1.
New England town
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The New England town is the basic unit of local government and local division of state authority in each of the six New England states. Without a direct counterpart in most other U. S, New England towns are often governed by a town meeting legislative body. County government in New England states is typically weak at best, Connecticut, for example, has no county governments, nor does Rhode Island. Both of those states retain counties only as geographic subdivisions with no governmental authority, with few exceptions, counties serve mostly as dividing lines for the states judicial systems. Towns are laid out so that all land within the boundaries of a state is allocated to a town or other corporate municipality. Except in some sparsely populated areas of the three northern New England states, all land is incorporated into the bounds of a municipal corporations territory. Towns are municipal corporations, with their powers defined by a combination of municipal charter, state statutes. In most of New England, the laws regarding their authority have historically been very broadly construed. In practice, most New England towns have significant autonomy in managing their own affairs, New Hampshire and Vermont follow Dillons Rule, which holds that local governments are largely creatures of the state. Traditionally, a legislative body is the open town meeting. Only several Swiss cantons with Landsgemeinde remain as democratic as the small New England town meetings, a town almost always contains a built-up populated place with the same name as the town. Additional built-up places with different names are found within towns, along with a mixture of additional urban. There is no territory that is not part of a town between each town, leaving one town means entering another town or other municipality, in most parts of New England, towns are irregular in shape and size and are not laid out on a grid. The town center contains a town common, often used today as a small park. In Connecticut, Rhode Island and most of Massachusetts, county government has been completely abolished, in other areas, some counties provide judicial and other limited administrative services. In many cases, the numbers on rural roads in New England reset to zero upon crossing a town line. Residents usually identify with their town for purposes of identity, thinking of the town in its entirety as a single. There are some cases where residents identify more strongly with villages or sections of a town than with the town itself, particularly in Rhode Island, more than 90% of the municipalities in the six New England states are towns
2.
American Civil War
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The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America, the Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U. S. history. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked the U. S. fortress of Fort Sumter. The Confederacy grew to eleven states, it claimed two more states, the Indian Territory, and the southern portions of the western territories of Arizona. The Confederacy was never recognized by the United States government nor by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal, were known as the Union or the North, the war ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies and the dissolution of the Confederate government in the spring of 1865. The war had its origin in the issue of slavery. The Confederacy collapsed and 4 million slaves were freed, but before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, the first seven with state legislatures to resolve for secession included split majorities for unionists Douglas and Bell in Georgia with 51% and Louisiana with 55%. Alabama had voted 46% for those unionists, Mississippi with 40%, Florida with 38%, Texas with 25%, of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession, outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincolns March 4,1861 inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war, speaking directly to the Southern States, he reaffirmed, I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed, the Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on King Cotton that they would intervene, but none did, and none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 12,1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, while in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive in 1861–62. The autumn 1862 Confederate campaigns into Maryland and Kentucky failed, dissuading British intervention, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy, then much of their western armies, the 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lees Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg, Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grants command of all Union armies in 1864
3.
Hartford County, Connecticut
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Hartford County is a county located in the north central part of the U. S. state of Connecticut. As of the 2010 census, the population was 894,014, Hartford County is included in the Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT Metropolitan Statistical Area. In Connecticut there is no executive or legislative government, the counties determine probate, civil and criminal court boundaries. Each city or town is responsible for services such as schools, snow removal, sewers, fire department. In Connecticut, cities and towns may agree to provide services or establish a regional school system. Hartford County was one of four counties in Connecticut established on May 10,1666. And it is ordered that the County Court shalbe kept at Hartford on the 1st Thursday in March, as established in 1666, Hartford County consisted of the towns of Windsor, Wethersfield, Hartford, Farmington, and Middletown. The Thirty Miles Island referred to in the constituting Act was incorporated as the town of Haddam in 1668, in 1670, the town of Simsbury was established, extending Hartford County to the Massachusetts border. In 1714, all of the territory north of the towns of Coventry. Windham County was constituted in 1726, resulting in Hartford County losing the towns of Windham, Coventry, Mansfield, northwestern Connecticut, which was originally placed under the jurisdiction of New Haven County in 1722, was transferred to Hartford County by 1738. All of northwestern Connecticut was later constituted as the new Litchfield County in 1751, in 1785, two more counties were established in what was now the U. S. state of Connecticut, Tolland and Middlesex. This mostly resulted in the extent of Hartford County. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the establishment of several more towns resulted in minor adjustments in the bounds of the county, the final adjustment resulting in the modern limits occurred on May 8,1806, when the town of Canton was established. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 751 square miles. It is the second-largest county in Connecticut by land area, the county is divided into two unequal parts by the Connecticut River, and watered by Farmington, Mill, Podunk, Scantic, and other rivers. The surface is very diverse, part of the valleys are alluvial and subject to flooding, while other portions of the county are hilly. The population density was 1,166 people per square mile, there were 353,022 housing units at an average density of 480 per square mile. 11. 55% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,15. 2% were of Italian,11. 2% Irish,9. 1% Polish,6. 5% English,5. 7% French and 5. 3% German ancestry
4.
Connecticut
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Connecticut is the southernmost state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Connecticut is also often grouped along with New York and New Jersey as the Tri-State Area and it is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capital city is Hartford, and its most populous city is Bridgeport, the state is named for the Connecticut River, a major U. S. river that approximately bisects the state. The word Connecticut is derived from various anglicized spellings of an Algonquian word for long tidal river, Connecticut is the third smallest state by area, the 29th most populous, and the fourth most densely populated of the 50 United States. It is known as the Constitution State, the Nutmeg State, the Provisions State, and it was influential in the development of the federal government of the United States. Connecticuts center of population is in Cheshire, New Haven County, Connecticuts first European settlers were Dutch. They established a small, short-lived settlement in present-day Hartford at the confluence of the Park, initially, half of Connecticut was a part of the Dutch colony New Netherland, which included much of the land between the Connecticut and Delaware rivers. The first major settlements were established in the 1630s by England, the Connecticut and New Haven Colonies established documents of Fundamental Orders, considered the first constitutions in North America. In 1662, the three colonies were merged under a charter, making Connecticut a crown colony. This colony was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution, the Connecticut River, Thames River, and ports along the Long Island Sound have given Connecticut a strong maritime tradition which continues today. The state also has a history of hosting the financial services industry, including insurance companies in Hartford. As of the 2010 Census, Connecticut features the highest per-capita income, Human Development Index, and median household income in the United States. Landmarks and Cities of Connecticut Connecticut is bordered on the south by Long Island Sound, on the west by New York, on the north by Massachusetts, and on the east by Rhode Island. The state capital and third largest city is Hartford, and other cities and towns include Bridgeport, New Haven, Stamford, Waterbury, Norwalk, Danbury, New Britain, Greenwich. Connecticut is slightly larger than the country of Montenegro, there are 169 incorporated towns in Connecticut. The highest peak in Connecticut is Bear Mountain in Salisbury in the northwest corner of the state, the highest point is just east of where Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York meet, on the southern slope of Mount Frissell, whose peak lies nearby in Massachusetts. At the opposite extreme, many of the towns have areas that are less than 20 feet above sea level. Connecticut has a maritime history and a reputation based on that history—yet the state has no direct oceanfront
5.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
6.
