1.
First Lady of the United States
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First Lady of the United States is the informal but accepted title held by the wife of the President of the United States, concurrent with the presidents term of office. Although the first lady’s role has never been codified or officially defined, melania Trump is the current First Lady. While the title was not in use until much later, Martha Washington, the wife of George Washington. During her lifetime she was referred to as Lady Washington. Since the 1790s the role of first lady has changed considerably and it has come to include involvement in political campaigns, management of the White House, championship of social causes, and representation of the president at official and ceremonial occasions. Additionally, over the individual first ladies have held influence in a range of sectors. Historically, should a president be unmarried, or a widower, the use of the title First Lady to describe the spouse or hostess of an executive began in the United States. In the early days of the republic, there was not a generally accepted title for the wife of the president. Indulging in no indolence, she left the pillow at dawn, sometime after 1849, the title began being used in Washington, D. C. social circles. The title first gained recognition in 1877, when newspaper journalist Mary C. Ames referred to Lucy Webb Hayes as the First Lady of the Land while reporting on the inauguration of Rutherford B, the frequent reporting on Lucy Hayes activities helped spread use of the title outside Washington. A popular 1911 comedic play about Dolley Madison by playwright Charles Nirdlinger, titled The First Lady in the Land, by the 1930s, it was in wide use. Use of the later spread from the United States to other nations. The wife of the Vice President of the United States is sometimes referred to as the Second Lady of the United States, the position of the First Lady is not an elected one and carries only ceremonial duties. Nonetheless, first ladies have held a highly visible position in American society, the role of the First Lady has evolved over the centuries. She is, first and foremost, the hostess of the White House and she organizes and attends official ceremonies and functions of state either along with, or in place of, the president. Lisa Burns identifies four main themes of the first ladyship, as public woman, as political celebrity, as political activist. Martha Washington created the role and hosted many affairs of state at the national capital and this socializing became known as the Republican Court and provided elite women with an opportunity to play backstage political role
First Lady of the United States
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Incumbent
Michelle Obama
First Lady of the United States
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Dolley Madison was said to be the first President's wife to be referred to as "First Lady" at her funeral in 1849.
First Lady of the United States
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First Ladies (from left to right)
Michelle Obama,
Laura Bush, former Secretary of State and presidential candidate
Hillary Clinton,
Barbara Bush, and
Rosalynn Carter during the dedication of the
George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in 2013.
First Lady of the United States
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Missouri Governor
John Ashcroft and First Lady
Barbara Bush with a "Parents as Teachers" group at the
Greater St. Louis Ferguson-Florissant School District in October 1991. Mrs. Bush (in rocking chair) is reading
Brown Bear, Brown Bear to the children.
2.
Zachary Taylor
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Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States, serving from March 1849 until his death in July 1850. Before his presidency, Taylor was an officer in the United States Army. Taylors status as a hero as a result of his victories in the Mexican-American War won him election to the White House despite his vague political beliefs. His top priority as president was preserving the Union, but he died 16 months into his term, before making any progress on the status of slavery and he remains the only President to come from Louisiana. Taylor was born into a prominent family of planters who migrated westward from Virginia to Kentucky in his youth and he was commissioned as an officer in the U. S. Army in 1808 and made a name for himself as a captain in the War of 1812. He climbed the ranks establishing military forts along the Mississippi River and his success in the Second Seminole War attracted national attention and earned him the nickname Old Rough and Ready. The Mexican–American War broke out in April 1846, in May, Taylor defeated Mexican troops commanded by General Mariano Arista at the Battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, and managed to drive his troops out of Texas. Taylor subsequently led his troops into Mexico, where once again defeated Mexican troops commanded by Pedro de Ampudia at the Battle of Monterrey in September. Defying orders, Taylor moved his troops further south, despite being severely outnumbered, he dealt a crushing blow to Mexican forces under Antonio López de Santa Anna in February 1847 at the Battle of Buena Vista. After this, most of Taylors troops were transferred to the command of Major General Winfield Scott, the Whig Party convinced the reluctant Taylor to lead their ticket in the 1848 presidential election, despite his unclear political beliefs and lack of interest in politics. At the 1848 Whig National Convention, Taylor defeated Scott and former Senator Henry Clay to take the nomination, as president, Taylor kept his distance from Congress and his cabinet, even as partisan tensions threatened to divide the Union. Debate over the status of slavery in the Mexican Cession dominated the political agenda, despite being a Southerner and a slaveholder himself, Taylor did not push for the expansion of slavery, and he sought sectional harmony above all other concerns. To avoid the issue of slavery, he urged settlers in New Mexico and California to bypass the territorial stage and draft constitutions for statehood, Taylor died suddenly of a stomach-related illness in July 1850, with his administration having accomplished little aside from the ratification of the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty. Fillmore served the remainder of Taylors term, Zachary Taylor was born on November 24,1784, on a plantation in Orange County, Virginia, to a prominent family of planters of English ancestry. He is inconclusively believed to have born at the home of his maternal grandfather. He was the third of five surviving sons in his family and had three younger sisters and his mother was Sarah Dabney Taylor. His father, Richard Taylor, had served as a lieutenant colonel in the American Revolution, Taylors second cousin through that line was James Madison, the fourth president. Leaving exhausted lands, his family joined the migration out of Virginia and settled near what developed as Louisville, Kentucky
Zachary Taylor
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General Zachary Taylor rides his horse at Palo Alto Battle – May 8, 1846
Zachary Taylor
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Daguerreotype of Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor
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Taylor/Fillmore 1848 campaign poster
Zachary Taylor
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Daguerreotype portrait of Taylor at the
White House by
Mathew Brady, 1849
3.
Sarah Polk
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Sarah Childress Polk was the wife of the 11th President of the United States, James Polk, serving as First Lady of the United States from 1845 to 1849. Sarah Childress was born in 1803 to Joel Childress, a prominent planter, merchant, and land speculator, Sarah met James Polk while both were receiving instruction from Samuel P. Black in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, he was 19, she was 12. Several years later James began courting her, legend says Andrew Jackson called her “wealthy, pretty, ambitious, and intelligent, ” and urged James K. Polk to marry her. In 1823 the two became engaged, and on January 1,1824, Sarah Childress, aged 20, married James Polk, aged 28, the Polks had no children of their own, but raised a nephew, Marshall Tate Polk as their personal ward. After her husbands death, Mrs. Polk assumed guardianship of a niece, Sarah Polk Jetton. In physical appearance, Sarah was fairly tall, with hair that was parted in the middle and worn in ringlets, dark brown eyes. She had prominent teeth that caused her to tighten her lips, giving her a disapproving look and she usually dressed in vibrant blues, reds and maroons, that suited her dark coloring. During Polks political career, Sarah assisted her husband with his speeches, gave him advice on policy matters, in Washington as a congressmans wife during the administrations of John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, and Martin Van Buren, Mrs. Polk very much enjoyed her social duties. Calhouns wife, Floride Calhoun, and most of the members wives. In 1845, Sarah Polk became the 11th First Lady of the United States and she was lively, charming, intelligent, and a good conversationalist. President Polk at times discussed policy matters with her, while she enjoyed politics, she also cautioned her husband, whose health was never robust, against overwork. A devout Presbyterian, as First Lady she banned dancing, card games, when she attended the Inaugural Ball, she did not dance. She hosted the first annual Thanksgiving dinner at the White House, unlike Julia Tylers waltzes, the Polk entertainments were sedate and sober affairs which earned the First Lady the nickname Sahara Sarah. After attending the inauguration of James Polks successor, Zachary Taylor, on March 5,1849, he and Sarah left by horse and carriage to their new home Polk Place in Nashville, Tennessee. Three months later, James Polk died, having had the shortest retirement of any former U. S. President, the United States government granted her a yearly pension of $5,000. Sarah Polk lived at Polk Place for 42 years, the longest retirement and widowhood of any former US First Lady, and always wore black. She died on August 14,1891, at age 87, only 41 when her husband became president, she outlived several of her successors including Margaret Taylor, Abigail Fillmore, Jane Pierce, Mary Todd Lincoln, Eliza Johnson and Lucy Webb Hayes. Only a handful of first ladies have lived longer -- Anna Harrison, Barbara Bush, Edith Bolling Wilson, Betty Ford, Lady Bird Johnson, Nancy Reagan, Bess Truman, and Rosalynn Carter
Sarah Polk
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Sarah Childress Polk
Sarah Polk
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Sarah and James
Sarah Polk
Sarah Polk
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Polk in her later years
4.
Abigail Fillmore
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Abigail Powers Fillmore, wife of Millard Fillmore, was First Lady of the United States from 1850 to 1853. Abigail was born in Stillwater, New York,1798, in Saratoga County and she was the daughter of the Reverend Lemuel Powers, a Baptist minister, and Abigail Newland-Powers. Abigail grew up in Moravia, New York, not far from the Fillmore farm and her father died shortly after her birth. After moving to Cayuga County, New York by wagon train and her father left behind a large library of his personal books, and she was educated by her mother from this wealth of books. She came to love literature and also proficient in other subjects such as math, government, history, philosophy. After finishing school she became a teacher and continued to teach after marriage, in 1814 Abigail became a part-time school teacher at the Sempronius Village school. In 1817 she becomes a teacher and in 1819 she took on another teaching job. Then, in 1824 she became a tutor in Lisle to three of her cousins. She was then asked to open up a school in Broome County, she opened the school. In 1819, she took a teaching post at the new academy in New Hope, the world of knowledge and Fillmores steady progress in it drew them together, and gradually the relationship of teacher and student evolved into romantic attachment. After a long courtship, Millard, aged 26, and Abigail, aged 27, were married on February 5,1826, by the Reverend Orasius H. Smith at the home of the brides brother Judge Powers in Moravia, New York. Without a honeymoon, they settled at East Aurora, New York, Mrs. Fillmore continued to teach school until the birth of her first son and maintained a lifelong interest in education. She shared her husbands love of books and helped build their personal library, the Fillmores had a son and a daughter, Millard Powers Fillmore Mary Abigail Fillmore Attaining prosperity at last, Fillmore bought his family a six-room house in Buffalo, New York. Enjoying comparative luxury, Abigail learned the ways of society as the wife of a Congressman and she cultivated a noted flower garden, but much of her time, as always, she spent reading. In 1847 when Fillmore was elected New York State Comptroller the family moved to Albany, New York, their children were away in boarding school. In 1849, Abigail Fillmore came to Washington, D. C. as wife of the Vice President and she thereby became the Second Lady of the United States. Sixteen months later, after Zachary Taylors death at a height of sectional crisis, even after the period of official mourning, the social life of the Fillmore administration remained subdued. Every friday night the White House hosted a reception, where she had to stand for hours greeting and socializing with guests, when Abigail first moved into the White House she was reportedly appalled at the fact that there was no library in it
Abigail Fillmore
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Abigail Powers Fillmore
Abigail Fillmore
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Gravesite of Abigail Powers,
Forest Lawn Cemetery,
Buffalo, New York
5.
Calvert County, Maryland
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Calvert County is a county located in the U. S. state of Maryland. As of the 2010 census, the population was 88,737 and its county seat is Prince Frederick. The countys name is derived from the name of the Barons of Baltimore. Calvert County is included in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area and it occupies the Calvert Peninsula, which is bordered on the east by Chesapeake Bay and on the west by the Patuxent River. Calvert County is part of the Southern Maryland region, the county has one of the highest median household incomes in the United States. First colonized as part of Charles County around 1650, it was renamed, Patuxent County was established in 1654 by an Order in Council. In 1658 the county was renamed Calvert County and it is one of the older counties in Maryland, after St. Marys County, Kent County and Anne Arundel County. Once made up primarily of farms and tobacco fields, the county has become a fast-growing exurban neighbor of Washington, many home prices have nearly quadrupled in the past decade, with many four-bedroom homes in the northern half of the county averaging over $1,000,000. The popular weekend resort towns of Solomons, Chesapeake Beach, the county has a number of properties on the National Register of Historic Places. Calvert County is governed by a group of five county commissioners and it is part of the 5th Congressional District, along with much of Southern Maryland. The current representative is Democratic House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 345 square miles, of which 213 square miles is land and 132 square miles is water. It is the smallest county in Maryland by land area and third-smallest by total area, Calvert County lies in the humid subtropical climate zone, with hot, humid summers and mild to chilly winters with plentiful precipitation year-round. Its proximity to the Chesapeake Bay has an effect on temperatures compared with locales further inland. The population density was 346 people per square mile, there were 27,576 housing units at an average density of 128 per square mile. 1. 52% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,15. 5% were of Irish,15. 0% German,12. 0% English,11. 5% United States or American and 7. 1% Italian ancestry. 16. 30% of all households were made up of individuals and 5. 70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.91 and the average family size was 3.26. In the county, the population was out with 29. 60% under the age of 18,6. 40% from 18 to 24,31. 70% from 25 to 44,23. 40% from 45 to 64. The median age was 36 years, for every 100 females there were 97.30 males
Calvert County, Maryland
Calvert County, Maryland
Calvert County, Maryland
6.
Pascagoula, Mississippi
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Pascagoula is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the city of the Pascagoula, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area, as a part of the Gulfport–Biloxi–Pascagoula. The population was 26,200 at the 2000 census and it is the county seat of Jackson County. Pascagoula is an industrial city of Mississippi, along the Gulf Coast. Prior to World War II, the town was a fishing village of about 5,000. The population exploded with the shipbuilding industry. Today, Pascagoula is home to the state’s largest employer, Ingalls Shipbuilding, other major industries include one of the largest Chevron refineries in the country, Signal International, an oil platform builder, and Mississippi Phosphates. Naval Station Pascagoula was located on Singing River Island, and was homeport to several Navy warships, however, Naval Station Pascagoula was decommissioned as part of the 2005 BRAC recommendations and ceased operations in 2006. The mayor of the city is Jim Blevins, the name Pascagoula, which means bread eater, is taken from a group of Native Americans found in villages along the Pascagoula River some distance above its mouth. Hernando De Soto seems to have made first contact with them in the 1540s, pierre Le Moyne dIberville, founder of the colony of Louisiana, left a more detailed account from an expedition of this region in 1700. Instead, their language seems more akin to that of the Biloxi or Natchez people, the first settlers of Pascagoula were Jean Baptiste Baudreau Dit Graveline, Joseph Simon De La Pointe and his aunt, the Madame Chaumont. Local legend says the Pascagoula tribe chanted and waded hand-in-hand into the Pascagoula River, drowning together rather than become enslaved to or killed by an enemy tribe, thus, the legend of the Singing River was born. It is said that on still summer and autumn evenings, the sad song of the Pascagoulas can still be heard near the river. The region changed hands over the century, being occupied variously by the English, French. It did not come into the permanent possession of the United States until 1812, at one point, for seventy-four days in 1810, Pascagoula was a part of what was known as The Republic of West Florida. Pascagoula was incorporated as a village in 1892 and obtained city status in 1901, todays downtown Pascagoula used to be the town of Scranton, Mississippi until the two towns merged in 1912. The Nite Riders, also got their start in Pascagoula in the 1950s, many of the original members still perform together in local casinos. Pascagoula gained notoriety on October 11,1973 when two fishermen, Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker, claimed to have been abducted by aliens from a Pascagoula pier
Pascagoula, Mississippi
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The city's welcome sign as seen on
U.S. Route 90
Pascagoula, Mississippi
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Location of Pascagoula, MS
Pascagoula, Mississippi
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A view of a section of the Ingalls Shipbuilding Company showing various United States Navy ships under construction in Pascagoula
Pascagoula, Mississippi
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Houses leveled, gutted or flooded in Pascagoula by
Hurricane Katrina
7.
Sarah Knox Taylor
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Sarah Knox Knoxie Taylor Davis was the daughter of Zachary Taylor, who was a career military officer during her life and later became President of the United States. She met Jefferson Davis when living with her father and family at Fort Crawford during the Black Hawk War and they married in 1835 and she died three months later of malaria. Margaret Mackall and Zachary Taylor had three surviving daughters and one son, Sarah Knox Taylor was their second child and spent some years growing up on military installations. Her father became a general and commanded forts, her mother provided most of her education, Sarah was given the nickname Knoxie, which originated from her middle name and from Fort Knox II in Vincennes, Indiana, where she was born. In the early 1830s, her father commanded Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin and his wife and children were living there with him. At age 17, Sarah fell in love with Jefferson Davis, a recent graduate of the United States Military Academy and a lieutenant, Davis was transferred to St. Louis in 1833, yet managed to keep in contact with the woman whom he wished to marry. Taylor admired Davis for his skills but opposed the romantic match. The Taylors older daughter had already married Army surgeon Robert Crooke Wood, together with their own experience, the Taylors felt that the military life was too hard and did not want Sarah to be an Army wife. After discussions with his older brother Joseph Emory Davis, Jefferson decided to resign from the Army so that he could marry Sarah and he returned to Mississippi to develop his Brierfield Plantation next to his brothers Hurricane Plantation. Joseph gave Jefferson the land, called Brierfield because it was covered with brush. He and Sarah Taylor married on June 17,1835, at the home of her aunt, near Louisville, both of the newlyweds contracted malaria on a summer visit to Daviss sister, Anna Davis Smith, in St. Francisville, Louisiana. Sarah died of it, just three months after her marriage to Jefferson, still at his sisters home, Jefferson nearly died of it as well. The young Mrs. Davis was laid to rest near other members of Jefferson Daviss family, the cemetery has been preserved by the state and is now known as the Locust Grove State Historic Site. Davis was devastated by the death of his wife, as were her parents. Her death caused years of ill will between Davis and Zachary Taylor, he and his wife felt that Davis should have better than to go to St. Francisville in the fever season. The men met by chance in 1845 on a Mississippi steamboat, after recovering from malaria, seeking respite from the loss of his wife, Davis sailed to Havana, Cuba, and then to New York City. In 1836, he returned to his Brierfield Plantation in Warren County, Mississippi, after being reclusive for years, he gradually became active in politics. He remarried in 1845 and had six children and he served in Congress and was elected as President of the Confederate States of America, after secession in 1861
Sarah Knox Taylor
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Sarah Knox Taylor age 16
8.
Richard Taylor (general)
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Richard Scott Dick Taylor was an American planter, politician, military historian, and Confederate general. Taylor commanded the District of West Louisiana and was responsible for successfully opposing United States troops invading Louisiana during the Red River Campaign of 1864 and he was the only son of Zachary Taylor, the 12th President of the United States. He was named after his grandfather, Richard Lee Taylor. Richard Taylor, nicknamed Dick, had three sisters, whose given names were Ann Mackall, Sarah Knox, and Mary Elizabeth. Much of his life was spent on the American frontier, as his father was a career military officer and commanded frontier forts. As a youth, Richard was sent to schools in Kentucky. After starting college studies at Harvard College, Taylor completed them at Yale and he was a member of Skull and Bones, Yales social club. He received no scholastic honors, as he spent the majority of his time reading books on classical and military history. In the beginning of the Mexican-American War, Taylor visited his father at the Mexican town of Matamoros in July 1846, having to leave the war because of rheumatoid arthritis, Richard Taylor agreed to manage the family cotton plantation in Jefferson County, Mississippi. In 1850, he persuaded his father to purchase Fashion, a sugar cane plantation in St. Charles Parish. After his fathers death in July 1850, Taylor inherited it. On February 10,1851, Richard Taylor married Louise Marie Myrthe Bringier, steadily Taylor added acreage to the plantation and improved its sugar works at considerable expense and expanded its labor force to nearly 200 slaves. He became one of the wealthiest men in Louisiana for his holdings, then the freeze of 1856 ruined his crop, forcing him into heavy debt with a large mortgage on the plantation. His mother-in-law, Aglae Bringier financially aided Taylor and his wife, in 1855, Taylor entered local politics, he was elected to the Louisiana Senate, in which he served until 1861. First affiliated with the Whig Party, he shifted to the American Party and he was sent to the Democratic Convention of 1860 in Charleston, South Carolina, as a state delegate and witnessed the splintering of the Democrats. While in Charleston, he tried to out a compromise between the two Democratic factions, but his attempts failed. When the American Civil War erupted, Taylor was asked by Confederate General Braxton Bragg to assist him, as a civilian aide-de-camp without pay, at Pensacola, Florida. Bragg had known Taylor from before the war, and thought his knowledge of history could help him to organize
Richard Taylor (general)
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Taylor photo taken between 1860 and 1870
9.
