250 and Counting

Tag: 1776 births

  • Nicholas Emery–September 4, 1776

    Cover art for September 4, 1776: the headstone for Nicholas Emery, in Portland (ME)'s Western Cemetery. via findagrave.com.

    When Nicholas Emery was born, the state in which he did most of his important work didn’t yet exist.

    At the time of his birth, Maine was still considered part of Massachusetts, which is a vast oversimplification, since New Hampshire also had claim to a lot of this land (and that partially explains why New Hampshire has about 15 miles of coastline between Maine and Massachusetts).

    What’s more, Maine might not have become a state had it not been for the Missouri Compromise, part of which provided that for every slave state added to the Union, a free state also would be added, and vice-versa. Therefore, the addition of (free) Maine as a state allowed (slave) Missouri to become as state as well.

    (Side note: I have a favorite joke about the Missouri Compromise, because I’m nerdy that way. It comes from Dave Barry. He explains the Missouri Compromise as a law which says that half the people there have to pronounce it “Missou-ree” and the other half has to pronounce it “Missour-ruh”.)

    While Emery was part of the Convention to separate Maine from Massachusetts, and he was a delegate to the new state’s Consititutional Convention, he was not around to sign the document itself.

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  • Ezekiel Bacon–September 1, 1776

    Cover art for September 1, 1776: the cover of a printed lecture by Ezekiel Bacon about America's first fifty years,, first published in 1843. via Open Library.

    If nothing else, Ezekiel Bacon was a fairly reliable Representatvie in Congress, given how often he voted with his party, and the fact that he had a good attendance record as well.

    Bacon became a representative in Massachusetts when his predecessor, Barnabas Bidwell, resigned from the state legislature over irregularities in the Berkshire County books turned up. These irregularities were exaggerated in the press, but Bidwell fled the country anyway, landing in Upper Canada (modern-day Ontario) until some actual liability could be found. Ultimately he was found liable for $330.64 in damages and $63.18 in court costs. He explained his flight as being out of fear for his political enemies. Do with that what you will, but the whole affair essentially scuppered his political career.

    In Canada, Bidwell managed to win a seat in the Legislative Assembly but the election was challenged on the grounds that he was a fugitive from justice and had an immoral character. Oh, and he’s from the United States besides, and therefore loyal to that nation. Ultimately Bidwell was expelled from the House by a vote of 17-16. He did, however, remain in Canada until his death.

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  • Joseph Healy–August 21, 1776

    Cover art for August 21, 1776: Seal of the State of New Hampshire.

    When looking at historical documents related to Joseph Healy, it appears that most of them relate to Healy in a rather ancillary manner. We know how many times he voted in Congress because someone keeps tallies of everyone in Congress. We know about his family tree because he was traced back via Ancestry.com.

    Healy is the stone that was thrown in the pond; what we know about him has to be read from the ripples.

    All of which is a rather long way of saying that I don’t have a lot to say here.

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  • Abraham Shepherd–August 13, 1776

    Cover art for August 13, 1776: logo for the Ohio House of Representatives, whose basic design hasn't changed in many years.

    Abraham Shepherd hails from Shepherdstown, West Virginia, but when he was born it was Mecklenburg, Virginia.

    As near as I can put it together, there were originally two large tracts of land belonging to Shepherd families; one was over 200 acres and the other was a 750-acre plot of mostly farmland.

    In 1776 there were five Shepherd brothers, whose father, Thomas, died in 1776. John Shepherd, one of those five, moved to Wheeling Creek (Ohio, not WV), then Limestone Kentucky, then Red Oak, which was in Adams County, about 50 miles east-southeast of modern-day Cincinnati.

    Meanwhile, back in Mecklenburg, the town changed its charter and, in 1798, extended its corporate limits and changed its name to Shepherdstown, likely to honor Thomas Shepherd. Thus, in 1862 when the trans-Alleghany Virginia counties voted to secede from Virginia and become their own state, Shepherdstown was instantly one of the oldest towns in the state. That vote was challenged, and in 1866 the US Congress passed a resolution recognizing the transfer. Ultimately in 1870 the Supreme Court decided in West Virginia’s favor. Maryland also had something to say about who owned some of that land, which is why West Virginia has that peculiar hook in the northeast corner, but again the Supreme Court sided with West Virginia.

    Last week, a Maryland legislator put forth a bill that would secede the Eastern Shore of Maryland from the rest of the state, but he somehow also included a county from Delaware and the part of Virginia that’s part of the Delmarva Peninsula and separated from the rest of the state by the Chesapeake Bay. How counties in three different states could become their own state, and whether the potentially affected counties in those states actually feel about such a move, is not known. I suspect that it’s largely a performative action on his part to protest gerrymandering, and he’s right in that many of Maryland’s districts have ridiculous shapes. But these days it’s much more complicated to just break away from another state, for political and fiscal reasons.

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  • Samuel Powell–July 10, 1776

    Samuel Powell is another one of those early Representatives in our government about whom little is known from a legislative standpoint.

    We have odd details noting that he became a lawyer “prior to 1800” because we don’t really know how he got there.

    And another detail that we have about Samuel Powell is that, after his one and only term, he was not a candidate to be renominated in 1816. But there’s no reason why cited in most sources. Did he lose a primary? Maybe. Did he choose not to run? Possibly. Was that the last gasp of the Democratic-Republicans? Mmm, probably not; they were still around until 1824, at which point they split into separate factions.

