Thursday, April 30, 2009

Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr.


Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. (November 18, 1923 in East Derry, New Hampshire – July 21, 1998 in Pebble Beach, California) (Rear Admiral, USN, Ret.) was the second person and the first American in space. He later commanded the Apollo 14 mission, and was the fifth person to walk on the moon.

Allan Shepard is my 15th cousin - Our shared grandfather is Sir Philip Courtenay (1404), of Powderham and Molland

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Commander Malcolm Scott Carpenter

Malcolm Scott Carpenter (born May 1, 1925 in Boulder, Colorado) is a former test pilot, astronaut, and aquanaut. He is best known as one of the original seven astronauts selected for NASA's Project Mercury in April 1959.

Scott Carpenter was the second American to orbit the Earth and the fourth American in space, following Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, and John Glenn. Carpenter and Glenn are the last living members of the Mercury Seven.

Monday, April 27, 2009

President Howard Taft (1857 - 1930)


William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930) was the 27th President of the United States and the 10th Chief Justice of the United States.

Born in 1857 in Cincinnati, Ohio, into the powerful Taft family, Taft graduated from Yale College in 1878, and later graduated from Cincinnati Law School in 1880. After his graduation from Cincinnati Law School, Taft worked in a number of local legal positions until being appointed a judge to the Ohio Superior Court in 1887. Taft was then appointed Solicitor General of the United States in 1890 and a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 1891. In 1900, President William McKinley appointed Taft Governor-General of the Philippines. In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt, then a political ally of Taft, appointed Taft Secretary of War in order to groom Taft as his successor to the presidency.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Mr. Strickland


One of the real joys of my life have been the good friendships that I have had with my neighbors.
86 year old Mr. Strickland lives next door. We have shared a lot of stories over the fence through the years. I see insights to my own future through his eyes and stories.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Ambrose Everett Burnside



Source: Wikipedia
Ambrose Everett Burnside (May 23, 1824 – September 13, 1881) was an American soldier, railroad executive, inventor, industrialist, and politician from Rhode Island, serving as governor and a U.S. Senator. As a Union Army general in the American Civil War, he conducted successful campaigns in North Carolina and East Tennessee but was defeated in the disastrous Battle of Fredericksburg and Battle of the Crater. His distinctive style of facial hair is now known as sideburns, derived from his last name.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

EDM #183 - Draw something dangerous

These were especially dangerous for me as a kid.
We learned a few important lessons about the hazards of playing with matches - It had to do with a fort, matches, kerosene lamps and torches for exploring storm sewer pipes.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Theodore Roosevelt


Theodore D. Roosevelt October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as T.R., and to the public (but never to friends and intimates) as Teddy, was the 26th President of the United States. A leader of the Republican Party and of the Progressive Party, he was a Governor of New York and a professional historian, naturalist, explorer, hunter, author, and soldier. He is most famous for his personality: his energy, his vast range of interests and achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" image. Originating from a story from one of Roosevelt's hunting expeditions, teddy bears are named after him.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

John Wilkes Booth





John Wilkes Booth
(May 10, 1838 – April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. Booth was a member of the prominent 19th century Booth theatrical family from Maryland and, by the 1860s, was a popular actor, well known in both the Northern United States and the South.[1] He was also a Confederate sympathizer vehement in his denunciation of the Lincoln Administration and outraged by the South's defeat in the American Civil War. He strongly opposed the abolition of slavery in the United States and Lincoln's proposal to extend voting rights to recently emancipated slaves.

Source: Wikipedia

Friday, April 17, 2009

Harriet Tubman




Source: Wikipedia

Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross; c. 1820 – March 10, 1913) was an African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and Union spy during the American Civil War. After escaping from slavery, into which she was born, she made thirteen missions to rescue over seventy slaves[1] using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She later helped John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harpers Ferry, and in the post-war era struggled for women's suffrage.

As a child in Dorchester County, Maryland, Tubman was beaten and whipped by her various owners. Early in her life, she suffered a traumatic head wound when she was hit by a heavy metal weight thrown by an irate slave owner, intending to hit another slave. The injury caused disabling seizures, headaches, powerful visionary and dream activity, and spells of hypersomnia which occurred throughout her entire life. A devout Christian, she ascribed her visions and vivid dreams to premonitions from God.