American Revolution
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The British responded by imposing punitive laws on Massachusetts in 1774 known as the Coercive Acts, following which Patriots in the other colonies rallied behind Massachusetts. Tensions escalated to the outbreak of fighting between Patriot militia and British regulars at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, the conflict then developed into a global war, during which the Patriots fought the British and Loyalists in what became known as the American Revolutionary War. The Continental Congress determined King George IIIs rule to be tyrannical and infringing the rights as Englishmen. The Patriot leadership professed the political philosophies of liberalism and republicanism to reject monarchy and aristocracy, Congress rejected British proposals requiring allegiance to the monarchy and abandonment of independence. The British were forced out of Boston in 1776, but then captured and they blockaded the ports and captured other cities for brief periods, but failed to defeat Washingtons forces. After a failed Patriot invasion of Canada, a British army was captured at the Battle of Saratoga in late 1777, a combined American–French force captured a second British army at Yorktown in 1781, effectively ending the war in the United States. The Treaty of Paris in 1783 formally ended the conflict, confirming the new nations complete separation from the British Empire. The United States took possession of all the territory east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes, with the British retaining control of Canada. Among the significant results of the revolution was the creation of a new Constitution of the United States. Historians typically begin their histories of the American Revolution with the British victory in the French and Indian War in 1763, the lands west of Quebec and west of a line running along the crest of the Allegheny mountains became Indian territory, temporarily barred to settlement. For the prior history, see Thirteen Colonies, in 1764, Parliament passed the Currency Act to restrain the use of paper money which British merchants saw as a means to evade debt payments. Parliament also passed the Sugar Act, imposing customs duties on a number of articles, none did and Parliament passed the Stamp Act in March 1765 which imposed direct taxes on the colonies for the first time. All official documents, newspapers, almanacs, and pamphlets—even decks of playing cards—were required to have the stamps, the colonists did not object that the taxes were high, but because they had no representation in the Parliament. Benjamin Franklin testified in Parliament in 1766 that Americans already contributed heavily to the defense of the Empire, stationing a standing army in Great Britain during peacetime was politically unacceptable. London had to deal with 1,500 politically well-connected British officers who became redundant, in 1765, the Sons of Liberty formed. They used public demonstrations, boycott, violence, and threats of violence to ensure that the British tax laws were unenforceable, in Boston, the Sons of Liberty burned the records of the vice admiralty court and looted the home of chief justice Thomas Hutchinson. Several legislatures called for united action, and nine colonies sent delegates to the Stamp Act Congress in New York City in October 1765, moderates led by John Dickinson drew up a Declaration of Rights and Grievances stating that taxes passed without representation violated their rights as Englishmen. Colonists emphasized their determination by boycotting imports of British merchandise, the Parliament at Westminster saw itself as the supreme lawmaking authority throughout all British possessions and thus entitled to levy any tax without colonial approval
American Revolution
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John Trumbull 's
Declaration of Independence, showing the
Committee of Five presenting its work to Congress
American Revolution
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Notice of Stamp Act of 1765 in newspaper
American Revolution
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Burning of the
Gaspee
American Revolution
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This 1846
lithograph by
Nathaniel Currier was entitled "The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor"; the phrase "
Boston Tea Party " had not yet become standard.
10.
Kentucky
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Kentucky, officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state located in the east south-central region of the United States. Kentucky is one of four U. S. states constituted as a commonwealth, originally a part of Virginia, in 1792 Kentucky became the 15th state to join the Union. Kentucky is the 37th most extensive and the 26th most populous of the 50 United States, Kentucky is known as the Bluegrass State, a nickname based on the bluegrass found in many of its pastures due to the fertile soil. One of the regions in Kentucky is the Bluegrass Region in central Kentucky. In 1776, the counties of Virginia beyond the Appalachian Mountains became known as Kentucky County, the precise etymology of the name is uncertain, but likely based on an Iroquoian name meaning the meadow or the prairie. Kentucky is situated in the Upland South, a significant portion of eastern Kentucky is part of Appalachia. Kentucky borders seven states, from the Midwest and the Southeast, West Virginia lies to the east, Virginia to the southeast, Tennessee to the south, Missouri to the west, Illinois and Indiana to the northwest, and Ohio to the north and northeast. Only Missouri and Tennessee, both of which border eight states, touch more, Kentuckys northern border is formed by the Ohio River and its western border by the Mississippi River. The official state borders are based on the courses of the rivers as they existed when Kentucky became a state in 1792, for instance, northbound travelers on U. S.41 from Henderson, after crossing the Ohio River, will be in Kentucky for about two miles. Ellis Park, a racetrack, is located in this small piece of Kentucky. Waterworks Road is part of the land border between Indiana and Kentucky. Kentucky has a part known as Kentucky Bend, at the far west corner of the state. It exists as an exclave surrounded completely by Missouri and Tennessee, Road access to this small part of Kentucky on the Mississippi River requires a trip through Tennessee. The epicenter of the powerful 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes was near this area, much of the outer Bluegrass is in the Eden Shale Hills area, made up of short, steep, and very narrow hills. The Jackson Purchase and western Pennyrile are home to several bald cypress/tupelo swamps, located within the southeastern interior portion of North America, Kentucky has a climate that can best be described as a humid subtropical climate. Temperatures in Kentucky usually range from daytime summer highs of 87 °F to the low of 23 °F. The average precipitation is 46 inches a year, Kentucky experiences four distinct seasons, with substantial variations in the severity of summer and winter. The highest recorded temperature was 114 °F at Greensburg on July 28,1930 while the lowest recorded temperature was −37 °F at Shelbyville on January 19,1994, due to its location, Kentucky has a moderate humid subtropical climate, with abundant rainfall
Kentucky
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Narrow country roads bounded by stone and wood plank fences are a fixture in the Kentucky
Bluegrass region.
Kentucky
Kentucky
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Kentucky's regions (click on image for color-coding information.)
Kentucky
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The
Eastern Kentucky Coalfield is known for its rugged terrain.
11.
Louisville, Kentucky
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Louisville is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 30th-most populous city in the United States. It is one of two cities in Kentucky designated as first-class, the other being the states second-largest city of Lexington, Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County. Louisville was founded in 1778 by George Rogers Clark and is named after King Louis XVI of France, making Louisville one of the oldest cities west of the Appalachian Mountains. Sited beside the Falls of the Ohio, the major obstruction to river traffic between the upper Ohio River and the Gulf of Mexico, the settlement first grew as a portage site. It was the city of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. Its main airport is also the site of United Parcel Services worldwide air hub, since 2003, Louisvilles borders have been the same as those of Jefferson County because of a city-county merger. The official name of this consolidated city-county government is the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government, the citys total consolidated population as of the 2014 census estimate was 760,026. However, the total of 612,780 excludes other incorporated places and semiautonomous towns within the county and is the population listed in most sources. As of 2014, the MSA had a population of 1,269,702, the history of Louisville spans hundreds of years, and has been influenced by the areas geography and location. The rapids at the Falls of the Ohio created a barrier to river travel, the first European settlement in the vicinity of modern-day Louisville was on Corn Island in 1778 by Col. George Rogers Clark, credited as the founder of Louisville. Several landmarks in the community are named after him, two years later, in 1780, the Virginia General Assembly approved the town charter of Louisville. The city was named in honor of King Louis XVI of France, early residents lived in forts to protect themselves from Indian raids, but moved out by the late 1780s. In 1803, explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark organized their expedition across America in the town of Clarksville, Indiana at the present-day Falls of the Ohio opposite Louisville, Kentucky. The citys early growth was influenced by the fact river boats had to be unloaded and moved downriver before reaching the falls. By 1828, the population had swelled to 7,000, the city grew rapidly in its formative years. Louisville was a shipping port and slaves worked in a variety of associated trades. The city was often a point of escape for slaves to the north, during the Civil War, Louisville was a major stronghold of Union forces, which kept Kentucky firmly in the Union. It was the center of planning, supplies, recruiting, and transportation for numerous campaigns, by the end of the war, Louisville had not been attacked, although skirmishes and battles, including the battles of Perryville and Corydon, took place nearby
Louisville, Kentucky
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From top:
Louisville downtown skyline at night,
Cathedral of the Assumption,
Thunder Over Louisville fireworks during the
Kentucky Derby Festival,
Kentucky Derby,
Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory,
Fourth Street Live!,
The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts
Louisville, Kentucky
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Louisville's founder,
George Rogers Clark
Louisville, Kentucky
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View of Main Street Louisville in 1846
Louisville, Kentucky
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Memorial to the
1890 tornado, on Main Street in
downtown Louisville
12.
