We lost a great musician early when Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr., better known as the Big Bopper lost his life along with Buddy Holly and Richie Valens in a plane crash Feb.3, 1959. His watch was not found at the crash site until spring when the snow melted in Iowa. This beautiful song by the Big Bopper’s […]
DYK: Did you know? Around 1542, when the phrase first appeared, “to go to pot” was to be cut up like chunks of meat destined for the stew pot. When farm animals outlived their usefulness such as a hen that no longer laid eggs would literally go to pot. It was cooked and eaten. Such […]
The Coffren Store in Maryland is a rare example of a well-preserved, mid 19th-century general merchandise store. Small local stores of this type one-room utilitarian structures including a Post Office once commonly dotted the rural landscape of the county. Most have long since disappeared, and the few others remaining have been altered. The Coffren Store […]
Erosion of land was a major problem in Georgia during the 1930’s along with the depression. Marion Post Walcott visited Georgia and documented the economic difficulties residents had with photographs Her photographs provide a glimpse of life in rural Georgia in 1939. The descriptions included with the photographs are hers. Farmer in overalls pointing toward eroded […]
The phrase, ‘Plain sailing’ is used to describe a process or activity that goes well and is easy and uncomplicated. Actually it is another nautical phrase and derives from 17-18th century, originally ‘plane sailing’, the term for a quick method of navigating short distances, when positions and distances could be plotted as if on a flat plane […]
The Great Depression and Dust Bowl were difficult years in United States History. Many people left their farms and became migrant workers due to the Dust Bowl and traveled to California to pick vegetables and fruit. This song Why don’t you write a letter home? was performed by Sam Bell in Tuolumne County, California on […]
You’ve probably heard the story of the robbers, Bonnie and Clyde, but have you ever heard of the Blonde Bandit? This story reminds me of the play and movie Chicago. In February 1930, twenty-year-old Sally Joyce Richards, branded the “Blonde Bandit,” was found guilty of first-degree robbery and sentenced to twenty years to life in […]
CHRISTMAS SURPRISE by Clifford Dobyns Written: November 2009 I was five years old in 1937 and unknown to me was that my parents had decided to get me a tricycle for Christmas and had ordered one from Sears, Roebuck and Co. Several years would pass before my mother told me what really happened on that […]
Many old sayings are also horse racing term. The phrase ‘START FROM SCRATCH” comes from the days when a line was scratched in the ground for a race. The racers would start from the scratch. WHERE DO I START? Hints and Tips for Beginning Genealogists with On-line resources
In olden times, people were very superstitious. They believed that all good in a man was on his right side and all bad was on his left. If you got out of bed on the left side, evil forces would follow you all day long. Most innkeepers had the left sides of the bed against […]
