Episodes Nearest to August 2, 1880 to August 13, 1880: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Mormon Arrested for Adultery with Sisters
    date August 2, 1880 to August 13, 1880map CATOOSA, Georgiatags Church/Religious-Activity, Crime/Violence, Law, Migration/Transportation, Women

    On August 2, 1880 in Catoosa County, Georgia, Martha Sharp gave birth to a son outside of wedlock. Sharp concealed her pregnancy until the birth, attempting to protect her reputation for as long as possible. When her father discovered her secret, he erupted in anger and demanded vengeance upon the man who impregnated her. She initially refused to reveal the name of her child's father, but eventually...

  2. Mobile Elections Swing Democratic
    date August 3, 1880map MOBILE, Alabamatags Government, Politics

    On August 3, elections for local county officials and state representatives had the residents of Mobile County in a frenzy. Alabamians flocked to the poles to show their support for their party. The Democratic Party candidates in the county ran against candidates representing a fusion of the Greenback, Republican, and Independent Parties. Election poll officers excitedly reported that the majority...

  3. North Carolina Piedmont is the Place to Grow Yellow Tobacoo
    date 1880map GRANVILLE, North Carolinatags Agriculture, Economy, Migration/Transportation

    By 1880, no longer did the farmers of North Carolina have to leave their great state and move to western lands to grow the bustling corn crop because they failed to produce agriculture at home. Not only was North Carolina's climate suitable to grow a variety of crops to be grown anywhere in the United States, but the years preceding 1880 witnessed the transformation of North Carolina Yellow...

  4. Memoirs of Mr. Janney
    date 1880map LOUDOUN, Virginiatags Church/Religious-Activity, Health/Death, Education

    That his departure was felt to be a public loss in the community at large was evinced by the outpouring of the people, from far and near, to pay the last tribute of respect to one whom they regarded as the servant of God and the friend of his fellow-man. Everyone in the community was affected by Mr. S.M. Janney's death. The people, black and white, gathered together to mourn the loss of a dear...

  5. Election of 1880
    date July 26, 1880 to November 12, 1880map CAMPBELL, Virginiatags Politics, War

    "Consider what Lee and Jackson would do were they alive. These are the same principles for which they fought for four years. Remember the men who poured forth their life-blood on Virginia's soil and do not abandon them now," Wade Hampton gushed in Staunton, Virginia on July 26, 1880. Hampton, a former Confederate general, was playing on Southern sentiments to urge Virginia to back Democratic...

  6. Texas Economics in 1880
    date June 8, 1880map AUSTIN, Texastags Agriculture, Economy, Race-Relations

    On June 8, 1880, Albert Roberts sat down at his desk at the office of P.J. Willis in Austin, Texas. He began by scribbling, Dear Ma. Telling her about his life and any recent news, Roberts read back over the letter and slipped in twenty-five dollars to send his mother. Times were hard; Roberts explained in the letter that this amount was all that he could spare that month, but encouraged her to...

  7. Defending Honor---Ready, Aim, Fire
    date June 8, 1880map RICHMOND, Virginiatags Crime/Violence, Law

    Dissatisfied with local politics, editor of the Richmond Whig and secretary of the Virginia Commonwealth, William C. Elam, publicly criticized the Virginia Democratic Party in an article titled "Political Poems." Insinuating the party had simply shed the name of the old Conservatives and portrayed themselves as Democrats, Elam blatantly insulted every Virginia leader since 1860....

  8. The White League Assassinates in the Name Of the Democratic Party
    date November 3, 1880map EAST CARROLL, Louisianatags Crime/Violence, Law, Government, Politics

    A dispatch from Lake Providence, Louisiana has "left little doubt that Dr.Williams B. Jones, the editor of the Lake Providence (La.) Republican, who was foully assassinated at his home on the day after the election, was sent out of this world for the one reason that he was a...outspoken Republican". In Lake Providence's election Gen. FLoyd King, a White Leaguer, was chosen as the Democratic...