Episcopal Church in the United States of America
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The Episcopal Church is the United States-based member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The current presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church is Michael Bruce Curry, in 2014, the Episcopal Church had 1,956,042 baptized members. In 2011, it was the nations 14th largest denomination, in 2015, Pew Research estimated that 1.2 percent of the adult population in the United States, or 3 million people, self-identify as mainline Episcopalians/Anglicans. The Episcopal Church describes itself as Protestant, yet Catholic, the Episcopal Church is an apostolic church, tracing its bishops back to the apostles via holy orders. The Book of Common Prayer, a collection of traditional rites, blessings, liturgies, the Episcopal Church was active in the Social Gospel movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Since the 1960s and 1970s, the church has pursued a more liberal course. It has opposed the death penalty and supported the civil rights movement, some of its leaders and priests are known for marching with influential civil rights demonstrators such as Martin Luther King Jr. The Church calls for the legal equality of gay and lesbian people. Due to the process of editing or making additions to the Prayer Book, the BCP still describes marriage as being the union of a man. The Episcopal Church ordains women and LGBT people to the priesthood, the diaconate, in 2003, Gene Robinson was the first non-celibate openly gay person ordained as a bishop in documented Christian history. There are two names of the Episcopal Church specified in its constitution, The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The latter is the commonly used name. In other languages, an equivalent is used, until 1964, the only official name in use was The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. In the 19th century, High Church members advocated changing the name and they were opposed by the churchs evangelical wing, which felt that the Protestant Episcopal label accurately reflected the Reformed character of Anglicanism. After 1877, alternative names were proposed and rejected by the General Convention. A commonly proposed alternative was the American Catholic Church, by the 1960s, opposition to dropping the word Protestant had largely subsided. The 66th General Convention voted in 1979 to use the name The Episcopal Church in the Oath of Conformity of the Declaration for Ordination, the evolution of the name can be seen in the churchs Book of Common Prayer. The alternate name The Episcopal Church in the United States of America has never been a name of the church but is commonly seen in English
Episcopal Church in the United States of America
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St. Luke's Church, built during the 17th century near
Smithfield, Virginia. It is the oldest Anglican church building to have survived largely intact in North America.
Episcopal Church in the United States of America
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The
arms of the Episcopal Church includes both a
St. George's cross and a
St. Andrew's cross composed of nine
cross crosslets
Episcopal Church in the United States of America
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Bruton Parish Church in
Colonial Williamsburg, established in 1674. The current building was completed in 1715.
Episcopal Church in the United States of America
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Old North Church in
Boston. Inspired by the work of
Christopher Wren, it was completed in 1723.
13.
Mexican-American War
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It followed in the wake of the 1845 U. S. annexation of Texas, which Mexico considered part of its territory in spite of its de facto secession in the 1836 Texas Revolution. After its independence in 1821 and brief experiment with monarchy, Mexico became a republic in 1824 and it was characterized by considerable instability, leaving it ill-prepared for conflict when war broke out in 1846. In 1845, Texas agreed to an offer of annexation by the U. S. Congress, and became the 28th state on December 29 that year. In 1845, James K. Polk, the newly-elected U. S. president, when that offer was rejected, American forces commanded by Major General Zachary Taylor were moved into the disputed territory. They were then attacked by Mexican forces, who killed 12 U. S. soldiers and these same Mexican troops later laid siege to an American fort along the Rio Grande. This led to the war and the loss of much of Mexicos northern territory. The U. S. army, under the command of Major General Winfield Scott, captured the capital, Mexico City, marching from the port of Veracruz. The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war and specified its major consequence, the U. S. agreed to pay $15 million compensation for the physical damage of the war. In addition, the United States assumed $3.25 million of debt owed by the Mexican government to U. S. citizens, Mexico acknowledged the loss of Texas and thereafter cited the Rio Grande as its national border with the United States. The territorial expansion of the United States toward the Pacific coast had been the goal of US President James K. Polk, at first, the war was highly controversial in the United States, with the Whig Party, anti-imperialists, and anti-slavery elements strongly opposed. Critics in the United States pointed to the casualties suffered by U. S. forces. The war intensified the debate over slavery in the United States, in Mexico, the war came in the middle of political turmoil, which increased into chaos during the conflict. Border left many Mexican citizens separated from their national government, for the indigenous peoples who had never accepted Mexican rule, the change in border meant conflicts with a new outside power. The northern area of Mexico was sparsely settled and not well controlled politically by the government based in Mexico City, after independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico contended with internal struggles that sometimes verged on civil war and the northern frontier was not a high priority. In the sparsely settled interior of northern Mexico, the end of Spanish rule was marked by the end of financing for presidios, there were conflicts between indigenous people in the northern region as well. The Comanche were particularly successful in expanding their territory in the Comanche–Mexico Wars, the Apache–Mexico Wars also made Mexicos north a violent place, with no effective political control. The Apache raids left thousands of people dead through out northern Mexico, when the United States Army entered northern Mexico in 1846 they found demoralized Mexican settlers. There was little resistance to US forces from the civilian population, hostile activity from indigenous people also made communications and trade between the interior of Mexico and provinces such as Alta California and New Mexico difficult
Mexican-American War
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Clockwise from top left U.S. soldiers engaging the retreating Mexican force during the
Battle of Resaca de la Palma, American victory
at Churubusco outside Mexico City, U.S. marines
storming Chapultepec castle under a large American flag,
Winfield Scott entering
Plaza de la Constitución after the
Fall of Mexico City.
Mexican-American War
Mexican-American War
Mexican-American War
14.
Cypress Grove Plantation
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The Cypress Grove Plantation was a Southern plantation owned by President Zachary Taylor in Rodney, Mississippi. Later, it was known as Buena Vista Plantation. The plantation bordered Ashland Plantation and the Mississippi River and it was near the Ashland community, and Ashlands port was sometimes used by Cypress Grove Plantation. The plantation was located on the Mississippi River ten miles below Rodney. The plantation was purchased by General Zachary Taylor in 1840 and it was purchased from David Hunt and others by John Hagan of New Orleans, and then sold to Taylor for $95,000. It came with eighty-one African servants, as Taylor called them, Taylor and his wife, Margaret Taylor, often visited the plantation until he was elected President of the United States in 1848. Indeed, she spent most of her time at the plantation while he was serving in the Mexican-American War, though Taylor won many battles in the war, the Battle of Buena Vista was his last victory in 1847. The plantation became known as Buena Vista when Taylor returned from the war, Taylors parents - Colonel Richard and Sara Strother Taylor - raised him on their plantation, so he had experience running a plantation. Cotton, tobacco, corn and wheat were grown, and hogs, sheep, cattle and he grew potatoes and peas in his garden. His home on the plantation was made of timber and included a large library and he also had a sawmill on this plantation. Taylor first hired a cousin of his wife, Damascus Thornton and he later hired another cousin, James Thornton, until the latter resigned in 1845. The third overseer was Thomas W. Ringgold, Taylor corresponded with Ringgold from Corpus Christi, Texas and Mexico during the Mexican-American War. According to biographer K. Jack Bauer, his slaves were treated well, well-fed, on top of picking cotton and other crops, they built levees on the Mississippi River and on an adjacent creek. Later, Taylors son, General Richard Taylor, helped manage the plantation, Mississippi River travelers could cut ten miles from their trip by going through Gillams Shute which flowed between Buena Vista Island and Taylors plantation. Thus, the plantation was known to river travelers. Taylor died on July 9,1850, Taylors widow, Margaret, and the other heirs sold the plantation land in 1850 to Charles B. Most of the land has eroded away into the Mississippi River
Cypress Grove Plantation
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Map from 1866 showing "Genl. Taylors Old Place"
Cypress Grove Plantation
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General Taylors Plantation by
Henry Lewis (circa 1854-57)
15.
Rodney, Mississippi
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Rodney is a former city in Jefferson County in southwest Mississippi, approximately 32 miles northeast of Natchez. Rodney was founded in 1828, and in the 19th century and its population declined to nearly zero after the Mississippi River changed course. The Rodney Center Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, today a small number of inhabitants remain but the area is considered a ghost town and reliable data is hard to find as the town is not listed as a separate entity by the census bureau. Rodney was originally settled by the French in January 1763 and named Petit Gouffre, as a result of the French and Indian War, the area was taken by Great Britain. Spain would later control this area after taking West Florida from the British in 1781, spain would hold the site until selling it to Thomas Calvit in 1798. The city was later renamed Rodney in 1828 in honor of Judge Thomas Rodney, the Old Rodney Presbyterian Church was dedicated in 1832. It is located at the section of the town, across the Rodney – Red Lick – Lorman Road from Alston Grocery Store. Formerly at the edge of the town was Sacred Heart Catholic Church. On the southeast corner of Rodney lies Alstons Grocery, operated by the Alston family since 1915, Alstons Grocery Store, actually a country general store, closed many years ago but the building still stands. In the northeast corner of the town is a park where regular band concerts were held by the Jefferson County Band. On the northwest corner are remains of a wooden drugstore, West of Alstons Grocery is the one surviving structure on Batchelor Street. Located at the southwest corner is a brick structure. At the western end of Batchelor St. is Mt. Zion No.1 Baptist Church, the Presbyterian Church has a solid shot above the middle window which appears to have been fired by a 12 lb. Napoleon. Shooting started and the Rattler returned fire striking the Church, the minister, a known Union sympathizer, left town shortly thereafter. The 1850 United States Census listed the population of Rodney as 210, after the fall of Vicksburg, the Union Navy was in charge of the Mississippi River. As the second hymn was being sung, a Lt. Allen of the Confederate Cavalry walked up the aisle to the pulpit, apologizing to the Reverend Baker, he turned and announced that his men had surrounded the building and demanded the Yankee sailors surrender. One of the Yankee sailors jumped behind a door and took a shot at Lt. Allen, a general melee broke out, and most of the citizens dove under their pews for safety and reputedly one Yankee sailor hid in the undergarments of his local southern girlfriend. One older lady, however, would not run and she stood up in her pew and shouted Glory to God
Rodney, Mississippi
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Rodney Center Historic District
Rodney, Mississippi
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Confederate Memorial Chapel, formerly Rodney Sacred Heart Catholic Church, which was moved to
Grand Gulf Military State Park from Rodney in 1983
Rodney, Mississippi
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Cemetery in Rodney
16.
