Presidents and First Ladies Trivia

[L Verge]

Veronica, you really made me work on this one! I'm not sure what "Anniversary" refers to, but I think the part of history is related to our Civil War - specifically the U.S. Navy's role in the first years of the war.

In searching, I finally gave up thinking of "Harriet Lane" as a person (First Lady to her uncle, President Buchanan). That was also the name of a U.S. naval vessel, and it was the flagship for Admiral David Dixon Porter and commanded by Capt. Jonathan "Wainwright" at the time that it fired the first naval shot of the Civil War on April 12, 1861, in the engagements around Ft. Sumter.

At the beginning of its career, however, I believe that the first officer on board that ship was an Edward "Lea," from a very staunch Confederate family who went against his father's wishes and remained in the U.S. Navy when the war broke out. Lea was mortally wounded in fighting at Galveston. Ironically, his father was in Galveston (doing Confederate work) and was allowed to come aboard to comfort his son. Wainwright was also killed during the fighting.

Finally, I found that the ship's name was later changed from "Harriet Lane" to "Lavinia." And, Roger, your comment about "sinking in" can work into the puzzle also since the ship ended up being abandoned after catching fire (can't remember where and when) in the end.

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As for the details re: Julia Dent Cantacuzene Spiransky-Grant in previous question: Julia (1876-1975) was the eldest child of Frederick Dent Grant and Ida Marie Honore and the first grandchild for Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant. She married Prince Mikhail Cantacuzene, a Russian general and diplomat in 1899.

As the wife of a Russian nobleman, she was in a primary position to observe both the Imperial and the Bolshevik positions during the Russian Revolution. She authored three first-person accounts of the Revolution as well as serving as a personal historian for the Russian people during that time.

[Veronica]

(03-06-2013 10:41 AM)L Verge Wrote:  With that description, I would think it has to be a 20th-century First Lady because the streets were not always broad and beautiful. Wild guess - Lady Bird Johnson.

Whoever said it, I have to agree. I know I count myself as a Washingtonian, having been raised on its front porch in Maryland; but it truly is a beautiful city. I spent a summer touring Europe in my single days, and only Vienna, Austria, impressed me as much as D.C.

Amsterdam is also an option, very easy going, two steps and you've seen it all.

[Veronica]

    I've got a riddle concerning 'Harriet Lane'.
Anniversary-Lavinia-Wainwright-Harriet Lane and Lea; to what part of history do I refer too?
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L Verge you are warm by thinking of the second sea battle of Galveston, which occurred on New Years Day 1863, but I have cheated a bit.

Answer; Thirteen years later after the sea battle of Galveston, in UK London, there was a Whitechapel mystery also known as the 'Anniversary murder'.
The Wainwright brothers were involved in the murder of one Harriet Lane (as she was named in the newspapers). Henry Wainwright had met her at the River Lea.
At the first site, it looks like a case of 'overkill', two bullets were found in her skull and one was found in her hair bun. The shots were heard by three workmen and her time of death was pinned on September 11th, 1874. In 1875, 11th of September Henry and Alice Day, a ballet dancer, was arrested they were in the possession of the remains of the victim, known to be Harriet Louise Lane, which was exported to an Elizabethan former Inn 'Hen & Chickens in Southwark.
The body was chopped-up in 1875 but her hands were chopped at an earlier date possible in 1874.
The chemical of Chloride of Lime was wrongly used and instead of destroying, it conserved the remains including her tongue that was mummified.

Place next to it Jonothan Thomas Scharf's text from. 'History of the Confederate States Navy' page 507 the three bullets found with the Whitechapel victim Harriet Lane ties-up with the information of Scharf and I quote, 'The Bayou City was the first to open fire on the Lane with her thirty-two-pound rifled gun. Several shots were fired -the second striking her behind the wheel, knocking a large hole in her. As he fired again, Cap. Weir called out, "Well, here goes for a New Year's present!" and the gun exploded, killing him instantly.'
The vessel 'Harriet Lane' became ' Lavinia' a blockade runner (Scharf wrote 'The Lane')
Now there is still a matter of the chopped hands and mummified tongue of the victim known as Harriet Louisa Lane.
In Shakespeare's 'Titus Andronicus' the daughter of this Roman General 'Lavinia' was ravished by two men (brothers). After their deed, they chopped her hands preventing her from writing down their names and removed her tongue to silence her.
Lavinia was able to inform her father of what had happened to her through a book of 'Ovid's Metamorphosis' her father was shocked and uttered the words, "Junius Brutus swear for the rape of Lucrese!"
Ovid's Metamorphosis was translated by the poet William Congreve. The Whitechapel killer silenced the victim through death, hence the mummified tongue.
Harriet's father worked at the Gunpowder Mills in Waltham Abbey, the mill was closely linked with the inventor of the Congreve Rockets, used in the Battle of Waterloo and the attack of Maryland Baltimore.
Interesting is that the Lord Chief-Justice of England was Sir James Alexander Cockburn, his uncle was the Admiral of the fleet George Cockburn the one that had escorted Napoleon I to Saint Helena, he had also ordered the burning of Washington DC.

