American History: Webster’s Dictionary

 Noah Webster was not only a signer to the Constitution and a plain old wordsmith, he went far beyond and wrote the American dictionary. From what I have read it was clear to Webster it needed to be done to provide a basis for a common language for Americans to make English easier to read and write. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1758, it was Webster’s two-volume American Dictionary of the English Language that truly earned him his place in linguistic history and the reputation as the leading linguist of American English.  Webster mastered twenty-six languages including Old English, Greek, and Hebrew. He finished the dictionary while working in Paris at the University of Cambridge. The book was over seventy thousand words, thousands of which were all new words.

It took 28 years for Webster to write it. By this time he was 70 years old.  The colonies contained a multitude of languages. He wanted his work to make American English pronunciations and spelling to be solely the American way; dropping the British form. Webster added words unique to the colonies, many taken from the continent’s Native Americans. He added new words that were not in other dictionaries making the language unique. Some of them include Constitution, Federal and patriot.

Both Benjamin Franklin and Webster thought to make life easier in the new colonies. They knew how hard it was to spell words in English, sounds didn’t match letters for one thing and that the problem was an inconvenient English alphabet. He wanted to do this so “all persons of every rank, would speak with some degree of precision and uniformity, putting everyone on the same footing.” – Noah Webster.

Franklin did work to improve the American English language in his own way. In 1736 at age 30, he wrote a somewhat saucy reference work published titled, The Drinkers Dictionary, a list of 228 common terms for being drunk. In the end it would be Webster who was willing the complete the work on a dictionary.

Franklin would work on many other endeavors as we all have learned while Webster lovingly persevered to improve communication for the new country that would bare fruit. He would also organize the Pennsylvania militia, raised the funds to build a city hospital and plan to pave and light city streets, create the Franklin stove, and bifocals, he negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War… and well, you know, I could go on and on about Franklin. But I won’t.

Franklin alphabet remakers

Webster did correspond with the likes of Franklin, and many others, even Washington on the topic of language. Webster, like many of the men who signed the Constitution, was extremely busy. He created his own version of an American Bible. He also worked for copyright laws, on a strong federal government, universal education, and the abolition of slavery along with the likes of Franklin and Hamilton and he helped found the Connecticut Society for the Abolition of Slavery in 1791.

Part of Webster success was due to his willing to change something when he believed it needed improvement. So in 1828, living in an apartment in Paris  Webster’s Dictionary was published in North America. He had to mortgage his house to do it. Needless to say it became very influential. Webster’s legacy has continued to impact us in ways most of us would not even consider.

I’ve heard people say Webster was commissioned to write his dictionary by Benjamin Franklin. And though he was recruited 1793 by Alexander Hamilton to become an editor for a Federalist Party newspaper, I could not find history to back up that claim of a recruitment about the dictionary. When reading about Webster’s life you would have to think Noah Webster made that trip by himself.

You can read more at these links:

languagemuseum.org/noah-webster-an-american-dictionary-for-an-american-english/

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webster’s_Dictionary

https://www.merriam-webster.com/about-us/americas-first-dictionary

Franklin’s The Drinkers Dictionary:

http://www.drinkingcup.net/1737-benjamin-franklin-publishes-228-terms-for-being-drunk/

Ads from PATERSON Daily Press, Paterson, NJ 1903

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A heartfelt words of sympathy from George Washington to Mrs. Stephen Day

 From A Brief history of Chatham Morris County, New Jersey by Charles A.  Philhower - pg.  21. 

After the battle of Springfield, General Washington on his return to Morristown sent word ahead to Mrs. Stephen Day (2nd wife of Captain Stephen DAY) that he would stop off to see her on his way through Chatham.  Accordingly, Mrs. Day dressed herself in a fine black silk gown with a large white scarf about her neck and awaited the coming of her distinguished visitor.  A small mahogany table

(Not the Caldwell attack.)
Battle of Long Island, an 1858 painting
 by Alonzo Chappel

was placed on the lawn in front of the house, and a pleasing repast was prepared for the General.  The call was made and heartfelt words of sympathy were extended to Mrs. Day in behalf of the horrible murder of her sister Hannah (Ogden) Caldwell at Connecticut Farms.  Much appreciation was shown by the General for her hospitality and often afterword's it is said the Washington called at the Day Mansion.  Captain Stephen Day, the husband of Mrs. Jeremiah Ogden Day was on of the staunchest patriots.  He was justice of the peace under both the British and Continental rule, served in the army, and was on of the first to aid the Continentals when requisitions for supplies were made.  It is said the he gave a whole beef when the first call was issued.  

