January 1, 1889: Total eclipse of the sun visible in the western United States. A booklet about the eclipse, written very shortly after it happened, is available here: https://tinyurl.com/yaegzfdh. (For more eclipse news, scroll down to January 28th!)
January 3, 1892: Happy birthday, J.R.R. Tolkien!
Image courtesy <blog.bookstellyouwhy.com/jrr-tolkien-inkling-and-hobbit>
January 3, 1893: Miss Louise Austin of WA state files a patent for pinking shears. To read the text of Ms. Austin's original patent, visit: <http://www.google.com/patents/US489406>
For more on Victorian lady inventors, go to <http://www.thisvictorianlife.com/women-inventors-1897.html>
My Victorian sewing tools: <www.thisvictorianlife.com/sewing.html>
January 4, 1838: Happy birthday Charles Sherwood Stratton, a.k.a. General Tom Thumb, performer with P.T. Barnum's show.
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/tomthumbbarnum.htm
January 4, 1896: Utah becomes a state.
Image courtesy https://www.law.umn.edu/about/history
January 6, 1889: The University of Minnesota Law School graduates its first class, a total of three men. The next year, forty-five students would graduate. <https://www.mnopedia.org/event/january-6-1889-0>
January 8, 1824: Happy birthday, Wilkie Collins!
Wilkie Collins was the Victorian version of John Grisham; his books are thrilling page-turners, and it's really hard to put them down! Some of our favorites:
--The Dead Secret: A dying noblewoman orders her maid to reveal her darkest secret, and swears with her dying breath to haunt her forever if she disobeys! What is that secret? When the maid thinks she's found a loophole in the solemn oath she took, will her mistress still come back from the grave to torment her? Librivox (free audiobook) version.
--The Frozen Deep One woman, two would-be lovers: When the men are sent on a doomed Arctic mission together, will her horrible premonitions come to pass? Librivox (free audiobook) version.
--Hide and Seek: A kind-hearted man takes in a small, deaf girl and raises her as his own. Where did she come from? What secrets are hidden in the mysterious hair bracelet left behind by her dying mother? Librivox (free audiobook) version.
--The Law and the Lady —The unyielding heroine of this story is determined to expose the truth about her new husband, but each secret she unlocks opens the door to an even bigger mystery.
[N.B. There is a poisoning scene in this book which bears a very striking resemblance to a case of poisoning investigated by American detective Allan Pinkerton and described in his book, The Murderer and the Fortune Teller. Pinkerton's book was published the same year as Collins' The Law and the Lady, but detailed a case he had investigated years before. Given the parallels in the stories, it seems likely Collins had been familiar with Pinkerton's work.] Librivox (free audiobook) version.
--Man and Wife: A wonderful legal thriller about the complexities of marriage law in Scotland and Ireland. Librivox (free audiobook) version.
—Miss Bertha and the Yankee: A short story in classic Collins style! The scene opens on a young woman testifying in court: She is now an heiress, but tells the court from the start that her poverty as a small child left her sadly ignorant of the ways of the world. What exactly happened after she came to England and inherited her fortune?
--The Moonstone Who stole the precious Indian diamond —and is it really cursed?
--Poor Miss Finch Will poor, blind Lucilla get her sight back —and will she still be entranced with her lover when she sees the color of his skin? Librivox (free audiobook) version.
--The Woman in White Mysteries within mysteries as crimes intertwine with questioned sanity and confused identities. One of Collins most popular novels! Librivox (free audiobook) version.
January 8, 1889: Herman Hollerith patents an electric tabulating system, an early computer used for tabulating the U.S. Census. He would later found the Tabulating Machine Company, which merged into the Calculating-Tabulating-Recording Company, later renamed IBM. <https://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/edn-moments/4426861/Hollerith-patents-the-electric-tabulating-system--January-8--1889>
January 9, 1854: Happy birthday, Jennie Jerome Churchill!
I've been having tremendous fun researching Jennie Churchill lately because I'm using her as the model for an audacious high-society belle in Book 5 of my Tales of Chetzemoka series. Here are some of my favorite quotes by or about Jennie:
"Personally I would never give up anything by which I really set store for the sake of [society's] unsatisfactory approbation." —Jennie's memoir, Reminiscences of Lady Randolph Churchill. p. 104.
"Strong women make beautiful women." —Clara Jerome to her husband Leonard (Jennie's parents, discussing Jennie). Quoted in Jennie by Ralph G. Martin, p. 24.
"One must always pretend the sun is shining, even when it isn't." —Jennie Churchill, quoted on the dedication page of American Jennie, by Anne Sebba.
