Bertha Alexander was born in New York City’s Lower East Side back in 1895 to Hannah, sorry I don’t have her father’s name. Shortly after her birth (according to what I could find) her father died. Her mother later married Maurice. In 1912, she graduated from Washington Irving High School. Right after graduation she married Philip. She enrolled in a six-month commercial course working as a bookkeeper for the Irving Hat Stores.In 1923, she got a loan for 1,600.00 and opened up her own business. She hired 16 people, about two years later she had her husband quit his job to become the company manager. In 1936, Fortune magazine listed her company as one of the top three manufactures in the United States. My word limit is getting short so I’ll get to the rest of the story.Somewhere along the ... 12/23/2018

Frank Abbott was born in York County, Maine where he attended school. He farmed in Shapleigh, Maine until he was 16. Sorry I do not have any data to know if he actually graduated from school, but that is not what is important to this story. He also studied under the direction of Dr. J.E. Ostrander in New York. During the American Civil War, he served as a lieutenant of the 115th New York Volunteer Infantry. Captured at Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia where he was released from captivity as a part of a prisoner exchange. He died in 1897, at 60.What you may not know about Frank is that he was a dentist by trade, he opened his own practice at 22 in Johnstown, New York. He was appointed as clinical lecturer in New York College of Dentistry and later as a Professor of Operative Dentistry. In h... 12/06/2018

Benjamin Wright was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut back in 1770 to Ebenezer and Brace. In 1789, the family moved to Rome, New York. After arriving Benjamin became a land surveyor. I don’t have any information where he received his education but he was also an engineer. In 1784, he was elected to the New York State Legislature. In 1794, he was appointed a New York county judge. In1883, he was a surveyor for railroads. He surveyed the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers from Schenectady and Rome, New York.What you may not know about Benjamin is that he was the chief engineer of the Erie Canal and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. In 1969, the American Society of Civil Engineers declared the “Father of American Civil Engineering.Until tomorrow give someone the free gift of a smile 11/18/2018

Frederick York was born in Kingstown, Ireland back in 1837 to Garnet and Frances. His father died leaving the family to survive on his army pension. At 17 he moved to Melbourne, Australia to work as a sheep farmer. In 1868, he had an idea and began to work on a model, more on that in a moment.By 1872, he had created a working model. In 1877, he was granted a patent on his invention however he continued to make improvements on it patenting an updated version of it in 1884. By 1888, his invention was widely used in Australia and being shipped to the rest of the world. He fought cancer for 10 years before dying in 1899, he was 61.What you may not know about Frederick York Wolseley is that the invention he patented was the first commercially successful sheep shearing machinery. bet you didn... 11/15/2018

Webster Wagner was born in Palatine Bridge, New York back in 1817. He and his brother James ran a wagon-making business until the Panic of 1837. By 1842 the business had folded. He found work for the New York Central Railroad, it was while working for them he invented something, actually two things we’ll get to in a moment.He served in the New York State Assembly, the New York State Senate from 1872 until his death in 1882. He was killed in a rail accident returning from Albany to New York City.His home the Webster Wagner House at Palatine Bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places.What you may not know about Webster are the two things he invented one of a sleeping car and luxurious parlor car for the railroads. The Pullman Company filed several law suits to no avail. He also... 10/10/2018

Fun one for today.George Taylor was born in Scottish Borders, Scotland back in 1803 to Andrew and Violet. As a young boy, he was a sheep herder, he would often snare rabbits illegally to support the family. Although his parents were literate by the time he was seven he could already read the Bible when he started school.Being fugal is an understatement for George. Instead of paying a coach fare he would walk 14 hours to Edinburgh to buy books to read. He began working as a market gardener in 1846 at a plant nursery in Kelso. He was a deeply religious man who was involved in the Temperance movement and spoke often against slavery.It wasn’t until he was 53 that he moved his family to the United States settling in Kalamazoo, Michigan. When he arrived, he started a gardening business having... 09/02/2018

Louisa Ann Gardner was born in Norfolk, Virginia back in 1801. Her father was a sea captain who was lost at sea when she was 7 years old. Her mother moved to Charleston, South Carolina when her mother died (date unknown). Louisa was sent to Baltimore, Maryland where she was raised by her uncle Ephraim.It was while she was in Baltimore she met and later married Stephen in 1821. The union produced four children. When their youngest son Alfred was four Stephen sold his thriving chair factory, moving the family to Zanesville, Ohio later to Indiana and finally to Laramie, Wyoming in 1869.It was early on September 6th, 1870 when she put on her apron, shawl and bonnet walking downtown to a local merchant to purchase some yeast when she did something that will forever place her in the history b... 08/27/2018

