by Sharon Hall | Apr 12, 2014 | Surname Saturday
According to Bardsley’s A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, the Gildersleeve surname is a nickname meaning “with sleeves braided with gold”. One source refers to it as an English nickname for an ostentatious dresser. Originally, the name was derived from the...
by Sharon Hall | Apr 11, 2014 | Far-Out Friday
Although the term “cornerstone” is referenced several times in the Bible, the exact origin of a ceremony laying a building cornerstone and placing items in it (a “time capsule”) is vague, but perhaps began to be practiced as many as five thousand years ago. Time...
by Sharon Hall | Apr 9, 2014 | Digging History Magazine, Ghost Town Wednesday
Even the most successful business people make mistakes or propose ill-conceived ideas. Such was the case when mega-successful Henry Ford conceived a plan to plant and maintain his own rubber plantation in Brazil. At the time, Ford Motor Company was probably one of...
by Sharon Hall | Apr 8, 2014 | Tombstone Tuesday
Lycurgus Dinsmore Bigger was born September 19, 1843 in Blue Ball, Warren County, Ohio to parents James and Elizabeth (McCandless) Bigger. I wouldn’t pretend to know the origin of his first name. Lycurgus, however, is a common name in Greek mythology and in Greek...
by Sharon Hall | Apr 7, 2014 | Motoring History
In the history of the Ford Motor Company, they call it the “race that changed everything.” Henry Ford had founded the Detroit Automobile Company on August 5, 1899 and in January of 1901 the company was dissolved. Henry Ford had already reinvented himself when he...
