_blank">Goodreads</a> reviews of 4 or 5-star history books I've read over the last several years. Why? Well for one the work is half done and I don't have to edit them that much. Also, it's a good way to showcase how captivating history can be by praising great history authors and their books.<br />
<br />
The first post of 2017 has nothing to do with Ohio history although Ohio played a vital role in the Underground Railroad and the abolitionist movement during the 19th century.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12355130" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman: Portrait of an American Hero" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1461171480m/12355130.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12355130">Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman: Portrait of an American Hero</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1232441">Kate Clifford Larson</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1620332946">4 of 5 stars</a><br />
<br />
I decided to read this book in May 2016 when it was announced that Harriet Tubman's likeness would share the $20 bill with Andrew Jackson. I really didn't know much about her other than the typical abolition stories most of us get from a grade school history class.<br />
<br />
Much of Harriet's story had only been told orally by Tubman and exaggerated by others over the years. Thus, the book is peppered with speculative adverbs such as maybe, possibly, perhaps, etc. I find this to be understandable since Tubman was illiterate, and Larson backs her assertions up with other writers words and letters along with other good source material to fill out the narrative. The author also debunks some of the long-held beliefs such as putting her number of trips at 13 and 70 slaves feed vs 19 trips and 300 slaves freed. An amazing feat nonetheless. I feel this is a truthful, captivating, and well-written biography, but it's much more than that. It's a story told in context.<br />
Kate Clifford Larson fills in some of the gaps in Harriet's story with explanations of how the class and social system operated in 19th century America. This is crucial in order to understand how enslaved people were able to move about and operate on the Underground Railroad undetected. I think most of us envision the plantation system in the deep South, like <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075572/" target="_blank">Roots</a>. But in Maryland, slaves could be hired out to work on other farms and were even allowed to visit extended family unsupervised for periods of time. Slaves were even permitted to marry free blacks. This wasn't done out of sheer kindness. The children of a slave/freeman marriage still belonged to the slave master. This act was more or less an investment. They knew that if a slave had a strong extended family, they were less likely to run away. If slaves caused trouble, they might be sold to a much crueler master in the deep South away from their family.<br />
As if the moral problems of legal slavery were not bad enough, some slave owners cheated the system as they saw their livelihood slowly disappearing. As abolitionists made progress with Americans on the idea of emancipation, at a certain point selling your own slaves in Northern states became illegal. Instead of freeing or manumitting them at a certain age as the law dictated, some masters would simply sell them to illegal Southern slave dealers and claim they ran away. It was rare for a slave owner to be prosecuted for this.<br />
<br />
It is unfortunate that despite Tubman's heroic accomplishments assisting slaves to freedom and later working for the Union Army, she was still quite poor and struggled in her final days and even dismissed by others after her death due to her race and social status. Tubman was a brave courageous woman who did much to help make this country truly "equal". One of America's greatest sins was kicking the can of slavery down the road until finally the lives 600,000 Americans would be sacrificed to end that system.<br />
<br />
From what I've read about Jackson, he wouldn't like this one bit, but being famously anti-bank, one wonders how he made it on the $20 bill himself. In fact, you likely would have to get into the second half of the 20th century before you would find a US President who would have been OK with this. Maybe Kennedy, but not with the Jim Crow South in the 1960s. Times and attitudes change and I'll be glad to see Tubman on the $20 bill, even if it is over 100 years after her death.<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1620332946">View all my reviews</a></div>
Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com0Dorchester County, MD, USA38.4152819 -76.178373937.6186684 -77.469267399999993 39.211895399999996 -74.8874804tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-89865204694968831882016-12-10T16:38:00.000-05:002017-11-10T12:10:45.535-05:00Shuller's Wigwam<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicwu9bRAIEQCTNitcF4iUtwgIc3Kyo8wtNV4aRCXjUnsnUgSijWEg6EE1LLLENUn539uP3LFz8UcgDF0HOY0f0IK5LzpmK_0h423CT3AubaalMFvdX9CXv9FAx7cKI7cWjn85twnymOAs/s1600/logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicwu9bRAIEQCTNitcF4iUtwgIc3Kyo8wtNV4aRCXjUnsnUgSijWEg6EE1LLLENUn539uP3LFz8UcgDF0HOY0f0IK5LzpmK_0h423CT3AubaalMFvdX9CXv9FAx7cKI7cWjn85twnymOAs/s200/logo.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<b>Shuller's Wigwam</b> (originally called Shuller's Restaurant) was on the NE corner of Hamilton Avenue and North Bend Road in Cincinnati for 78 years from 1922-2000. Max Shuller, a Russian immigrant started the place in 1922 after a few years of selling food from a cart in Downtown Cincinnati.<br />
<br />
People from the area have fond memories of the popular <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_Hill,_Cincinnati" target="_blank">College Hill</a> eatery and I found many articles but I was hard-pressed to find many good photos of Shuller's online.<br />
<br />
<br />
I have a couple of memories of my own.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aItajsVduvI/WCzh3qc7XmI/AAAAAAABQ6E/LzvViE0l9kIu03hN5PPvmnA-CW3otJhiACPcB/s1600/interior.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aItajsVduvI/WCzh3qc7XmI/AAAAAAABQ6E/LzvViE0l9kIu03hN5PPvmnA-CW3otJhiACPcB/s320/interior.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>inside the Wigwam</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I was very late to the scene but I remember bringing a date here in the mid-1980s as it was the fanciest place I could afford. I kind of wonder now how I even found the place as it was a pretty good distance from West Chester. At age 20 I wasn't hip to nice restaurants so I recall when they brought out the dessert tray, I picked something different than my date because I thought we were limited to the ones on the tray. We had a good laugh about that one. I don't recall thinking of this as an old place at the time.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
In the late 1990s, I moved to the area and came here again a couple of times with family toward the end of Shuller's run. This time, 14 years later, I thought of it as very old-timey with dim lighting, dark wood, and Naugahyde seats. Almost museum-like. Something you just didn't see anymore. They had photos and newspaper clippings on the lobby walls from its golden era. At that point, it really seemed like a relic but the food was still pretty good. I was sad when I learned it was closing. One of my cousins visited again a few years later and asked if we could go back but it was closed by then.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaKGJRM4z97t5maesc7PKWES6ckg21Bi1vJTBh6nIo1qj-I5ZgdF7vCRZV6wKzjX_w8COwNE_HZWkjedkjHT1t0blGe1_l-Mhz5D02-qcZAv3eajMNpzdyLJhpPlg5ammEkMP71w_vwQw/s1600/lounge+1960s+Leo+Shuller+at+the+table.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaKGJRM4z97t5maesc7PKWES6ckg21Bi1vJTBh6nIo1qj-I5ZgdF7vCRZV6wKzjX_w8COwNE_HZWkjedkjHT1t0blGe1_l-Mhz5D02-qcZAv3eajMNpzdyLJhpPlg5ammEkMP71w_vwQw/s320/lounge+1960s+Leo+Shuller+at+the+table.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Max's son <a href="http://www.trihealth.com/hospitals-and-practices/trihealth-fitness-and-health-pavilion/success-stories/Leo-Shuller/" target="_blank">Leo Shuller</a> at the table in the 1960s lounge</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Unfortunately, no one from the Shuller family wanted to take over the business in part due to dwindling crowds, aging clientèle, and new competition. The restaurant closed in 2000 and the building was razed in 2006. Mixed-use development of the property was promised then but fell through but brand new re-development is underway once again by the <a href="http://chcurc.com/" target="_blank">College Hill Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation</a>. By this time next year, there should be new mixed-use buildings at this intersection. It's nice to see this area start to spring back after a period of decline.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UhvZxvftDjs/WCzh3nmrwcI/AAAAAAABQ5w/l0ibXrCoZqsQu9oc-U8syWeAdWndg4jFgCPcB/s1600/shullers%2B1920s-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UhvZxvftDjs/WCzh3nmrwcI/AAAAAAABQ5w/l0ibXrCoZqsQu9oc-U8syWeAdWndg4jFgCPcB/s320/shullers%2B1920s-001.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>1920s pre-wigwam original</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>So back to the Wigwam...</b>and what's with the "wigwam" anyway?<br />