U.S. state
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A U. S. state is a constituent political entity of the United States of America. There are 50 states, which are together in a union with each other. Each state holds administrative jurisdiction over a geographic territory. Due to the shared sovereignty between each state and the government, Americans are citizens of both the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons covered by certain types of court orders. States range in population from just under 600,000 to over 39 million, four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names. States are divided into counties or county-equivalents, which may be assigned some local authority but are not sovereign. County or county-equivalent structure varies widely by state, State governments are allocated power by the people through their individual constitutions. All are grounded in principles, and each provides for a government. States possess a number of powers and rights under the United States Constitution, Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization and incorporation, with the government playing a much larger role than it once did. There is a debate over states rights, which concerns the extent and nature of the states powers and sovereignty in relation to the federal government. States and their residents are represented in the federal Congress, a legislature consisting of the Senate. Each state is represented in the Senate by two senators, and is guaranteed at least one Representative in the House, members of the House are elected from single-member districts. Representatives are distributed among the states in proportion to the most recent constitutionally mandated decennial census, the Constitution grants to Congress the authority to admit new states into the Union. Since the establishment of the United States in 1776, the number of states has expanded from the original 13 to 50, alaska and Hawaii are the most recent states admitted, both in 1959. The Constitution is silent on the question of states have the power to secede from the Union. Shortly after the Civil War, the U. S. Supreme Court, in Texas v. White, as a result, while the governments of the various states share many similar features, they often vary greatly with regard to form and substance
7.
New England city and town area
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A New England city and town area is a geographic and statistical entity defined by the U. S. federal government for use in the six-state New England region of the United States. NECTAs are classified as metropolitan or micropolitan NECTAs. A micropolitan NECTA has a core with a population of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000. In New England, towns are a more important level of government than counties. Because towns are smaller than counties, a NECTA usually provides a closer approximation to the real metropolitan area than a metropolitan statistical area does. Large NECTAs may be subdivided into smaller groupings known as NECTA Divisions, adjacent NECTAs that have a high degree of employment interchange may also be combined to form Combined NECTAS. NECTAs that are part of a CNECTA retain their separate identities, the following is a list of metropolitan and micropolitan NECTAs as defined by the Office of Management and Budget. Definitions are as of February 2013
8.
Board of selectmen
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The board of selectmen is commonly the executive arm of the government of New England towns in the United States. The board typically consists of three or five members, with or without staggered terms, three is the most common number, historically. In most New England towns, the voting population gathered annually in a town meeting to act as the local legislature, approving budgets. However, the towns grew, the more power would be distributed among other elected boards, such as fire wardens. For example, population increases led to the need for police departments. The advent of tarred roads and automobile traffic led to a need for full-time highway maintainers and plowmen, leaving selectmen to serve as Supervisors of Streets and Ways. The function of the board of selectmen differs from state to state, Selectmen almost always serve part-time, with a token or no salary. It is the executive branch of local government in the open town meeting form of government. In larger towns, the daily administrative duties are delegated to a full-time town administrator or town manager. In some towns, the board of selectmen acts more like a city council, sometimes this is a part-time position, with larger towns hiring a full-time town administrator, who answers to the first selectman. In some towns and cities, the first selectman exercises some of the powers associated with mayors. In Massachusetts and New Hampshire, the presiding selectman is usually called the chairman and is chosen annually by his or her fellow selectmen, in New Hampshire cities, a selectman is an elected position that is responsible for organizing elections for local, state, and federal offices. Three selectmen, a moderator, and a clerk are elected in each city ward, a rare use of the term outside of New England is in Georgetown, Colorado, where the town governing body is called the Board of Selectmen. Local government in counties, towns, and villages, Chap, Town Structure and Urban Concepts in New England, The Professional Geographer 16,1. New England town law, a digest of statutes and decisions concerning towns and town officers, New Englands gift to the nation—the township. The origin, organization, and influence of the towns of New England, the Connecticut town-officer, Part I, The powers and duties of towns, as set forth in the statutes of Connecticut, which are recited, pp. 7–97 Zimmerman, Joseph F. The New England Town Meeting, Democracy in Action Praeger Publishers,1999
9.
City manager
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A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city, in a council–manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are sometimes referred to as the executive officer or chief administrative officer in some municipalities. Other small or middle sized American cities, especially in the West, in Europe, smaller cities in the Netherlands were specially attracted by the plan. Most sources trace the first city manager to Staunton, Virginia in 1908, some of the other cities that were among the first to employ a manager were Sumter, South Carolina and Dayton, Ohio, Dayton was featured in the national media, and became a national standard. The first City Managers Association meeting of eight city managers was in December 1914, by 1930200 American cities used a city manager form of government. In addition, many states, such as the states of New Hampshire, the City Manager position focuses on efficiency and providing a certain level of service for the lowest possible cost. The competence of a city manager can be assessed using composite indicators, Manager members of the ICMA are bound by a rather rigid and strongly enforced code of ethics that was originally established in 1924. Since that time the code had been up-dated/revised on seven occasions, in the early years of the profession, most managers came from the ranks of the engineering professions. As of 2005 more than 60% of those in the profession had a MPA, MBA, the average tenure of a manager is now 7–8 years and has risen gradually over the years. Tenures tend to be less in smaller communities and higher in larger ones, educational Level of Local Government Managers, Local government Local government in the United States council-manager government Clerk Kemp, Roger L. Managing Americas Cities, A Handbook for Local Government Productivity, McFarland, jefferson, NC, USA, and London, Eng. UK1998. _______, Model Government Charters, A City, County, Regional, State, jefferson, NC, USA, and London, Eng. UK,2003 _______, Forms of Local Government, A Handbook on City, County and Regional Options, McFarland, jefferson, NC, USA, and London, Eng. The rise of the city manager, A public professional in local government, organized business and the city commission and manager movements. In JSTOR White, Leonard D. Staunton, Virginia, Birthplace Of City Manager Form Of Government, a history on the city manager system of government
10.
Eastern Time Zone
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Places that use Eastern Standard Time when observing standard time are 5 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time. Eastern Daylight Time, when observing daylight saving time DST is 4 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time, in the northern parts of the time zone, on the second Sunday in March, at 2,00 a. m. EST, clocks are advanced to 3,00 a. m. EDT leaving a one-hour gap, on the first Sunday in November, at 2,00 a. m. EDT, clocks are moved back to 1,00 a. m, southern parts of the zone do not observe daylight saving time. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 ruled that daylight saving time would run from the last Sunday of April until the last Sunday in October in the United States, the act was amended to make the first Sunday in April the beginning of daylight saving time as of 1987. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended daylight saving time in the United States beginning in 2007. So local times change at 2,00 a. m. EST to 3,00 a. m. EDT on the second Sunday in March, in Canada, the time changes as it does in the United States. However, a handful of communities unofficially observe Eastern Time because they are part of the Columbus, Georgia metropolitan area – Phenix City, Smiths Station, Lanett, and Valley. Florida, All of Florida is in the Eastern Time zone except for the portion of the Florida Panhandle west of the Apalachicola River, as the Eastern–Central zone boundary approaches the Gulf of Mexico, it follows the Bay/Gulf county line. Indiana, All of Indiana observes Eastern Time except for six counties in the Chicago metropolitan area. Kentucky, Roughly, the half of the state, including all of metropolitan Louisville, is in the Eastern Time Zone. Historically the entire state observed Central Time, when daylight saving time was first introduced, the Lower Peninsula remained on DST after it formally ended, effectively re-aligning itself into the Eastern Time Zone. The Upper Peninsula continued to observe Central Time until 1972, when all, Tennessee, Most of the eastern third of Tennessee is legally on Eastern Time. Eastern Time is also used somewhat as a de facto official time for all of the United States, since it includes the capital and the largest city. Major professional sports leagues also post all game times in Eastern time, for example, a game time between two teams from Pacific Time Zone will still be posted in Eastern time. Most cable television and national broadcast networks advertise airing times in Eastern time, national broadcast networks generally have two primary feeds, an eastern feed for Eastern and Central time zones, and a tape-delayed western feed for the Pacific Time Zone. The prime time is set on Eastern and Pacific at 8,00 p. m. with the Central time zone stations receiving the eastern feed at 7,00 p. m. local time. Mountain Time Zone stations receive a separate feed at 7,00 p. m. local time, as Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, during the summer months, it has its own feed at 7,00 p. m. local time
11.