Norio Suzuki was born in Chiba, Japan back in 1949. He studied economics at Hosei University, however he dropped out and decided to explore the world. His adventures included Asia, the Middle East and Africa. He had heard about a Japanese soldier on the island in the Philippines who was considered alive but would not surrender.His quest was to find that solder, a panda bear and the Abominable Snowman, so off he set to achieve those goals. Of course, the panda was the easiest to find. He claimed to have spotted a yeti from a distance in 1975 in the Dhaulagiri range of the Himalayas. While searching for it again in 1986 he died in an avalanche. His remains were discovered a year later and returned to his family for proper burial.But for what he did in 1974, will of course forever place hi... 08/25/2018

Dorothy Constance Stratton was born in Brookfield, Missouri back in 1899 to Richard and Anna. The family traveled across the Midwest ending back up in Lamar, Missouri. She graduated from Ottawa University in 1920 with a master of arts in psychology. She received her doctorate from the University of Chicago. For a short time, she taught school in Brookfield, Missouri.In 1942, she took a leave of absence to join the U.S. Coast Guard where she was sent to the office of the Commandant of the Coast Guard in Washington, D.C.She rose through the ranks to captain in 1944, she retired from active duty in 1946. What you may not know about Dorothy was she held many firsts, so let’s go over a few. She was the first woman to be commissioned an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard, the first woman to be h... 08/19/2018

George Owen was born in Dryden, Michigan back in 1865. After high school, he attended the United States Military Academy graduating in 1887. Continuing his education, he received his Ph.D. from John Hopkins University in 1893.He and Dartmouth professor Albert developed a magneto-optical streak camera in 1896. The camera was designed to measure the speed of projectiles both inside and outside of a cannon. As executive officer to the Chief Signal Officer in 1907, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Aeronautical Division, of the U.S. Signal Corps., which of course was the ancestor of the U.S. Air Force. he developed a telephone multiplexing in 1910. It is a method in which either analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. For that invention, he... 08/12/2018

Dean Cullom was born in Cove, Oregon back in 1899 to Joshua and Rhoda. When he was three the family moved to Central America. He would go back to his grandmother’s home back in Oregon to hear her talk about the pioneer days of covered wagons, making their way westward. In 1917, he enlisted in the aviation Section of the United States Signal Corps. Soon after he enlisted he was promoted to master signal electrician. From 1918 to 1919 he was assigned to Gosport Instructor’s School in San Antonio, Texas. He died in 1987. Now for his accomplishments, are you ready, here we go.At the age of 17 he became the youngest flight instructor in the U.S. Army history, a record that he still holds. He was the first pilot to initiate night air mail flights. However, what you may not know about Dean Cul... 08/01/2018

Sylvanus Thayer was born in Braintree, Massachusetts back in 1785 to Nathaniel and Dorcas. When he was 8 she was sent to live with his uncle in Washington, New Hampshire. Why is anyone’s guess as I could not find the answer. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1807 as valedictorian of his class.He actually never gave the valedictory address at Dartmouth as he was appointed to West Point graduating in just one year. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1808. His first assignment was the supervising the construction of Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. During the war of 1812, he directed the fortification of Norfolk, Virginia being promoted to major. President James Monroe ordered Sylvanus to become the superintendent of the Military Academy in 1817. He resigned in 1833 because of a ... 07/27/2018

Ernst Werner was born in Lenthe, Kingdom of Hanover back in 1816 to Cristian and Eleonore. He finished public school but was unable to attend college so he chose to join the Prussian Military Academy’s School of Artillery and Engineering. After graduating he was thought of as a good soldier receiving many various medals.When he was discharged he returned home where he set upon inventing a host of things. Without giving it away I’ll pull a Wayne Martin on you. He built the world’s first electric elevator in 1880, produced the tubes with which Wilhelm Rontgen investigated x-rays. He is considered as the father of the trolleybus among a few. Haven’t figured it out yet Wayne? LOL, For you see he founded the Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens and Halske in 1847. That’s right I’m writing abou... 07/22/2018

