Carter, Maybelle (10 May 1909–23 October 1978), country-music singer and instrumentalist and matriarch of a music performing dynasty, known as Mother Maybelle, was born Maybelle Addington around Nicklesville, Scott County, Virginia, a few miles north of the Tennessee-Virginia state line. Both of her parents, Hugh Jack Addington and Margaret Elizabeth Kilgore, had deep roots in rural Scott County. Maybelle was one of ten children, many of whom grew up playing various stringed instruments. Maybelle’s mother was a banjo player, and when Maybelle was still a child she joined in as the family band played for local square dances. She played the autoharp as well, but her real fascination came when she was about twelve and one of her older brothers gave her a guitar. “I started trying different ways to pick it,” she later recalled, “and came up with my own style, because there weren’t many guitar pickers around.” The guitar was just becoming popular in the mountains, and the style Maybelle came up with—what would become known as the “Carter lick” or “thumb-brush” technique—allowed the thumb to pick the melody on the bass strings while the fingers keep rhythm downstroking the higher strings. This permitted the guitarist to pick a melody and keep rhythm at the same time, and eventually it became the most copied guitar style in country music....
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Carter, Maybelle (10 May 1909–23 October 1978), country-music singer and instrumentalist and matriarch of a music performing dynasty
Charles K. Wolfe
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Eisenhower, Edgar Newton (1889-1971), lawyer and older brother of President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Mark E. Young
Eisenhower, Edgar Newton (19 January 1889–12 July 1971), lawyer and older brother of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, lawyer and older brother of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, was born in Hope, Kansas, the son of David Dwight Eisenhower, a creamery worker and unsuccessful store owner, and Ida Elizabeth Stover. Growing up in Abilene, Kansas, at the turn of the century, Eisenhower and his brother Dwight were prone to get involved in boyhood fights. As a result of their fighting prowess, Edgar acquired the nickname “Big Ike,” while Dwight was called “Little Ike.” Edgar and Dwight continued their competitive nature with each other into their elder years, but only political issues created much friction, while on the whole the brothers remained close. Edgar attended the Abilene public schools, where he was an indifferent student. His father held him out of school for two years, and he resumed school a much better student as well as a superior athlete. Like all the Eisenhower brothers, Edgar worked at the Belle Springs Creamery, which helped supplement the family’s meager earnings. When a doctor ordered that Dwight’s badly cut leg be amputated, Edgar intervened to prevent the amputation. Because of the two-year gap in his school attendance, Edgar Eisenhower graduated from Abilene High School with his brother Dwight in 1909....
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Falkner, William Clark (1825-1889), writer and great-grandfather of novelist William Faulkner
Judith E. Funston
Falkner, William Clark (06 July 1825–06 November 1889), writer and great-grandfather of novelist William Faulkner, writer and great-grandfather of novelist William Faulkner, was born in Knox County, Tennessee, the son of Joseph Falkner, an immigrant from Scotland, and Caroline Word. Joseph and Caroline Falkner had just embarked on a move from Haywood County, North Carolina, to St. Genevieve, Missouri, when Caroline gave birth to William Clark in Knox County. Once Caroline had recovered, the Falkners settled in St. Genevieve. Joseph’s occupation there is unknown....
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Fitzgerald, John Francis (1863-1950), mayor of Boston and maternal grandfather of U.S. president John F. Kennedy and U.S. senators Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy
Constance K. Burns
Fitzgerald, John Francis (11 February 1863–02 October 1950), mayor of Boston and maternal grandfather of U.S. president John F. Kennedy and U.S. senators Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy, mayor of Boston and maternal grandfather of U.S. president John F. Kennedy and U.S. senators ...
