by Sharon Hall | Feb 13, 2015 | Far-Out Friday
Orville and Wilbur Wright had made headlines six years earlier at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina with their “flying machine.” However, from mid December of 1909 to late January 1910, newspapers across the country perpetrated, and later renounced, a farcical tale which...
by Sharon Hall | Feb 11, 2015 | Ghost Town Wednesday
Unfortunately, there is probably little left to see, if any, of this once-bustling coal mining town in northern New Mexico. You could perhaps view the location of the old town site if you shell out $450 per night to stay in media mogul Ted Turner’s hunting preserve. ...
by Sharon Hall | Feb 10, 2015 | Tombstone Tuesday
This family lived in Sumter County, South Carolina, and as the largest slaveholders in the state, were avid supporters of the Confederate cause. The patriarch of the family, William Holmes “April” Ellison, Jr. was a successful entrepreneur and readily offered the...
by Sharon Hall | Feb 7, 2015 | Surname Saturday
Tillinghast is an English locational surname meaning “one who came from Tillinghurst”, according to the 4Crests web site, and a place where auctions were held. While most family heraldry came into wide use during the Middle Ages, it appears that the Tillinghast...
by Sharon Hall | Feb 6, 2015 | Feisty Females
Today’s “Feisty Female” came to America as a slave, and during her all-too-brief life, made history by becoming the first African American woman to have her own book of poetry published. Most scholars believe she was born in Senegal around 1753. In 1761 the young...
