by Sharon Hall | Aug 10, 2015 | Tombstone Tuesday
I don’t recall exactly how I came across this most unusual name, but knew there must be a story (and I was right!). There may not be many records which document her life, but I located an article written by her great-granddaughter Dr. Theresa Greene Reed and included...
by Sharon Hall | Aug 5, 2015 | Ghost Town Wednesday
Ranchers were first attracted to this area of Hale County, Texas because of an abundance of water. The J.N. Morrison ranch was established in 1881 and many settlers who came to the area worked there. Ranch operations continued to grow as other cattleman joined the...
by Sharon Hall | Aug 4, 2015 | Tombstone Tuesday
According to her gravestone, Abigail Fritter Grigsby died on August 5, 1860 at the age of 102 years, 8 months and 11 days. The picture I found at Find-A-Grave appears to be of the original gravestone. That would mean she was born on November 25, 1757 if this...
by Sharon Hall | Jul 30, 2015 | Time Capsule Thursday
This week in July 1952 was filled with headlines about the strange phenomenon of so-called “flying saucers” or UFOs (unusual or unidentified flying objects). The term had been around since the summer of 1947 when hundreds of incidences of unexplained objects in the...
by Sharon Hall | Jul 28, 2015 | Tombstone Tuesday
This name was so unusual I decided to research it a bit. As it turns out, there was more than one person with this name, apparently from the same family line. First of all, the name was most likely not pronounced as we commonly do today (prɘ ˈzɘrvd), but rather...
by Sharon Hall | Jul 21, 2015 | Tombstone Tuesday
A couple of weeks ago my Tombstone Tuesday article asked the question “What’s In a Name?”. I highlighted a few and have since discovered more for future articles. One of the most unique names I came across was a man by the name of Nephi United States Centennial...
by Sharon Hall | Jul 17, 2015 | Far-Out Friday
On February 22, 1918, with war raging across the seas in Europe, Harold and Addie Wadlow of Alton, Illinois welcomed their firstborn child into the world – Robert Pershing Wadlow. He was a little over eighteen inches long and weighed eight pounds and six ounces – a...
by Sharon Hall | Jul 8, 2015 | Digging History Magazine, Wild Weather Wednesday
Frank Melbourne mysteriously disappeared, although he had long since been found to be a fraud. (In case you missed previous articles, check out Part One, Part Two and Part Three of this series.) Yet, that didn’t stop other so-called rainmakers from attempting to...
by Sharon Hall | Jul 2, 2015 | Time Capsule Thursday
July 4, 1876 – The United States was celebrating its first centennial eleven years following the end of the Civil War. In Philadelphia, soldiers from the North and South, “the Blue and the Gray”, marched together. There were lively and soul-stirring festivities held...
by Sharon Hall | Jun 30, 2015 | Tombstone Tuesday
Josiah Wilson Rainwater was born on October 10, 1843 in Waterloo, Pulaski County, Kentucky to parents Bartholomew and Nancy McLaughlin Rainwater. He was the youngest of eleven surviving children born to their marriage and named after Reverend Josiah Wilson, a...