These photographs would make you do a double take, especially the second one. Ralph Madsen, the tallest Texan cowboy, in the photograph above was 7 feet 6 inches tall and weighted 228 pounds. He was born Ralph Earl Madsen on April 19, 1897 in Norfolk, Nebraska and was not from Texas as his nickname suggested. […]
Tag: American history
Did you know that a German threatened to shoot Marconi for invented the radio?
(People feared radio waves when it was first invented. They complained of headaches and damaged nerves from the waves passing through them. Inventor Marconi even received death threats from people who claimed nerve damage. This controversy continues today with the advent of cell phones and electricity. ) Guglielmo Marconi The Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi who […]
Sometimes we forget to teach our children the little things
DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE Sometimes we forget to teach our children the little things by Jean Butterworth Recently I observed a young Boy Scout Troup performing a service project which involved putting up signs on a nature trail in Bluff Park, Alabama. It was quite a busy group of boys and dads on this […]
John Custis got the last word on his tombstone -here is how
You may recall from history that President George Washington married Martha Custis, a widow with children. However, you may not know the story about the Custis family and this unusual tombstone at Arlington in Northampton County, Virginia. The John Custis (born 1678) on this tombstone had only one son, Daniel Parke Custis who married Martha […]
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 1939 where homelessness was severe
Homelessness in America has always been a problem, but in the 1930s after the Great Depression and the during the drought years of the Dust Bowl, people suffered severely. Family living in a community camp, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Father was in the hospital with broken back received when he fell from roof on which he was applying […]
Moving in two covered wagons from Arkansas to Texas – Here’s what it was like
MOVING IN TWO COVERED WAGONS by Jesse Suttles In the winter of 1914, my Grand Dad, Joseph Monroe Suttles, moved his family from Russellville, Arkansas, in Pope County, to Dallas, Texas. Originally, he had planned to move to Rockwall, Texas, located about thirty five miles north of Dallas, where he had rented a farm, but […]
It was the 5th largest industry in the USA but it has almost disappeared. Do you know what it was?
See larger image Additional Images: FreeHearts: A Novel of Colonial America (Tapestry of Love) (Paperback) List Price: $14.97 New From: $14.97 In Stock At the peak of popularity, this industry employed over 100,000 people and was in almost every city in the country. Now there is little evidence that it even existed. As cities grew, […]
Haunting [photographs] reveal the lives of largest migration in American history
See larger image Vinegar of the Four Thieves: Recipes & Curious Tips from the Past (Paperback) List Price: $12.77 New From: $12.77 In Stock The exodus from dried up farms due to the Dust Bowl was the largest migration in American history within a short period of time. Farmers affected by the Dust Bowl traveled […]
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church is one of the earliest existing Episcopal Church buildings on the Eastern Shore
Surrounded by giant oaks and sycamores, by boxwood and fragrant pines, by tombs of the humble and the rich, St. Paul’s stands today a real monument to the energy and religious zeal of those Church of England members who settled in Kent in the colonial days of more than 200 years ago. St. Paul’s Episcopal […]
Lowell, Vermont – Hard times gripped the town in 1936 as can be seen by these [old photographs]
Lowell is the westernmost town in Orleans County, Vermont, United States. The population was 738 at the 2000 census. Lowell was chartered in 1787 by Governor Thomas Chittenden to John Kelley in 1787, for whom it was named Kellyvale. The first people other than the native Americans to come to Lowell was in 1778 when […]