Jefferson County, Mississippi
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Jefferson County is a county located in the U. S. state of Mississippi, its western border is formed by the Mississippi River. As of the 2010 census, the population was 7,726, the county is named for U. S. President Thomas Jefferson. In 2014 its estimated population of 7599 was roughly one-third of the peak in 1900. Within the United States, in 2009 rural Jefferson County had the highest percentage of African Americans of any county and it was the fourth-poorest county in the nation. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 527 square miles. U. S.85. 7% were Black or African American,13. 7% White,0. 2% Native American and 0. 3% of two or more races. As of the census of 2000, there were 9,740 people,3,308 households, the population density was 19 people per square mile. There were 3,819 housing units at a density of 7 per square mile. 0. 66% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race, Jefferson County has the highest percentage of black residents of any U. S. county. 27. 10% of all households were made up of individuals and 10. 10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.75 and the average family size was 3.36. The median age was 32 years, for every 100 females there were 99.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.00 males, the median income for a household in the county was $18,447, and the median income for a family was $23,188. Males had an income of $25,726 versus $18,000 for females. The per capita income for the county was $9,709, about 32. 50% of families and 36. 00% of the population were below the poverty line, including 46. 00% of those under age 18 and 34. 40% of those age 65 or over. In 2009, Jefferson County has the lowest per capita income in Mississippi, Jefferson County School District operates public schools. Alcorn State University, a historically black college, is located in Lorman
Jefferson County, Mississippi
–
Location in the state of
Mississippi
17.
Jefferson Davis
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Jefferson Finis Davis was an American politician who was a Democratic U. S. Representative and Senator from Mississippi, the 23rd U. S. Secretary of War, and he took personal charge of the Confederate war plans but was unable to find a strategy to defeat the more populous and industrialized Union. Davis was born in Kentucky to a prosperous farmer, and grew up on his older brother Josephs large cotton plantations in Mississippi. Joseph Davis also secured his appointment to the U. S, after graduating, Jefferson Davis served six years as a lieutenant in the U. S. Army. He fought in the Mexican–American War, as the colonel of a volunteer regiment and he served as the U. S. Secretary of War from 1853 to 1857 under President Franklin Pierce, and as a Democratic U. S. senator from Mississippi. Before the war, he operated a cotton plantation in Mississippi. After the war had ended, he remained a proud apologist for the cause of slavery for which he, although Davis argued against secession in 1858, he believed that each state was sovereign and had an unquestionable right to secede from the Union. Daviss first wife, Sarah Knox Taylor, died of malaria three months of marriage, and he also struggled with recurring bouts of the disease. He was unhealthy for much of his life, at the age of 36, Davis married again, to 18-year-old Varina Howell, a native of Natchez who had been educated in Philadelphia and had some family ties in the North. Only two survived him, and only one married and had children, many historians attribute the Confederacys weaknesses to the poor leadership of President Davis. Historians agree he was a less effective war leader than his Union counterpart Abraham Lincoln. After Davis was captured in 1865, he was accused of treason and he was never tried and was released after two years. While not disgraced, Davis had been displaced in ex-Confederate affection after the war by his leading general, Davis wrote a memoir entitled The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, which he completed in 1881. By the late 1880s, he began to encourage reconciliation, telling Southerners to be loyal to the Union, ex-Confederates came to appreciate his role in the war, seeing him as a Southern patriot, and he became a hero of the Lost Cause in the post-Reconstruction South. Daviss paternal grandparents each immigrated separately to North America from the region of Snowdonia in North Wales in the early 18th century, the rest of his ancestry was English. After arriving in Philadelphia, Daviss paternal grandfather Evan settled in the colony of Georgia and he married the widow Lydia Emory Williams, who had two sons from a previous marriage. Their son Samuel Emory Davis was born in 1756 and he served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, along with his two older half-brothers. In 1783, after the war, he married Jane Cook and she was born in 1759 to William Cook and his wife Sarah Simpson in what is now Christian County, Kentucky
Jefferson Davis
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Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis
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Wedding photograph of Jefferson Davis and Varina Howell, 1845
Jefferson Davis
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Jefferson Davis around age 39, c. 1847
Jefferson Davis
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Jefferson Davis is sworn in as President of the Confederate States of America on February 18, 1861, on the steps of the
Alabama State Capitol.
18.
Black Hawk War
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The Black Hawk War was a brief 1832 conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. Black Hawks motives were ambiguous, but he was hoping to avoid bloodshed while resettling on tribal land that had been ceded to the United States in the disputed 1804 Treaty of St. Louis. US officials, convinced that the British Band was hostile, mobilized a frontier militia, Black Hawk responded by successfully attacking the militia at the Battle of Stillmans Run. He led his band to a location in what is now southern Wisconsin and was pursued by US forces. Meanwhile, other Native Americans conducted raids against forts and settlements largely unprotected with the absence of US troops, some Ho-Chunk and Potawatomi warriors with grievances against European-Americans took part in these raids, although most tribe members tried to avoid the conflict. The Menominee and Dakota tribes, already at odds with the Sauks and Meskwakis, commanded by General Henry Atkinson, the US troops tracked the British Band. Militia under Colonel Henry Dodge caught up with the British Band on July 21, Black Hawks band was weakened by hunger, death, and desertion and many native survivors retreated towards the Mississippi. On August 2, US soldiers attacked the remnants of the British Band at the Battle of Bad Axe, Black Hawk and other leaders escaped, but later surrendered and were imprisoned for a year. The Black Hawk War gave the young captain Abraham Lincoln his brief military service, other participants who later became famous included Winfield Scott, Zachary Taylor, and Jefferson Davis. The war gave impetus to the US policy of Indian removal, in which Native American tribes were pressured to sell their lands and move west of the Mississippi River and stay there. In the 18th century, the Sauk and Meskwaki Native American tribes lived along the Mississippi River in what is now the U. S. states of Illinois, by the time of the Black Hawk War, the population of the two tribes was about 6,000 people. As the United States expanded westward in the early 19th century, the treaty became controversial because the Native leaders had not been authorized by their tribal councils to cede lands. Historian Robert Owens argued that the chiefs probably did not intend to give up ownership of the land, and that they would not have sold so much valuable territory for such a modest price. Historian Patrick Jung concluded that the Sauk and Meskwaki chiefs intended to cede a little land, according to Jung, the Sauks and Meskwakis did not learn the true extent of the cession until years later. The 1804 treaty allowed the tribes to continue using the land until it was sold to American settlers by the U. S. government. For the next two decades, Sauks continued to live at Saukenuk, their village, which was located near the confluence of the Mississippi. In 1828, the U. S. government finally began to have the land surveyed for white settlement. Indian agent Thomas Forsyth informed the Sauks that they should vacate Saukenuk, the Sauks were divided about whether to resist implementation of the disputed 1804 treaty
Black Hawk War
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Native women and children fleeing the
Battle of Bad Axe
Black Hawk War
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Keokuk by
George Catlin, c. 1830s
Black Hawk War
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Black Hawk, from
History of the Indian Tribes of North America.
Black Hawk War
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Fort Armstrong was located on Rock Island, which is now known as
Arsenal Island. The view is from the Illinois side, with Iowa in the background.
19.
St. Francisville, Louisiana
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St. Francisville is a town in and the parish seat of West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,712 at the 2000 census and it is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area. St. Francisville is located at 30°47′5″N 91°22′50″W, according to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.8 square miles, all land. The town of St. Francisville was established in 1809, below St. Destroyed by repeated flooding and fires, nothing exists of Bayou Sara today, but a few of its structures were hauled up the hill into St. Francisville in the 1920s. In 1824, when Feliciana Parish was split into East and West, in June 1863, Confederate Army officer William Walter Leake arranged for the burial of Union Navy officer John E. Francisville Inn Bed and Breakfast. In recent years, community efforts have focused on restoration and preservation of the historic homes. In May 2011, parts of Saint Francisville flooded in the 2011 Mississippi River floods, as of the census of 2000, there were 1,712 people,693 households, and 456 families residing in the town. The population density was 936.9 people per square mile, there were 783 housing units at an average density of 428.5 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 71. 03% White,27. 22% African American,0. 29% Native American,0. 53% Asian,0. 06% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 0. 93% of the population. 30. 3% of all households were made up of individuals and 11. 4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 3.04. In the town, the population was out with 27. 3% under the age of 18,8. 8% from 18 to 24,29. 2% from 25 to 44,22. 5% from 45 to 64. The median age was 35 years, for every 100 females there were 95.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.4 males, the median income for a household in the town was $42,262, and the median income for a family was $54,333. Males had an income of $41,563 versus $25,083 for females. The per capita income for the town was $21,639, about 5. 8% of families and 8. 8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8. 2% of those under the age of 18 and 12. 4% of those 65 and older. The United States Postal Service operates the St. Francisville Post Office, Hattie Moseley Austin, born Hattie Gray in St. Francisville in 1900, founder of Hatties Chicken Shack in Saratoga Springs, New York. Robert H. Barrow, 27th Commandant of the Marine Corps Chris Broadwater, Francisville from 1875 until his death. West Feliciana Parish Public Schools serves the city, all of the public schools in the parish are located in unincorporated areas
St. Francisville, Louisiana
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One of several former plantation houses near St. Francisville
St. Francisville, Louisiana
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St. Francisville Post Office
St. Francisville, Louisiana
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The entrance to the
West Feliciana Parish Public Schools schools complex in
Bains
20.