The original 1922 building was added on to in 1932. The addition was shaped like a tee-pee and customers thought it looked like a wigwam, so it became Shuller's Wigwam and they just ran with the pseudo-American Indian theme. I wasn't able to locate any pictures of the tee-pee shaped building. There was <a href="http://www.cincinnativiews.net/roadside.htm" target="_blank">another Shuller's Restaurant (and motel) on Reading Road</a> in Roselawn in the 1940s. It's possible folks started calling the one on Hamilton Avenue "wigwam" to differentiate between the two. As I understand it, the owners were cousins but the businesses were unaffiliated. If anyone has more info on that, please contact me.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2zaNJ1l93WQ/WCzh3jCE9-I/AAAAAAABQ5w/_7QI5TwQ2s073YdBtMSUk3OHLdoIOxRBACPcB/s1600/shullers%2Bin%2B1954.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="163" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2zaNJ1l93WQ/WCzh3jCE9-I/AAAAAAABQ5w/_7QI5TwQ2s073YdBtMSUk3OHLdoIOxRBACPcB/s320/shullers%2Bin%2B1954.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>1954 un-wigwam like remodel</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The tee-pee shaped addition and the original building was torn down in 1954 and a larger more modern looking restaurant was built which looked nothing like a wigwam but the name stayed put. Up until the 1970s, the sign out front had a wigwam shape, but again, I couldn't find any photos online.<br />
Inside, from 1954 to 1980 there were several Indian Village murals on the walls that were painted by a woman named Ruth Listerman. It's too bad these weren't preserved somehow. I was able to locate one photo with one in the background.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NUKusa-tsss/WCzh3sOkd4I/AAAAAAABQ68/XfTdsb_Svc8ppRW-zlX83SG_a9QcK-TMgCPcB/s1600/dining%2Broom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NUKusa-tsss/WCzh3sOkd4I/AAAAAAABQ68/XfTdsb_Svc8ppRW-zlX83SG_a9QcK-TMgCPcB/s320/dining%2Broom.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><i>interior view with one of</i><br />
<i>Listerman's Indian murals visible</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
In keeping with the theme, the menu at one point featured items such as the <i>Mohican French-fried Seafood Platter Deluxe</i> and the <i>12-ounce Squaw Steak Special</i>. On the kid's menu, there was PB&J on Toast called a <i>Pocahontas</i>. Oh, and there is a <i>Fire Water</i> cocktail menu for the grownups. The names of these items would certainly raise an eyebrow these days.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-olfDG6SvF7c/WCzh3kRlI7I/AAAAAAABQ8g/HVvlJvgZm9skqnRPDKavpjH1piXZUZWPACPcB/s1600/MAR14_Menus_Wigwam_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="484" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-olfDG6SvF7c/WCzh3kRlI7I/AAAAAAABQ8g/HVvlJvgZm9skqnRPDKavpjH1piXZUZWPACPcB/s640/MAR14_Menus_Wigwam_2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>I wish I had a better photo of the menu, but you get the idea</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
History must be viewed in context. This, as they say, was a different time...and times change. I'm sure they considered it as an homage in the by-gone days of radio, movie and TV Westerns.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x8LyIhMyy6o/WC3NHSNEKOI/AAAAAAABQ9A/Ua3vptKBiqwyZAdw3QCn2i_f6_FfZD5YQCPcB/s1600/1940s%2Bplate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x8LyIhMyy6o/WC3NHSNEKOI/AAAAAAABQ9A/Ua3vptKBiqwyZAdw3QCn2i_f6_FfZD5YQCPcB/s320/1940s%2Bplate.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>1940s <a href="http://www.bedfordohiohistory.org/build/walker.php" target="_blank">Bailey-Walker China</a>, made in Bedford, OH</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Other menu choices from days of old rarely seen today included liver and onions, turkey croquettes, herring salad and hot slaw with bacon. Aside from eating liver as a kid, I've never eaten any of those things but I must say that the hot slaw with bacon sounds pretty good. <a href="http://abouteating.com/cole-slaw-recipe/" target="_blank">Here is the real deal recipe</a> straight from Leo Shuller himself if you want to try it out.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YBcUEYD6Tlc/WCzh3op86NI/AAAAAAABQ8w/_okIsb94Pbg1aTnzlEDqy9r6GDDtfi9GQCPcB/s1600/reagan%2Bat%2Bshullers%2B1950s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YBcUEYD6Tlc/WCzh3op86NI/AAAAAAABQ8w/_okIsb94Pbg1aTnzlEDqy9r6GDDtfi9GQCPcB/s320/reagan%2Bat%2Bshullers%2B1950s.