  9. The Truth About Mormonism
    date April 3, 1880map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Arts/Leisure, Church/Religious-Activity, Politics

    It was April 3rd, 1880. Ellen E. Dickinson was about to record the official statement of Mrs. Matilda Spaulding McKinstry's, describing her understanding of the connection between her father's Manuscript Found and the infamous Joseph Smith's Mormon Bible. The connection between the old romantic manuscript and the piece of religious writing was about to expose the real, and far less celestial,...

  10. African-American Teachers Assert Themselves
    date January 6, 1881map BALTIMORE, Marylandtags African-Americans, Education, Race-Relations, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    In the years immediately following the Civil War, the Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of the Colored People a localized precursor to the NAACP attempted to recruit African-American teachers and establish African-American schools. The organization “terminated its operation' five years following the end of the war believing that it had made great strides.<br...

  11. Prominent Mobile Couple Married
    date February 18, 1880map MOBILE, Alabamatags Church/Religious-Activity, Government, Women

    On the evening of February 18, 1880, a prominent young man from Mobile anxiously awaited the clock striking seven, upon which he would walk down the aisle to be joined in matrimony. The groom, Mister Richard P. Deshon, was marrying Miss Mary E. Herndon, the daughter of Hon. Thomas Herndon M.C., an Alabama Representative in Congress. They held their wedding in the parlors of the Representative's...

  12. An Early Condemnation of 'Legal' Disenfranchisement
    date February 7, 1880map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Education, Government, Law, Politics, Race-Relations

    On February7, 1880 the New York Times ran an article condemning educational tests for voting registration in the South which an editorial in the Charleston News had proposed as a way of suppressing the black vote. The article explains that the reasoning behind the author in the News editorial was that the "'more intelligent and reasonable citizens must rule'" no...

  13. Prohibition Urged in Montgomery
    date February 10, 1881map MONTGOMERY, Alabamatags Health/Death

    A front-page article in the Montgomery Daily Advertiser put its finger on the pulse of the temperance movement in the area, claiming in its title, Prohibition: Let Us Have It. The culmination of many letters to the editor, the article served to educate readers about the dangers of alcohol and the benefits of prohibition. The temperance movement spread across the South in the last quarter of the...

  14. Lunatic Asylums in Virginia after the Civil War
    date February 16, 1881map LOUISA, Virginiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Law, Race-Relations

    In 1881 Mr. Johnson broke free from the Central Lunatic Asylum in Richmond, Virginia. After discovering that Johnson had escaped, the staff of the asylum realized that they needed to act quickly. An employee hurriedly wrote a note in order to inform the Sheriff of Louisa County of the incident before he had an opportunity to apprehend Johnson. On February 16, 1881 the employee reported to the...

  15. Edison’s Electric Light Bulb Patent
    date January 27, 1880map ESSEX, New Jerseytags Thomas Edison, Light Bulb

    Edison’s electric light bulb was patented on January 27, 1880 (patent# 223,898). It was one of his early patents; he eventually obtained 1,093 of them, and represented an improvement on earlier, short-lived light bulb designs. Edison’s light bulb design has a unique pointed top and looks quite similar to light bulbs in use today. The socket at the base is also the same as those used today. The...

  16. Guilty Until Proven Innocent?
    date January 20, 1880map FAUQUIER, Virginiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Law, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, Women

    Arthur Jordan, a large, bull-necked, thick-lipped Negro worked for the Corder family and began having relations with one of the daughters, Miss Corder. It is unknown whether Miss Corder consented to Arthur Jordan's advances. However, many people in the town were suspicious that she was being taken advantage of. Once word got out that a black man was having a relationship with a white woman,...

  17. Washington Says Farewell to Dick Wallach
    date February 26, 1881map Washington City, District of Columbiatags African-Americans, Health/Death, Education, Government, Law, Politics, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    On February 26, 1881, the Evening Star printed an article, 'A Noble Life' about Mr. Richard Wallach. Though he had not yet passed away, the city was already mourning his inevitable passing that was sure to come within days. The residents of Washington, D.C. had been proud to call Richard Wallach their Mayor for several years, and news of his impending death caused many to reflect...

  18. Chinese in San Francisco
    date January 1, 1880 to January 31, 1880map SAN FRANCISCO, Californiatags chinese, Chinatown

    When the Chinese population increased, they began to form large neighborhoods within the cities called “Chinatowns.” The first and most important Chinatown began in San Francisco. The Chinese dressed  "in long gowns of bright cotton or silk, and some of them wore little round skull-caps with a bright button on the crown. Men’s heads usually were  shaved up to the crown, leaving a place for...

  19. The Hanging of Pink Pratt
    date March 3, 1881 to March 4, 1881map COBB, Georgiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Law, Race-Relations, Women

    On March 4, 1881, African American Pink Pratt was executed in Marietta, Georgia for the rape of twelve-year-old white girl, Margaret Wilkins. On the night of his execution, Pratt was provided with spiritual advice in preparation for his execution. While get readying himself for death, Pratt confessed to the crime for the first time. At 12:00 a.m., thirty guards escorted Pratt out of the jail...

  20. First statewide chapter of the Farmers' Alliance Organization founded
    date December 27, 1879map PARKER, Texastags Agriculture

    On December 27, 1879 the first statewide organization of the Farmer's Alliance was established in Parker County Texas. Although the movement would confine itself to giving advice regarding “scientific farming' in the 1870's and did not have a significant impact on Southern culture of the day, it would play a crucial role in the agrarian revolt of the 1890's. In the mean time...

  21. Voter Fraud in the 1879 Virginia Election
    date December 26, 1879map RICHMOND, Virginiatags African-Americans, Government, Politics, Race-Relations

    On December 26, 1879, Zack A. Cozzens gave testimony about a conversation he witnessed, the night before the November election, in the office of John Warwick Daniels, a Democratic Virginia State Senator from Lynchburg. In this conversation William Merchant remarked that he had "a number of Republican tickets, and that if they could be marked with certain names, that a good many colored people...

  22. Ocklawaha River
    date March 25, 1881map ORANGE, Floridatags Arts/Leisure, Migration/Transportation

    In the 1880's people who visited Florida were astounded by its many mysterious assets, "grand, impressive, strange, tropical-now gloomy and awe-inspiring, now fairy-like and charming, and again weird and wild" nature, as writer George Barbour described in his book for Florida tourists. The Ocklawaha River flows north from Central Florida, ending near Palatka, Florida. The river stretches over...

  23. Atlanta Constitution Reports that : Alabama congressman introduces bill for the creation of a committee to study the causes of the migration exoduster movement.
    date December 16, 1879map Washington City, District of Columbiatags African-Americans, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations

    In December of 1879 Alabama congressman C.M. Shelley introduced a resolution in the US House of Representative to appoint a committee of five members to study the causes of the exoduster movement. By this point the growth of the exoduster movement threatened the social and economic dominance of the white, Bourbon ruling class in the south, and represented one of the most significant movements of...

  24. Fruit Workers End Strike
    date April 1, 1881map HAMILTON, Texastags Agriculture, Economy

    Laborers on fruit farms near Chattanooga received a pay raise to 5.50 per ton after striking for two months. Strikes became much more common throughout the 1870s and early 1880s with the organization of labor, such as the Knights of Labor and the “forerunner of the American Federation of Labor,' which was founded in 1881. The Knights of Labor, for one, did not necessarily present an “innovative...

  25. Large temperance demonstration held at Georgia capitol
    date December 12, 1879map FULTON, Georgiatags Church/Religious-Activity

    On December 12, 1879 temperance supporter held a meeting outside of the Georgia state capitol attended by 3720 demonstrators. At the demonstration three prominent, secular leaders, including a colonel and a judge spoke to the crowd about prohibition of the sale of alcohol, while a pledge was circulated in support of temperance. Governor Colquitt provided implicit support for the demonstration,...