William Wallace Smith Bliss
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William Wallace Smith Bliss was a United States Army officer and mathematics professor. A gifted mathematician, he taught at West Point and also served as a line officer and he received an A. M. from Dartmouth College in 1848. In December 1848 Bliss married Mary Elizabeth Taylor, youngest daughter of the newly elected US President Zachary Taylor, five years later Bliss contracted yellow fever in New Orleans and died at the age of 37. Having become interested in the various Native American tribes, Bliss learned a number of their languages and he was a member of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries of Copenhagen, Denmark, and an Honorary Member of the American Ethnological Society. Gifted at languages, he was fluent in at least thirteen, born in Whitehall, New York, he was the son of Captain John Bliss and Olive Hall Simonds. John Bliss was an 1811 graduate of West Point, Bliss entered the United States Military Academy on September 1,1829. He showed very great mathematical gifts while a student and he graduated July 1,1833 as a Second Lieutenant in the 4th Infantry Regiment. It was his choice to serve in the infantry and he served in the Fort Mitchell army garrison in Alabama from 1833 to 1834. During 1835 he was involved in operations against the Cherokee during Indian Removal, from October 2,1834 until January 4,1840, Bliss served as Assistant Professor of Mathematics at West Point. As a Captain, he served as Chief of Staff from 1840 until 1841 to Brigadier General Walker Keith Armistead and he served at Fort Smith, Arkansas, and at Fort Jesup, Louisiana, as a staff officer. In 1845, Bliss took part in the United States military occupation of the Republic of Texas, between April 1846 and November 1847, he took part in the Mexican War, including fighting in the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma and Buena Vista. He was brevetted to Major in May 1846, and brevetted to Lieutenant Colonel in February 1847 for gallant, during his entire service in Texas and Mexico, he served as Chief of Staff to Major General Zachary Taylor. Bliss was noted for his efficiency and skills as a high-level aide and his writing was simple, elegant, vigorous, and picturesque. He was cheerful and popular with the public and he received the honorary degree of master of arts from Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, in 1849. He was a member of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries of Copenhagen, Denmark, and he had a talent for languages, and was fluent in at least thirteen. George Perkins Marsh, the philologist, said that Bliss was the best linguist in America, on December 5,1848, at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Bliss married Zachary Taylors youngest daughter, Mary Elizabeth. Taylor appointed Bliss as Private Secretary to the President, the popular young couple seemed destined to become powerful figures in Washington. The President died suddenly in July 1850, Bliss and his wife Mary accompanied her widowed mother to Pascagoula, Mississippi
William Wallace Smith Bliss
–
Gravestone of William Bliss,
Fort Bliss National Cemetery
21.
Confederate Army
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The Confederate States Army was the military ground force of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. S. Military Academy and colonel of a regiment during the Mexican War. In March 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress established a more permanent Confederate States Army, the better estimates of the number of individual Confederate soldiers are between 750,000 and 1,000,000 men. This does not include a number of slaves who were pressed into performing various tasks for the army, such as construction of fortifications. Since these figures include estimates of the number of individual soldiers who served at any time during the war. These numbers do not include men who served in Confederate naval forces, although most of the soldiers who fought in the American Civil War were volunteers, both sides by 1862 resorted to conscription, primarily as a means to force men to register and to volunteer. In the absence of records, estimates of the percentage of Confederate soldiers who were draftees are about double the 6 percent of Union soldiers who were conscripts. Confederate casualty figures also are incomplete and unreliable, one estimate of Confederate wounded, which is considered incomplete, is 194,026. These numbers do not include men who died from causes such as accidents. Other Confederate forces surrendered between April 16,1865 and June 28,1865, by the end of the war, more than 100,000 Confederate soldiers had deserted. The Confederacys government effectively dissolved when it fled Richmond in April, by the time Abraham Lincoln took office as President of the United States on March 4,1861, the seven seceding slave states had formed the Confederate States. The Confederacy seized federal property, including nearly all U. S. Army forts, Lincoln was determined to hold the forts remaining under U. S. control when he took office, especially Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. Under orders from Confederate President Jefferson Davis, C. S. troops under the command of General P. G. T, Beauregard bombarded Fort Sumter on April 12–13,1861, forcing its capitulation on April 14. The Northern states were outraged by the Confederacys attack and demanded war and it rallied behind Lincolns call on April 15, for all the states to send troops to recapture the forts from the secessionists, to put down the rebellion and to preserve the Union intact. Four more slave states joined the Confederacy. The Confederate Congress provided for a Confederate army patterned after the United States Army and it was to consist of a large provisional force to exist only in time of war and a small permanent regular army. Although the two forces were to exist concurrently, very little was done to organize the Confederate regular army, the Provisional Army of the Confederate States began organizing on April 27. Virtually all regular, volunteer, and conscripted men preferred to enter this organization since officers could achieve a rank in the Provisional Army than they could in the Regular Army
Confederate Army
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Private
Edwin Francis Jemison, whose image became one of the most famous portraits of the young soldiers of the war
Confederate Army
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CSA M1857 Napoleon Artillery Piece
Confederate Army
–
General
Robert Edward Lee, famous Southern General
Confederate Army
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Confederate artillery at Charleston Harbor, 1863
22.
White House
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The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States, located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D. C. It has been the residence of every U. S. president since John Adams in 1800, the term White House is often used to refer to actions of the president and his advisers, as in The White House announced that. The residence was designed by Irish-born architect James Hoban in the Neoclassical style, construction took place between 1792 and 1800 using Aquia Creek sandstone painted white. When Thomas Jefferson moved into the house in 1801, he added low colonnades on each wing that concealed stables and storage. In 1814, during the War of 1812, the mansion was set ablaze by the British Army in the Burning of Washington, destroying the interior, reconstruction began almost immediately, and President James Monroe moved into the partially reconstructed Executive Residence in October 1817. Exterior construction continued with the addition of the semi-circular South portico in 1824, because of crowding within the executive mansion itself, President Theodore Roosevelt had all work offices relocated to the newly constructed West Wing in 1901. Eight years later in 1909, President William Howard Taft expanded the West Wing and created the first Oval Office, in the main mansion, the third-floor attic was converted to living quarters in 1927 by augmenting the existing hip roof with long shed dormers. A newly constructed East Wing was used as an area for social events. East Wing alterations were completed in 1946, creating additional office space, by 1948, the houses load-bearing exterior walls and internal wood beams were found to be close to failure. Under Harry S. Truman, the rooms were completely dismantled. Once this work was completed, the rooms were rebuilt. The Executive Residence is made up of six stories—the Ground Floor, State Floor, Second Floor, the property is a National Heritage Site owned by the National Park Service and is part of the Presidents Park. In 2007, it was ranked second on the American Institute of Architects list of Americas Favorite Architecture, in May 1790, New York began construction of Government House for his official residence, but he never occupied it. The national capital moved to Philadelphia in December 1790, the July 1790 Residence Act named Philadelphia, Pennsylvania the temporary national capital for a 10-year period while the Federal City was under construction. The City of Philadelphia rented Robert Morriss city house at 190 High Street for Washingtons presidential residence, the first president occupied the Market Street mansion from November 1790 to March 1797, and altered it in ways that may have influenced the design of the White House. As part of an effort to have Philadelphia named the permanent national capital, Pennsylvania built a much grander presidential mansion several blocks away. President John Adams also occupied the Market Street mansion from March 1797 to May 1800, on Saturday, November 1,1800, he became the first president to occupy the White House. The Presidents House in Philadelphia became a hotel and was demolished in 1832, the Presidents House was a major feature of Pierre Charles LEnfants plan for the newly established federal city, Washington, D. C
White House
–
Top: the northern facade, facing
Lafayette Square Bottom: the southern facade, facing
The Ellipse
White House
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First Presidential Mansion:
Samuel Osgood House, Manhattan, New York. Occupied by Washington: April 1789 - February 1790.
White House
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Second Presidential Mansion:
Alexander Macomb House, Manhattan, New York. Occupied by Washington: February - August 1790.
White House
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Third Presidential Mansion:
President's House, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Occupied by Washington: November 1790 – March 1797. Occupied by Adams: March 1797 – May 1800.
23.
University of Virginia
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The University of Virginia, frequently referred to simply as Virginia, is a public research university and the flagship for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Declaration of Independence author Thomas Jefferson, UVA is known for its foundations, student-run honor code. UNESCO designated UVA as Americas first and only collegiate World Heritage Site in 1987, the university was established in 1819, and its original governing Board of Visitors included Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. Monroe was the sitting President of the United States at the time of its foundation, former Presidents Jefferson and Madison were UVAs first two rectors and the Academical Village and Jefferson conceived and designed the original courses of study. The universitys research endeavors are highly recognized, in 2015, Science honored UVA faculty for discovering two of its top 10 annual scientific breakthroughs, from the fields of Medicine and Psychology. UVA is one of 62 institutions in the Association of American Universities and it is the only AAU member university in Virginia. UVA is classified as a Research University with Very High Research by the Carnegie Foundation, the university was the first non-founding member, and the first university of the American South, to attain AAU membership in 1904. UVAs academic strength is broad, with 121 majors across the eight undergraduate, students compete in 26 collegiate sports and UVA leads the Atlantic Coast Conference in mens NCAA team national championships with 17. UVA is second in womens NCAA titles with 7, UVA was awarded the Capital One Cup in 2015 after fielding the top overall mens athletics programs in the nation. Students come to attend the university in Charlottesville from all 50 states and 147 countries, the historic 1, 682-acre campus is internationally protected by UNESCO and considered one of the most beautiful collegiate grounds in the country. UVA additionally maintains 2,913 acres southeast of the city, the university also manages the College at Wise in Southwest Virginia, and until 1972 operated George Mason University and the University of Mary Washington in Northern Virginia. In 1817, three Presidents and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court John Marshall joined 24 other dignitaries at a meeting held in the Mountain Top Tavern at Rockfish Gap, after some deliberation, they selected nearby Charlottesville as the site of the new University of Virginia. Farmland just outside Charlottesville was purchased from James Monroe by the Board of Visitors as Central College, the school laid its first buildings cornerstone late in that same year, and the Commonwealth of Virginia chartered the new university on January 25,1819. John Hartwell Cocke collaborated with James Madison, Monroe, and Joseph Carrington Cabell to fulfill Jeffersons dream to establish the university, Cocke and Jefferson were appointed to the building committee to supervise the construction. The universitys first classes met on March 7,1825, another innovation of the new university was that higher education would be separated from religious doctrine. Jefferson opined to philosopher Thomas Cooper that a professorship of theology should have no place in our institution, Jefferson was intimately involved in the university to the end, hosting Sunday dinners at his Monticello home for faculty and students until his death. Thus, he eschewed mention of his accomplishments, such as the Louisiana Purchase. This was a source of frustration for Jefferson, who assembled the students during the schools first year, on October 3,1825, to such behavior
University of Virginia
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Thomas Jefferson is the founder of the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
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University of Virginia
University of Virginia
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James Madison was the 2nd rector of the University of Virginia until 1836
University of Virginia
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Edwin Alderman was UVA's first president between 1904 and 1931, and instituted many reforms toward modernization
24.
C-SPAN
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C-SPAN, an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a public service. C-SPAN televises many proceedings of the United States federal government, as well as public affairs programming. Its coverage of political and policy events is unedited, thereby providing viewers with unfiltered information about politics, non-political coverage includes historical programming, programs dedicated to non-fiction books, and interview programs with noteworthy individuals associated with public policy. The network operates independently, and neither the cable industry nor Congress has control of the content of its programming, Congress and other public affairs event and policy discussions. Lamb shared his idea with several executives, who helped him launch the network. Among them were Bob Rosencrans who provided $25,000 of initial funding in 1979 and John D. Evans who provided the wiring and access to the headend needed for the distribution of the C-SPAN signal. C-SPAN was launched on March 19,1979, in time for the first televised session made available by the House of Representatives, upon its debut, only 3.5 million homes were wired for C-SPAN, and the network had just three employees. The second C-SPAN channel, C-SPAN2, followed on June 2,1986 when the U. S. Senate permitted itself to be televised, C-SPAN Radio began operations on October 9,1997, covering similar events as the television networks and often simulcasting their programming. The station broadcasts on WCSP in Washington, D. C. is also available on XM Satellite Radio channel 120 and is streamed live at c-span. org and it was formerly available on Sirius Satellite Radio from 2002 to 2006. Lamb semi-retired in March 2012, coinciding with the channels 33rd anniversary, on January 12,2017, the online feed for C-SPAN1 was interrupted and replaced by a feed from the Russian television network RT for approximately 10 minutes. C-SPAN announced that they were troubleshooting the incident and were operating under the assumption that it was an internal routing issue, C-SPAN celebrated its 10th anniversary in 1989 with a three-hour retrospective, featuring Lamb recalling the development of the network. Five years later, the series American Presidents, Life Portraits, in 2004, C-SPAN celebrated its 25th anniversary, by which time the flagship network was viewed in 86 million homes, C-SPAN2 was in 70 million homes and C-SPAN3 was in eight million homes. Also included in the 25th anniversary was an essay contest for viewers to write in about how C-SPAN has influenced their life regarding community service. For example, one essay contest winner wrote about how C-SPANs non-fiction book programming serves as a resource in his mission to record non-fiction audio books for people who are blind. The network also had an essay contest, the winner of which was invited to host an hour of the broadcast from C-SPANs Capitol Hill studios. C-SPAN continues to expand its coverage of government proceedings, with a history of requests to government officials for greater access, in December 2009, Lamb wrote to leaders in the House and Senate, requesting that negotiations for health care reform be televised by C-SPAN. Committee meetings on health care were broadcast subsequently by C-SPAN and may be viewed on the C-SPAN website, in November 2010, Lamb wrote to incoming House Speaker John Boehner requesting changes to restrictions on cameras in the House. In particular, C-SPAN asked to add some of its own robotically operated cameras to the existing government-controlled cameras in the House chamber, in February 2011, Boehner denied the request
C-SPAN
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Sen.
Robert Byrd (right), C-SPAN's founder
Brian Lamb (left) and Paul FitzPatrick flip the switch for C-SPAN2 on June 2, 1986. FitzPatrick was C-SPAN president at the time.
C-SPAN
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C-SPAN broadcasts the beginning of the
112th Congress on January 5, 2011.
C-SPAN
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Home page of the C-SPAN Video Library
C-SPAN
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Founder Brian Lamb in 2012 flanked by co-CEOs Rob Kennedy and Susan Swain.
25.
Find a Grave
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Find a Grave is a website that allows the public to search and add to an online database of cemetery records. It is owned by Ancestry. com, the worlds largest for-profit genealogy company, the site was created in 1995 by Salt Lake City resident Jim Tipton to support his hobby of visiting the burial sites of celebrities. He later added an online forum, Find a Grave was launched as a commercial entity in 1998, first as a trade name and then incorporated in 2000. The site later expanded to include graves of non-celebrities, in order to allow visitors to pay respect to their deceased relatives or friends. In 2013, Tipton sold Find a Grave to Ancestry. com, burial information is a wonderful source for people researching their family history. In a September 30,2013, press release, Ancestry, as of March 2017, Find a Grave contained over 159 million burial records and 75 million photos. The website contains listings of cemeteries and graves from around the world, american cemeteries are organized by state and county, and many cemetery records contain Google Maps and photographs of the cemeteries and gravesites. Individual grave records may contain dates and places of birth and death, biographical information, cemetery and plot information, photographs, Interment listings are added by individuals, genealogical societies, and other institutions such as the International Wargraves Photography Project. Contributors must register as members to submit listings, called memorials, the submitter becomes the manager of the listing but may transfer management. Only the current manager of a listing may edit it, although any member may use the features to send correction requests to the listings manager. Managers may add links to other listings of deceased spouses, parents, members may post requests for photos of a specific grave, these requests will be automatically sent to other members who have registered their location as being near that grave. Find a Grave also maintains lists of memorials of famous persons by their claim to fame, such as Medal of Honor recipients, religious figures, Find a Grave exercises editorial control over these listings. Canadian Headstones Interment. net National Cemetery Administrations Nationwide Gravesite Locator Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness Tombstone tourist Colker, web site answers grave concerns about stars. Web site attracts millions of grave-seekers, Find VIPs who R. I. P. through online cemetery. Genealogy, Find a Grave tremendous on many different levels, terre Haute, Indiana, Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. Archived from the original on May 14,2011, tip, Find a Grave has info youre dying to know. Tracking Down Relatives, Visiting Graves Virtually, media related to Images from Find A Grave at Wikimedia Commons Official website
Find a Grave
Find a Grave
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Find A Grave.com's current headquarters in
Provo, Utah
26.
Sarah Childress Polk
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Sarah Childress Polk was the wife of the 11th President of the United States, James Polk, serving as First Lady of the United States from 1845 to 1849. Sarah Childress was born in 1803 to Joel Childress, a prominent planter, merchant, and land speculator, Sarah met James Polk while both were receiving instruction from Samuel P. Black in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, he was 19, she was 12. Several years later James began courting her, legend says Andrew Jackson called her “wealthy, pretty, ambitious, and intelligent, ” and urged James K. Polk to marry her. In 1823 the two became engaged, and on January 1,1824, Sarah Childress, aged 20, married James Polk, aged 28, the Polks had no children of their own, but raised a nephew, Marshall Tate Polk as their personal ward. After her husbands death, Mrs. Polk assumed guardianship of a niece, Sarah Polk Jetton. In physical appearance, Sarah was fairly tall, with hair that was parted in the middle and worn in ringlets, dark brown eyes. She had prominent teeth that caused her to tighten her lips, giving her a disapproving look and she usually dressed in vibrant blues, reds and maroons, that suited her dark coloring. During Polks political career, Sarah assisted her husband with his speeches, gave him advice on policy matters, in Washington as a congressmans wife during the administrations of John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, and Martin Van Buren, Mrs. Polk very much enjoyed her social duties. Calhouns wife, Floride Calhoun, and most of the members wives. In 1845, Sarah Polk became the 11th First Lady of the United States and she was lively, charming, intelligent, and a good conversationalist. President Polk at times discussed policy matters with her, while she enjoyed politics, she also cautioned her husband, whose health was never robust, against overwork. A devout Presbyterian, as First Lady she banned dancing, card games, when she attended the Inaugural Ball, she did not dance. She hosted the first annual Thanksgiving dinner at the White House, unlike Julia Tylers waltzes, the Polk entertainments were sedate and sober affairs which earned the First Lady the nickname Sahara Sarah. After attending the inauguration of James Polks successor, Zachary Taylor, on March 5,1849, he and Sarah left by horse and carriage to their new home Polk Place in Nashville, Tennessee. Three months later, James Polk died, having had the shortest retirement of any former U. S. President, the United States government granted her a yearly pension of $5,000. Sarah Polk lived at Polk Place for 42 years, the longest retirement and widowhood of any former US First Lady, and always wore black. She died on August 14,1891, at age 87, only 41 when her husband became president, she outlived several of her successors including Margaret Taylor, Abigail Fillmore, Jane Pierce, Mary Todd Lincoln, Eliza Johnson and Lucy Webb Hayes. Only a handful of first ladies have lived longer -- Anna Harrison, Barbara Bush, Edith Bolling Wilson, Betty Ford, Lady Bird Johnson, Nancy Reagan, Bess Truman, and Rosalynn Carter
Sarah Childress Polk
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Sarah Childress Polk
Sarah Childress Polk
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Sarah and James
Sarah Childress Polk
Sarah Childress Polk
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Polk in her later years
27.