John Clark was born in Battle Creek, Michigan back in 1915 to Leo and Florence. At a young age John was fascinated by science, especially explosive and rocketry. He attended Catholic grade school then enrolled at the Battle Creek College. In 1937, he graduated as valedictorian winning a scholarship to the University of Michigan, receiving his Master’s in 1938 and his PhD in 1941.After graduation, he worked for Merck & Co. until 1946 as a senior research chemist. His vision was however he was passionate on just one thing. It wasn’t until 1957 that his group completed his life-long dream. At the time, he was associated the M.I.T, thus his future was insured.For you see John Clark Sheehan and his group was successful in the synthesizing of penicillin V. He held over 30 patents including th... 07/20/2018

Christopher Latham was born in Mooresburg, Pennsylvania back in 1819. At some time, he moved to Danville working as an apprentice to a printer. When he completed the apprenticeship he moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1837. In Milwaukee, he became a newspaper publisher and politician.He served in the Wisconsin State Senate from 1848 to 1849 as a Democrat, from 1852 to 1853 as a Free Soiler and again as a Republican from 1856 to 1857. During his terms in office he was instrumental in the movement to abolish capital punishment in Wisconsin. It was while he was working in the newspaper business that he began to work on an idea that will forever place him in the history books. He continued to work on his invention and came up with an idea in 1873 that is still in use to this day. Christopher... 07/17/2018

Jan Craig was born in Bowie, Maryland back in 1950 to James and Louise. His parents divorced when he was 14, as soon as he graduated from high school he joined the U.S. Army. He was assigned to the 12th Infantry Regiment, 199th Light Infantry Brigade and sent to Vietnam in 1969. He was involved in several battles during which he received the Purple Heart and the Army Commendation Medal, with “Valor” device. He left the Army in 1970 as a corporal receiving three Army Commendation Medals. He returned to Maryland where he secured a job as a security guard at Prince George’s Community College. He married Becky who he met while she was a clerk at a local 7-11 store in 1974. He attended college receiving his bachelor’s degree from American University in 1975. He went on to get his master’s de... 07/10/2018

Adolf Schoepe was born in Berkenroth, Germany back in 1904. In 1927, he emigrated to the United States where he worked as a master metalworker having no formal education in the line of work. He did not speak any English and had at the time only $25.00 to his name.He worked for Curtis Aviation, moving to Spartan Aircraft and then onto Goodyear Rubber in Akron, Ohio. His job was to install power systems in dirigibles for the Untied States Navy. He advanced through the moves where he found himself as foreman at the Sand Diego Naval Air Station metals shop. He taught welding to women during WWII.In 1946, he and Karl Rhinehart started their own company, as they say the rest is history. Maybe you’ve heard about the two improvements/inventions he made that are still used by most of us to this ... 07/03/2018

Andrew Eliot was born in Boston, Massachusetts back in 1922 to William and Rosamond. He attended school in Madison, Wisconsin before continuing his education at Harvard University, graduating with a S.B. in Government in 1943. he went on to earn his M.A. in Political Science and his doctorate at Syracuse University in 1963.In the 1950’s he started working for the United States Federal Government. He worked on a study used by then President John. F. Kennedy. In the 1970’s her served as a member and chairman on the board of directors of the Worldwatch Institute. He was also served as president and chairman of the International Development Conference.What you may not know about Andrew Eliot Rice is that he was the founder of the International Development Conference, which of course lead to... 06/05/2018

Zebulon Montgomery was born in Lamington, New Jersey back in 1779. The family moved to several areas in outposts around Ohio and Illinois. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant of the infantry in 1799, being promoted to first lieutenant later that year. He married Clarissa in 1801.He was ordered in 1805 to find the source of the Mississippi River. He returned and was immediately sent on another expedition to explore, and map the headwaters of the Arkansas and Red rivers. He set out in 1806 winding up in current Colorado where he was captured by Spanish authorities. He was released in 1807 at the Louisiana border. He was promoted to captain where he fought in the Battle of Tippecanoe. In 1813, he was promoted to brigadier general in 1813. During the attack on York in 1813 he was kil... 05/17/2018

Frederick William was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England back in 1897. Educated at Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey. In WWI, he enlisted in the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars then transferring to the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. In 917 he was shot down spending the rest of the war as a prisoner.After the war, he obtained his law degree in 1920. However, the call to duty led him back to the Royal Air Force joining back up in 1929. After his reenlistment, he was assigned to the Secret Intelligence Service (MI-6). While there he recruited agents to gather intelligence where he also analyzed their reports. One of his roles was to become a Nazi sympathizer, he met Hitler, Goring and Goring’s staff. What you may not know about Frederick William Winterbottom is that he supervised t... 04/28/2018