UTC-5
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UTC−05,00 is a time offset that subtracts five hours from Coordinated Universal Time. In North America, it is observed in the Eastern Time Zone during standard time, the western Caribbean uses it year round. The southwestern and northwestern portions of Indiana Mexico – Central Zone Central, in most of Mexico, daylight time starts a few weeks after the United States. Communities on the U. S. border that observe Central Time follow the U. S. daylight time schedule
12.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
13.
Area codes 860 and 959
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Area code 860 is a telephone area code, overlaid by area code 959, that covers most of Connecticut, except its southwest, which uses area codes 203 and 475. Area code 959 was originally announced in August 1999, to overlay area code 860 when the 860 code nears exhaustion, starting in August 2014. Effective November 14,2009, all calls within Connecticut must be dialed with 10 digits beginning with the area code, use of 860 became mandatory October 4,1996. This proposal was postponed for nearly a due to number conservation measures, in September 2008. In March 2009, it was announced that the 203/475 overlay would be activated on December 12,2009, on August 27,2013, NANPA issued Planning Letter 456 which states that the 959 area code would go into effect on August 30,2014. NANPA Area Code Map of Connecticut List of exchanges from AreaCodeDownload. com,860 Area Code Regulators Have Area Code Plan—1999 news story on planned overlay
14.
Geographic Names Information System
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It is a type of gazetteer. GNIS was developed by the United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the United States Board on Geographic Names to promote the standardization of feature names, the database is part of a system that includes topographic map names and bibliographic references. The names of books and historic maps that confirm the feature or place name are cited, variant names, alternatives to official federal names for a feature, are also recorded. Each feature receives a permanent, unique feature record identifier, sometimes called the GNIS identifier, the database never removes an entry, except in cases of obvious duplication. The GNIS accepts proposals for new or changed names for U. S. geographical features, the general public can make proposals at the GNIS web site and can review the justifications and supporters of the proposals. The Bureau of the Census defines Census Designated Places as a subset of locations in the National Geographic Names Database, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28 gives standards for addressing mail. In this publication, the postal service defines two-letter state abbreviations, street identifiers such as boulevard and street, department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey, National Mapping Division, Digital Gazeteer, Users Manual. Least Heat Moon, William, Blue Highways, A Journey Into America, standard was withdrawn in September 2008, See Federal Register Notice, Vol.73, No. 170, page 51276 Report, Principles, Policies, and Procedures, Domestic Geographic Names, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28, November 2000. Board on Geographic Names website Geographic Names Information System Proposals from the general public Meeting minutes
15.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
16.
2010 United States Census
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The 2010 United States Census, is the twenty-third and currently most recent United States national census. National Census Day, the day used for the census, was April 1,2010. As part of a drive to increase the accuracy,635,000 temporary enumerators were hired. The population of the United States was counted as 308,745,538, as required by the United States Constitution, the U. S. census has been conducted every 10 years since 1790. The 2000 U. S. Census was the previous census completed, participation in the U. S. Census is required by law in Title 13 of the United States Code. On January 25,2010, Census Bureau Director Robert Groves personally inaugurated the 2010 Census enumeration by counting World War II veteran Clifton Jackson, more than 120 million census forms were delivered by the U. S. Post Office beginning March 15,2010, the number of forms mailed out or hand-delivered by the Census Bureau was approximately 134 million on April 1,2010. The 2010 Census national mail participation rate was 74%, from April through July 2010, census takers visited households that did not return a form, an operation called non-response follow-up. In December 2010, the Census Bureau delivered population information to the president for apportionment, personally identifiable information will be available in 2082. The Census Bureau did not use a form for the 2010 Census. In several previous censuses, one in six households received this long form, the 2010 Census used only a short form asking ten basic questions, How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1,2010. Were there any additional people staying here on April 1,2010 that you did not include in Question 1, mark all that apply, Is this house, apartment, or mobile home – What is your telephone number. What is Person 1s age and Person 1s date of birth, is Person 1 of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin. Does Person 1 sometimes live or stay somewhere else, the form included space to repeat some or all of these questions for up to twelve residents total. In contrast to the 2000 census, an Internet response option was not offered, detailed socioeconomic information collected during past censuses will continue to be collected through the American Community Survey. The survey provides data about communities in the United States on a 1-year or 3-year cycle, depending on the size of the community, rather than once every 10 years. A small percentage of the population on a basis will receive the survey each year. In June 2009, the U. S. Census Bureau announced that it would count same-sex married couples, however, the final form did not contain a separate same-sex married couple option
17.
Salmon Brook, Connecticut
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Salmon Brook is the name of a census-designated place corresponding to the village of Granby, the primary settlement of the town of Granby, Connecticut, in Hartford County. The population of the CDP was 2,324 as of the 2010 census, Salmon Brook is a stream that flows to the east of Granby village, leading south to the Farmington River. The West Branch of Salmon Brook flows to the south of the village, according to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 3.0 square miles, all of which is land. The village is located at the intersection of major roads. U. S. Route 202 and Connecticut Route 10 pass north–south through the village, leading north to Westfield, Massachusetts, Connecticut Route 20 passes east–west through the village, leading east to Bradley International Airport and Windsor Locks and west towards Winsted. Connecticut Route 189 leads northwest from Granby/Salmon Brook to Granville, Massachusetts and southeast via Tariffville, all of the highways converge at the Granby Green in the center of the village. As of the census of 2000, there were 2,453 people,988 households, the population density was 826.8 people per square mile. There were 1,018 housing units at a density of 343.1 per square mile. The racial makeup of the CDP was 98. 08% White,0. 24% African American,0. 16% Native American,0. 49% Asian,0. 04% Pacific Islander,0. 33% from other races, and 0. 65% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1. 14% of the population,26. 9% of all households were made up of individuals and 13. 3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the family size was 2.92. In the CDP, the population was out with 23. 7% under the age of 18,3. 3% from 18 to 24,29. 9% from 25 to 44,24. 3% from 45 to 64. The median age was 41 years, for every 100 females there were 87.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.5 males, the median income for a household in the CDP was $67,500, and the median income for a family was $80,945. Males had an income of $57,424 versus $40,307 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $32,311, about 3. 1% of families and 6. 0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10. 0% of those under age 18 and 7. 3% of those age 65 or over
18.
