This week is Kat’s Birthday week. From my point of view, the only two weeks that are as important as this week are the weeks that envelope 3/12 and 4/7. Oh. and one or two in December.

~~

And now to the history.

Two executions in one week.

1183 St. Francis of Assisi born (d.1226) [1]

1536 William Tyndale executed (b.1492?) “English reformer, martyr, and translator of the Bible, 1525. [1]

I am not so sure I’d want to have my life summed up in eight words. There was a lot more to Tyndale than eight words. When he fled to Germany, he met with Martin Luther. He was tried for heresy, found guilty, was strangled and burned at the stake. 

1656 Miles Standish died (b.1584) “English colonist at Plymouth… .” [2]

1703 Jonathan Edwards born (d.1758.) “Author of Freedom of the Will (1754) which ‘for clear insight, originality, and solid reasoning is unsurpassed in American literary annals.'” [2]

Edwards was one of the leaders of The Great Awakening, “the religious revival that swept the colonies in the 1730’s and ’40s.” This was the first mass movement in America, and it emphasized many democratic themes, for example, “all people stand equal in the eyes of God.” [3]

1780 Joseph André executed (b.1751) [1]

If that name sounds vaguely familiar to you, go to the head of the class. André was a friend of “the beautiful Peggy Shippen” [3] and a participant in an act of moral turpitude.

1822 Rutherford B. Hayes born 19th President of The United States (d.1893) [1]

Heh. He doesn’t even get eight words. I’ll see if I can find him a few more if I have a chance later today or tomorrow. I mean, it’s his birthday week, after all. The guy deserves a few more words.

1846 George Westinghouse born (d.1914) “Engineer and inventor of the air-brake, patented in 1869 [1]

1858 Michael Idvorsky Pumpin born (d.1935) Eminent American electrical scientist, inventor, and teacher. Born in Serbia. … Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1924 for his autobiography From Immigrant to Inventor. [2]

Who was I reading about just the other day? A wonderful tale of a little Jewish kid going from abject poverty and persecution in the late 1900s in Russia to fame and riches in America. Ran away at 14. Played spoons on street for change. Was a singing waiter in New York. Wrote a few tunes, some remembered to this day. One, a patriotic little tune, made a heap of money. But, “refusing to capitalize on his patriotism” this songwriter donated every red cent to the Boy & Girl Scouts! Irving Berlin. God Bless America! [5]

1868 Louisa May Alcott published Little Women [3]

1869 Mohandas Ghandi born “Hindu Nationalist leader and social reformer.” [2]

1927 Mt. Ruchmore begins [3]

September 30, 1946— At Nuremberg, after one of the greatest trials of all time, all of the twenty-one defendants have been found guilty. [4]

October 2, 1947— The Jewish Agency for Palestine announced that it accepts teh United Nations plan for dividing the Holy Land into separate Arab and Jewish states.
The Arabs have announced their intention to drench the entore Middle East in blood before permitting the partitioning of Palestine. [4]

1950 Peanuts first published [3] 

1996 Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu Mother Teresa receives honorary citizenship. Other honorary citizens are Churchill (1963), Raoul Wallenberg (1981), William and Hannah Penn (1984), The Marquis de Lafayette (2002) [3]


Also:

Religious Education Week. “First full week in October.” [3]

National Busines Women’s Week. Generally second week of October. “Sponsored by the National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs to emphasize the important progress made by women during the last hundred years and to widen the horizon for the future.” [3]


References
1. Mary Emogene Hazeltine. Anniversaries and Holidays: A Calendar of Days and How to Observe Them. American Library Association, Chicago. 1928.

2. Mary E. Hazeltine. Judith K. Sollenberger, ed. Anniversaries and Holidays: A Calendar of Days and How to Observe Them Second Edition, Completely Revised. American Library Association, Chicago. 1965.

3. William J. Bennett and John T.E.. Cribb. The American Patriot’s Almanac. Thomas Nelson, Nashville. 2008.
 
4. Lowell Thomas. History As You Heard It. Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, N.Y. 1957.

5. David Ewen. Great Men of American Popular Song. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 1972.