Major R. R. Henry of Tazewell County, Virginia campaigned for a seat in Congress under the Democratic Party in 1886. People from neighboring communities such as Lynchburg, Abingdon and Wytheville voiced their full support of his campaign and hopes for his success in the quest for a seat in Congress in the November elections. Although varied in their syntax, the message behind Henry's supporters...
The camp ground at Marvin Grove was the site for this year's Annual Reunion of Confederate Veterans on the Northern Neck peninsula. The Northern Neck News widely advertised the event, hoping that the Reunion would receive ... the favor and patronage it justly merit[ed], especially because the proceeds went to the construction of a Methodist Church. While men stabled their horses, they recognized...
Almost exactly one year after being hit by a category three hurricane that destroyed 90 percent of Charleston's homes, on August 31, 1886, the city was hit with another devastating blow. Before it had fully recovered from the effects of the hurricane, the city was rocked by an earthquake that registered a 6.6 on the Richter scale. Eyewitness accounts report that tremors were felt all over the...
It was already hot. As the Superintendent lined the convicts up to march back to the Dade County coal mines for another day of exhausting labor, one group refused to move. At the head of a long line of men chained together, the leader of the rebellion spoke up to Colonel Tower. He said that he and all the rest of the men from his stockade refused to work another day in the heat at their awful work....
For four days, the Augusta Female Seminary, under the leadership of Mary Julia Baldwin, held commencement exercises for the class of 1886. Miss Baldwin reported that the school enrollment was at capacity and there was even a wait-list. There were many delicate pupils whose parents sent them to Staunton because of the healthful climate and atmosphere. The school's students hailed from 23 states....
As the women gathered together, they sat down to receive the discourse to be given by Mr. Philip Slaughter at Pohick Church in Fairfax, VA. The day was pleasantly warm, and the room was crowded with women. As the chatter and rustling all settled down, Mr. Slaughter began his speech. From great distances these women of the Mt. Vernon Association of the Union had traveled to hear this discourse in...
In Warsaw, Superintendent Robert Hall called a meeting for the new teachers of the Northern Neck Peninsula. The teachers needed to talk about the best way to educate the hundreds of students entering the new public school system. Reverend A. B. Kinsolving opened the session by leading prayers. Mr. Hall began the discussion by encouraging the teachers to express their candid views on each topic covered...
During the warmer summer months in the late 1800s, Detroit experienced an influx of visitors and tourists who needed guidance on locating the more interesting city locales and landmarks. As a solution, The Detroit Free Press published this article in May of 1886 to offer assistance to the "intelligent excursionists to [the] old city" who wished to see the historic sites that Detroit had to offer....
On May 3, 1886, Samuel B. Woods wrote a letter to the Rector of the Board of Visitors at the University of Virginia about reapplying to the Commissionership of Accounts. A year earlier in June 1885, Woods, an attorney from Charlottesville, was appointed and was "in sympathy with the political tenets of the majority of the board...and recommended by some of the professors." Now, he was worried...
A short stocky man with a baldhead and bushy red beard rose to the podium and faced the 2,300 eager faces in the crowd. On September 2,1886 Henry George stood aside John McMackin, Chairman of the Convention of Organized Labor in New York City, and accepted the candidacy for mayor. He begins his speech by formally accepting the nomination, but quickly takes a sobering tone when he warns the audience...