North Granby, Connecticut
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North Granby is a village and census-designated place in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is part of the town of Granby, the population was 1,944 at the 2010 census. The center of North Granby is today marked principally by the Cossitt Branch Library, according to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 8.3 square miles, all land. As of the census of 2000, there were 1,720 people,568 households, the population density was 205.8 people per square mile. There were 579 housing units at a density of 69.3 per square mile. The racial makeup of the CDP was 96. 86% White,0. 58% African American,0. 23% Native American,0. 93% Asian,0. 47% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 1. 69% of the population. 7. 9% of all households were made up of individuals and 2. 8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 3.03 and the average family size was 3.22. In the CDP the population was out with 30. 8% under the age of 18,4. 1% from 18 to 24,28. 1% from 25 to 44,32. 2% from 45 to 64. The median age was 39 years, for every 100 females there were 106.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.0 males, in 2000 the median income for a household in the CDP was $101,103, and the median income for a family was $103,133. Males had an income of $69,028 versus $39,922 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $34,459, about 1. 6% of families and 3. 7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1. 9% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over. The 2008 estimated median income was $127,851 with the per capita income at $44,078. The 2008 estimated median value was appraised at $447,917. The mean sale price of all houses in 2008 was $455,555
19.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
20.
Simsbury, Connecticut
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Simsbury is a suburban town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 23,513 at the 2010 census, the town was incorporated as Connecticuts twenty-first town in May 1670. Simsbury was named the 4th best town in Connecticut on Connecticut Magazines list of top places to live 2013, Simsbury boasts a highly recognized educational system. In 2016 Simsbury High School ranked 4th best high school in CT by Niche, the suburb also houses multiple private schools including The Ethel Walker School, Westminster School, The Masters School, St. Marys Elementary School, and The Cobb Montessori School. Simsbury built the Simsbury Meadows Performing Arts Center in 2005, at the beginning of the 17th century, the area today known as Simsbury was inhabited by indigenous peoples. The Wappinger were one of groups, composed of eighteen bands, organized not as formally as a tribe. These bands lived between the Hudson and Connecticut rivers, the Wappingers were one of the Algonquian peoples, a linguistic grouping which includes hundreds of tribes. One of the Wappinger bands, the Massaco, lived near, but mostly west of what is now called the Farmington River, the river was called the Massaco by the native inhabitants. The term Massaco may refer to the peoples, the river itself, the village occupied by the indigenous peoples. In 1633, Windsor was the town in Connecticut settled by Europeans. For some time, the area of Massaco was considered an appendix to the towne of Windsor, settlers in Windsor forested and farmed in the area, but did not come to Massaco permanently for a number of years. Despite this order, there is no record that any settlements ensued immediately, but there is no record of grants of land arising from this order. In 1643, John Griffin and Michael Humphrey started a tar, a few years later, a Massaco Indian named Manahanoose started a fire which destroyed tar belonging to Griffin. The Court ordered the payment of five hundred fathom of wampum as compensation, instead of cash payment, Manahanoose delivered a deed to the land at Massacoe. The deed was agreed to by Manahanoose as well as other Indians, in 1653, the General Court granted 50 acres of meadowland to Lieutenant Aaron Cook,60 acres to John Bissell and 50 acres to Thomas Ford, all in Massacoe. White settlers were farming the land and harvesting tar and turpentine in the 1650s, but did not build permanent settlements until the following decade. Aaron Cook built one of the homes in the area now known as Terrys Plain, and John Griffin built a home, possibly in 1664. The settlement of Massacoe continued in the late 1660s, the General Court awarded a land grant to John Griffin of two hundred acres in 1663
21.
Granby, Massachusetts
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Granby is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,420 at the 2010 census and it is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town partially overlaps with the place of Granby. Granby was once part of Hadley as were other towns, Granby was first settled in 1727 and was officially incorporated in 1768. The town is named in honor of John Manners, Marquess of Granby, Granby was originally part of Hadley equivalent lands, and then South Hadley, before being incorporated on June 11,1768. Old Hadley was first settled in 1659 by people from Hartford and Wethersfield and these settlers left Connecticut because of religious differences within their communities. John Pynchon was commissioned to buy land for their new community. Pynchon purchased the land from three Native American chiefs, Chickwallop, Umpanchala and Quontquont, ownership was transferred to the settlers and confirmed by the General Court. These original boundaries include part of present-day Granby, Granby is one of only three towns in Massachusetts whose local telephone service is not furnished by the former Bell System. The other two towns are Richmond and Hancock, both in Berkshire County. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has an area of 28.1 square miles. Granby is bordered by South Hadley to the west, Amherst to the north, Belchertown to the east, two highways pass through the town, U. S. Route 202 runs eastward though town from South Hadley to Belchertown on East State Street and West State Street. Route 116 runs northeastward from South Hadley to Amherst along Amherst Road, the Holyoke Range is in the northern part of Granby. Major peaks within the town are Long Mountain and Mount Norwottuck, Norwottuck is the highest point in town at 1106 feet above sea level. The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail runs along this mountain range as it passes through Granby, the Horse Caves are geological ledges along this trail. The Public School system consists of West St. Elementary, East Meadow, grades Pre-k to 3 take place in West St. grades 4-6 take place in East Meadow, and grades 7-12 take place in Granby Jr/Sr High School. As of the census of 2000, there were 6,132 people,2,247 households, the population density was 220.1 people per square mile. There were 2,295 housing units at a density of 82.4 per square mile
22.
John Manners, Marquess of Granby
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Lieutenant-General John Manners, Marquess of Granby PC was a British soldier and the eldest son of the 3rd Duke of Rutland. As he did not outlive his father and inherit the dukedom, he was known by his fathers subsidiary title, Granby served in the Seven Years War as overall commander of the British troops on the battlefield and was subsequently rewarded with the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Forces. He was popular with his troops and many houses are still named after him today. Born the eldest son of the 3rd Duke of Rutland and Bridget Manners, John Manners was educated at Eton, leaving in 1732, in 1740 he went to Italy on the Grand Tour travelling eastwards to Turkey, returning in 1742. Four years later he received a commission as colonel of a regiment raised by the Duke of Rutland to assist in quelling the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, very soon his regiment was disbanded, but he retained his rank and campaigned in Flanders in 1747. Based in Newcastle they had mutinied as unpaid, Granby paid the money owed out of his own pocket. Thereafter he left England for Flanders as Intelligence Officer to Cumberland, in 1752, the Government suggested to George II that Granby be appointed colonel of the prestigious Royal Horse Guards, in order to secure the parliamentary support of his family. The king initially refused to make the appointment, in the meantime, Granby advanced his parliamentary career, and was returned for Cambridgeshire in 1754. Though he despised faction in government, he allied himself with Viscount Royston, the knight of the shire. The king came to him more favorably, and he defended the Newcastle ministry in the House of Commons. He was promoted major-general on 18 March 1755, and was at last made Colonel of the Blues in on 27 May 1758, on 21 August, Granby arrived at Munster as second in command to Lord George Sackville, as the aged Duke of Marlborough had recently died. The British cavalry were divided into Heavy and Light cavalry, and drilled under the influence of George Elliot. Accredited as the greatest colonel since the Earl of Oxford, Granby was both courageous and competent as a soldier and he was then appointed overall commander of the expedition replacing Sackville on 21 August 1759. He became Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance on 15 September 1759 and he was one of the first who understood the importance of welfare and morale for the troops. The character of British soldiering improved, and properly led the army was unbeatable in war, nearly all the portraits show mounting a horse, or helping the wounded. On 7 June 1760 he wrote to Viscount Barrington, Secretary at War, Granby was sent to Paderborn in command of a cavalry brigade. While leading a charge at the Battle of Warburg, he is said to have lost his hat and wig, forcing him to salute his commander without them. He was promoted to lieutenant general in 1759, later that year he fought at the Battle of Minden as commander of the line of cavalry under Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
23.
