Friday, June 24, 2011

Name of the Day

Smallhope Bigg

b. 1605, England
d. 1644, Middlesex Co., MA

Come on, now. This is just silly. This is not one of those names that seems funny because the meaning of a word has changed over time or because the alliteration is unusual. Perhaps Smallhope's parents wanted to make sure their son was humble in spite of his surname.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Ancient Gravestone Protests Blown Call

Proof that people have been complaining about referees for thousands of years:

The tombstone was donated to the Musee du Cinquanternaire in Brussels, Belgium, shortly before World War I. It shows an image of a gladiator holding what appear to be two swords, standing above his opponent who is signalling his surrender. The inscription says that the stone marks the spot where a man named Diodorus is buried."After breaking my opponent Demetrius I did not kill him immediately," reads the epitaph. "Fate and the cunning treachery of the summa rudis killed me." The summa rudis is a referee, who may have had past experience as a gladiator.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Name of the Day

Rexella van Impe

Not a colonial American name — Mrs. van Impe was born in 1932 — but notable anyway.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Name of the Day

Love Marks

Love was baptized by Rev. William Cooper on August 11, 1728. Her sister, Esther, was baptized at the same time.


Monday, June 6, 2011

Name of the Day

Dionysia Savage Ravenscroft

Dionysia was the daughter of Major Thomas Savage of Boston. In 1679, she married Samuel Ravenscroft.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

@IncreaseMather OMG ROFL #burn

Yes, that was me giggling over my copy of Increase Mather's Narrative of the Miseries of New-England, By Reason of an Arbitrary Government Erected there Under Sir Edmond Andros (1689). The aside in this sentence regarding the construction of the original King's Chapel kills me:
'Tis notorious they went a begging to all the Congregations in the Town for Money to Erect their Edifice, which they call a Church (tho' by the way it was never Consecrated).