The James Logan Courier

Roger Sherman, April 30, 1721 – July 23, 1793, was the only person to sign all four great documents establishing the United States: the Articles of Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution.

From the National Archives Experience:
In 1723, when Sherman was 2 years of age, his family relocated from his Newton, MA, birthplace to Dorchester (present Stoughton). As a boy, he was spurred by a desire to learn and read widely in his spare time to supplement his minimal education at a common school. But he spent most of his waking hours helping his father with farming chores and learning the cobbler's trade from him. In 1743, 2 years after his father's death, Sherman joined an elder brother who had settled in New Milford, CT.

Read Roger Sherman's 1790 letter to Governor Samuel Huntington of Connecticut, regarding Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton's financial plans, free from the University of Houston's Digital History site.

From the Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia
ALEXANDER II. (1818-1881), emperor of Russia, eldest son of Nicholas I., was born on the 29th of April 1818.

His early life gave little indication of his subsequent activity, and up to the moment of his accession in 1855 no one ever imagined that he would be known to posterity as a great reformer. In so far as he had any decided political convictions, he seemed to be animated with that reactionary spirit which was predominant in Europe at the time of his birth, and continued in Russia to the end of his father's reign. In the period of thirty years during which he was heir-apparent, the moral atmosphere of St Petersburg was very unfavourable to the development of any originality of thought or character.

Learn more about the assassination of Tsar Alexander II, and listen to a BBC radio program about the murder, free.

From wikipedia:
Lionel Barrymore (April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, radio and film. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul (1931)


Early life
Barrymore was born Lionel Herbert Blythe in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of actors Georgiana Drew and Maurice Barrymore (né Blythe). He was the elder brother of Ethel and John Barrymore, the uncle of John Drew Barrymore, and the grand-uncle (or great-uncle) of Drew Barrymore. Barrymore was raised Roman Catholic. He attended the Episcopal Academy in Merion, Pennsylvania.

During World War One Lionel staved off the deadly Spanish Influenza by taking cold alcohol baths as an antiseptic.

See pictures of Lionel Barrymore, free from fanpix.net.

From wikipedia:
Edward Whymper (27 April 1840 – 16 September 1911), was a British illustrator, climber and explorer best known for the first ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865. On the descent four members of the party were killed.

Edward Whymper was born in London, England on 27 April 1840 to Josiah Wood Whymper and Elizabeth Claridge being the second of eleven children including his older brother Frederick Whymper. He was trained to be a wood-engraver at an early age. In 1860, he made extensive forays into the central and western Alps to produce a series of commissioned alpine scenery drawings.

Read Travels Amongst the Great Andes of the Equator by Edward Whymper, free from Google Books.

From wikipedia:
Charles Edward "Cow Cow" Davenport (April 26, 1894 – December 3, 1955) was an American boogie woogie piano player. He also played the organ and sang.

He was born in Anniston, Alabama. Arnold Caplin, on the liner notes to the album Hot Pianos 1926-1940 reports that Davenport started playing the piano at age 12. His family objected strongly to his musical aspirations and sent him to a theological seminary, where he was expelled for playing ragtime.


Read "Cow Cow Davenport," by Art Hodes, free from the-blindman.com.

From Wikipedia:
Melissa Hayden (born Mildred Herman, April 25, 1923, Toronto; died August 9, 2006, Winston-Salem, North Carolina) was a Canadian ballerina at the New York City Ballet.

Hayden was born in Toronto as the second daughter of Jacob Herman and his wife Kate Weinberg,jewish immigrants from Russia. The young Mildred was called Millie at home, a nickname she kept for the rest of her life.

Read Melissa Hayden's obituary, free from Tributes.com.

From Wikipedia:
Manuel Ávila Camacho (April 24, 1897 – October 13, 1955) served as the President of Mexico from 1940 to 1946.