Southwick, Massachusetts
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Southwick is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 9,502 at the 2010 census and it is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. Southwick was originally inhabited by either the Matitacooke, Mayawaug or Woronoake tribes of Native Americans, in the mid-17th century, pioneering English explorers moving up the Connecticut River Valley, seeking fertile farmlands and game, discovered the area and settled Southwick. It became a community, defined as the Southern village part of the town of Westfield. In colonial times, church attendance was mandatory, the 800 Christian residents of Southwick in the 1760–70s were required to travel to Westfield to congregate. Only by establishing their own community could they establish their own parish. On November 7,1770, Southwick was incorporated as a district of Westfield. The area of Southwick became somewhat smaller in 1770, the southernmost portion of Southwick joined Suffield, Connecticut, as the result of a simultaneous secession of citizens in that part of the village. Ultimately, Southwick became an independent town in 1770. The town remained divided until 1793, when Massachusetts claimed the area, a border dispute continued until 1804, when the current boundary was established through a compromise between Connecticut and Massachusetts. As a result of this resolution, Southwick is the southernmost town in western Massachusetts. In the early 19th century, the Farmington Canal and Hampshire and Hampden Canal was built to link New Haven, Connecticut, to Northampton, Massachusetts, irish immigrants came to the area to labor on this project. Developers spoke of Southwicks potential, calling it the Port of the World, farmers conflicted with the prospect that the canal would drain the Lakes. It was reported that citizens would kick in the banks to damage the canal, traces of the canal can still be found in the Great Brook and Congamond Lakes area. Due to winter freezings, summer drought and wildlife impact, the canal was phased out in favor of the railroad, completed in the late 1840s, the New York/New Haven Railroad was built alongside the canal as a revolutionary mode of travel to and through Southwick. With the railroad came the ice industry and the tourist resorts around the Congamond Lakes, several ornate hotels and dance halls were built as well as a small amusement park. There was a stop near the Lakes where visitors would disembark to swim and/or pile into canopied pleasure boats. During the First and Second World Wars, trains loaded with soldiers would also pass through town and it has been noted that local girls would gather letters thrown by the soldiers from the train - and forward them to the intended recipients at the Post Office
24.
American Revolutionary War
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From about 1765 the American Revolution had led to increasing philosophical and political differences between Great Britain and its American colonies. The war represented a culmination of these differences in armed conflict between Patriots and the authority which they increasingly resisted. This resistance became particularly widespread in the New England Colonies, especially in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. On December 16,1773, Massachusetts members of the Patriot group Sons of Liberty destroyed a shipment of tea in Boston Harbor in an event that became known as the Boston Tea Party. Named the Coercive Acts by Parliament, these became known as the Intolerable Acts in America. The Massachusetts colonists responded with the Suffolk Resolves, establishing a government that removed control of the province from the Crown outside of Boston. Twelve colonies formed a Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance, and established committees, British attempts to seize the munitions of Massachusetts colonists in April 1775 led to the first open combat between Crown forces and Massachusetts militia, the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Militia forces proceeded to besiege the British forces in Boston, forcing them to evacuate the city in March 1776, the Continental Congress appointed George Washington to take command of the militia. Concurrent to the Boston campaign, an American attempt to invade Quebec, on July 2,1776, the Continental Congress formally voted for independence, issuing its Declaration on July 4. Sir William Howe began a British counterattack, focussing on recapturing New York City, Howe outmaneuvered and defeated Washington, leaving American confidence at a low ebb. Washington captured a Hessian force at Trenton and drove the British out of New Jersey, in 1777 the British sent a new army under John Burgoyne to move south from Canada and to isolate the New England colonies. However, instead of assisting Burgoyne, Howe took his army on a campaign against the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia. Burgoyne outran his supplies, was surrounded and surrendered at Saratoga in October 1777, the British defeat in the Saratoga Campaign had drastic consequences. Giving up on the North, the British decided to salvage their former colonies in the South, British forces under Lieutenant-General Charles Cornwallis seized Georgia and South Carolina, capturing an American army at Charleston, South Carolina. British strategy depended upon an uprising of large numbers of armed Loyalists, in 1779 Spain joined the war as an ally of France under the Pacte de Famille, intending to capture Gibraltar and British colonies in the Caribbean. Britain declared war on the Dutch Republic in December 1780, in 1781, after the British and their allies had suffered two decisive defeats at Kings Mountain and Cowpens, Cornwallis retreated to Virginia, intending on evacuation. A decisive French naval victory in September deprived the British of an escape route, a joint Franco-American army led by Count Rochambeau and Washington, laid siege to the British forces at Yorktown. With no sign of relief and the situation untenable, Cornwallis surrendered in October 1781, Whigs in Britain had long opposed the pro-war Tory majority in Parliament, but the defeat at Yorktown gave the Whigs the upper hand
25.
History of Massachusetts
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Massachusetts was first colonized by principally English Europeans in the early 17th century, and became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the 18th century. Prior to English colonization of the area, it was inhabited by a variety of mainly Algonquian language indigenous tribes, the first permanent English settlement in New England came in 1620 with the founding of Plymouth Colony by the Pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower. It set precedents but never grew large, a large-scale Puritan migration began in 1630 with the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and spawned the settlement of other New England colonies. Friction with the natives erupted in the high-casualty King Philips War in the 1670s, puritanism was the established religion and was strictly enforced, dissenters were exiled. The Colony clashed with Anglican opponents in England over its religious intolerance, businessmen established wide-ranging trade links, sending ships to the West Indies and Europe, and sometimes shipping goods in violation of the Navigation Acts. These political and trade led to the revocation of the Massachusetts charter in 1684. The king in 1686 established the Dominion of New England to govern all of New England to centralize royal control, the intensely unpopular rule by Sir Edmund Andros came to a sudden end in 1689 with an uprising sparked by the Glorious Revolution in England. The new king William III established the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1691, to govern a territory equivalent to that of the modern state. Its governors were appointed by the crown, in contrast to the predecessor colonies and this created friction between the colonists and the crown, which reached its height in the early days of the American Revolution in the 1760s and 1770s over issues of who could levy taxes. Massachusetts was where the American Revolutionary War began in 1775 when London tried to shut down local self-government, the commonwealth formally adopted the state constitution in 1780, electing John Hancock its first governor. The state was the first to abolish slavery in 1783 and it was a major intellectual center and center of abolitionism. The Springfield Armory made most of the weaponry for the Union in the American Civil War, Labor unions were important after the 1860s, as were big city political machines. Massachusetts was originally inhabited by tribes of the Algonquian language family such as the Wampanoag, Narragansett, Nipmuc, Pocomtuc, Mahican, the Algonquian tribes inhabited the area prior to European settlement. In the Massachusetts Bay area resided the Massachusett people, near the present Vermont and New Hampshire borders and the Merrimack River valley was the traditional home of the Pennacook tribe. Cape Cod, Nantucket, Marthas Vineyard, and southeast Massachusetts were the home of the Wampanoag, the extreme end of the Cape was inhabited by the closely related Nauset tribe. Much of the portion and the Connecticut River valley was home to the loosely organized Nipmuc peoples. The Berkshires were the home of both the Pocomtuc and the Mahican tribes, spillovers of Narragansett and Mohegan from Rhode Island and Connecticut, respectively, were also present. Although cultivation of crops like squash and corn supplemented their diets, villages consisted of lodges called wigwams as well as long houses, and tribes were led by male or female elders known as sachems
26.
