William Henry III was born in Boston, Massachusetts to William Henry II and Ann Marie. As a child, he apprenticed as a printer for the American Traveller (no that is the way it was spelled, I double checked). Anyway, his duty was to greet ships as they docked at port. Receiving the latest news from Europe, he would then pass that information on to the publisher for the American Traveller.His father was murdered in 1844, shortly afterwards his mother married James Buckle, moving the family to Labrador. It was there where William learned the fishing trade. In 1858, he was called to England where he received an inheritance from his great-uncle William Jury. Using that inheritance, he started a large-scale fishing operation. He also had a successful career in politics representing the Newfo... 11/04/2018

Elizabeth Coleman was born in New Lisbon, New Jersey back in 1871 to Joseph and Mary. She graduated from Friends’ Central School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1887. After graduation, she worked at her father’s bogs helping to supervise cranberry pickers. During the off season, she continued her education taking courses in first aid, photography, dressmaking and millinery at Drexel University.In 1927, she helped to develop and commercialize cultivated blueberries. What you may not know about Elizabeth Coleman White is that she was the first woman to become a member of the American Cranberry Association and the first woman to receive a citation from the New Jersey Department of Agriculture. I know this one is short but that is my story for today.Until tomorrow give someone the free gif... 11/02/2018

Harold Alden was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota back in 1903 to William and Harriet. He graduated from George Washington University with a Bachelor of Science degree in physics. He was also awarded the Ruggles Prize for excellence in Mathematics. He continued his education at John Hopkins University however I do not know if he graduated.He worked part-time at the National Bureau of Standards’ Radio Laboratory. In 1922, he worked at the Stevens Institute of Technology. In 1924, he became Hazeltine Corporation’s first employee. During WWII, he led work on the Identification friend or foe (IFF) antennas for aircraft, surface vessels, submarines and ground stations.  What you may not know about Harold Alden Wheeler is that he held over 180 U.S. Patents, he was a member of the National Academ... 10/31/2018

Wesley Anthony was born in Baltimore, Maryland back in 1927. He graduated from high school in Washington, D.C. After graduation, he attended Howard University. In 1945, he was nominated for admission to the Naval Academy. One of his classmates Jimmy Carter would later become the 39th President of the United States.He was assigned to the Civil Engineer Corps. He was sent to the Philippines and Liberia, Antarctica and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was also involved in the Korean and Vietnam wars. He retired after 20 years of service in 1969. He served as a motivational speaker after his retirement.   What you may not know about Wesley Anthony Brown is that he was the first African-American to graduate from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland retiring as a lieutenant commande... 10/26/2018

Barbara Polk was born in Boston, Massachusetts back in 1914. Can’t tell you anything about her early upbringing but what I can tell you of course is the rest of the story. She graduated from Smith College. She also took courses from Harvard University however, I could not determine if she actually graduated from there.As a young woman, she worked as a secretary for the New England Museum of Natural History where she met and married Bradford. Her husband was the director of the Boston Museum of Science and she went with him on his expeditions. Her and Bradford completed a large-scale map of the Grand Canyon published in the National Geographic magazine in 1978, for that they received the Alexander Graham Bell Medal in 1980. She died in 2014, just a few weeks before reaching 100.What you ... 10/20/2018

Thomas Fletcher was born in Chatham, England back in 1800 to Thomas and Ann. At the ripe old age of 12 he joined the Royal Navy assigned to the HMS Bahama as a midshipman. He met and married Elizabeth in 1822, leaving the Navy as a lieutenant in 1832. His wife died in Calcutta in 1834, afterwards he married again to Harriet.That same year he inherited a substantial estate from his grandfather when the couple moved to Rochester. In 1837, he set up an agency in Cornhill, London for conveying post-and passengers to India via Egypt. He died at his London home in 1850. A statue of Thomas can be found on Railway Street in Chatham. Now, you may be asking why there is a statute of him and I’m so glad you did.Thomas Fletcher Waghorn developed a new route from Great Britain to India reducing the ... 10/09/2018

Peleg Wadsworth Jr. was born in Duxbury, Massachusetts back in 1748 to Peleg and Susanna. He attended Harvard graduating the A.B. in 1769. He taught school for several years in Plymouth, where he met Elizabeth Bartlett. The couple was married in 1772. The Wadsworth moved to Kingston, Massachusetts until 1775 when Peleg was recruited to a company of minutemen where is was chosen to be their captain.He was given command of all the troops for the defense of the Province of Maine in 1780. In 1781, he was captured and imprisoned at Fort George escaping by cutting a hole in the ceiling of the fort.He purchased 7,800 acres in Hiram, Maine in 1790. He was chosen as a presidential elector of the Massachusetts Senate from 1793-1807 making him the first representative in Congress from Massachusett... 10/08/2018