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Fitzgerald, John Francis (1863-1950)
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Hathorne, William (1607-1681), developer of Salem, Massachusetts, and progenitor of the Ha(w)thorne family in America
Jacob Judd
Hathorne, William (1607– April 1681), developer of Salem, Massachusetts, and progenitor of the Ha(w)thorne family in America, developer of Salem, Massachusetts, and progenitor of the Ha(w)thorne family in America, was born in Bray, Berkshire, England, the son of William Hathorne, a yeoman, and Sarah (full name unknown). Little is known of his early years except that he received more education than was usual for one of his family’s standing and grew up in relatively comfortable surroundings. As a young man of eighteen or nineteen, he was converted to Puritanism and, soon after, announced that he intended to migrate to New England. His close friend Richard Davenport, betrothed to Hathorne’s sister Elizabeth Hathorne, left for America in 1628 with the understanding that William and his sister would soon follow. When the Hathornes reached New England is unclear. Probably they arrived after 1630 and no later than the fall of 1633....
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Irving, Peter (1772-1838), writer
Ralph M. Aderman
Irving, Peter (30 October 1772–27 June 1838), writer, was born in New York City, the son of William Irving, a merchant, and Sarah Sanders. Irving grew up in an austere environment colored by his father’s strict Presbyterian principles, which had little lasting effect on him. In October 1785 he entered Columbia College but dropped out after three years without taking a degree. Although inclined toward the law, under pressure from his father he returned to Columbia, completed his M.D. in 1794, and opened an office in the same building as his brother ...
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Kennedy, John F., Jr. (1960-1999), American icon, publisher, and lawyer
Judith B. Gerber
Kennedy, John F., Jr. (25 November 1960–16 July 1999), American icon, publisher, and lawyer, was born John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr., in Washington, D.C., the son of President John F. Kennedy, a descendant of a politically and socially prominent Massachusetts family, and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy...
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Kennedy, Kathleen Agnes (1920-1948), sister of U.S. president John F. Kennedy and an English peer by marriage
Cindy Sigler Dagnan
Kennedy, Kathleen Agnes (20 February 1920–13 May 1948), sister of U.S. president John F. Kennedy and an English peer by marriage, sister of U.S. president John F. Kennedy and an English peer by marriage, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, the daughter of Joseph Patrick Kennedy...
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Kennedy, Rose Fitzgerald (22 July 1890–23 January 1995), philanthropist and political matriarch
Barbara L. Ciccarelli
Kennedy, Rose Fitzgerald (22 July 1890–23 January 1995), philanthropist and political matriarch, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of John Francis Fitzgerald, a politician, and Mary Josephine Hannon. In 1904 the Fitzgeralds moved from Boston’s immigrant North End to a fifteen-room house in the Boston suburb of Dorchester. While her mother nurtured her commitment to family and the Catholic church, her father introduced her to politics. Kennedy graduated with honors from Dorchester High School in May 1906, the same year her father, “Honey Fitz,” was elected mayor. Because she was only fifteen, her parents prohibited her from attending Wellesley College. Instead, she enrolled at Sacred Heart Convent in Boston and the New England Conservatory of Music, where she became a skilled pianist. From 1908 to 1909 she attended Blumenthal Academy, a German convent finishing school in Valls, the Netherlands, attaining fluency in German and French. She completed her higher education at Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart in Purchase, New York, and graduated in 1910....
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Mecom, Jane Franklin (27 March 1712–09 May 1794), the favorite sister of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Claude-Anne Lopez
Mecom, Jane Franklin (27 March 1712–09 May 1794), the favorite sister of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), the favorite sister of Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), was born in Boston to Josiah Franklin, tallow chandler, and his second wife, Abiah Folger. The last of the seventeen Franklin children, Jane formed, with Benjamin and Lydia, a trio separated from their older siblings by a gap of several years. Benjamin and Jane outlived all the others; they were alike in many ways: intelligent, vital, indomitable. But whereas Benjamin rose in the world, Jane never had a chance. Married at fifteen to an almost illiterate and sickly saddler, Edward Mecom, she had twelve children, eleven of whom died before her, as did many of her grandchildren. The deaths were recorded with Christian resignation in her ...
