Let the fireworks and frolic begin! Many people know that the Fourth of July holiday, formally called Independence Day, celebrates the tempestuous formation of the United States, and also was when three American presidents famously later died. They were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and James Monroe. Calvin Coolidge, the 30thpresident, was born on July 4,…
by Jeanne Rollberg With the 75th anniversary of D-Day celebrations in Europe behind us and Father’s Day this month, we’re reminded more than ever about the wonderful men in our families. Their military and other sacrifices throughout Arkansas and American history helped build a better world. How much do we actually know – to share…
Did you know that Mother’s Day is 105 years old? We’ve been celebrating it nationally since 1914, when President Woodrow Wilson declared it a national holiday. This year, it will occur on May 12. Anna Jarvis of West Virginia had advocated for the holiday starting after her own mother died in 1905, facing resistance in…
by Jeanne Rollberg Hot Springs boasts that it features the world’s shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade, “but it’s our fun per square inch ratio that makes other events jealous.” With all the Irish parades and colorful social events in March, it’s satisfying to remember that Arkansas also was enriched by lots of Irish history and…
Alas, in the month of Valentine’s Day, a longtime candy tradition – the New England Confectionary Company’s conversation heart candies (“Be Mine”) – are no longer available to help us express amorous feelings or earn their legendary $1.8 billion (!) in sales. Luckily, family love is still in the air if we can not only imagine, but also actually…
It’s 2019. Do you know the identity of your distant ancestors, especially the immigrants? And if not, how do you begin to fathom who you really are, or understand your family’s wonderfully complex heritage tapestry? New Year’s resolutions are often about genealogy. Both our national and statewide politics imply that such early heritage still matters a…
It was nearly 100 years before DNA tests could tell us with precision about our exact family history that short story writer William Sydney Porter, “O.Henry,” illustrated family love and the spirit of sacrifice in his wonderful work, “The Gift of the Magi.” In that story, a young couple separately sold their most prized possessions…
For the Johnny Cash Heritage Festival in Dyess in October, the author of a 2018 book on Cash identified several major Arkansas and family influences on the legendary singer’s identity and career that hark back to his childhood in Arkansas. They were the songs he sang with his family while working in the cotton fields;…
Do you have an Arkansas ancestor who flew too close to the sun? That could mean that he or she fell from grace at the peak of power because of excessive risk taking, or was simply mischievous, wayward or wanton in other ways. Born in 1839, Arkansas-born John Selman was called a “wicked lawman and…
Do family history buffs and genealogists have an opportunity to discover vibrant lives buried deeply in cemeteries? In a word, “yes.” We can learn a lot about our family members there. Absent information about an ancestor’s death and burial, we leave an incomplete family story. Sometimes our genealogy research actually begins in a cemetery. Cemeteries…
