by Sharon Hall | Apr 25, 2014 | Feudin' & Fightin' Friday
This Ozark Mountain feud was carried on much like the more famous Appalachian Hatfield-McCoy feud, encompassing the Missouri counties of Benton and Polk. Benton County was a newly organized county when two families, the Joneses and Turks, migrated from Kentucky and...
by Sharon Hall | Apr 23, 2014 | Digging History Magazine, Wild Weather Wednesday
The recent disasters of the Titanic sinking on April 15, 1912, the devastating San Francisco earthquake and fire on April 18, 1906, as well as the previous year’s Mississippi River flood which swept through the river valley killing two hundred people and...
by Sharon Hall | Apr 22, 2014 | Tombstone Tuesday
George Washington Cluck, Sr. was born on July 22, 1832 (or 1833) in Tennessee. His parentage is unclear, although I believe his parents to be John and Mary (Hunt) Cluck. George first appeared in census records in 1850 in Hamilton County, Illinois living with or...
by Sharon Hall | Apr 21, 2014 | Motoring History
Henry Ford and his car company hit a home run with the Model T – and he knew it (see Part One of this series). On January 1, 1910 he opened his new factory in Highland Park with the intention of producing one thousand Model T’s a day. His whole business model...
by Sharon Hall | Apr 19, 2014 | Surname Saturday
Blood This surname was possibly derived from the Welsh name Lloyd. The original form of the surname was “Ab-Lloyd” with the prefix “ab” meaning “son of”. From “Ab-Lloyd” the name eventually evolved to “Blud” and then “Blood”. Some sources suggest two additional...
by Sharon Hall | Apr 18, 2014 | Feisty Females
Today’s “feisty female” has been described as “Amazonian” and a “buxom behemoth”. Some believe she was born Sarah Knight, perhaps of Irish parentage, in 1812 or 1813 in either Tennessee or Missouri – history is unclear as to exactly when and where. She has been...
by Sharon Hall | Apr 14, 2014 | Motoring History
Henry Ford was a lot of things: industrialist, self-made man, wealthy and successful, maker of men (as he liked to say). His business philosophy became known as “Fordism” – mass produce inexpensive goods and pay high wages. It seemed he had an opinion on just about...
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...