Historic Stephen Day House c. 1936

~~~~~~

Captain Stephen Day was my 5th Great-uncle.  -Jan

Born about 1733 in Newark, Essex, New JerseySon of  Joseph Day and Hannah Sargeant Day. Stephen Day commanded a company under Colonel Ford, Eastern Battalion, Morris County, New Jersey Militia, at the Battle of Springfield, Union Co., New Jersey, June 23, 1780.  This was one of the last major engagement of the Revolutionary War in the North and it effectively put an end to the British "ambitions" in New Jersey.  General Washington praised the New Jersey Militia in this battle, writing later, "They flew to arms universally and acted with a spirit equal to anything I have seen in the course of the war."  

Hannah (Ogden) Caldwell.  Hannah, wife of Rev.  James CALDWELL & daughter of John OGDEN of Newark, was killed at Connecticut Farms by a shot from a British soldier, 25 Jun 1780. 

Recognized by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) as a female patriot. 

htps://www.americanrevolution.org/hannah-caldwell-biography/

Grave Inscription 

"was killed at Connecticut Farms by a shot from a British Soldier.  Cruelly sacrificed by the enemies of her husband and her country" 

Historic Stephen Day House image:This image or media file contains material based on a work of a National Park Service employee, created as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, such work is in the public domain in the United States. See the NPS website and NPS copyright policy for more information.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatham_Borough,_New_Jersey#/media/File:Historic_American_Buildings_Survey_R._Merritt_Lacey,_Photographer_April_30,_1936_EXTERIOR_-_NORTH_ELEVATION_-_Stephen_Day_House,_62_Elmwood_Road,_Chatham,_Morris_County,_NJ_HABS_NJ,14-CHAT,2-1.tif

 

A Prescription from Winston Churchill’s Doctor, 1932.

 

How Poor was Poor.

 There were times in history when urine was used to tan animal skins. AND, when a whole family would pee in one pot and the contents sold to a local Tannery.

These were poor families. Once a day they would take the pot and sell the urine to live on the money.  

These people were said to be, “piss poor.”  And worse than that, there were families that could not afford a pot, there for “didn’t have a pot to piss in”.

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So You're a Cook. What Else Can you do?

 Doris "Dorie" Miller, Hero of Pearl Harbor, was born on 12 Oct 1919 in Waco, Texas, United States. His parents were Conery Miller, who was a farmer and Henrietta Murray.  

 ​He was a​ large man and had played high school football​. 

Dorie was a​ cook aboard the battleship USS West Virginia when it was struck by Japanese bombers in Pearl Harbor on ​December 7​, 1941. He help​e​d ​​take the wounded men below deck​. ​Then D​orie did not hesitate to defend the ship ​by grab​bing a machine gun.

His actions awarded​ him the Navy Cross, which was presented to him by Adm. Chester Nimitz, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. He was the first African American to be so awarded.

Award

His citation reads: "For distinguished devotion to duty, extraordinary courage and disregard for his own personal safety during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941. While at the side of his Captain on the bridge, Miller, despite enemy strafing and bombing and in the face of a serious fire, assisted in moving his Captain, who had been mortally wounded, to a place of greater safety, and later manned and operated a machine gun directed at enemy Japanese attacking aircraft until ordered to leave the bridge."

Dorie ​Miller did not live past the war. He died on November 24, 1943 aboard the USS Liscome Bay (CVE-56), an escort carrier, at sea during the Battle of Makin in World War II.

Memorial: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9955928/doris-miller

"MY COUSIN'S A SUPERHERO! Kids Tell TRUE STORY of DORIE MILLER: WWII HERO | Kidsplaining™️ | Ancestry." Ancestry (channel). 22 May 2021.

 

A story of survival and escape: US Navy pilot Dieter Dengler

