HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!
No anecdote is the construction of the Taj Mahal in India which began in 1631 and went on until 1653 and now is a World Heritage site of UNESCO. Sometimes I get a mind boggle when I see what was going on in the world in the 1600's, when America was just beginning to be populated by foreign immigrants with no visa or passport.
"Asahel Case and his wife, Dorothy Phelps, were from Simsbury. ...... The said Asahel senior had thirteen children. He died in 1809, aged 81. Asahel Jun(ior) died 1840, aged 84. ..... A man who spent a night at his home said that in the morning Mr. Case (senior) went to the chamber stairs, called out all the names found in the Bible, and added, 'and all the rest of you get up.'
"Aaron Case, son of Asahel Jun. lived on the old place where his grandfather lived and died. His son, Hiram, lived on the old place, and died there from 'grinder's consumption,' contracted by grinding scythes in a scythe shop. [If he lived today, he could sue and get a big chunk of money.]
"(Aaron Case's) first wife took by mistake a dose of saltpetre instead of Epsom salts, as she supposed it to be, and died from the effects of it in a few hours. ...... Captain Aaron, as he was called was taking home a load of potatoes in an ox cart. He always kept two or three rods ahead of his oxen. Going up a long hill the tail-board of the cart got loose, and his potatoes rolled out and scattered from the foot of the hill to the top. When he reached home and found his cart empty, doubtless the English language was inadequate to express his feelings. ...... Time and space forbid telling of his once driving a pig some two miles without discovering that he had taken the wrong pig out of his pen. [I think I inherited some of those same traits.]
The Revolutionary War came along about twenty years after Norfolk was settled and many of the settlers were called on to do their duty, including Asahel, Senior, from June to December 1775.
Joseph Case, the oldest son (of Asahel, Senior), married Lydia Mills and we will follow him part way coming up.
(Note: Quotes are taken from History of Norfolk, Connecticut, 1744-1900.)
This reminds me of the way that Lonesome Dove is written, which I'm reading right now.
ReplyDeleteLonesome Dove is one of the best, I think, and it's a long novel that kept my attention all the way through. I then had to read the rest of them Streets of Laredo, Comanche Moon and Deadman's Walk, all good, but not quite up to Lonesome Dove.
ReplyDeleteLD is full of anecdotes often about how people died of illness, accident, or misfortune. It's a complaint I've heard expressed about the novel - too many reminders that life was not like Little House on the Prairie.
ReplyDeleteReality strikes, some like it, some don't. Little House was sugar sweet for the most part - a good family program for young people, too.
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