Pierre Vernier was born in Omans, France back in 1580. He was taught science by his father. At some time in his life, sorry I can’t find when, he was captain and castellan of the castle at Ornans for the King of Spain. Later he was director general of economy in the County of Burgundy.In 1631, he published: The construction, use and properties of the new math quadrant. While I have seen his invention I still don’t understand it. I do hope the picture goes through, if it doesn’t regardless, you now know this as a caliper. It’s been around for 387 years, with no end in sight. If you know how to use it, my hats off to you. Until tomorrow give someone the free gift of a smile.    10/07/2018

Antoon van Dyck was born in Antwerp, Belgium back in 1599 to Frans and Maria. By the time he was 15 he was already an accomplished painter. At 16 years old, he opened his own workshop selling his paintings. In 1618, he was admitted to the Guild of Saint Luke as a free master. Within a few short years he was the dominant master of Antwerp and the whole of Northern Europe.He travelled throughout Europe to Italy, London, Genoa and Palermo in Sicily. Somewhere along the line he changed his name to Anthony. His works were so popular that he was knighted. So, I’m writing about Sir Anthony van Dyck today. I seriously doubt that you can find one of his originals but if you do, you, your kids and their kids will be well off. However, there is one other thing he is still noted for. For you see he... 09/30/2018

John Butler was born in Middletown, Ohio back in 1875. He attended Westminster prep school at Dobbs Ferry, New York then off to Yale University graduating in 1897 with a bachelor’s degree in English. He returned to Middletown where he worked at his father’s paper mill. When his father died the family sold the business so he went to work with a bridge builder in Dayton, Ohio.In 1904, he went to work for a steel mill, after 18 months he was promoted to the assistant of the sheet mill superintendent. In 1906, he was promoted to the superintendent of the new steel mill in Zanesville, Ohio. In 1909, he was chosen to plan and activate Armco’s East Works in Middletown as chief of operations. In 1921, he presented his plans for an improvement to processing steel to Armco. They implemented them ... 09/28/2018

Hezekiah Usher was born in Bethnal Green, London, England back in 1615. I could not find anything else on his life until the year 1642. Then in 1645 he moved to Boston in the Massachusetts bay Colony. He lived on State Street near the market-place. He opened up a business and by 1652, he was a well-known merchant.He was also a real estate investor, working for the London Society of the Corporation for Propagating the Gospel for spreading the New Testament among the Indians in America. He died in Boston in 1676.What you may not know about Hezekiah is that he is the first known bookseller in British America. He sold the first book printed in the Colonies the Bay Psalm Book. If you can find one of the first publications I’ll see you on the Antiques Roadshow. He was also the publisher of th... 09/26/2018

William Ungar was born in Krasne, Poland back in 1913 to a Jewish family. He worked as a teacher in a technical high school prior to WWII. During the war, he fought for the Polish Army where he was wounded. When he returned home, Poland was overrun by the German Army, he was able to remain hidden thanks to some identification documents given to him by a friend. In 1946, he came to America where he found work as an envelope machine operator while attending school at night. In 1952, he graduated from the City College of New York with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. With his previous experience and mechanical mind, he started his own company which is still in operation to this day. He died in 2013, at 100 years young.What you may not know about William is that he is the founder of the ... 09/25/2018

Jennie Kidd Gowanlock was born in Kelso, Scotland back in 1841. Sorry I don’t have any information as to who her parents were so with that the family moved to Canada in 1847 settling near Stratford, Ontario. She was educated in being a teacher where she taught school until she married Edward in 1865. After their marriage she moved to Toronto, where Edward ran a newspaper.Having dealt with chronic illnesses she decided to further her education, so she decided on obtaining a medical degree. She first enrolled at the University of Toronto, later she transferred to the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania where she graduated in 1875 with an M.D. Moving back to Canada she opened the Therapeutic and Electrical Institute in Toronto, where she also ran a free dispensary for the poor, later b... 09/20/2018

