Over the years, I've found myself dating things according to either when my children were born or what car I owned at the time--or both. For example, I remember the year I began teaching in Pennsylvania because it was just before our first child was born. And I recall the year we moved to new jobs in South Carolina because it was the year our third minivan died and we had to buy the Mazda. I've recently been recalling all the vehicles I've owned since I began driving. The fir

On July 7, Dillon Summers wrote home to his family for the first time in at least a month. Dillon with his sister Hazel before shipping out overseas "Hellow, Mom & family. "Will drop You a few lines today to let You know I am still well & doing O.K. trusting every one there is in good health & doing fine.... I had a nice hot shower Yesterday. The first one since I've been here." "Here" was Normandy, France, where he had arrived with the other men of the 391st Armored Field Ar

Tomorrow we celebrate our nation's 250th birthday. But the passing of the Declaration of Independence was the culmination of a rather lengthy process. It wasn't a rash, hastily done act of impulsive rabblerousers or "influencers." It was the result of years of oppression and wrongs inflicted by the people's own government across the ocean and their deliberative reaction and response to it. There were the numerous instances of "taxation without representation": the Stamp Act (

A news item attracted my attention and set me on a brief journey down memory lane. It seems that on June 26, 1927, during the height of the rollicking, fun-filled Roaring Twenties, just before the stock market crash that signaled the beginning of the Great Depression, a roller coaster called "The Cyclone" opened at Coney Island . The Coney Island Cyclone It's been a loooooong time since I was on a roller coaster, but that news item started me to recalling the rides I had been

Sunday marks Father's Day, but that's not the only time I remember my father, and I suspect it's the same for you. Something or other reminds me of Daddy almost every day, as it should. A quick online search shows that Father's Day was first celebrated on June 19, 1910, in Spokane, Washington, by Sonora Smart Dodd in honor of her father. It has to be true, I guess, since that's what AI says. Daddy I don't remember the first time I celebrated Daddy on a Father's Day. AI can't

Every family is unique, as are their histories and genealogies. Yet, many families share some interesting similarities, especially if they've passed down similar values and priorities. These facts were reinforced in my mind as I read the stories in the latest book by my friend in Iowa Joy Neal Kidney, The Immigrant and the Outlaw. It showed up in my mailbox last week, and I dropped everything else I was doing and began reading. As I sped through the compelling stories, I was

In the history of the United States, we've had only two presidents who were elected to two nonconsecutive terms. Everyone knows that Donald Trump achieved that feat, of course. But far fewer could name the other one: Grover Cleveland . Today, he is among the least known of our long line of 47 presidents. He was loved and respected by some and hated and vilified by others. But he's worth getting to know. Grover Cleveland Born on March 18, 1837, in Caldwell, New Jersey, Clevela

One of my favorite movies, one that our family developed a tradition of watching every year on (or near) the Fourth of July, is Yankee Doodle Dandy starring James Cagney . Every time we watched it, we came away whistling or singing the lyrics of the theme song: "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy, Yankee Doodle Do or die, A real live nephew of my Uncle Sam, Born on the Fourth of July." That movie premiered in New York City on this date in 1942, during the first dark days of World War

Yes, I know that today marks the anniversary of the beginning of the War of the Roses, the military contest between the Houses of York and Lancaster in 1455-1287. But I don't want to write about that. Besides, I'm not an Anglophile; my preferred subject matter involves U.S. history, particularly that of the South. And since this is my blog, I'll write what I want! And what I want to write about is a family that was divided and had been for many years. I want to write about t

It often takes some people longer than others to "find themselves," to find something they can do well and that they enjoy enough to make it their career. Some people know from an early age what they're cut out to be and do. Others struggle for a while, trying first this and then that until they find their calling. I had a college roommate who knew from his first day as a freshman what his calling was, and he never wavered from it once. In fact, he died a few years ago, still

I have just finished reading a book that I can highly recommend to anyone interested in delving into the inner workings of the officer corps of the U.S. Army in Western Europe during World War II. It is titled Contents of a WWII Footlocker: A Memoir of the U.S. Army Third Armored Division by Edith Nadine Brackman. The book is predominantly composed of the many letters written by Brackman's father, Oliver William Brackman Jr., to his parents and sister just before and througho

In today's world of high-tech, various media, and instant communication, anyone can be a published writer. Quality doesn't matter, it seems. And everyone tries it. It doesn't matter if they have any talent or imagination or expertise in any particular subject or field or even any semblance of command of the language. Everyone has access to the means of communicating; therefore, they think they must. So they write, producing unmemorable tripe that is forgotten as soon as it's

What good is a standard if it isn't upheld and maintained? Pulitzer Prize medallion The Pulitzer Prizes were first awarded in 1917 to honor "the most disinterested and meritorious public service rendered by any American newspaper during the preceding year." The standards by which winners were determined were clearly set forth. Joseph Pulitzer The Pulitzer Prizes were established by wealthy newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer in his 1904 will. Pulitzer, born in Hungary in 184

The causes of wars are seldom what they are made out to seem, and their conclusions almost always have unintended consequences for which the belligerents have not prepared and that cause continuing headaches afterwards. Such was certainly the case with the Spanish-American War of 1898 . Since the days of George Washington's administration, the United States had been isolationist in its foreign policy, paying strict heed to his warning against foreign entanglements. But as Am

Early explorers must have been superstitious, or at least they were attuned to the importance of historic anniversaries of fellow explorers' deeds. How so? Well, consider the following three events that all occurred on this date during the so-called Age of Exploration, yet they were years apart. First, on this date in 1492, Christopher Columbus , an Italian, entered into contract with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. Christopher Columbus By the terms of the contrac

On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The following day, April 10, Lee delivered his farewell address to his troops, outlining the terms of surrender and issuing to them his final order, known as General Order No. 9 . Lee dictated the order to his aide de camp Colonel Charles Marshall and then edited it himself to produce the final version. It was release

Edison, Howe, Bell, Henry, Smith, and Wesson. These are the names of men renowned for not only their numerous inventions but also the fortunes those inventions brought them. They were both great idea men and shrewd businessmen. Walter Hunt, inventor Like them, Walter Hunt was an accomplished inventor. He has been referred to as a "prolific inventor," a man with "a penchant for invention and innovation," and one who was "compulsively creative." But he was also described as a

It all began with a simple essay contest. The goal of the winner would be to write a simple, straightforward, 100-word essay enunciating what a true-blue American citizen believed and wholeheartedly supported. The winning entry would be "the best summary of the political faith of America" with special emphasis on "the duties and obligations of citizenship." The idea for the contest was the brainchild of judge, mayor, and state legislator Henry S. Chapin . The city of Baltimor

During the last couple of months, our state has experienced several earthquakes, almost all of them unfelt except by the most motion-sensitive people and the seismologists' seismographs. Most of the quakes in South Carolina tend to be centered in either the coastal plain near Charleston or, more recently, around the area of Columbia, the state's capital. About 70 percent of them occur in the central part of the state. Even the most powerful movers and shakers in the statehous

Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente had played major league baseball for 18 seasons before being tragically killed in a plane crash on December 31, 1972. During that long career with the same team, he had become a fan favorite for his actions both on and off the field. He was adored by fans across baseball and intent on helping others, especially young people. Roberto Clemente with a young, admiring fan Clemente making a spectacular play in the field His statistics