Trivial Trivia - taking trivia to new levels

[Rob Wick]

Champ Ferguson.

Best
Rob

[LincolnMan]

Very good Rob! I've been to his grave just outside of Sparta, Tennessee. One of my family oral tradition stories is that Ferguson and his men paid a "visit" to my 'loyal to the Union' Judd family homestead in Cookeville, Tennessee. One of the Judd boys was killed as a result (an uncle to me). My second-great grandfather Matt Judd-joined the Union Army with the intention of exacting revenge for the murder. Grandpa Judd never got his revenge. He served honorably and became a circuit-riding preacher after the war. He also got a disability pension for his service. Ferguson got the hangman's noose.

[LincolnMan]

Upon the urging of Charles Sumner, to whom did Lincoln give the pen he used to sign the Emancipation Proclamation?

[RJNorton]

Frederick Douglass?

[LincolnMan]

Good morning Roger. Douglass would seem to have been a great choice, I think. It was not given to him however.

[LincolnMan]

Lincoln gave the pen to Mr. George Livermore. Livermore, was, according to The Lincoln Herald (Summer 2012), an author of a book concerning the part that slaves and free Blacks played in the American Revolution. Sumner had read the book. He then sent Lincoln a copy of the book and a letter encouraging the president to pay "especial attention" to the last half, entitled "Negroes as Soldiers." Lincoln must have been impressed by what he read-he gave the pen to Livermore.

[RJNorton]

Good question, Bill. The only name that came to mind when I saw the question was Douglass. So much for the first guess being the right one...

[RJNorton]

I think this is a pretty difficult one - we'll see how long it lasts.

In the mid-1850's Thomas Johnston, a son of Lincoln's stepbrother, John D. Johnston, stole something from a guy named Green.

What did he steal?

[BettyO]

A watch stolen in 1856 from Mr. Green -

[RJNorton]

Right, Betty!!! Wow - the question lasted only 5 minutes.

You win our collective best wishes for 2013 and the 2nd edition of Alias Paine!

[BettyO]

Thanks, Roger!

A New Car would be nice, too!! HA!!!!

[Laurie Verge]

OK, I need help again in answering a trivial question. Yesterday, I had four of my maintenance men spend an hour in my office (on their lunch hour) asking questions about the Surratts and the Lincoln assassination and the Civil War in general. It was a great experience for me - just like being back in the classroom with students who wanted to learn!

One young gentleman (whom I first met about a year ago and immediately pegged him as a punk - he's not) asked the following question:

"How come Lincoln is the only president on a U.S. coin to face right instead of left?" Everybody dug in their pockets, and we did find that the new nickels that are being minted have Jefferson facing right; but that's only been within the past few years. So, back to the original question - does anyone know why Lincoln is facing right?

[RJNorton]

Lincoln is facing to the right because that was the direction he was facing in the photograph Victor David Brenner used to make his bas-relief for the penny.

[Gene C]

does anyone know why Lincoln is facing right?

He was a conservative republican
(as opposed to a radical republican)

[Joe Di Cola]

OK, I need help again in answering a trivial question. Yesterday, I had four of my maintenance men spend an hour in my office (on their lunch hour) asking questions about the Surratts and the Lincoln assassination and the Civil War in general. It was a great experience for me - just like being back in the classroom with students who wanted to learn!

One young gentleman (whom I first met about a year ago and immediately pegged him as a punk - he's not) asked the following question:

"How come Lincoln is the only president on a U.S. coin to face right instead of left?" Everybody dug in their pockets, and we did find that the new nickels that are being minted have Jefferson facing right; but that's only been within the past few years. So, back to the original question - does anyone know why Lincoln is facing right?

The artist, Brenner, had previously produced a medal of Lincoln (also facing right) and modelled the Lincoln of the penny after the medal. [Alternate but stupid answer...Lincoln, like John Barrymore, had a good and a bad side and Brenner chose to shpw the good side--HaHa]