New France
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The territory was divided into five colonies, each with its own administration, Canada, Hudsons Bay, Acadia, Newfoundland, and Louisiana. Acadia had a history, with the Great Upheaval, remembered on July 28 each year since 2003. The descendants are dispersed in the Maritime Provinces of Canada, in Maine and Louisiana in the United States, with populations in Chéticamp, Nova Scotia. In the sixteenth century, the lands were used primarily to draw from the wealth of natural resources, in the seventeenth century, successful settlements began in Acadia, and in Quebec by the efforts of Champlain. By 1765, the population of the new Province of Quebec reached approximately 70,000 settlers. In 1763 France had ceded the rest of New France, except the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, to Great Britain and Spain at the Treaty of Paris, in 1800, Spain returned its portion of Louisiana to France under the secret Treaty of San Ildefonso. However, French leader Napoleon Bonaparte in turn sold it to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, New France eventually became part of the United States and Canada, with the only vestige remaining under French rule being the tiny islands Saint Pierre and Miquelon. In the United States, the legacy of New France includes numerous placenames as well as pockets of French-speaking communities. In Canada, institutional bilingualism and strong Francophone identities are arguably the most enduring legacy of New France, the Conquest is viewed differently among Francophone Canadians, and between Anglophone and Francophone Canadians. Around 1523, the Florentine navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano convinced King Francis I, late that year, Verrazzano set sail in Dieppe, crossing the Atlantic on a small caravel with 50 men. After exploring the coast of the present-day Carolinas early the year, he headed north along the coast. The first European to discover the site of present-day New York, he named it Nouvelle-Angoulême in honour of the king, verrazzanos voyage convinced the king to seek to establish a colony in the newly discovered land. Verrazzano gave the names Francesca and Nova Gallia to that land between New Spain and English Newfoundland, in 1534, Jacques Cartier planted a cross in the Gaspé Peninsula and claimed the land in the name of King Francis I. It was the first province of New France, however, initial French attempts at settling the region met with failure. French fishing fleets continued to sail to the Atlantic coast and into the St. Lawrence River, French merchants soon realized the St. Lawrence region was full of valuable fur-bearing animals, especially the beaver, which were becoming rare in Europe. Eventually, the French crown decided to colonize the territory to secure, another early French attempt at settlement in North America took place in 1564 at Fort Caroline, now Jacksonville, Florida. Intended as a haven for Huguenots, Caroline was founded under the leadership of René Goulaine de Laudonnière and it was sacked by the Spanish led by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés who then established the settlement of St. Augustine on 20 September 1565. Acadia and Canada were inhabited by indigenous nomadic Algonquian peoples and sedentary Iroquoian peoples and these lands were full of unexploited and valuable natural riches, which attracted all of Europe
27.
Running the gauntlet
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To run the gauntlet is to take part in a form of corporal punishment in which the party judged guilty is forced to run between two rows of soldiers who strike out and attack them. The word originates from Swedish, gatlopp, from gata lane and lopp course and it was borrowed into English in the 17th century, probably from English and Swedish soldiers fighting in the Protestant armies during the Thirty Years War. The word in English was originally spelled gantelope or gantlope, but soon its pronunciation was influenced by the unrelated word meaning an armored glove. The spelling changed with the pronunciation, both senses of gauntlet had the variant spelling gantlet. The spelling gantlet is preferred for the punishment in American English usage guides by Bryan Garner, American dictionaries list gantlet as a variant spelling of gauntlet, while British dictionaries additionally label it American. Known as Xylokopia in Ancient Greece, used as a military punishment. It could also be applied to every man of a whole unit as a mode of decimation. A very similar military punishment found in later armies was known as running the gauntlet, the condemned soldier was stripped to the waist and had to pass between a double row of cudgeling or switching comrades. A subaltern walked in front of him with a blade to prevent him from running, the condemned might sometimes also be dragged through by a rope around the hands or prodded along by a pursuer. Various rules might apply, such as banning edged weapons, requiring the group to one foot in place. The punishment was not necessarily continued until death, if so, he might be finished off when unable to walk. Running the gauntlet was considered far less of a dishonor than a beating on the pillory, pranger, or stocks, since one could take it like a man upright and among soldiers. In some traditions, if the condemned was able to finish the run and exit the gauntlet at the far end, his faults would be deemed paid, elsewhere, he was sent back through the gauntlet until death. A Prussian cavalry variation was to beat the condemned with stirrup straps instead of rods and it was also common practice in the French army, especially for thieves. Also used in training, notably on military cadets, as in a scene in the movie Oberst Redl, there was also a naval version of the gauntlet, notably used in the Royal Navy as a punishment for minor theft. The condemned could also receive a dozen lashes from the cat o nine tails beforehand and this punishment was abolished by order of the British Admiralty in 1806. Mild forms, not intended to cause permanent damage, have also used on or by children. In the early records of the Dutch colonial settlement of New Amsterdam appears a detailed description of running the Gantlope/Gantloppe as a punishment for the Court Martial of Melchior Claes, in Sweden, running the gauntlet was also a civilian punishment for certain crimes until the 18th century
28.
Copper
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Copper is a chemical element with symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of copper has a reddish-orange color. Copper is one of the few metals that occur in nature in directly usable metallic form as opposed to needing extraction from an ore and this led to very early human use, from c.8000 BC. Copper used in buildings, usually for roofing, oxidizes to form a green verdigris, Copper is sometimes used in decorative art, both in its elemental metal form and in compounds as pigments. Copper compounds are used as agents, fungicides, and wood preservatives. Copper is essential to all living organisms as a trace dietary mineral because it is a key constituent of the enzyme complex cytochrome c oxidase. In molluscs and crustaceans, copper is a constituent of the blood pigment hemocyanin, replaced by the hemoglobin in fish. In humans, copper is found mainly in the liver, muscle, the adult body contains between 1.4 and 2.1 mg of copper per kilogram of body weight. The filled d-shells in these elements contribute little to interatomic interactions, unlike metals with incomplete d-shells, metallic bonds in copper are lacking a covalent character and are relatively weak. This observation explains the low hardness and high ductility of single crystals of copper, at the macroscopic scale, introduction of extended defects to the crystal lattice, such as grain boundaries, hinders flow of the material under applied stress, thereby increasing its hardness. For this reason, copper is supplied in a fine-grained polycrystalline form. The softness of copper partly explains its high conductivity and high thermal conductivity. The maximum permissible current density of copper in open air is approximately 3. 1×106 A/m2 of cross-sectional area, Copper is one of a few metallic elements with a natural color other than gray or silver. Pure copper is orange-red and acquires a reddish tarnish when exposed to air, as with other metals, if copper is put in contact with another metal, galvanic corrosion will occur. A green layer of verdigris can often be seen on old structures, such as the roofing of many older buildings. Copper tarnishes when exposed to sulfur compounds, with which it reacts to form various copper sulfides. There are 29 isotopes of copper, 63Cu and 65Cu are stable, with 63Cu comprising approximately 69% of naturally occurring copper, both have a spin of 3⁄2
29.