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Reagan and a fan at Shuller's</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Many celebrities such as Perry Como, William Holden, Woody Hayes, Doris Day, Edie Adams, and Foster Brooks came to dine at Shuller's during its glory days. Actor and future US President <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan" target="_blank">Ronald Reagan</a> visited when he was in town with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Electric_Theater" target="_blank">General Electric Theatre</a>.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--8ej_0y4ihI/WC4lsZeoptI/AAAAAAABQ_o/cBEE44krTm0p1v1FkG6vUIgnUsweH4bcwCPcB/s1600/010_JeanshepherdSchullers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--8ej_0y4ihI/WC4lsZeoptI/AAAAAAABQ_o/cBEE44krTm0p1v1FkG6vUIgnUsweH4bcwCPcB/s320/010_JeanshepherdSchullers.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Jean Shepard broadcasting from Shuller's</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
From 1950-1954 <a href="http://www.keyflux.com/shep/" target="_blank">Jean Shepard</a>, co-author and "adult Ralphie" narrator of the 1983 movie <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Story" target="_blank">A Christmas Story</a>, was a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WSAI" target="_blank">WSAI </a>disc jockey and did shows from the restaurant.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m8VX68GLQic/WC3WB94zMvI/AAAAAAABQ-U/DN_TymtyvGMcsZiYOXchRi1DpiWQtYE4ACPcB/s1600/IMG_3607.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m8VX68GLQic/WC3WB94zMvI/AAAAAAABQ-U/DN_TymtyvGMcsZiYOXchRi1DpiWQtYE4ACPcB/s320/IMG_3607.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>matchbooks through the ages</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9rk70ctqlr-3sttwo0DFtF99I6y9Y42YftKqVzzxE2FMat7IOWC9-D_aYoHYt1OqkxCK7shIXpIhzcq4ATBWFV0LmfXxcduvrsLotM3-SF2RymWSrr_RmhJG_oIRDY-AW9ynQHuqC4gU/s1600/springer+at+shullers+1980s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9rk70ctqlr-3sttwo0DFtF99I6y9Y42YftKqVzzxE2FMat7IOWC9-D_aYoHYt1OqkxCK7shIXpIhzcq4ATBWFV0LmfXxcduvrsLotM3-SF2RymWSrr_RmhJG_oIRDY-AW9ynQHuqC4gU/s320/springer+at+shullers+1980s.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Jer-ry, Jer-ry!</i><br />
<i>(<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Shreve" target="_blank">Bob Shreve</a> to his left & #13 on the podium)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Now here is the oddball stuff I like...</b><br />
Every January beginning in 1980 and lasting for about seven years, a shindig was held by <b>The Chopped Liver and Wine Society</b> in celebration of the mediocrity of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millard_Fillmore" target="_blank">13th President Millard Fillmore</a>. They called themselves <i>Fillmorons</i>. Fillmore was from Buffalo, New York. The only President from Cincinnati was mediocre William Howard Taft but I guess they didn't want to offend the prominent Taft family. Also, you don't get to have that funny nickname. The first event was emceed by former Cincinnati Mayor, Channel 5 anchor, and future tabloid talk show host <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Springer" target="_blank">Jerry Springer</a>. It figures.<br />
<br />
If anyone has a photo of the actual namesake wigwam building or the sign outside, I'd love to see them! I've already scoured the internet. <a href="http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=%22shullers+wigwam%22&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.X%22shuller%27s+wigwam%22.TRS0&_nkw=%22shuller%27s+wigwam%22&_sacat=0" target="_blank">eBay </a>seems to always have some nice matchbooks from the restaurant's different eras. Also, if you are a <a href="https://www.geocaching.com/" target="_blank">geocacher</a>, I <a href="https://coord.info/GC6T40A" target="_blank">placed a cache</a> on the property in September 2016.<br />
<br />
UPDATE 6/26/2017: Ken Shuller contacted me and provide a couple of old photos. One is the "wigwam" building and another is the neon sign from the 70s.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxeEYnYn4018TBXmZh9wsAkLUgoyBy4T9i81Tf2VEA71P8MVUHaYgJKlddPCeuNCI4MegljFG2BznAsD8RWycqTJPHenrlXpufucsfl3oLxfuh0pxD0bY3J_Gr2yU320T1HDuuNlHPiDM/s1600/20882402_10210178343710157_6483739496827589052_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="382" data-original-width="450" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxeEYnYn4018TBXmZh9wsAkLUgoyBy4T9i81Tf2VEA71P8MVUHaYgJKlddPCeuNCI4MegljFG2BznAsD8RWycqTJPHenrlXpufucsfl3oLxfuh0pxD0bY3J_Gr2yU320T1HDuuNlHPiDM/s320/20882402_10210178343710157_6483739496827589052_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi55IUQwp6JaCmDzAq592we74J8tPcBnLoWLguXT8DiXFYA30xKhLi137H-_b16X8jTL370-lMKlSodqpdMlxwnBc_FYqA5Z6Iix-VQDPWp-YnODBbL9jXJD2IMthwOK064okGoEJUMvrs/s1600/wigwam+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgan8FMVTWJ8YOctW4k3T1zPsCbTmzwP0PW8UpLIqOsvCzYXeMo4he9FryieAwFyXZAlmroxno4rCMOZgZF3khSmKgXIRt7JGl4GARqI-SsIbcT5hDUKuWXXGL8FuDqi-MuazEe7fPN7g/s1600/shulllers+sign+cropped+%25281%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="208" data-original-width="161" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgan8FMVTWJ8YOctW4k3T1zPsCbTmzwP0PW8UpLIqOsvCzYXeMo4he9FryieAwFyXZAlmroxno4rCMOZgZF3khSmKgXIRt7JGl4GARqI-SsIbcT5hDUKuWXXGL8FuDqi-MuazEe7fPN7g/s320/shulllers+sign+cropped+%25281%2529.png" width="247" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l1zUH2o7pBg/WCzrFccP9PI/AAAAAAABQ7g/hiP9sKT4WJwU5ryOiiux_K2EqFnzgMx-ACPcB/s1600/1950%2Bad.