Presidents and First Ladies Trivia

[Anita]

(01-31-2017 04:42 PM)Wild Bill Wrote:  Rachel Jackson, Sarah Taylor

They are the ones. Good job. Dolly Madison was known to enjoy the occasional pipe but preferred snuff!

[Eva Elisabeth]

(01-31-2017 03:05 PM)L Verge Wrote:  BTW: Just found reference to a more modern use for spittoons. They are now used in the wine industry. Those who test the wines during the process now spit their samples into spittoons rather than consume so much alcohol.

Chefs (cooks) and pastry chefs usually do the same to avoid all the calories.

[L Verge]

Which former U.S. President was first buried in a mass grave with thirty-two other souls, and why?

[Eva Elisabeth]

I seem to recall it was Taylor. I think he was in a sort of common grave first because he had no private site yet or couldn't be transferred immediately.

[L Verge]

(02-05-2017 06:07 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  I seem to recall it was Taylor. I think he was in a sort of common grave first because he had no private site yet or couldn't be transferred immediately.

President Taylor did spend time in the holding vault at Congressional Cemetery before he could be returned home. There may have been some other bodies and bones in there, but he is not the President I'm searching for.

Hint: Notice the amount of corpses that surrounded this gentleman for awhile. All went into the common graves in a relatively small period of time.

[Eva Elisabeth]

I have no clue. I'd guess one of the very first presidents. As for reasons to do such war/death on battlefield or due to epidemy would come to my mind no link to a former president.

[L Verge]

(02-06-2017 10:01 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  I have no clue. I'd guess one of the very first presidents. As for reasons to do such war/death on battlefield or due to epidemy would come to my mind no link to a former president.

You are correct in suspecting an epidemic. Think of two prominent epidemics which Americans feared in the earlier years of the 1800s. This president succumbed to one of them.

[Wild Bill]

Madison, yellow fever

[L Verge]

Great guess, but this epidemic wasn't yellow fever. Think mid-1800s for this Prez.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Cholera? That would make me think of Taylor again. However, Polk?

[L Verge]

A+, Eva, it was indeed President Polk who was buried in a mass grave with 32 other cholera victims.

James Polk had been a popular president and a hard-working one. He had a lot on his plate during his term: Mexican War, acquisition of Pacific Northwest after threatening Britain, built a federal treasury system that worked for decades, and lowered national tariffs.

When his term ended in 1849, he and his wife, Sarah, headed for their home, Polk Place, in Nashville - but not immediately. They decided to take an extended trip through the South, starting in North Carolina, then South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana. Of course, there were festivities and receptions all along the way, which exhausted the already tired couple even more. By the time they reached New Orleans, they were ready to head home, but so many things had been planned for them by the city that they gave in and attended more receptions and a huge dinner. The next day, he was truly ill -- like many folks because a wave of cholera was sweeping the city.

The presidential pair headed for home, but were once again bombarded with invitations in Memphis. By the time they reached Paducah, Kentucky, Polk finally saw a doctor who inexplicably told him he did not have cholera. Three people on the Polks' boat had already died of it, and the doctor had read reports of the disease heading upriver with every ship from New Orleans.

By the time he reached Nashville and Polk Place, there was no saving him. He died on June 15, 1849, just 103 days after leaving office. As was the custom in trying to stop the spread of cholera, those who died at the same time were gathered up and buried in mass graves - including President Polk. His remains stayed in the city cemetery for nearly a year until a permanent tomb was constructed in front of his home.

This wasn't the end of the movable body of Polk, but I'll save that for another time -- or you can buy Dead Presidents and learn for yourself.

[Gene C]

(02-06-2017 01:18 PM)L Verge Wrote:  By the time they reached Paducah, Kentucky, Polk finally saw a doctor who inexplicably told him he did not have cholera. Three people on the Polks' boat had already died of it, and the doctor had read reports of the disease heading upriver with every ship from New Orleans.

By the time he reached Nashville and Polk Place, there was no saving him. He died on June 15, 1849, just 103 days after leaving office.

Happy to inform you the quality of medical care here in Paducah is a little better since Polk's time.
We haven't had a cholera outbreak in years.
They have also cut the waiting time for the lab reports by almost half.

[RJNorton]

Although cigarette smoking was forbidden in the school this President attended, he smoked anyway. He was caught and punished. But he continued to smoke. Who was he?

[Wild Bill]

Barack Obama

[Eva Elisabeth]

1. Trump?
2. Nixon?