The Jacob Poe bio has been updated with new material obtained over the past two years. Similarly, History in Homes has been modified with additional material and images. As I have indicted before, it may be worth your time to stop by occasionally to see if a subject important to you has changed.
I am working on Thomas W Poe.
Copyright © 2013 Francis W Nash
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On this Veterans Day, I am reminded of sacrifices made. I have scanned and loaded two newspaper articles dated Oct 1942 about a cannon that had been standing in the town square Georgetown since shortly after the Civil War. One article identified as a “Special to the Review” stated that the cannon had been installed as a monument 78 year earlier. In Oct 1942 the Georgetown town council, like many other small towns, had voted to donate the relic to help relieve the national shortage of scrap metal.
Civil War Cannon Memorial (Newspaper Clips dated Oct1942)
The historic cannon, forged in Pittsburgh, was transported from the Pittsburgh Arsenal by packet to Line Island where is was to be used to defend Pittsburgh from Gen John Hunt Morgan and his cavalry. When word reached Georgetown that Morgan’s Raiders were in eastern Ohio on Sunday 26 Jul 1863, the ferry boat was scuttled, women were told to secret their valuables and take their children to a safe place, and the roads were filled with men on horseback riding to defend Georgetown, PA . It was reported that you could hear gun fire all over the county.
After many anxious hours, the Georgetown heroes learned that Morgan had been captured a mere 25 miles away near Lisbon, OH.
The Georgetown people sacrificed the cannon and its bit of history to help their sons and daughters serving in WW II. That was fitting and proper.
Today, I want to thank all veterans of all wars for your service and sacrafice.
Copyright © 2013 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved
Highfalutin, no apostrophe of course, is clearly the cropped form of highfaluting. Today it means pompous or pretentious or excessively ornate. It first appeared in American print in the mid-1800s. There are several possible origins. My favorite origin is the steamboat jargon taken from the idea that wealthy people booked passage on the upper decks far away from the animals and cargo in the hold. The Texas deck was closest to the pineapple topped stacks or flutes as they were sometimes called.
Copyright © 2013 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved
I found a fascinating historical quarterly on eBay. The Annals of Iowa (Third Series Vol IV No 5) dated April 1900. My copy came via a private collector through the New Jersey Historical Society. The book itself is quite interesting. The binding is not sewn, yet the book is composed of quarto pages which is unusual. It has not been read completely because most of the pages had not been cut. Cutting the pages in order to read the book was a delicate process, and probably value destructive.
The article in the quarterly that caught my eye was the History of Steamboating on the Des Moines River, From 1837 to 1862 by Tacitus Hussey. It is a collection of arrival and departure logs from two ports and personal diaries. Combined the logs and diaries confirm that several of my Georgetown guys were working on the Des Moines River as early as 1851.
Copyright © 2013 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved