Category Archives: American History

Essays on American history

Will Perkins, Family Historian

William Lennox Perkins, July 12, 1868-August 25, 1946. William Perkins, brother of Hattie Perkins Brown, who was the mother of Florence Brown Phillips and the grandmother of Milton Arnold Phillips, was the Perkins and Crawford family historian as well as … Continue reading

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Bessie Lura Amos Largent, Pioneer Woman in Early Oklahoma

Bessie Lura Amos Largent was born 129 years ago on Christmas Eve, 1891, in Sebastian County, Arkansas, to William Wilburn Amos and Ursula Calhoun Amos. Bessie was the first born to this farm family that rented land in the region … Continue reading

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Florence Beatrice Brown Phillips: Life in early 20th century Rhode Island

Florence Beatrice Brown Phillips, August 1, 1899-December 3, 1973. (Earl and Florence Brown Phillips) Florence Beatrice was born on August 1, 1899, to Samuel Francis Brown and Hattie Tyler Perkins Brown. She was an only child. When Florence was born, … Continue reading

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John Calvin Lawson, Farmer in Arkansas and Indian Territory (Oklahoma)

John Calvin Lawson, August 4, 1864-Jan. 30, 1955. John Calvin Lawson was born in Arkansas in 1864 to Calvin A. Lawson (1825-1907) and Jane Ann Fritts (1835-1902). In the 1870 census John C. is 6-years-old; Calvin is 40 and a … Continue reading

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Claude Christopher Largent: Teacher in Early Oklahoma

Claude Christopher Largent, July 2, 1888-July 25, 1975. Claude Largent was born to George Washington Largent and Mary Lue Smith in Booneville, Arkansas, on July 2, 1888. George Washington (GW) was a farmer and Mary Lue, who was half Indian … Continue reading

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George Washington Largent, Arkansas Farmer

George Washington Largent, August 15, 1855-Feb. 26, 1924 George Washington Largent’s life has a bit of mystery about it. His gravestone lists his birth date as August 15, 1859. The month and day are probably correct, though the year of … Continue reading

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Prisoners’ take on “The Storyteller,” by Mario Vargas Llosa

  The Storyteller, by Mario Vargas Llosas, is a complex book that interweaves two different narratives, one by a writer, one by a storyteller; the book explores the people of the Amazon rain forest in eastern Peru from the 1950s … Continue reading

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The Return to McCarthyism

Almost seventy years ago, an obscure senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy, used fear as a means to initiate widespread panic and intimidate the innocent. Fear can do this to people. Fear makes the rational become irrational, the innocent become guilty, … Continue reading

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Historical Sites along the Maine Coast: Kittery to York

Kittery, Maine, situated on the northern shores of the Piscataqua River, was a home to seamen and fishermen. Most such men of the salt sea were not well known in their own time and forgotten today. An exception was Lieutenant … Continue reading

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Independence: Disorder in a Democracy

In today’s day, we are confronted with disorder, almost chaos and anarchy at times. How do we bring order out of a disorderly situation? The concluding years of the American Revolution in the 1780s provides us with an example. The … Continue reading

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