If it comes to Junius Brutus Booth, Professor Stephen M. Archer in ' Junius Brutus Booth Theatrical Prometheus wrote that Junius was on stage with the child actress Louisa Lane (see page 110, 111, 158)
Most information I have gathered from H.B. Irving 'Trial of the Wainwrights'.
George Cockburn was also the person that held Francis Scott Key on board the ship and witnessed the use of the Congreve Rockets at the attack of Fort McHenry and wrote his poem 'The red Spangled Banner'.
A niece of Mr. Key was married to John Surratt and the mother of the latter was born in America at a place called 'Waterloo'.

Well was this not a good riddle?

[L Verge]

(10-06-2017 10:44 AM)Veronica Wrote:  

(03-06-2013 10:41 AM)L Verge Wrote:  With that description, I would think it has to be a 20th-century First Lady because the streets were not always broad and beautiful. Wild guess - Lady Bird Johnson.

Whoever said it, I have to agree. I know I count myself as a Washingtonian, having been raised on its front porch in Maryland; but it truly is a beautiful city. I spent a summer touring Europe in my single days, and only Vienna, Austria, impressed me as much as D.C.

Amsterdam is also an option, very easy going, two steps and you've seen it all.

Amsterdam was the last city I visited way back when, and I did enjoy it - especially the canal boats, the flowers, the cheeses, and the beer factory! However, the train station in Amsterdam scared me to death.

In those days (early-1970s) it was the "residence" for many hippies and druggies. They used the lockers to hold their things, the bathrooms for their necessities, the seats for their beds, and spent time outside doing what hippies of that era did. As soon as the brewery (Heineken, perhaps?) opened for tours, they headed there for brunch -- beer and cheese.

Otherwise, I did enjoy the city and its environs and particularly the ride down the canal, wondering how some of the leaning houses along the canal had managed to stay upright for centuries. Great architecture, also.

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I did run across Henry Wainwright and the dreadful story of his Harriet Lane while searching for what I guess is the American naval history that incorporates the names that you had given.

George Cockburn is not a popular name here in Maryland since he and his troops were responsible for a great deal of damage in the southern part of our state (including my home county of Prince George's) as they marched (with little resistance) through our farmland en route to Washington City - where they set as much afire as they could. Some of our buildings were only saved because Mother Nature literally RAINED down on his parade! He and his men then marched back through our area to board their ships once again, taking our local man Dr. William Beanes as a hostage. Key was friends with Beanes and ended up being snatched also when he tried to negotiate for his release. This led to Key going onboard the ships bound for the destruction of Baltimore and watching the bombardment of Fort McHenry and being inspired to write the poem that later became our "Star Spangled Banner."

Just a note that Francis Scott Key was actually the second cousin (not uncle) to Mary Victorine Hunter, who married John Harrison Surratt, Jr. after his Civil War-related adventures. And, the tiny hamlet known as Waterloo, where Mary Surratt was born, would now lie within Andrews Air Force Base/Joint Base Andrews, home to the President's Air Force One and fleet. All vestiges of the village were wiped out when the government built the giant military base early in WWII.

Thanks for a good mental challenge. It's been a stressful week at work, and next week isn't looking any better.

[L Verge]

I re-read this exchange, and what is amazing to me is that you could relate a British murder case with the subjects of Harriet Lane, Wainwright, Lavinia, and Lea and I could find a Civil War naval history that incorporates every one of those names also, but none of the subjects are the same.

[RJNorton]

Which First Lady said:

"No man works harder in the fields than the farmer's wife in her home and on the farm."

[Gene C]

Julia Grant ?

[Steve]

Eleanor Roosevelt

[RJNorton]

Good try, Gene, but Steve is correct. The quote comes from a September 4, 1934, radio broadcast when Eleanor Roosevelt spoke those words.

[L Verge]

Who was the first First Lady tp gain the right to vote?

[RobertLC]

Laurie,

Was it Woodrow Wilson's wife Edith Wilson?

Bob

[Steve]

Edith Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt's (2nd) wife. New York state granted women the right to vote in 1917; three years before the 19th amendment was ratified.

[L Verge]

Thank you, Steve, you caught the trick! As far as the overall picture is concerned, however, there is another First Lady that gets the credit (at least according to my source). It hinges on whether or not you consider voting in state elections or national elections, I believe, since it took the 19th Amendment to achieve the latter. Actually, seven other states besides New York gave the right to vote to their women in 1917.

Bob - It's not Edith Wilson. Want to take another stab at which First Lady was the first to vote under the 19th Amendment?

[RJNorton]

Florence Harding?

[L Verge]

(10-15-2017 01:17 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  Florence Harding?

A+, Roger!

Let's try this one on fashionista First Ladies: Which of the First Ladies wore a $46,000 Inaugural gown? And, which of the ladies, before becoming a First Lady, wore purple shoes as part of her wedding ensemble?