Musings from Lorac – by Carol Fisher-Linn
George Washington, a British American born the eldest of six on his family’s plantation near Fredericksburg in the British colony of Virginia on 2/22/1732, had no formal college education. His father, Augustine, died when he was 11 and so did his dreams of going to England to further his education. Helping his mother (Augustine’s second wife) to run the plantation, he was likely tutored by private tutors and his elder half-brother, Lawrence, whom he idolized. He finished his schooling at about age 15, but his aptitude for math helped him become a successful surveyor. At age 19 he left America for Barbados with Lawrence who had tuberculosis, hoping for a cure. Instead, George contracted smallpox (the meds made him sterile) and Lawrence died, leaving George his estate, Mount Vernon.
George Washington was reputed to be 6’2” or 6’3”, broad shouldered. He was grim faced from painful false teeth made from ivory and purchased slave teeth – not wood, and he was a redhead. Most portraits depict Washington with the white powdered hair that was so popular in his time, but he was a natural redhead as noted in portraits of Washington as a young man. There is also a locket at Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate containing a lock of his red hair. He powdered his locks to look like a white wig.
He was an incredible general, admired so much by his men that they went to battle hungry and bare footed in the winter for him. President twice (11 states, 4 million people), he knew he had to set the standard, and he did, but it’s what he did afterward that showed his true greatness. When asked to run again he declined, knowing it was time to pass the torch. He set the 2-term precedent, which was interrupted once by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, after which legislation was passed to continue Washington’s legacy. Before he died, he finally grew to hate slavery and, in his will, ordered that his enslaved workers be freed after his wife’s death.
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln assumed the Presidency 73 years and 15 presidencies later. Fun fact: At age 21 he was his County Wrestling Champ and he continued wrestling for 12 years (300 bouts – defeated once). Lincoln was posthumously honored with an award from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1992. (Not to be confused with WWE).
Born 2/12/1809 in Hodgenville Kentucky, in a log cabin, he spent more of his younger years in the new family home in Knob Creek, also near Hodgenville. Most of his childhood memories are from Knob Creek. Love the name, don’t you?
As an adult, he traveled by boat often and was hung up twice by obstructions in the river. He conceived of a method of flotation above the obstacles, took it to the patent office and was issued patent #6489 in 1849. He remains the only President to ever hold a patent.
As an attorney, Lincoln did much research. It turns out that the stovepipe hat he always wore was not just to put him above the crowd (6’11” in hat) but it was also his portable office where he stored his notes and speeches.
Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd, had four sons. Only one lived to adulthood to pass the Lincoln genes along. Today, there remains a third cousin, several times removed, Ralph Lincoln, from southwestern Pennsylvania who bears an uncanny resemblance to The Great Emancipator. Related through marriage are people like actor Tom Hanks, through Abraham Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln and actor George Clooney, related to Lincoln’s grandmother Lucy Hanks.
We think we have been taught all there is to learn about Lincoln, but how many of our readers know that one of Lincoln’s signature pieces of legislation was The Act to Encourage Immigration (7/4/1864). It was, according to the friendsofthelincoln connection.org, “the first, last, and only major law in American history to encourage immigration.” Lincoln’s logic? Civil War created a need for skilled workers.
An uncanny event took place on 4.14.1865, hours before John Wilkes Booth took this beloved President’s life. Lincoln had just signed legislation creating the Secret Service. At the time it was to help the Treasury Department with counterfeiters, but after two presidents were subsequently assassinated, it provided for presidential protection.
You can visit both these incredible leaders at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota along with Thomas Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt. Why not read a book about these American greats on this holiday?
George Washington was reputed to be 6’2” or 6’3”, broad shouldered. He was grim faced from painful false teeth made from ivory and purchased slave teeth – not wood, and he was a redhead. Most portraits depict Washington with the white powdered hair that was so popular in his time, but he was a natural redhead as noted in portraits of Washington as a young man. There is also a locket at Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate containing a lock of his red hair. He powdered his locks to look like a white wig.
As an attorney, Lincoln did much research. It turns out that the stovepipe hat he always wore was not just to put him above the crowd (6’11” in hat) but it was also his portable office where he stored his notes and speeches.