Jennie's thoughts on California: "The flowers in California, although lovely, have little odour, and the fruit, which is gorgeous, has no taste, like a beautiful woman devoid of brains." —Jennie's memoir, Reminiscences of Lady Randolph Churchill. p. 241
"Many would tell you that feelings such as I feebly attempt to describe to you are quite out of date in this practical 19th-century, that a love such as this is an anachronism & that what I have written is only the effusions of a too ardent imagination or perhaps the ravings of a lunatic. God knows with me they are neither one nor the other, but simply the sincere & real description of a true pure love, which I own unhappily for the world is not common, but is not on that account less admirable or less possible. Feelings such as these are not as many would say from their very strength shortlived, on the contrary…" —Lord Randolph Churchill in a letter to Jennie shortly after they first fell in love. Quoted in a biography of Jennie by their grandson Peregrine Churchill, p. 34.
"You were never born to love lightly." —Jennie's father Leonard Jerome in a letter to her when she told him of her engagement to Lord Randolph Churchill. Quoted in Jennie, by Ralph G. Martin, p. 74.
January 28, 1888: Lunar eclipse visible in Egypt.
"Watching an Eclipse
Winkie and Blinkie sat up one night,
To see an eclipse of the moon;
But Winkie, he winked,
And Blinkie, he blinked.
And they said, "If it don't come soon"--
Then suddenly out o'er a isty sea,
They sailed in a star balloon;
And losing the track,
They never came back,
Till a voice cried, "Children, 'tis noon!"
—Mrs. J.T. Greenleaf, Good Housekeeping, Sept. 1893.
Read an account of this eclipse from the time: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1897Obs....20..207L
And if you like eclipses, be sure to mark your calendars: There's going to be a total lunar eclipse on January 31, 2018! www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/lunar/2018-january-31 (It will be in the wee early hours of the morning on the 31st, or the middle of the night on the 30th, depending on your point of view —see the link for details.) Besides being in eclipse, this will also be the second full moon in the same calendar month, which astronomers call a "blue moon" —although it will actually appear red due to the eclipse! www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/blue-moon.html
January 28, 1887: Construction begins on Eiffel Tower in Paris. Pictures of construction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r65KAj2sB0U
January 29, 1861: Kansas becomes a state
Image courtesy Smithsonian
January 31, 1865: The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (abolishing slavery) is passed by the House of Representatives. It had already passed the Senate on April 8, 1864; it would be approved by President Lincoln on February 1, 1865 and ratified on December 6th, 1865. More information and a scan of the document can be seen here: <https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=40>
Special days in January:
January 6, 2018: Epiphany. Victorian Epiphany carols: https://tinyurl.com/yamvuw28
January 15, 2018: Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
I was born in King County, Washington state, the same county where Seattle is located. The county was originally named after Vice President William Rufus de Vane King. In 1986 the county's name was changed from King County to (er...) King County! It is now officially named after Martin Luther King Jr., human rights advocate.
To read more, see:
http://www.kingcounty.gov/operations/logo.aspx
People interested in human rights history will enjoy this piece by the BBC, comparing modern slavery with the historic variety:
"Slave Labor and Consumer Power: The Long View" http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06sgxg5
January 24: Feast day of St. Francis de Sales, patron saint of writers.
"I insist that you shall write whatever comes first, —what you see, what you read, what you hear, what you admire, what you dislike; trifles, bagatelles, nonsense, or, to fill up a corner, e'en put down a laugh at full length." —Robert Burns.
My writing den: http://www.thisvictorianlife.com/sarahs-writing-den--tillys-room.html
Writing tools: http://www.thisvictorianlife.com/writing-tools.html
January 28th: Happy birthday to my darling Gabriel!
PROVISIONS IN SEASON IN JANUARY
From Isabella Beeton's The Book of Household Management, 1893 edition
Vegetables - Jerusalem artichokes, beetroot, broccoli, cabbages, carrots, celery, chervil, cresses, asparagus and cucumbers (forced), endive, lettuces, parsnips, potatoes, savoys, spinach, turnips, - various herbs.
Fruit - Apples, grapes, medlars, nuts, oranges, pears, crystallized preserves (foreign), dried fruits and raisins, plums (French and Spanish), prunes, figs, dates, filberts, walnuts, almonds and Brazil nuts.
More on Victorian foods: http://www.thisvictorianlife.com/victorian-food.html
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In a seaport town in the late 19th-century Pacific Northwest, a group of friends find themselves drawn together —by chance, by love, and by the marvelous changes their world is undergoing. In the process, they learn that the family we choose can be just as important as the ones we're born into. Join their adventures in
The Tales of Chetzemoka
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