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-l1zUH2o7pBg/WCzrFccP9PI/AAAAAAABQ7g/hiP9sKT4WJwU5ryOiiux_K2EqFnzgMx-ACPcB/s200/1950%2Bad.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>newspaper ad from 1950</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><br /></i></span></span> <span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>sources:</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">- <a href="http://www.selfcraft.net/Hannaford/a_little.htm" target="_blank">A Little Piece of Paradise - College Hill, Ohio</a> by Betty Ann Smiddy</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">- </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://amzn.to/2f1T2pC" target="_blank">College Hill - Images of America</a> By Gail Deibler Finke</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">- </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://amzn.to/2fGKd6f" target="_blank">Historic Restaurants of Cincinnati: The Queen City's Tasty History</a> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">By Dann Woellert</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">- <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/Old.Cincinnati/" target="_blank">Old Photos of Cincinnati</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">- <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/100424118/" target="_blank">Cincinnati Enquirer January 2, 1982</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">- </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=MusCAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA93&dq=wigwam&pg=PA93#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">Cincinnati Magazine July 1990</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">- </span><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=RB4DAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA18&dq=wigwam&pg=PA18#v=onepage&q&f=false" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Cincinnati Magazine May 1987</a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">- <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=RB4DAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA18&dq=wigwam&pg=PA18#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">Cincinnati Magazine March 1980</a></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaKGJRM4z97t5maesc7PKWES6ckg21Bi1vJTBh6nIo1qj-I5ZgdF7vCRZV6wKzjX_w8COwNE_HZWkjedkjHT1t0blGe1_l-Mhz5D02-qcZAv3eajMNpzdyLJhpPlg5ammEkMP71w_vwQw/s1600/lounge+1960s+Leo+Shuller+at+the+table.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com96210 Hamilton Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45224, USA39.203705 -84.54689300000001113.6816705 -125.85548700000001 64.7257395 -43.238299000000012tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-359992699658540462016-11-04T08:00:00.000-04:002017-11-10T12:11:30.319-05:00Review: The Victory with No Name: The Native American Defeat of the First American ArmyI've decided to post some of my short Goodreads reviews of 4 or 5-star history books I've read over the last several years. I finished this book in November 2014. This seemed like a good one to start with as you will see why...<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21874485" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Victory with No Name: The Native American Defeat of the First American Army" border="0" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1400878647m/21874485.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21874485">The Victory with No Name: The Native American Defeat of the First American Army</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/97523">Colin G. Calloway</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1070288858">5 of 5 stars</a>
<br />
<br />
