Why A Brides Bouquet Here are some facts about the 1500s: Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence, that is why […]
Historical Trivia, February 2020
Eavesdroppers Was the Term “Eavesdroppers” Coined From a Misunderstanding of Architecture? In Secrets of Henry VIII’s Palace: Hampton Court, it is claimed that little painted figures of human faces carved into the ornate ceiling beams of Hampton Palace as though surreptitiously observing the people below inspired the term “eavesdroppers” uninvited listeners to other people’s conversations […]
Surname Backgrounds
Here are some names of old occupations that may give you an idea of the history of your surname: Surname Occupation Backman/Backster/Baxter/Beck/Becker baker Barker One who strips bark from trees prepares leather with bark = tanner Bauer German for farmer Beadle/Bedel/Bedell town crier or someone who keeps order Boniface innkeeper Brewster female brewer Burgess represented […]
Historical Trivia, January 2020
The Upper Crust Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust. Orlan Smith
This Old Tree, January 2020
“Find a Grave” has Wills!!! This column is about the value of finding copies of the wills of your ancestors. Today, on January 11, 2020, I was fortunate enough to run across a copy of the wills of a man and his wife from Culpeper County, Virginia. Both wills were found on the “Find a […]
DNA update by National Geographic
In the August 2019 issue of the National Geographic on page 94, author Andrew Curry discusses “Who Were The First Europeans?” If you have any Europeans in your DNA you will be surprised by how far back it goes now and what area most of them settled in after they left Africa 45,000 years ago […]
Archival Notes, Summer 2019
On July 20th, the Caribou Public Library presented the Hardison Collection. Project chairperson, Anastasia Weigle, told of the history of the collection arriving at the library and of the volunteers who began working to organize it. Grover M. Hardison’s grandson Robert Hardison was the guest speaker. Brent Bubar, surveyor explained surveyors’ terminology and Brenda Bourgoine […]