Tag Archives: Illinois

A big “thank you” to all those who died in the Chicago rail yards so that we might have the day off to grill hot dogs… Happy Labor Day

I know it’s probably cheating, but here’s something that I posted over a decade ago on the occasion of Labor Day. If anything, I think it’s even more appropriate today, seeing as how Michigan has since become a so-called “right to work” state, and we now how have an unquestionably anti-worker administration running our country. […]

Posted in History, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Tireless fighter of corruption, Donald Trump, commutes sentence of politician found guilty of attempting to sell a U.S. Senate seat

Back during Trump’s impeachment trial, the Republicans made the case that the President was a “corruption fighter.” That, they told us, was why he’d put the screws to the administration of Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine, in hopes of getting his administration to announce an investigation into Joe Biden. Well, today, Donald Trump, the anti-corruption champion, […]

Posted in Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

It looks as though my great, great, great, great, great grandfather, Clark Wise, may have been with Washington at Valley Forge

While I’m tempted to make the case that my family’s Wise line goes all the way back to Colonel John Wise (1617-1695), who is thought to have arrived in the Virginia Colony from England in 1635, I think it’s probably more likely that the first Wise in my family to step foot in America was […]

Posted in History, Mark's Life, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Daniel Avery, the War of 1812, and the Illinois land bounty that brought my family west

OK, as long as we’re talking about David Avery’s service during the Revolutionary War military under Colonel William Prescott, I should probably mention that he wasn’t the only one of my ancestors to fight against the British. His son, Daniel Avery, fought them again in the War of 1812, and, ultimately, that’s what brought this […]

Posted in History, Mark's Life, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Thankfully, Jean Henry’s ancestor did not get my ancestor killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill

On this site a few days ago, in a conversation about the misdeeds of our ancestors, Jean Henry mentioned that a relative of hers, Colonel Ephraim Doolittle of Shoreham, Vermont, was likely responsible for the deaths of many men in his command at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June of 1775. Doolittle and his […]

Posted in History, Mark's Life, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

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