I was excited to see a new book on one of my favorite periods of US history. I've read many accounts of this battle and events which were included in other books, as well as "Wabash 1791: St Clair's defeat" by John Winkler that came out in 2012. Both are fantastic and worthy reads on this overlooked era of American expansionism but I feel that Colin G. Calloway's book captures a better understanding of the political and societal background issues in the US at that time while Winkler's 2012 book delves more into the details of the military campaign itself which in my opinion is correctly identified by Calloway as an "American Invasion".<br />
<br />
On a personal note, I thought it was interesting that I decided to read and then finish this book exactly 223 years to the day of St. Clair's Defeat on November 4th, 1791. I also just now realized the first book I read on the Shawnee was Calloway's "The Shawnees and the War for America" four years ago. I guess I will be checking out more of his books!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1070288858">View all my reviews</a>
Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com0Fort Recovery, OH 45846, USA40.4128241 -84.776351140.3886436 -84.8166916 40.4370046 -84.7360106tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6123420418950834915.post-64925464033519438542016-10-01T09:00:00.000-04:002017-11-10T12:12:52.831-05:0019th Century Booze News You Can Use<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v1g_dH-eXag/TfJ9aqOrRPI/AAAAAAAAFlo/01RVcG5JTdc/s1600/0319111636.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v1g_dH-eXag/TfJ9aqOrRPI/AAAAAAAAFlo/01RVcG5JTdc/s320/0319111636.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><i>WHH never slept here</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the election of 1840, Democrat incumbent President Martin Van Buren and his re-election team attempted to smear his Whig opponent William Henry Harrison by portraying him as a hard cider drunk and a hayseed. It didn't matter that WHH was once a US Ambassador, US Congressman (both kinds), Governor of the Indiana Territory, Secretary of Northwest Territory, a US Army General and a celebrated war hero. He had an impressive resume, was college educated, and came from a wealthy family just like Van Buren and most politicians of that era. I'm not entirely sure what Harrison’s drinking habits were as a younger man. Most men back then drank quite a bit. Supposedly he was a teetotaler later in life.<br />
<br />
<b><i>What Would WHH Do?</i></b><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6tPlyH1O2jQ/VeMmBJLcFfI/AAAAAAAA-Qc/b5mmwc7xymoiXlI1MKpsIof_CM3O11k2gCPcB/s1600/IMG_3219.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6tPlyH1O2jQ/VeMmBJLcFfI/AAAAAAAA-Qc/b5mmwc7xymoiXlI1MKpsIof_CM3O11k2gCPcB/s200/IMG_3219.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><i>1840 campaign medal</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Harrison's team embraced the attempted slander and adopted a log cabin as his campaign symbol, the symbol of frontier rustic-ness, and portrayed himself as a regular "Jebidiah the Blacksmith" every-man who enjoyed his Bud Light, I mean hard cider. This tactic was no different than politicians now that put on those plaid shirts for the camera and walk around a farm with their family or don a hard hat and shake hands with factory workers to connect with the common man. It's all political spin and 1840 was no different. Ironically this populist strategy is also what got former War of 1812 General and war hero Andrew Jackson elected as the 7th US President when he ran against incumbent John Quincy Adams. It was Henry Clay's Democratic-Republicans opposition to Jackson and his policies that gave birth to the Whig party in 1833.<br />
The truth is, Harrison never once lived in a log cabin. His campaign team, again taking a page from Jackson, accented the old General's War of 1812 war hero status by coming up with the very first presidential campaign slogan and song "<a href="http://gehio.blogspot.com/2013/02/tippecanoe-and-trivial-pursuit-too.html" target="_blank">Tippecanoe and Tyler Too</a>" emphasizing his win at the <a href="http://gehio.blogspot.com/2011/11/straight-outta-tippecanoe.html" target="_blank">Battle of Tippecanoe</a>. The Log Cabin and Hard Cider Campaign was on, complete with cups, plates, flags, and sewing boxes made with his image on them.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9IMus3PMNFlIaWkiPXXZNyogoY7VVIJY8jFtW4ouw-T-1c8WmJNAz4yGY-sOSlSQTD8bKWwlfNiMlqQSAnkk598yCDNRo4_JILcKWjWIS-roLUQMBBCCxhvGXqpfBPVdUSwgeH3XTl80/s1600/booz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9IMus3PMNFlIaWkiPXXZNyogoY7VVIJY8jFtW4ouw-T-1c8WmJNAz4yGY-sOSlSQTD8bKWwlfNiMlqQSAnkk598yCDNRo4_JILcKWjWIS-roLUQMBBCCxhvGXqpfBPVdUSwgeH3XTl80/s200/booz.jpg" width="157" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><i>Booz...but not from the 1840s</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b><i>Back to the booze...</i></b><br />
<br />