    We do know that he missed 31 of 113 roll call votes, about 27.4%, which is higher than average. In his first year he missed 25% of votes and in his second year it went up to 31.7%. So even in his first year he missed more than typical. So it’s possible that he was elected for a cynical reason—to gain recognition and some name power. Once he had that, it was recommended that he walk away, so he did. This is entirely speculation on my part, though.

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  • Bernard Smith–July 5, 1776

    Cover art for July 5, 1776: A 2008 photo of Mount Holly Cemetery, where Bernard Smith is buried.

    In the biography of Bernard Smith in today’s episode, it was noted that he spent a couple of years as the Collector of Customs in 1809 and 1810. Which set up the question for me: what does a Collector of Customs do?

    My guess wasn’t too far off, tell the truth. The Collector of Customs assesses import duties and tariffs, enforces trade laws and regulates goods moving across international borders. My research didn’t turn up where he worked, but it could have been in New York. On the other hand, the Customs House in Linwood (near Atlantic City) was fairly new at the time so that could have been the location. At that time, tariffs and duties were the primary source of revenue for the US Government. Federal income taxes weren’t levied until 1861 for a few years, and then permanently in 1913.

    At any rate, after Bernard Smith put in his time with the Sixteenth Congress, he was register of the land office in Little Rock, Arkansas, then secretary to the governor of Arkansaw, and finally an agent to the Quapaw Nation until his death in 1835, shortly after his 59th birthday.

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  • Francis Johnson–June 19, 1776

    Cover art for June 19, 1776: The Old State House in Kentucky. We have to confess, Francis Johnson did not use this building; the one he occupied burned down a few years earlier. He was likely part of the vote to get this one built, though.

    Let’s start with the truth: Francis Johnson was not in office when the building in today’s cover art opened. This is the Old State Capitol in Frankfort, Kentucky, which opened in 1827, just after he left the US Congress.

    But while this is the Old State Capitol, there are two buildings even older which were used; unfortunately both of them burned down, hence this stone edifice, one presumes.

    You kind of have to feel badly in the long run when stuff like this happens. It feels a little bit like the universe is trying its best to wipe this guy from history. Even his specific birthplace is unknown, and the graveyard where he was interred is a public playground. (I’m going to presume it’s been paved over, yes?) But the fact is, once we’re gone we begin to accumulate anonymity unless something extraordinary happens to you or by you.

    Not meaning to be a downer; it’s just what they call a shower thought.

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    P.S. if your download is wonky or if you’re having trouble with the website this week, please get in touch with me at claudecall@gmail.com; I’d be most appreciative. I had a bit of a time getting this post to play nice.

  • Isaac Van Houten–June 4, 1776

    Cover art for June 4, 1776: aerial view of Clarkstown in 2010, looking south. via Wikimedia Commons.

    The Rockland County area of New York State is some lovely country. It’s just north of New York City and, along with adjacent Duchess and Westchester Counties, could be considered the heart of the area where the Dutch settlers came and stayed.

    As a result you’ll find many place names that have Dutch origins. This is why so many places in the downstate New York area (the triangle above NYC) end in “-kill”, because “kill” is dutch for “creek.” Thus, “Fishkill” means “fish creek”.

    At any rate, while not a lot is known about Isaac Van Houten, it’s clear that he almost certainly has Dutch ancestry, given both his name and his hometown along the lower Hudson River.

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  • George Schetky–June 1, 1776

    Cover art for June 1, 1776: Logo of the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia. We do hope they get some extra attention and don't hold it against us for swiping this off their website.

    George Schetky came from a very musical family. As we mention in the episode, his father was also a cellist and composer who was originally from Vienna. As a result his home always had plenty of music present and was a regular hub of performances.

    In fact, one could say that the Schetky family was a musical dynasty, between George, his father, his uncle on his mother’s side (Alexander Reinagle) amd others. Thus, he was a virtuoso on the cello before he ever set foot in America.

    George came to America to stay with his uncle Alexander in Philadelphia, who was already well established there, and got himself into the local music scene as a performer and a teacher. This penchant for teaching also led him to theater programs including educational pamphlets so that patrons would understand the importance of the piece they were about to hear.

    And, of course, Schetky was important in the founding of the Musical Fund Society of Phladelphia, which is dedicated to artistic advancement and musician welfare even now, over 200 years later.

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  • José Antonio de la Garza–May 31, 1776

    Cover art for May 31, 1776: Closeup of each side of the coins minted by José Antonio de la Garza. Image reportedly came from KVUE-TV in Austin but we can't pin it down as definitively their image.

    José Antonio de la Garza was born in what we now call San Antonio. They may have called it that back then as well, but the area was called San Antonio de Béjar at the time, and was a mission around which the eventual city grew.

    Texas was still a territory belonging to Mexico (i.e., Spain), and in the early 1700s the popular thought was that building these missions would strengthen Spain’s claims to the territory. That…sort of worked for awhile, until disputed territories were locked into treaties, or ceded one way or another, or occupied by a military force.

    At any rate, once you’ve listened to the episode, you’ll have a better understanding of how Texas got its nickname.

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