List of First Ladies of the United States
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The First Lady of the United States is the hostess of the White House. The First Lady is not a position, it carries no official duties and receives no salary. Nonetheless, she attends many official ceremonies and functions of state either along with or in place of the president, traditionally, the First Lady does not hold outside employment while occupying the office. She has her own staff, including the White House Social Secretary, the Chief of Staff, the Press Secretary, the Chief Floral Designer, and the Executive Chef. The Office of the First Lady is also in charge of all social and ceremonial events of the White House, according to the White House and the National First Ladies Library, there have been 47 First Ladyships. Following Donald Trumps inauguration on January 20,2017, his wife, Melania Trump, became the 47th official First Lady, succeeding Michelle Obama, the first First Lady was Martha Washington, married to George Washington. Presidents John Tyler and Woodrow Wilson had two official First Ladies, both remarried during their presidential tenures, one woman who was not married to a President is still considered an official First Lady, Harriet Lane, niece of bachelor James Buchanan. The other non-spousal relatives who served as White House hostesses are not recognized by the First Ladies Library, in 2007, the United States Mint began releasing a set of half-ounce $10 gold coins under the First Spouse Program with engravings of portraits of the First Ladies on the obverse
List of First Ladies of the United States
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Incumbent
Michelle Obama since January 20, 2009
List of First Ladies of the United States
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01.0 1
List of First Ladies of the United States
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02.0 2
List of First Ladies of the United States
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03.0 3
28.
Martha Washington
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Martha Washington was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington is considered to be the first First Lady of the United States, during her lifetime she was often referred to as Lady Washington. Widowed at 25, she had four children with her first husband Daniel Parke Custis, two of her children by Custis survived to young adulthood. She brought great wealth to her marriage to Washington, which enabled him to buy land and she also brought nearly 100 dower slaves for her use during her lifetime, they and their descendants reverted to her first husbands estate at her death and were inherited by his heirs. She and Washington did not have children together but they did rear her two children by Daniel Parke Custis, including son John Jacky Parke Custis, as well as helped both of their extended families. Martha Dandridge was born on June 2,1731 on her parents plantation Chestnut Grove in the British colony, Province of Virginia. She was the oldest daughter of John Dandridge, a Virginia planter and immigrant from England, by his wife Frances Jones, who was of American birth and English, Welsh, and French descent. Martha had three brothers and four sisters, John, William, Bartholomew, Anna Marie Fanny Bassett, Frances Dandridge, Elizabeth Aylet Henley, Marthas father may also have fathered an out-of-wedlock half-brother to Martha named Ralph Dandridge, who was probably white. They had four children together, Daniel, Frances, John, Daniel and Frances died in childhood. The other two children, John Parke Custis and Martha Parke Custis, survived to young adulthood, in all, she was left in custody of some 17,500 acres of land and 300 slaves, apart from other investments and cash. According to her biographist, she ran the five plantations left to her when her first husband died. Martha Dandridge Custis, age 27, and George Washington, age nearly 27, married on January 6,1759, as a man who lived and owned property in the area, Washington likely knew both Martha and Daniel Parke Custis for some time before Daniels death. During March 1758 he visited her twice at White House, the time he came away with either an engagement of marriage or at least her promise to think about his proposal. At the time, she was also being courted by the planter Charles Carter, Washingtons suit was of blue and silver cloth with red trimming and gold knee buckles. The bride wore purple silk shoes with spangled buckles, which are displayed at Mount Vernon. The couple honeymooned at White House for several weeks before setting up house at Washingtons Mount Vernon estate and they appeared to have had a solid marriage. Martha and George Washington had no children together, but they raised Marthas two surviving children and her daughter, nicknamed Patsy, died as a teenager during an epileptic seizure, classed as SUDEP. John Parke Jacky Custis returned from college to comfort his mother, Custis later married and had children, he served as an aide to Washington during the siege of Yorktown in 1781 during the American Revolutionary War
Martha Washington
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Martha Washington as a young woman
Martha Washington
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Tinted engraving by
John Chester Buttre (1821–1893), after the portrait by
Gilbert Stuart
Martha Washington
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Martha Dandridge Custis in 1757:
mezzotint by John Folwell (1863) after a portrait by John Wollaston
Martha Washington
29.
Abigail Adams
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Abigail Adams was the closest advisor and wife of John Adams, as well as the mother of John Quincy Adams. John frequently sought the advice of Abigail on many matters, and their letters are filled with discussions on government. Her letters also serve as eyewitness accounts of the American Revolutionary War home front, Abigail Adams was born at the North Parish Congregational Church in Weymouth, Massachusetts, to William Smith and Elizabeth Smith. On her mothers side she was descended from the Quincy family, through her mother she was a cousin of Dorothy Quincy, wife of John Hancock. Adams was also the great-granddaughter of John Norton, founding pastor of Old Ship Church in Hingham, Massachusetts, the only remaining 17th-century Puritan meetinghouse in Massachusetts. Smith married Elizabeth Quincy in 1742, and together they had four children and their only son, born in 1746, died of alcoholism in 1787. As with several of her ancestors, Adamss father was a liberal Congregationalist minister, Smith did not focus his preaching on predestination or original sin, instead he emphasized the importance of reason and morality. In July 1775 his wife Elizabeth, with whom he had married for 33 years. In 1784, at age 77, Smith died, Abigail did not receive formal schooling, she was frequently sick as child, which may have been a factor which prevented her from receiving an education. Later in life, Adams would also consider that she was deprived an education because females were given such an opportunity. Her grandmother, Elizabeth Quincy, also contributed to Adams education, as she grew up, Adams read with friends in an effort to further her learning. As an intellectually open-minded woman for her day, Adams ideas on womens rights and government would play a major role, albeit indirectly. She became one of the most erudite women ever to serve as First Lady, as third cousins, Abigail and John had known each other since they were children. In 1762, John accompanied his friend Richard Cranch to the Smith household, Cranch was engaged to Adams older sister, Mary, and they would be the parents of federal judge William Cranch. John was quickly attracted to the petite, shy, 17-year-old brunette who was bent over some book. He was surprised to learn she knew so much poetry, philosophy. Smith, Abigails father, presided over the marriage of John Adams, after the reception, the couple mounted a single horse and rode off to their new home, the small cottage and farm John had inherited from his father in Braintree, Massachusetts. Later they moved to Boston, where his law practice expanded, the couple welcomed their first child nine months into their marriage
Abigail Adams
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Abigail Adams
Abigail Adams
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Abigail Adams in later life
Abigail Adams
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One of last letters sent by
Thomas Jefferson at
Monticello to Abigail Adams, May 1817
Abigail Adams
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Abigail Adams by
Gilbert Stuart
30.
Martha Jefferson Randolph
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Martha Jefferson Randolph was the daughter of Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, and his wife Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson. Born at Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia and she married Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr. who served as a politician at the federal and state levels and was elected a governor of Virginia. Martha was very close to her father in his old age, Martha Jefferson was born on September 27,1772 at Monticello, her fathers estate in Virginia, which was then British America, to Thomas Jefferson and Martha Wayles Skelton. During her parents ten years of marriage, they had six children, Martha Patsy, Jane, a son who lived for only a few weeks in 1777, Mary Wayles Polly, Lucy Elizabeth, only Martha and Mary survived more than a few years. Martha was tall and slim with angular features and red hair and her paternal grandparents were Peter Jefferson, a planter and surveyor who died when her father was Thirty Three, and Jane Randolph. Jefferson vaguely knew that his grandfather had a place on the Fluvanna River which he called Snowden after a mountain in Wales near which the Jeffersons were supposed to have once lived and her mother was the only child and daughter of John Wayles and his first wife, Martha Eppes. Her maternal grandfather died in 1773, and her parents inherited 135 slaves,11,000 acres, the debts took her father years to satisfy, contributing to his financial problems. Her mother died on September 6,1782, four months after the birth of the Jeffersons last child and she later wrote that about this period, stating in those melancholy rambles I was his constant companion, a solitary witness to many a violent burst of grief. Her mother asked her father to never again, and he never did. Her request has been attributed to protective feelings for her children, from age 12 to 17, after her mothers death, she lived in Paris with her father while he served as U. S. Jefferson enrolled her at the Pentemont Abbey, a convent school. After Patsy expressed a desire to convert to Catholicism and said she was considering religious orders, in 1790 at the age of 18, Martha married Thomas Mann Randolph, Jr. a planter. Soon after their marriage, her father, Thomas Jefferson, deeded eight slaves from Monticello as a gift, including Molly Hemings. Thomas Jefferson Randolph, who married Jane Hollins Nicholas, ellen Wayles Randolph, who was named after deceased sister, and was married to Joseph Coolidge Cornelia Jefferson Randolph. Virginia Jefferson Randolph, who married Nicholas Philip Trist, James Madison Randolph, who was the first child born in the White House. Benjamin Franklin Randolph, who married Sally Champe Carter, meriwether Lewis Randolph, who married Elizabeth Martin. After his death, Martin remarried to Andrew Jackson Donelson, a nephew of President Andrew Jackson, septimia Anne Randolph, who married Dr. David Scott Meikleham. George Wythe Randolph, who briefly in 1862 was Secretary of War of the Confederate States of America, Martha Randolph educated her children at home, likely with the help of private tutors, as most planters did
Martha Jefferson Randolph
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Portrait by
Thomas Sully