US Navy pilot Dieter Dengler was a German-born United States Navy aviator. He served in Attack Squadron 145, VA on the USS Ranger and flew A-1H Skyraiders. While flying missions near the North Vietnam-Laos border during the Vietnam War in 1966 Dengler was shot down and taken prisoner by the group called the Pathet Lao.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0145046/

His father was drafted into the German Army and died in WWll. Dengler’s mother struggled to feed her children. During that war, a bomber flew over head and the small boy saw an airplane for the first time. At that moment Dengler’s dream was to fly.

During his six months of captivity in a Laos POW camp, Dengler suffered months of torture.  He endured large bamboo slivers pushed under his fingernails and being hung upside down over a nest of hungry ants and almost drowned in a well. 

Along with five other prisoners Dengler escaped and were rescued by US forces on August 11, 1966 and became only the second captured airman to escape during the war.

After the war, he became a test pilot for private aircraft and a commercial airline pilot.

Dengler’s story of survival and escape from a POW camp in Laos during the Vietnam War has become an inspiration to many.

Photo: Dieter Dengler with his squadron from VA-145 following his rescue

  Dieter Dengler’s book about his escape: “Escape From Laos”.

Read more about US Navy pilot Dieter Dengler:

https://blog.fold3.com/navy-pilot-escpaes-laos-pow-camp/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieter_Dengler

What is the history behind the term: Crossing the Rubicon?

 So what is the history behind the term: Crossing the Rubicon?

Crossing the Rubicon is used to describe a passing of a figurative restricted boundary in a given situation.

The Rubicon River

The term comes for the popular General Julius Caesar in 49 BC. Roman law forbade any general to crossing the Rubicon River which separated Rome from the province of Gaul where Caesar was a popular Governor to enter Italy proper with a standing army. To do so was treason. 

When he crossed the Rubicon, Caesar said, “The die is cast,” another historical term meaning there is no return. Both crossing the Rubicon and the die is cast would become sayings in later centuries depicting that now you couldn’t go back. This action by Caesar sparked a three-year civil war which left Julius Caesar the ruler of Rome.

Sites to read:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Rubicon

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/caesar-crosses-rubico

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/caesar.htm

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Rubicon

List of books in PDF on New Jersey History

 

List of books in PDF on New Jersey History 

compiled by J D Amenta

A brief history of Mountwell (1922)

https://archive.org/details/cu31924028828957

A civil and political history of New Jersey (1851) https://archive.org/details/acivilandpoliti00mulfgoog

A gazetteer of the state of New Jersey (1834 https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Y0xLcx_FS6cC

A history of the Somers Mansion (1942) https://archive.org/details/historyofsomersm00moff/page/n3/mode/2up

An historical account of the first settlement of Salem,

in West Jersey (1839) 

https://archive.org/details/historicalaccoun00john/page/n5/mode/2up

The Daily union history of Atlantic City and County, New Jersey, biographically illustrated (1899)

https://archive.org/details/dailyunionhistor00inhall

Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of the Third c

ongressional district of New Jersey (1896) https://openlibrary.org/books/OL17940489M/Biographical_and_portrait_cyclopedia_of_the_Third_congressional_district_of_New_Jersey

Cazenove Journal 1794 (1922)

https://archive.org/details/cazenovejournal101caze

Centennial history of Ocean county (1878

)https://archive.org/details/centennialhistor00salt

Centennial history of Somerset County, New Jersey (1878) https://archive.org/details/centennialhistor00mess/page/n5/mode/2up

Colonial and old houses, of Greenwich, New Jersey (1907) https://archive.org/details/colonialoldhouse01andr/page/n9/mode/2up

Early history of Atlantic County, New Jersey (1915) https://archive.org/details/earlyhistoryofat02atla

First things in old Somerset (1899)

https://archive.org/details/firstthingsinold00mess

