Some Selected American History Stories
Transcript:
Greetings, today I will talk about my book, A Day in United States History, Book 1. I will also relate some of the stories you will find in this fun to read book.
Written in a "this day in history," format, this collection of North American colonial history events includes 366 history stories. The historical collection of tales includes many well-known as well as some little-known events in the saga of the United States. The easy to follow "this day in history," format covers a wide range of the people, places and events of early American history.
I will talk about some of the stories included in the book.
From January's section we learn about the first medical book published in the colonial America. The book concerned the scourge of the time, smallpox. Reverend Thomas Thacher, the first minister of Boston's Old South Church, Reverend Thomas Thacher, the first minister of Boston's Old South Church, tried to help manage Boston’s response to the disease. At its height, smallpox killed about 30 people per day. Passengers of a ship that docked in Boston's harbor carried the disease into the city. He published his book, “A Brief Rule to guide the Common People of New England How to order themselves and theirs in the Small Pocks, or Measles.," on January 21, 1677. The article gives a brief biography of Reverend Thatcher as well as the symptoms of the dreaded disease.
February brings us the story of Andrew Bradford and his publication of the first magazine in colonial America on February 13, 1741. He called his magazine the The American Magazine, or Monthly View of the Political State of the British Colonies. Bradford stole the idea for the magazine from Benjamin Franklin, who published his own magazine, The General Magazine, and Historical Chronicle for all the British Plantations in America, 3 days later. The article includes a biography of Mr. Bradford.
March is, of course, the month that the Irish holiday St. Patrick's Day occurs in. The first recorded celebration of this day took place on March 17, 1637 in Boston. Apparently it was a spontaneous celebration that broke out when the newly formed Charitable Irish Society of Boston gathered in a tavern. During the course of the celebrating the members suddenly exited the tavern and formed an impromptu parade. As they marched they encouraged onlookers to join the fun. This article goes on to relate the origins of St. Patrick's Day.
On April 6, 1712 a slave rebellion took place in New York. During this era slaves in New York had a much different experience than those in the south. The New York slaves were largely craftsmen that learned trades like blacksmiths, wagon builders, masons and carpenters. They worked in close quarters with whites and indentured servants. On April 12 a group of between 25 and 50 slaves gathered and set a building on fire. Using knives, swords and guns they attacked the Whites that came to extinguish the fire. The killed 9 men and wounded six more. The governor called out the militia and the slaves escaped into the forest. They were captured and put on trial. 25 were tried. Some of these were hanged, some burned at the stake and at least one broken on "the wheel," another harsh form of death.
Philadelphia is the site of the first hospital in colonial America, established by the Pennsylvania assembly on May 11 1751. Philadelphia doctor Thomas Bond and Benjamin Franklin combined their talents to establish the Pennsylvania. Hospital. The hospital opened in early 1752 in the home of John Kinsey, a Quaker and Speaker of the Assembly who had recently died.
The hospital building is still in existence and offers tours to visitors. For information contact:
Pennsylvania Hospital
800 Spruce Street
(Enter By 8Th Street Entrance)
Philadelphia, Pa 19107
(215) 829-3270
The first deportation of a colonists took place on June 9, 1628 when the Puritans of Massachusetts deported Thomas Morton back to England. Morton had studied law in England and enjoyed a bawdy lifestyle. He made an exploratory trip in 1622, but returned to England, complaining of the Puritan's intolerance. He began a business that supplied indentured servants to the colonies. He returned to Massachusetts and set up a trading post on a remote piece of land. His trading post grew into a village that was called Mount Wollaston, named after his partner in the venture, Captain Richard Wollaston. The men had a falling out and Wollaston left the partnership. He took up the study of native culture and renamed the village Mare Mount, which eventually evolved into the name Merrymount. Rumors of liaisons with native women, debauchery and other merry making of which they did not approve circulated. The final insult came in May 1628 when Morton erected a Maypole. He threw a May Day celebration to which he invited the local natives and some of the surrounding colonists. The Puritans had him arrested. Because of his powerful friends they were afraid to imprison him, so the cast him away on an island. He was there alone and for much of the time he suffered starvation. Eventually the Puritans loaded him on a ship and sent him back. He did get his revenge by working with his friends to file a lawsuit against the Puritans. They lost the suit and the king revoked their charter.
I will tell more stories from the book from July through December next week.
The "this day in history," format includes 366 stories of United States history in every month of the year, allowing readers to read one interesting history tale a day for an entire year. It is a great introduction to history for children. The book is almost 800 pages of fun history stories.
The book is part of my 366 Days in United States History Stories. There are two books in the series. The books are available in ebook, softbound and audio book format on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple and many other online book retailers.
You can find it on my web site, www.mossyfeetbooks.com where you can purchase it direct from me. You can also purchase a box set of both books, if you wish.
Residents of southeast Indiana can find my books in Batesville at the Walnut Street Variety Shop on George Street
I hope you enjoyed this podcast and thank you
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