by Sharon Hall | Aug 18, 2014 | Mothers of Invention
As the saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention.” In the late 1940’s single mother Bette Nesmith was an executive secretary at Texas Bank and Trust in Dallas. To cover up her typing mistakes she mixed a batch of tempera water-based paint to match the...
by Sharon Hall | Aug 16, 2014 | Surname Saturday
I ran across this surname while walking through a prairie cemetery in Lubbock County, Texas: My curiosity was piqued to find out its origins. As always there will be more than one opinion as to a surname’s origin – here are three theories: One source believes that the...
by Sharon Hall | Aug 15, 2014 | Feisty Females
In December of 1848 a man and woman, both born into slavery, devised a scheme – a ruse – which would lead them to freedom. Their reason for embarking on such a daring adventure was later eloquently stated in the opening lines of their memoir, Running A Thousand...
by Sharon Hall | Aug 13, 2014 | Digging History Magazine, Wild West Wednesday
Historical accounts vary as to whether today’s Wild West character came by his name via the middle name of “Xavier” or it was a family nickname, or he just adopted “X” as his name after becoming a well-known member of the Montana Vigilantes. Following the big 1863...
by Sharon Hall | Aug 12, 2014 | Tombstone Tuesday
Don’t let the title fool you. I don’t mean to imply that “Sister Wives” (as in the TLC reality show of the same name) means that the subject of today’s article, Thomas Jefferson Roach, was a polygamist. Quite the contrary, since according to family history Thomas...