by Sharon Hall | Jan 11, 2014 | Surname Saturday
There is debate regarding the meaning of the surname “Scattergood”. On the one hand, some think it perhaps refers to someone who is wasteful and careless with their money, and on the other hand, some think it actually refers to a philanthropist who gives his money to...
by Sharon Hall | Jan 10, 2014 | Far-Out Friday
Clarence King, a Yale-educated geologist, surveyed the American West and served as the first director of the United States Geological Survey. His close friend Henry Adams said that he had “that combination of physical energy, social standing, mental scope and...
by Sharon Hall | Jan 8, 2014 | Digging History Magazine, Ghost Town Wednesday
The Amboy, California area was settled in the late 1850’s but wasn’t established as a town until 1883 or 1884. The town was named Amboy as part of civil engineer Lewis Kingman’s plan to alphabetically name a series of railroad stations across the Mojave Desert...
by Sharon Hall | Jan 7, 2014 | Tombstone Tuesday
Marmaduke Norfleet Bell (III) was born in 1836 to parents Marmaduke Norfleet Bell, Jr. and Mary “Polly” Landing (or Landen) Bell. Marmaduke and Polly were married on February 23, 1826 and had seven children listed in the 1850 United States Census. That year,...
by Sharon Hall | Jan 6, 2014 | Military History Monday
The Ladies Hollywood Memorial Association was founded at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on May 3, 1866 and chartered on January 19, 1891. The group’s primary duties were to care for and honor the graves of the Confederate soldiers buried in Richmond’s Hollywood...
by Sharon Hall | Jan 4, 2014 | Surname Saturday
It appears the first Harpending in America immigrated from Neuenhaus, Netherlands and his name was Gerrit Hargerinck. Gerritt arrived in America with his two sons in June of 1662 on the immigrant ship Hope. Other iterations of the surname were perhaps Harbendinck...
by Sharon Hall | Jan 3, 2014 | Far-Out Friday
This story, without a doubt, has to be one of the most cunning and crafty hoaxes ever perpetrated on a group of learned men which included bankers, financiers and mining engineers. It reads more like a Hollywood script than actual fact, but it’s all true and quite...
by Sharon Hall | Jan 1, 2014 | Digging History Magazine, Ghost Town Wednesday
The story goes that this Route 66 ghost town got its name in 1883 when the Southern Pacific Railroad named the station after Baghdad, Iraq (sans the “h”) because of its similar inhospitable climate. Curiously, the railroad named two other nearby towns “Siberia” and...
by Sharon Hall | Dec 25, 2013 | Digging History Magazine, Ghost Town Wednesday
The first mining claim was filed in 1878 in Gila County, Arizona and another one was filed in 1882, but both were invalidated in 1884 when it was found the claims were located within the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. Enterprising miner George B. Chittenden...
by Sharon Hall | Dec 20, 2013 | Feudin' & Fightin' Friday
The first use of barbed wire in Texas occurred in 1857 when immigrant John Grinninger ran homemade barbed wire along the top of fencing around his garden. The first United States Patent for barbed wire was issued in 1867. Barbed wire began to be mass-produced after...