Quercus alba
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Quercus alba, the white oak, is one of the preeminent hardwoods of eastern and central North America. It is an oak, native to eastern and central North America and found from Minnesota, Ontario, Quebec. Specimens have been documented to be over 450 years old, although called a white oak, it is very unusual to find an individual specimen with white bark, the usual color is a light gray. In the forest it can reach a magnificent height and in the open it develops into a massive broad-topped tree with large branches striking out at wide angles. Q. alba typically reaches heights of 80 to 100 feet at maturity, trees growing in a forest will become much taller than ones in an open area which develop to be short and massive. The tallest known white oak is 144 feet tall and it is not unusual for a white oak tree to be as wide as it is tall, but specimens growing at high altitudes may only become small shrubs. White oak may live 200 to 300 years, with even older specimens known. The Wye Oak in Wye Mills, Maryland was estimated to be over 450 years old when it fell in a thunderstorm in 2002. Another noted white oak is the Great White Oak in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, the tree measures 25 feet in circumference at the base and 16 feet in circumference four feet above the ground. The tree is 75 feet tall, and its branches spread over 125 feet from tip to tip, the oak, claimed to be the oldest in the United States, began showing signs of poor health in the mid-2010s. The tree was declared dead in 2016 and was planned to be taken down in 2017, sexual maturity begins at around 20 years, but the tree does not produce large crops of acorns until its 50th year and the amount varies from year to year. Acorns deteriorate quickly after ripening, the rate being only 10% for six-month-old seeds. As the acorns are prime food for animals and insects, all may be lost in years of small crops, the bark is a light ash-gray and peels somewhat from the top, bottom and/or sides. In spring the young leaves are of a delicate, silvery pink and covered with a soft, blanket-like down. The petioles are short, and the leaves which cluster close to the ends of the shoots are pale green and this condition continues for several days, passing through the opalescent changes of soft pink, silvery white and finally yellow green. The leaves grow to be 5 to 8.5 inches long and 2.75 to 4.5 inches wide and have a glossy green upper surface. They usually turn red or brown in autumn, but depending on climate, site, some brown, dead leaves may remain on the tree throughout winter until very early spring. The lobes can be shallow, extending less than halfway to the midrib, or deep, the acorns are usually sessile, and grow to 0.5 to 1 inch in length, falling in early October
30.
United States Census Bureau
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The United States Census Bureau is a principal agency of the U. S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureaus primary mission is conducting the U. S. Census every ten years, in addition to the decennial census, the Census Bureau continually conducts dozens of other censuses and surveys, including the American Community Survey, the U. S. Economic Census, and the Current Population Survey, furthermore, economic and foreign trade indicators released by the federal government typically contain data produced by the Census Bureau. The Bureaus various censuses and surveys help allocate over $400 billion in federal funds every year and help states, local communities, the Census Bureau is part of the U. S. Department of Commerce and its director is appointed by the President of the United States. The Census Bureau now conducts a population count every 10 years in years ending with a 0. Between censuses, the Census Bureau makes population estimates and projections, the Census Bureau is mandated with fulfilling these obligations, the collecting of statistics about the nation, its people, and economy. The Census Bureaus legal authority is codified in Title 13 of the United States Code, the Census Bureau also conducts surveys on behalf of various federal government and local government agencies on topics such as employment, crime, health, consumer expenditures, and housing. Within the bureau, these are known as surveys and are conducted perpetually between and during decennial population counts. The Census Bureau also conducts surveys of manufacturing, retail, service. Between 1790 and 1840, the census was taken by marshals of the judicial districts, the Census Act of 1840 established a central office which became known as the Census Office. Several acts followed that revised and authorized new censuses, typically at the 10-year intervals, in 1902, the temporary Census Office was moved under the Department of Interior, and in 1903 it was renamed the Census Bureau under the new Department of Commerce and Labor. The department was intended to consolidate overlapping statistical agencies, but Census Bureau officials were hindered by their role in the department. An act in 1920 changed the date and authorized manufacturing censuses every 2 years, in 1929, a bill was passed mandating the House of Representatives be reapportioned based on the results of the 1930 Census. In 1954, various acts were codified into Title 13 of the US Code, by law, the Census Bureau must count everyone and submit state population totals to the U. S. President by December 31 of any year ending in a zero. States within the Union receive the results in the spring of the following year, the United States Census Bureau defines four statistical regions, with nine divisions. The Census Bureau regions are widely used. for data collection, the Census Bureau definition is pervasive. Title 13 of the U. S. Code establishes penalties for the disclosure of this information, all Census employees must sign an affidavit of non-disclosure prior to employment. The Bureau cannot share responses, addresses or personal information with anyone including United States or foreign government, only after 72 years does the information collected become available to other agencies or the general public
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American black bear
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The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continents smallest and most widely distributed bear species, Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in forested areas, but do leave forests in search of food. Sometimes they become attracted to human communities because of the availability of food. The American black bear is the worlds most common bear species, along with the brown bear, it is one of only two of the eight modern bear species not considered globally threatened with extinction by the IUCN. American black bears often mark trees using their teeth and claws as a form of communication with other bears, a behavior common to many species of bears. Despite living in North America, American black bears are not closely related to bears and polar bears. American and Asian black bears are considered sister taxa, and are closely related to each other than to other species of bear. Reportedly, the sun bear is also a recent split from this lineage. A small primitive bear called Ursus abstrusus is the oldest known North American fossil member of the genus Ursus and this suggests that U. abstrusus may be the direct ancestor of the American black bear, which evolved in North America. Although Wolverton and Lyman still consider U. vitabilis an apparent precursor to modern black bears, the ancestors of American black bears and Asiatic black bears diverged from sun bears 4.58 mya. The American black bear then split from the Asian black bear 4.08 mya, the earliest American black bear fossils, which were located in Port Kennedy, Pennsylvania, greatly resemble the Asiatic species, though later specimens grew to sizes comparable to grizzlies. From the Holocene to present, American black bears seem to have shrunk in size, the American black bear lived during the same period as short-faced bears and the Florida spectacled bear. These Tremarctine bears evolved from bears that had emigrated from Asia to North America 7–8 ma, however, both Arctodus and Tremarctos had survived several other ice ages. American black bears are reproductively compatible with several other bear species, according to Jack Hannas Monkeys on the Interstate, a bear captured in Sanford, Florida, was thought to have been the offspring of an escaped female Asian black bear and a male American black bear. In 1859, a bear and a Eurasian brown bear were bred together in the London Zoological Gardens. In the reports published since this date three species have produced young, a black bear shot in autumn 1986 in Michigan was thought by some to be a black bear/grizzly bear hybrid, due to its unusually large size and its proportionately larger braincase and skull. DNA testing was unable to determine whether it was a black bear or grizzly
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White-tailed deer
