This day, February 28, marks the 70th anniversary (1941) of the death of Wallace Augustus Rayfield, an Alabama architect of local reknown, although now mostly forgotten. He is the first black architect in Alabama to practice professionally, and the second black architect in the United States to practice professionally. Not…
Jim Limber – James Henry Brooks On February 15, 1864, Varina Davis, the First Lady of the Confederacy, while conducting errands in Richmond, witnessed a small black boy being severely beaten by a black woman. Mrs. Davis, known for her kindness and concern for the welfare of others, drove away…
Abraham Lincoln was born 202 years ago on February 12, 1809, in a log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky, and died in Washington, DC, on April 15, 1865, the victim of an assassin’s bullet. In his professional portrayal of President Abraham Lincoln, my husband Phillip often is asked if any…
5th Ave & 44th St location – 1897-1923 On February 2, 1827, Swiss immigrants Giovanni Del-Monico and his brother Pietro Antonio Del-Monico paid $312.50 to rent a quarter-house at No. 23 William Street in New York City. Sandwiched between the business district and the dwellings of most New Yorkers, the…
Deep snow of January 2011 This is a poor substitute for the blog posting that I didn’t write last week. Most of you around the country know why. It’s the same reason you didn’t read it. We’ve all been outside, shoveling snow. How about you? Have you dug out enough…
JOHN TYLER (March 29, 1790 – January 18, 1862) During this week in history, John Tyler, 10th President of the United States, died on January 18, 1862. In his day, his opponents dubbed him “His Accidency” or “The Accidental President” because he was the first president to sit in the…
WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD (May 16,1801 – Oct. 10, 1872) On January 10, 1861, 150 years ago this week, William Henry Seward of Auburn, New York, was named Secretary of State in president-elect Lincoln’s Cabinet. Seward is best known for his service under Presidents Lincoln and Johnson and for his management…
This week, I share my birthday (January 4) with Louis Braille (1809) who developed a system of reading for the blind, actress Jane Wyman (1914), Sir Isaac Newton (1643), and General Tom Thumb, born Charles Sherwood Stratton (1838). P. T. Barnum & General Tom Thumb Charles Sherwood Stratton’s parents lived…
What ever became of Grace Bedell, the 11-year-old girl who proposed to Lincoln that whiskers would improve his chances for election? Grace Greenwood Bedell was born 162 years ago this week, in Albion, NY, on November 4, 1848, to Norman and Amanda (Smiley) Bedell. Norman was a carriage- and stove-maker. …
Brass Castle Arts is a potpourri of my various interests, professional endeavors, hobbies, vocations and avocations, and other sideline activities. I intend this blog to showcase my own written work, primarily in the form of profiles of well-known and little-known American characters and events, primarily from the 19th Century. Also…