Now it is known that there were variants of the word “booze” associated with drunkenness going back to the <a href="http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/08/origin-of-the-term-booze/" target="_blank">14th-century Dutch word “búsen”</a> and even in early America, adjectives such as “<a href="http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/comments/booze/" target="_blank">boosy</a>” meant "drunk". It has been said that Harrison's Presidential campaign popularized the term again in 1840. It's serendipitous to note that Martin Van Buren was of Dutch ancestry and spoke Dutch as his first language. He later learned English in school.<br />
<br />
As the legend goes on to say, WHH commissioned the E.G. Booz Distillery (erroneously listed as E.C. Booz at times) in Philadelphia to make log cabin shaped whiskey bottles with the “Booz” surname featured prominently. Harrison allegedly gave away this free booz(e) at campaign stops to potential voters. I've seen this mentioned in an <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=LK-3AAAAIAAJ&dq=booz%20and%20william%20henry%20harrison&pg=PA3#v=onepage&q=booz%20and%20william%20henry%20harrison&f=false" target="_blank">antique glass bottle book from 1920</a>. It's even in the 1941 biography <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22840469-william-henry-harrison" target="_blank">William Henry Harrison, His Life and Times</a> by James A. Green and repeated in many other publications. I myself believed the boozy tale and even wrote about it here*.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Not so fast...</i></b><br />
<br />
It would be interesting to find the earliest mention of the booze story. I know for example that the <a href="http://gehio.blogspot.com/2016/04/william-henry-stemwinder.html" target="_blank">Harrison speech/hat and coat/pneumonia story</a> doesn't appear in print until 1939 in the Freeman Cleaves <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/654268.Old_Tippecanoe" target="_blank">biography "Old Tippecanoe"</a>, long considered the go-to book on WHH which incidentally doesn't mention the "booz" story at all, whereas Green's 1941 book does. Hmmm.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=101803916" target="_blank">Edmund G. Booz was born in 1824</a>, which would make him only 16 years old in 1840. As it turns out, <a href="http://pre-prowhiskeymen.blogspot.com/2015/07/booz-in-name-and-booze-in-bottle.html" target="_blank">Edmund didn't start selling log cabin shaped whiskey bottles embossed with his family name until 1858</a>. This was at a time when the brand new Republican Party, founded by former Whigs, was gaining popularity with another up and coming log cabin guy named Abraham Lincoln. Since Harrison, the first Whig President, had the famous Log Cabin campaign with lots of other swag, Mr. Booz likely stamped one of them with the 1840 year as a tribute...or possibly as a deception. Either way, this allusion apparently led folks to believe the bottle was from 1840 election and the tale developed from there. I've also learned that <a href="http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/life/antiques-collectibles-true-booz-cabin-bottles-are-jersey-gems/article_7bf9ba5d-ef70-5c32-8408-d6220670735d.html" target="_blank">Clevenger Brothers Glass made reproductions of the bottles in the 1930s</a>. Sometimes these are sold mistakenly as 19th-century originals. This leads me to believe that the story originated not in the 1850s but in the 1930s, which is around the time Green wrote his book.<br />
So while it is feasible Harrison gave out free booze or hard cider (in regular type bottles with no "booz") in 1840 to lubricate thirsty voters and E. G. Booz, with his convenient, name re-popularized an old term for alcohol in the 1860s, it’s just not possible that William Henry Harrison or his campaign had anything to do with it in 1840.<br />
<br />
Myth.Busted.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">*Note: This is a rewrite of a post from December 2011 that originally credited the 1840 Harrison campaign with popularizing the term "booze". As explained above, new information had come to my attention that indicates this wasn't true. </span></i><br />
<div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>other sources:</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>- <a href="http://www.dramdevotees.com/booz-and-booze/" target="_blank">Booz and Booze</a><br />- <a href="http://historical-american-glass.com/american-whiskey-bottles.html" target="_blank">E G Booz Old Cabin Whiskey</a></i></span></div>
Gehiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01327792498397590118noreply@blogger.com0North Bend, OH, USA39.1525576 -84.74800379999999239.1279296 -84.788344299999991 39.1771856 -84.7076633