Genealogical history of Hudson and Bergen counties, New Jersey (1900) https://archive.org/details/genealogicalhist00harv_0/page/n9/mode/2up

Historic houses of New Jersey Vol.1 (1902) https://archive.org/details/historichousesof01mill/page/n9/mode/2up

Historic houses of New Jersey Vol.2 (1902) https://archive.org/details/historichousesof02mill/page/n9/mode/2up

Collections of the state of New Jersey (1846) https://archive.org/details/collectionsofnew00newj/page/n7/mode/2up

History and genealogy of Fenwick's colony, New Jersey (1876) https://archive.org/details/historygenealogy00shou

History of Bergen and Passaic counties (1882) https://archive.org/details/historyofbergenp00clay/page/n1/mode/2up

History of Bergen County, New Jersey (1900) https://archive.org/details/historyofbergenc00vanv

History of Elizabeth, New Jersey (1868)

https://archive.org/details/historyelizabet01hatfgoog

History of Hudson County and of the Old Village of Bergen (1920) https://archive.org/details/historyofhudsonc01trus/page/n7/mode/2up

History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-1920 Vol.1 (1921)https://archive.org/details/historyofmiddles01wall

History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-1920 Vol.2 (1921)https://archive.org/details/historyofmiddles02wall

History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-1920 Vol.3 (1921) https://archive.org/details/historyofmiddles03wall

The first century of Hunterdon County, state of New Jersey (1878) https://archive.org/details/firstcenturyofhu00mot/page/n5/mode/2up

The government of Hudson County, New Jersey (1915) https://archive.org/details/governmenthudso00crecgoog

The history of Camden county, New Jersey (1886)https://archive.org/details/historyofcamdenc00prow/page/n15/mode/2up

The history of Cape May County, New Jersey (1897) https://archive.org/details/historyofcapemay01stev/page/n7/mode/2up

History of Camden County in the Great War, 1917-1918 (1919) https://archive.org/details/historyofcamdenc00camd

History of Port Elizabeth, Cumberland County, New Jersey (1885) https://archive.org/details/historyofporteli02bowe

History of the early settlement and progress of Cumberland County, New Jersey (1869) https://archive.org/details/historyearlyset01elmegoog

History of the Fifteenth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers (1883) https://archive.org/details/cu31924030908358

History of the county of Hudson, New Jersey (1874)https://archive.org/details/historyofcountyo02winf

History of the First Presbyterian church at Plainfield, New Jersey (1825)https://archive.org/details/historyoffirstpr00beal

History of the First Presbyterian Church of

Jersey City, New Jersey (1888) https://archive.org/details/historyoffirstp00imbr

Memoirs and reminiscences, together with sketches

of the early history of Sussex county, New Jersey (1907)https://archive.org/details/memoirsreminisce00scha

Narratives of early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey

and Delaware, 1630-1707 (1912)https://archive.org/details/narrativesofearl0012myer/page/n5/mode/2up

New Brunswick, New Jersey, city directory (1909)https://archive.org/details/newbrunswicknewj00unse

Notes, historical and biographical, concerning Elizabethtown,

its eminent men, churches, and ministers (1844) https://archive.org/details/noteshistoricalb00murr

Official register of the officers and men of New Jersey in the

revolutionary war (1872)

https://archive.org/details/officialregisteror00newj

Old Bergen history and reminiscences with maps and

illustrations (1902)

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL17940839M/Old_Bergen_history_and_reminiscences_with_maps_and_illustrations

Pleasant Mills, New Jersey, Lake Nescochague, a place of olden days (n.d.) https://archive.org/details/pleasantmillsnew00gree

Primary geography of the state of New Jersey, with a proposed

course of study for primary and grammar schools (1884) https://archive.org/details/primarygeography00mele

Ridgewood, Bergan County, New Jersey, past and present (1916) https://archive.org/details/ridgewoodberganc00citize

Sketches of the first emigrant settlers in Newton

Township, old Gloucester County, West New Jersey (1877) https://archive.org/details/sketchesoffirste00clem_0

