Lenora Rogers's Blog, page 31
June 29, 2017
Scorched Earth/A Lost Salem Garden
Since I went in deep for the centennial anniversary of Great Salem Fire of 1914 a few years ago I have this date imprinted in my mind: I woke up this morning and my first thought was oh no. So much was lost that day—houses, factories, civic buildings, churches–as the fire devoured several wards of Salem. The recovery effort, which seems remarkably swift and efficient to me, focused primarily and rightfully on rebuilding, but there was an implicit concern for the loss of landsc...
The Cistercian Order
Cistercian Monks
The Order of Cistercians also known as Trappists, is a Roman Catholic religious order, which consists of monasteries of monks and nuns. It is part of the larger Cistercian family which can trace its origin back to 1098. Cistercians follow the rule of St.Benedict, and are part of the Benedictine family as well. Cistercians dedicate their lives, to seek union with God, through Jesus Christ, within a community of brothers or sisters.
Saint Robert of Moles...
Scotland: The Declaration of Arbroath
Declaration of Arbroath
The Declaration of Arbroath was signed at Arbroath Abbey in 1320 by Scottish nobles including Sir Henry St.Clair, who urged the Pope to accept Scottish Independence from England.
The stage was set for a bold move toward independence with the Scottish victory at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, in which Henry St.Clair served as one of Robert the Bruce’s commanders.
The Papacy was one of the most powerful forces in the world during this time...
June 26, 2017
WWII Heroines: Violette Szabo
On the 26th of June 1921, Violette Szabo, daughter of an English cabbie and a French dressmaker was born in Paris. Raised in Britain, she married at a young age, but lost her husband when he was killed fighting against the Germans, leaving behind a young daughter. A skilled shot with a rifle who could speak French fluently, she was recruited into the SOE by Selwyn Jepson. A raven-haired beauty, Szabo was considered a great candidate to work with the French underground. Her superi...
BESSIE STRINGFIELD (1911 – 1993) First African American Woman to Ride a Motorcycle Solo Across America
The only place Bessie Stringfield truly felt at home was on the seat of her motorcycle. At a young age, her life was defined by where she was headed next. Her first trip was when she was five years old. Betsy Leonora Ellis and her parents, a domestic servant and her employer, left Jamaica for Boston. Shortly after arriving in America, Stringfield’s mom 
died. Her father didn’t know how to cope with the responsibilities of a child, so he abandoned her. Stringfield’s next s...
Cathay Williams; female Buffalo Soldier
Cathay was born in Independence, Missouri in 1844. Her mother was a slave and her father a ‘free man of colour’. She was born into servitude, working in the home of a plantation owner. When the Union Army came to her town in 1861 slaves were considered ‘contraband’ property. It was routine for them to be forced into the army to wor...
June 21, 2017
Jacob’s Well, Near Littleborough, Lancashire-Yorkshire Border
Jacob’s Well beside the A58 near Littleborough.
OS Grid Reference: SD 96381 17068. At the side of the A58 (Halifax Road) close to Blackstone Edge Roman road, near Littleborough, and not far from the Lancashire-Yorkshire border is the now almost forgotten ‘Jacob’s Well’, a sacred spring that is hidden in the grass and fearns at the side of the busy, windswept moorland road that links the two counties. Some 280 metres east of the well is the so-called Roman road...
Jerome Myers: Painter of the Underdog
“Night in Seward Park” 1919, oil on canvas
On the 19th of June 1940, American painter Jerome Myers died in New York. “For more than 50 years Myers, small of stature and bearing a striking resemblance to Paderewski, was a familiar sight on the streets of New York, which he made his special painting province.” His obituary in The Art Digest, read that, “The Lower East Side, with its crowded tenements and struggling immigrants, knew him best and was recorded in hundreds of sketche...
Harding and Taft: Making An Old Man Happy
Every so often, dreams do come true. Even in politics
Ex-President Taft: A Public Career
William Howard Taft (1857-1932) spent his entire life in public service: as judge, as Solicitor General, as Governor of the Philippines, as Cabinet member and as President – the only job he claimed to have disliked.
When he retired from the presidency in 1913, he was at loose ends, both personally and financially. The prominent Taft family of Cincinnati, Ohio had always encoura...