In 1849, Tubman escaped to Philadelphia, then immediately returned to Maryland to rescue her family. Slowly, one group at a time, she brought relatives with her out of the state, and eventually guided dozens of other slaves to freedom. Traveling by night and in extreme secrecy, Tubman (or "Moses", as she was called) "never lost a passenger". Large rewards were offered for the capture and return of many of the people she helped escape, but no one ever knew it was Harriet Tubman who was helping them. When a far-reaching United States Fugitive Slave Law was passed in 1850, she helped guide fugitives farther north into Canada, and helped newly freed slaves find work.

When the American Civil War began, Tubman worked for the Union Army, first as a cook and nurse, and then as an armed scout and spy. The first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war, she guided the raid on the Combahee River, which liberated more than seven hundred slaves. After the war, she retired to the family home in Auburn, New York, where she cared for her aging parents. She was active in the women's suffrage movement until illness overtook her and she had to be admitted to a home for elderly African-Americans she had helped open years earlier.



Thursday, April 16, 2009

Ulysses S. Grant


Source: Wikipedia

Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant) (April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was general-in-chief of the Union Army from 1864 to 1865 during the American Civil War and the 18th President of the United States from 1869 to 1877.

The son of an Appalachian Ohio tanner, Grant entered the United States Military Academy at age 17. In 1846, three years after graduating, Grant served as a lieutenant in the Mexican–American War under Winfield Scott and future president Zachary Taylor. After the Mexican-American War concluded in 1848, Grant remained in the Army, but abruptly resigned in 1854. Struggling through the coming years as a real estate agent, a laborer, and a county engineer, Grant decided to join the Northern effort in the Civil War.


Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Robert E. Lee



Source: Wikipedia

Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870), was a career United States Army officer, an engineer, and among the most celebrated generals in American history. Lee was the son of Major General Henry Lee III "Light Horse Harry" (1756–1818), Governor of Virginia, and his second wife, Anne Hill Carter (1773–1829). He was also related to Meriwether Lewis (1774 - 1809).[1]

A top graduate of West Point, Lee distinguished himself as an exceptional soldier in the U.S. Army for thirty-two years. He is best known for commanding the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Francis Stuart Chapin (chapin cousin)



Source: Wikipedia

Francis Stuart Chapin (3 February 18887 July 1974) was an American sociologist and educator.

He received his bachelor's degree from Columbia University in 1909, as well as his PhD from the same school in 1911. He taught economics at Wellesley College for one year. He then moved to Smith College where he taught sociology and served as department chair (1912-1921).

He played an important role in creation of a quantitative, statistical sociology in the United States in the years between World War I and World War II (1920-40).

He also served as the 25th President of the American Sociological Association. He was a prime mover in the creation of the Social Science Research Council.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

EDM #19 - Draw something you've made



Here's a drawing of a clay kangaroo I made back in the 3rd grade.
I made different animal figurines, but this one disappeared for about 7 years.
I did not re-discover it until I found it again during an art class I was taking in my 10th grade year.

Friday, April 10, 2009

EDM #89 - Draw a button





This button is a Civil War Era button worn by a Union soldier

Thursday, April 9, 2009

EDM #8 - Draw your watch or other piece of jewelry


One of my favorite things growing up was a plain brown Timex wrist watch.
I'm not sure what happened to it, but I think it stopped ticking.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Andrew Johnson - President of the USA


Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808 – July 31, 1875) was the 17th President of the United States (1865–69), succeeding to the Presidency upon the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He was the first U.S. President to be impeached.

More from Wikipedia...

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Matthew Brady - Civil War Photographer



Mathew B. Brady (1822 - January 15, 1896) was one of the most celebrated 19th century American photographers, best known for his portraits of celebrities and the documentation of the American Civil War. He is credited with being the father of photojournalism.
Source: Wikipedia

Monday, April 6, 2009

Abraham Lincoln


If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?
Abraham Lincoln

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Chief Joseph


Created using a black bic pen.

Chief Joseph (March 3, 1840 – September 21, 1904) was the chief of the Wal-lam-wat-kain (Wallowa) band of Nez Perce during General Oliver O. Howard's attempt to forcibly remove his band and the other "non-treaty" Nez Perce to a reservation in Idaho. For his principled resistance to the removal, he became renowned as a humanitarian and peacemaker.

Source: Wikipedia

Saturday, April 4, 2009

EDM #1 - Draw a shoe




This one was drawn using a bic pen. I was very happy with the result.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

EDM # 3 - Draw your Wallet, Purse or Bag


Bic pen drawing of my wallet. Drawn while watching TV on the evening of April 2nd.