The New Jersey volunteers (loyalists) in the revolutionary war(1887) https://archive.org/details/newjerseyvolunt00strygoog

Trenton County, New Jersey, county directory (1919) https://archive.org/details/trentoncountynew1919fitz/page/20/mode/2up

Woodbridge and vicinity The story of a New Jersey township (1873) https://archive.org/details/woodbridgevicini00dall

Within a Jersey circle (1910)

https://archive.org/details/withinjerseycirc00quar

Early Dutch Settlers of Monmouth County, New Jersey (1915) https://archive.org/details/earlydutchsettle00beek https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/catalog/292673

Mayflower Pilgrim descendants in Cape May County, New Jersey (1921) https://archive.org/details/mayflowerpilgrim01howe/page/n9/mode/2up

Records of the Kingwood Monthly meeting of Friends, Hunterdon county,

New Jersey (1900)

https://archive.org/details/recordsofkingwoo00frien

Some Jersey Dutch genealogy (1912) https://archive.org/details/somejerseydutchg00nels/mode/2up?ref=ol

The province of New Jersey, 1664-1738 (1908)

https://books.google.sn/books?id=LEcVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR7&hl=fr&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false

A civil and political history of New Jersey (1851) https://archive.org/details/civilpoliticalhi00mulfuoft/page/744/mode/2up?q=%22aurelia+berry%22

The North Reformed Church, Newark, New Jersey (1907) https://archive.org/details/northreformedchu00nort

A genealogical record of the descendants of Benjamin Chamberlain,

of Sussex County, New Jersey (1907)

https://archive.org/details/genealogicalreco1907fret

A genealogy of the Lake family of Great Egg Harbour in Old Gloucester County in New Jersey (1915) https://archive.org/details/genealogyoflakef00adam

An historical account of the first settlement of Salem, in West Jersey (1839) https://archive.org/details/historicalaccoun00john/page/n5/mode/2up

Annals of the classis of Bergen, of the Reformed Dutch church, and of the churches under its care (1857) https://archive.org/details/annalsofclassiso00tayl_0

Biographical and genealogical history of the city of Newark

and Essex County, New Jersey Vol.1 (1898) https://archive.org/details/biographicalgene02newy/page/n5/mode/2up

Biographical and genealogical history of the city of Newark

and Essex County, New Jersey Vol.2 (1898)

https://archive.org/details/biographicalgene02rico

Brief history of Chatham Morris County, New Jersey (1914) https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryofch00phil

Family records or, Genealogies of the first settlers of Passaic Valley

by John Littell

https://archive.org/details/familyrecordsorg00litt/page/n7/mode/2up

Caldwell and the Revolution (1880)

https://archive.org/details/caldwellrevoluti00kemp

Geography and history of New Jersey (1921) https://archive.org/details/geographyhistor00mere

Historic days in Cumberland County, New Jersey,

1855-1865 Vol.1 (1907)

https://archive.org/details/historicdaysincu01nich/page/n7/mode/2up

Historic days in Cumberland County, New Jersey, 1855-1865 Vol. 2 (1907)

https://archive.org/details/historicdaysincu02nich

Historical and statistical memoranda, relative to Passaic County, New Jersey (1874) https://archive.org/details/historicalstatis00nels

Inscriptions on the tomb stones and monuments in the grave yards at Whippany and Hanover, Morris County, N.J. (1894) https://archive.org/details/inscriptionsonto00whee/page/n5/mode/2up

New Jersey and the rebellion (1868) https://archive.org/details/newjerseyrebell00fost/page/n7/mode/2up

New Jersey troops in the Gettysburg campaign from

June 5 to July 31, 1863 (1888) https://archive.org/details/newjerseytroopsi00intoom

Official register of the officers and men of New Jersey

in the revolutionary war (1872)

https://archive.org/details/officialregiste00projgoog

Parish register of the German Reformed church of Alexandria,

Hunterdon county, New Jersey, 1763-1802 (1900) https://archive.org/details/parishregisterof00alex

Scannell's New Jersey's first citizens and state guide Vol.1 (1917) https://archive.org/details/scannellsnewjer00watsgoog

Scannell's New Jersey's first citizens and state guide Vol.2 (1917)-could not find https://archive.org/details/scannellsnewjers02newj