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The white-tailed deer, also known as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also introduced to New Zealand, Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Lesser Antilles, and some countries in Europe, such as Finland, the Czech Republic. In the Americas, it is the most widely distributed wild ungulate, in North America, the species is widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains, but elsewhere, it is mostly replaced by the black-tailed or mule deer. Some taxonomists have attempted to separate white-tailed deer into a host of subspecies, genetic studies, however, suggest fewer subspecies within the animals range, as compared to the 30 to 40 subspecies that some scientists described in the last century. The Florida Key deer, O. virginianus clavium, and the Columbian white-tailed deer, in the United States, the Virginia white-tail, O. virginianus virginianus, is among the most widespread subspecies. The white-tailed deer species has tremendous genetic variation and is adaptable to several environments, several local deer populations, especially in the southern states, are descended from white-tailed deer transplanted from various localities east of the Continental Divide. Some of these populations may have been from as far north as the Great Lakes region to as far west as Texas, yet are also quite at home in the Appalachian. These deer over time have intermixed with the indigenous deer populations. Central and South America have a number of white-tailed deer subspecies that range from Guatemala as far south as Peru. This list of subspecies of deer is more exhaustive than the list of North American subspecies, however, the white-tailed deer populations in these areas are difficult to study, due to overhunting in many parts and a lack of protection. Some areas no longer carry deer, so it is difficult to assess the genetic difference of these animals, the deer can be recognized by the characteristic white underside to its tail. It raises its tail when it is alarmed to warn the predator that it has been detected, a population of white-tailed deer in New York is entirely white —not albino—in color. The former Seneca Army Depot in Romulus, New York, has the largest known concentration of white deer, strong conservation efforts have allowed white deer to thrive within the confines of the depot. White-tailed deers horizontally slit pupils allow for night vision and color vision during the day. The white-tailed deer is highly variable in size, generally following Bergmanns rule that the size is larger farther away from the Equator. North American male deer usually weigh 45 kilograms, but in rare cases, mature bucks over 180 kilograms have been recorded in the northernmost reaches of their native range, specifically, Minnesota and Ontario. In 1926, Carl J. Lenander, Jr. took a white-tailed buck near Tofte, MN, the female in North America usually weighs from 40 to 90 kg. White-tailed deer from the tropics and the Florida Keys are markedly smaller-bodied than temperate populations, averaging 35 to 50 kg, white-tailed deer from the Andes are larger than other tropical deer of this species and have thick, slightly woolly looking fur
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The Berkshires
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The Berkshires is a highland geologic region located in the western parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Also referred to as the Berkshire Hills, Berkshire Mountains, and Berkshire Plateau, the region enjoys a vibrant tourism industry based on music, arts, geologically, the mountains are a range of the Appalachian Mountains. The Berkshires was named among the 200 Last Great Places by The Nature Conservancy, the term The Berkshires has overlapping but non-identical political, cultural, and geographic definitions. The cultural region also includes the Taconic Mountains bordering New York, southwest Vermont and the Taconic region of New York are occasionally grouped with the Berkshires cultural region. Sir Francis Bernard, the Royal Governor, named the area Berkshire to honor his home county in England. They are on the average 1,000 ft lower and less prominent than the Green Mountains of Vermont, erosion over hundreds of millions of years wore these mountains down to the hills that we see today. The average regional elevation of the Berkshires ranges from about 700 to 1,200 feet, knox and his men continued east through the Berkshires and finally arrived in Boston. This feat, known as the Noble train of artillery, was accomplished in the dead of winter, the Berkshires lie within the New England-Acadian forests ecoregion. Each region is distinct from the others providing a unique habitat assemblage, much of the Hoosic and Housatonic River Valleys have underlying bedrock limestone and marble which contribute to calcareous wetlands unique in Massachusetts. The alkaline pH waters support a diversity of plants and animals intolerant of more acidic waters, combined with the rich mesic forests ranging from the northern hardwood to the taiga or sub-alpine, makes for a valuable, biologically diverse ecosystem. Today, efforts are being made on behalf of many organizations to preserve and manage this region for biological diversity, recreation directly related to this ecology is a popular area for trout fishing, and the areas relative pristineness contributes to the popularity of nature walks in the region. See also, Natural History of the Berkshires The Berkshires are a popular year-round premiere tourist destination and vacation getaway, the Berkshires are less than 3 hours from New York City and Boston and offer culture and adventure year-round. The Berkshires is a destination with a cultural scene to rival far larger urban dwellings. The area includes Bash Bish Falls, the tallest waterfall in Massachusetts, the Berkshires are also home to dozens of summer camps, some of which date back to the turn of the 20th century. At Williams College, the Chapin Library displays a selection of rare books. The Kripalu Center of Stockbridge, North Americas largest residential facility for health and education
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1860 United States Census
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The United States Census of 1860 was the eighth Census conducted in the United States starting June 1,1860, and lasting five months. It determined the population of the United States to be 31,443,321, the total population included 3,953,761 slaves, representing 12. 6% of the total population. By the time the 1860 census returns were ready for tabulation, as a result, Census Superintendent Joseph C. G. Kennedy and his staff produced only an abbreviated set of public reports, without graphic or cartographic representations. The statistics did allow the Census staff to produce a display, including preparing maps of Southern states. These maps displayed militarily vital topics, including population, slave population, predominant agricultural products. The 1860 census Schedule 1 was one of two schedules that counted the population of the United States, the other was Schedule 2, aggregate data for small areas, together with compatible cartographic boundary files, can be downloaded from the National Historical Geographic Information System. National data reveals that farmers made up nearly 10% of utilized occupations, farm laborers represent the next highest percent with 3. 2%, followed by general laborers at 3. 0%. More localized data shows that other occupations were common, in the town of Essex, Massachusetts, a large section of the women in the labor force were devoted to shoe-binding, while for men the common occupations were farming and shoe-making. IPUMS data also notes that the share of the population that had enrolled in school or marked as Student stood at 0. 2%. The census of 1860 was the last in which much of Southern wealth was held as slaves—still legally considered property, G. G. Kennedy U. S. Federal Cens us Mortality Schedules 1850-1880 Adam Goodheart, The Census of Doom, NY Times
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1890 United States Census
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The Eleventh United States Census was taken beginning June 2,1890. The data was tabulated by machine for the first time, the data reported that the distribution of the population had resulted in the disappearance of the American frontier. Data was entered on a machine readable medium, punched cards, the total population of 62,947,714, the family, or rough, count, was announced after only six weeks of processing. The public reaction to this tabulation was disbelief, as it was believed that the right answer was at least 75,000,000. The United States census of 1890 showed a total of 248,253 Native Americans living in America, down from 400,764 Native Americans identified in the census of 1850. The 1890 census announced that the region of the United States no longer existed. Up to and including the 1880 census, the country had a frontier of settlement, by 1890, isolated bodies of settlement had broken into the unsettled area to the extent that there was hardly a frontier line. This prompted Frederick Jackson Turner to develop his Frontier Thesis, the original data for the 1890 Census is no longer available. Almost all the schedules were damaged in a fire in the basement of the Commerce Building in Washington. Some 25% of the materials were presumed destroyed and another 50% damaged by smoke, the damage to the records led to an outcry for a permanent National Archives. The Librarian was asked by the Bureau to identify any records which should be retained for historical purposes, congress authorized destruction of that list of records on February 21,1933, and the surviving original 1890 census records were destroyed by government order by 1934 or 1935. The other censuses for which information has been lost are the 1800 and 1810 enumerations. Mayo-Smith, Richmond, The Eleventh Census of the United States
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1910 United States Census
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The 1910 Census switched from a portrait page orientation to a landscape orientation. The column titles in the form are as follows, LOCATION. Number of dwelling house in order of visitation, Number of family in order of visitation. NAME of each person whose place of abode on April 15,1910, was in this family, enter surname first, then the given name and middle initial, if any. Include every person living on April 15,1910, omit children born since April 15,1910. Relationship of this person to the head of the family, whether single, married, widowed, or divorced. Number of years of present marriage, Mother of how many children, Number born. Mother of how children, Number now living. Place of birth of each person and parents of each person enumerated, if born in the United States, give the state or territory. If of foreign birth, give the country, place of birth of this Person. Place of birth of Father of this person, place of birth of Mother of this person. Year of immigration to the United States, whether able to speak English, or, if not, give language spoken. Trade or profession of, or particular kind of work done by person, as spinner, salesman, laborer. General nature of industry, business, or establishment in which this works, as cotton mill, dry goods store, farm. Whether as employer, employee, or work on own account, whether out of work on April 15,1910. Number of weeks out of work during year 1909, attended school any time since September 1,1909. Whether a survivor of the Union or Confederate Army or Navy, special Notation, In 1912, New Mexico and Arizona would become the 47th and 48th states admitted to the Union. The 1910 population count for each of these areas was 327,301 and 204,354 respectively