This one is going to be short, so let’s get to it. Harriet Ruth Brisbane was born in Charleston, South Carolina back in 1834 to William and Julia. The family moved to New England prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. In 1854, she married Cadwallader. The union produced four children.Moving again to Staten Island, New York around 1860 where she lived until 1890. In 1890, she moved the family to Paris, France then to London, England. She died in 1918.What you may not know about Harriet Ruth Brisbane Tracy is that she held at least 27 different patents. Between 1868 to 1915 her inventions included at least 6 elevators and 17 sewing machine patents. Her first one was for a crib attachment for bedsheets. One of her patented elevators was put into everyday use at the 1893 World’s Columbian ... 09/18/2018

John Taliaferro was born in Newport, Kentucky back in 1860 to James and Maria. He attended Indiana University for a year before he was appointed to the United States Military Academy, graduating in 1882. After graduation, he was assigned to the 2nd Artillery as a second lieutenant. In 1890, he was moved to the Army’s Ordnance Department where he spent the remainder of his military career.At the beginning of the Spanish-American War, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel assigned to Tampa, Florida as Chief Ordnance Officer. he arranged for the informal formation of a Gatling gun unit with fifteen of them along with a generous supply of ammunition which played a significant role in the Battle of San Juan Hill. I could write more about the man however that would be a three-day event. He re... 09/11/2018

Jack Crawford was born in St. Louis, Missouri back in 1922 to Melburne and Dorothy. He enrolled at the Olin Business School in St. Louis in 1940. When WWII started he dropped out joining the U.S. Navy. He was a pilot flying a F6F Hellcat fighter from the USS Essex and the USS Enterprise. During the war, he earned two Distinguished Flying Crosses and the Navy Air Medal.At the conclusion of WWII, he was discharged returning the St. Louis where he started a delivery service. In 1948, he worked for the Lindburg Cadillac dealership in St. Louis where he moved up the ranks becoming the sales manager. In 1957, he started his own company with $25,000.00, targeting certain people. His business was so successful that in 1969, he expanded his operations outside of St. Louis. As they say the rest i... 09/01/2018

Bet ya didn’t know this one. John Stafford was born in Gloucester, Great Britain back in 1750. He attended the Gloucester Cathedral School where he became a boy-singer. He went on to further his career at the Chapel Royal, London. By the 1770’s, he had gained a reputation as a composer and an organist.In 1784, he became a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal and in 1802 was recognized as the Master of the Children. In 1805, he became a lay-vicar of Westminster Abbey. In his spare time, he collected antiques as well as songs and books for his growing library. He began to publish his “A Collection of English Song in 1779. His library included the Old Hall Manuscript, a copy of Ulm Gesanbuch from 1538 plus a collection of works that went back to the 12th century. What you may not know about John ... 08/31/2018

William Symington was born in Leadhills, South Lanarkshire, Scotland back in 1764. His parents wanted him to join the ministry, but he had other ideas. His passion was to be an engineer. So, in 1785, while working at a local mining company he so impressed his boss that he was sent to the University of Edinburgh in 1786 to learn the trade.Apparently, he learned his trade well because in 1787 he obtained a patent that of course would forever place him in the history books. On another note, he was also a successful coal mine manager. He was hired to oversee the mine at Falkirk. His salary was a hundred pounds per year and a house on the estate. In 1829, in ill health and deep in debt he moved to London to live with his daughter, he died in 1831.What you may not know about William is that h... 08/30/2018

Kyota Sugimoto was born in Okayama, Japan back in 1882. He entered the Training Institute for Communication Technology in Osaka, Japan in 1900. After graduation, he started working in the letterpress technology field, who exactly he worked for is lost to history however, that is not relevant to the rest of the story, or is it?His invention contained 2,400 characters arranged by classification on a character carriage. He obtained a patent #27877 first in Japan and later in the USA patent #1245633. Now you may, may, mind you be asking yourself what in the world did he invent. Well I’m so glad you asked that question. Kyota invented the first ever Japanese typewriter, although some changes have been made it was the basis for the current typewriter used. Frankly with all the characters invo... 08/24/2018

Stuart Fergusson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland back in 1940 to Charles and Millie. The family moved to Liverpool, England where he attended Park View Primary School. He attended Liverpool College of Art. He worked as a bin man on the Liverpool Corporation’s waste collection trucks.It was while he attended the Liverpool College he met someone whom we all know, more on that shortly. He was an accomplished artist and a guitar player. His friend wanted to start a band and asked Stuart to play bass guitar, which of course he did. However, that was a sore subject with another member of the newly formed band. So, in 1961 he decided to leave the band and go back to his first love, that of course was art.While in art class he collapsed complaining of headaches which left him temporarily blind.... 08/23/2018