On this day in 1967, comedian and actor Will Ferrell was born in Irvine, California, the son of Betty Kay, a teacher, and Roy Lee Ferrell Jr., a musician with The Righteous Brothers. His parents were both natives of Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, and moved to California in 1964. Emma Hotchkiss Irvine of Kentucky made […]
On this day in 1606, Dutch master painter Rembrandt van Rijn was born in Leiden, South Holland, the son of a miller. Â Rembrandt, who painted more than 100 self-portraits during his lifetime, lost favor as a fashionable portrait artist, and was bankrupt by 1656. However, after this financial downfall, Rembrandt produced some of his most […]
On this day in 1968, Henry “Hank” Aaron, age 34, hit the 500th home run of this career, leading the Atlanta Braves to a 4-1 win over the San Franciso Giants. Aaron was born in 1934 in Mobile, Alabama and was a star player in both football and baseball in high school. He was named […]
On this day in 1656, Ann Austin and Mary Fisher, two English missionaries traveling from a Quaker center in Barbados, became the first Quakers to immigrate to the American colonies when their ship landed in Boston. Shortly after arriving in Puritan-controlled Massachusetts, Austin and Fisher were arrested and jailed for their liberal teachings and after […]
On this day in 1958, American banjo player BĂ©la Anton Leoš Fleck was born in New York City. “Widely acknowledged as one of the world’s most innovative and technically proficient banjo players,he is best known for his work with the bands New Grass Revival and BĂ©la Fleck and the Flecktones.” (Wikepedia) Belah Beatrice Sumrell of […]
On this day in 1877, the first lawn tennis tournament was held at Wimbledon, then a suburb of London. The event, hosted by the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club, attracted twenty-one amateur male competitors. In 1884, the Lady’s Singles was introduced at Wimbledon. An unknown quilter hand and machine pieced and hand quilted […]
On this day in 1776, the Liberty Bell, a 2,000-pound copper and tin bell, rang out from the tower of the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia calling citizens to come and hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, signed four days earlier. The crack in the Liberty Bell is though to have […]
On this day in 1946, James Earl “Jimmy” Carter marries Eleanor Rosalynn Smith at the Plains Methodist Church in Plains, Georgia. When the couple met, she was 18 and working in a hair salon. He was 21 and a recent graduate of the Annapolis Naval Academy…Since 1984, the Carters have given their time each year […]
On this day in 1890, Idaho become the 43rd state in the Union. Since exploration of North America began from the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the southern borders, Idaho remained virtually untouched by Spanish, French, British and American trappers and explorers up to 1805 when Lewis and Clark came through the territory. To date […]
On this day in 1939, twin sisters Esther Pauline Friedman Lederer and Pauline Esther Friedman Phillips (columnists who wrote as Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren, or Dear Abby) were married in a double-wedding ceremony two days from their birthday. The twins were born in 1918 to Russian Jewish immigrants who settled in Sioux City […]