At one time, you could buy a mail order barn from Sears. The largest model was 10,000 square feet, about four times the size of a convenience store such as a 7-11, not counting the loft.
Category: American History
Sears and Roebuck
Mr. Roebuck was originally a watchmaker that Mr. Sears hired. They were opposites, Sears a promoter, Roebuck a conservative, careful man. They got along well and became partners. After a while Roebuck sold out for $25,000 because he didn’t agree with the frantic expansion of the company. He invented a typewriter and invested the proceeds of the typewriter income in Florida real estate. He lost everything in the crash of 1929. He showed up at the Sears employment office looking for any work at all. He was hired as a “celebrity” to cut ribbons at grand openings, etc.
At the age of 44 Mr. Sears retired with over $17 million.
Sears Catalog
The Sears catalog and other mail-order outfits negatively affected the easy prosperity for the rural general stores. In some places the local merchants would trade with the children of the community. They’d offer one movie ticket for every Sears or Montgomery Ward catalog the kids could bring. Then these merchants would have big bonfires to burn all the catalogs.
Blacksmiths
There were 205,256 men working as blacksmiths in the United States in 1890, and 59 women. The number of women who are blacksmiths is nearly the same today. But now the reason is because there are so few blacksmiths in general.
California Gold Rush
The man who started the California gold rush, James Marshall, after a first small strike, was able to find no other gold for himself, and died a penniless alcoholic.
Uncle Sam
During the War of 1812 Samuel Wilson, a butcher in Troy, New York, shipped pork to the Army in kegs stamped “U.S.” People called him Uncle Sam. Samuel Wilson did not look like the man we think of as Uncle Sam. The man who posed for the original paintings of “Uncle Sam” was really Dan Rice, a professional clown. He owned a pet pig and worked for what later became the Barnum and Bailey Circus, then went on to found his own circus. He ran for the American presidency as a Republican and lost.
Adults Playing Marbles
George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson all played marbles. In that era the game of marbles was fashionable among adults.
The US State of Franklin
One of the United States used to be called Franklin. The name was changed in 1796 to Tennessee.
Urban vs Rural
Only one out of twenty Americans lived it cities in 1790. It is approximately the other way around today.
Dimes
American dimes were originally pronounced “deems.”
Paul Revere
Paul Revere, a silversmith, never completed the ride for which he is so famous. Soon after he started, he was asked to turn around and go home by a British soldier. Paul Revere had 16 children.
Paul would have not tried his famous (but incomplete) ride, had he not been paid to do so. He was a mercenary.
John Hancock
John Hancock’s signature on the Declaration of Independence was very large, resulting in the modern term “put your John Hancock” which means to sign something. His signature on other documents was rather large too, but he had a particular reason for writing big on the Declaration. Signing the Declaration was an act of considerable bravery, because it would be seen by the King of England as high treason. He wanted King George III, who was farsighted, to be able to see his signature clearly.
Signers of the American Declaration of Independence
The signers of the Declaration of Independence: 26 were lawyers, 8 were merchants, 6 were doctors, 7 were farmers, 1 was a printer, 2 were military men, 1 was a minister, 1 was a shoemaker, 1 was a sailor, 1 was a surveyor, 2 were politicians, 0 were women.
Original US Declaration of Independence
In Thomas Jefferson’s first draft of the Declaration of Independence, he included a proposal to put an end to slavery.
Ben Franklin was on board with that, even though he owned two slaves at the time and held as many as seven previously. Ben also allowed the printing of rewards for the capture of slaves in his printing shop, and let slaves be sold in his general store, although he later became a staunch abolitionist.
Other politicians forced Thomas Jefferson to delete the anti-slavery portion in the final draft. They were so concerned with what they considered the most important first step, the freeing of America, and didn’t want to dilute their statement with a message about slavery.
Amerigo Vespucci
America was named after Amerigo Vespucci, a man that map maker Martin Waldseemuller mistakenly thought was Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of North America. Vespucci discovered South America.
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus spent less money coming to the New World than it costs the average American to buy a new car today.
Historians think the ships that Christopher Columbus used were smaller than is generally depicted. They were probably between 60 to 80 feet long and 18 to 25 feet wide. Little is known about these three ships, because Columbus did not write about their physical details in his journals. He already knew what they looked like. He probably assumed everyone knew what such ships looked like.
Maybe his ships looked something like this
Have fun with the Christopher Columbus Quiz.
Half Manuscript
The Erie County Public Library has had half of Mark Twain’s original manuscript of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” since the late 1800’s, but where was the other half? It has been discovered just recently. Almost like a cliche, it was found in an old trunk in an attic. This attic belonged to the late James Fraser Gluck, who was a benefactor of the library while he was alive. Evidently, Twain sent the manuscript to him for the library, but he held half of it to complete reading at home, then forgot about it.
National Cash Register
The head of National Cash Register Company once smashed up a cash register on stage with an ax because he thought the salesmen attending his meeting weren’t paying attention.
