by Sharon Hall | Jan 12, 2015 | Motoring History
Granted, the record didn’t last for long, but on this day in 1904 Henry Ford set a land speed record on the frozen surface of Lake St. Clair in Michigan. After founding the Detroit Automobile Company in August of 1899, only to have it go under by January 1901, Henry...
by Sharon Hall | Jan 10, 2015 | Surname Saturday
This English surname is occupational, an official one for a steward or bailiff. According to House of Names, the name can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain, and one that was given to the member of a family who “worked as a local representative of a...
by Sharon Hall | Jan 7, 2015 | Ghost Town Wednesday
This ghost town in Young County, Texas was named after a part-time Methodist minister and storekeeper from Tennessee, Robert S. Proffitt, who migrated to Hood County, Texas in 1852 and then moved to Young County in the early 1860’s. Robert and his sons were...
by Sharon Hall | Jan 6, 2015 | Tombstone Tuesday
Simpson Socrates Nix was born on April 10, 1841 in Weakley County, Tennessee to parents Riley and Mary Ann (Alexander) Nix. Riley and Mary Ann were born in North Carolina, both in 1820, and they married on October 17, 1838 in Henry County, Tennessee. Their family...
by Sharon Hall | Dec 20, 2014 | Surname Saturday
Noel is an English surname with French origins, according to most sources. Some Noel family historians believe the name may have originated among the Gallic tribes of Normandy in northern France, possibly those who lived in Noailles (pronounced no-ay). In France the...
