Just Trivia

[L Verge]

I have never paid much attention to Gen. George McClellan, other than considering him a pompous Banty (Bantam) rooster in uniform. However, I did recently find something interesting about him and his marriage to Mary Ellen Marcy.

Mary Ellen was the daughter of a military officer and was courted by both Lt. McClellan and Lt. Ambrose Powell Hill (who would fight for opposing sides during the CW). She was actually in love with Hill, but her father objected, likely because Hill intended to be a career military officer (low pay, moving a lot). This left the door open for McClellan to step in. I'm not sure why he may have appealed to dear old dad.

I think Mary Ellen soon learned about her husband's super ego and somewhat nasty demeanor, but evidently kept quiet. They were married for 25 years. And talk about ego, George was three inches shorter than his wife and never allowed them to be photographed together where both were in standing positions. I have seen one photo of them together, and Mary Ellen is sitting demurely in a chair with George standing to her right. P.S. Very pretty lady.

She outlived her husband by 30 years and spent those years in Nice, France, where she died in 1915. She was brought back to the U.S. for burial beside the General in Riverview Cemetery in Trenton, NJ.

[Wild Bill]

I always heard that Hill lost out because he had a sexual disease from an early encounter with a prostitute?

[Susan Higginbotham]

Candice Shy Hooper has a good section on Nelly McClellan in her book Lincoln's Generals' Wives. The couple seem to have been very well matched, which isn't a compliment.

[L Verge]

Let's check your knowledge on early American history. Eleven of our fifty U.S. states are named after an actual person. WITHOUT CHEATING, name them. PS: Most are easy, but there were two that tested me - one was so easy that I slapped myself for not knowing, and the other one I would still be guessing today if I had not cheated.

[Rogerm]

I have come up with the following states: Maryland, Washington, Virginia, West Virginia, Louisiana, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York and perhaps Rhode Island.
Now, I am gambling with the name of "Virginia" because it was actually named for the "virgin" Queen Elizabeth the First; and not literally after her.

[Steve]

Pennsylvania, Washington, Georgia, Virginia, West Virginia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, New York, Maryland, and Delaware.

Rogerm has almost the same list I did, excepting Delaware which was named after the Lord De La Warr. If memory serves me right, he was a governor of Virginia.

[Gene C]

What about Ida Howe, Mich Egan, Ken Tuckey, and Flora Duh (she wasn't to bright)?

[L Verge]

(06-03-2018 09:47 PM)Rogerm Wrote:  I have come up with the following states: Maryland, Washington, Virginia, West Virginia, Louisiana, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York and perhaps Rhode Island.
Now, I am gambling with the name of "Virginia" because it was actually named for the "virgin" Queen Elizabeth the First; and not literally after her.

A-, Rogerm. RI is not one of them, but Delaware is. And, you are very correct in pointing out the "unusual" naming of Virginia based on sexual status rather than a first name basis.

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(06-03-2018 10:23 PM)Steve Wrote:  Pennsylvania, Washington, Georgia, Virginia, West Virginia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, New York, Maryland, and Delaware.

Rogerm has almost the same list I did, excepting Delaware which was named after the Lord De La Warr. If memory serves me right, he was a governor of Virginia.

A+, Steve. You got them all. The colony of Delaware was actually named for the Delaware River, which had previously derived its name from Lord de la Warr, whose birth name was Thomas West, and he was an early governor of Virginia.

And Gene, I love your other suggestions...

[AussieMick]

Trivia question ...
Can anybody identify a connection for Navel Oranges with Gettysburg?

[LincolnMan]

Gene: you left out Ida ho—-no we better not go there.

[RJNorton]

(06-28-2018 07:32 PM)AussieMick Wrote:  Trivia question ...
Can anybody identify a connection for Navel Oranges with Gettysburg?

Can you give a clue?

[AussieMick]

I could have used the Man Booker prize as a connection.

[L Verge]

The only reason I know about the Man Booker prize is that I read somewhere that Lincoln in the Bardo won it last year. It is an literary award for Best Fiction given in the UK. Now, let's figure out how that Lincoln book answers the question comparing oranges and Gettysburg.

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Could this be the answer? http://gettysburgtourguides.org/members/...1603BD.pdf Scroll to page 5.

I still don't know the tie-in with the Booker Prize, but I haven't read Lincoln in the Bardo either - and won't.

[AussieMick]

Yes! Laurie ... sorry I missed your answer . Well done.
Yes, it was William Saunders that designed the Cemetery . He was a botanist and sent orange seedlings to Eliza Tibbets in California.


(I have read a review and just a few pages of Lincoln in the Bardo in a book shop .... not my type of book ... it was written by a Mr George Saunders)

[L Verge]

(06-29-2018 03:54 PM)AussieMick Wrote:  Yes! Laurie ... sorry I missed your answer . Well done.
Yes, it was William Saunders that designed the Cemetery . He was a botanist and sent orange seedlings to Eliza Tibbets in California.


(I have read a review and just a few pages of Lincoln in the Bardo in a book shop .... not my type of book ... it was written by a Mr George Saunders)

And who is your new avatar? I would not like to have gotten on his bad side...