Manuel Ávila was born in the city of Teziutlán, a small town in Puebla, to middle-class parents, Manuel Ávila Castillo and Eufrosina Camacho Bello. He had several siblings, among them sister María Jovita Ávila Camacho and several brothers. Two of his brothers, Maximino Ávila and Rafael Ávila Camacho both served as governors of Puebla. Ávila did not receive a university degree, although he studied at the National Preparatory School. He joined the army in 1914 as a 2nd lieutenant and reached the status of Colonel by 1920 and, in the same year, served as the Chief of Staff of the state of Michoacán under Lázaro Cárdenas, and became his close friend. In 1929, he fought under general Cárdenas against the Escobar Rebellion and, that same year, achieved the rank of Brigade General. He was married to Soledad Orozco García, who was born in Zapopan, Jalisco. Soledad Orozco was one of the Orozcos of the State of Jalisco. She was born in 1904 and died in 1996.

Learn more about Manuel Ávila Camacho, free from Google.

From wikipedia:
Granville Stanley Hall (February 1, 1844 - April 24, 1924) was a pioneering American psychologist and educator. His interests focused on childhood development and evolutionary theory. Hall was the first president of the American Psychological Association and the first president of Clark University.

Born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, Hall graduated from Williams College in 1867, then studied at the Union Theological Seminary. Inspired by Wilhelm Wundt's Principles of Physiological Psychology, he earned his doctorate in psychology under William James at Harvard University, after which he spent time at Wundt's Leipzig laboratory.


Read Youth: Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene by G. Stanley Hall, free from Project Gutenberg.

From wikipedia:
Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow (April 22 in Richmond, Virginia , 1873-November 21, 1945 in Richmond, Virginia) was a Pulitzer Prize winning American novelist from Richmond, Virginia.

Beginning in 1897, Glasgow wrote twenty novels and many short stories, mainly about life in Virginia. Her own education had been rudimentary, a fact Glasgow compensated for by reading widely. Today, her novels are regarded as more than just depictions of life in the Southern United States.

Read The Ancient Law by Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow, free from Google Books.

From wikipedia:
Raden Ajeng (Adjeng) Kartini or, more accurately, Raden Ayu (Ajoe) Kartini, (April 21, 1879–September 17, 1904), was a prominent Javanese and an Indonesian national heroine. Kartini is known as a pioneer in the area of women's rights for native Indonesians.

Kartini was born into an aristocratic Javanese family in a time when Java was still part of the Dutch colony, the Dutch East Indies. Kartini's father, Raden Mas Sosroningrat, became Regency Chief of Jepara, and her mother was Raden Mas' first wife, but not the most important one. At this time, polygamy was a common practice among the nobility.

Read Letters of a Javanese princess by Kartini and Agnes Louise Symmers, free from googlebooks.com.

From wikipedia:
Dinah Maria Craik (born Dinah Maria Mulock, also often credited as Miss Mulock or Mrs. Craik) (20 April 1826 - 12 October 1887) was an English novelist and poet. She was born at Stoke-on-Trent and brought up in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire.

Read John Halifax, Gentleman, by Dinah Craik, one of nine of her works available free from Project Gutenberg.

From wikipedia:
Richard Arthur Warren Hughes OBE (19 April 1900—28 April 1976) was a British writer of poems, short stories, novels and plays.

He was born in Weybridge, Surrey of Welsh parentage, and educated at Charterhouse and graduated from Oriel College, Oxford in 1922.

A Charterhouse schoolmaster had sent Hughes's first published work to The Spectator in 1917. (The article, written as a school essay, was an attack on The Loom of Youth, by Alec Waugh, a recently published novel which caused a furore for its frank account of homosexual passions between British schoolboys in a public school). At Oxford he met Robert Graves, also an Old Carthusian, and they co-edited a poetry publication, Oxford Poetry, in 1921. Hughes's short play The Sister's Tragedy was in the West End at the Royal Court Theatre by 1922. He is credited with the authorship of the world's first radio play, Danger, commissioned from him for the BBC by Nigel Playfair, and broadcast on January 15, 1924.


Read more about Richard Hughes' radio play, Danger, the first radio play ever written.

From wikipedia:
Jaime Torres Bodet (17 April 1902 – 13 May 1974) was a prominent Mexican politician and writer who served in the executive cabinet of three Presidents of Mexico.

A native of Mexico City, Torres Bodet was appointed Secretary of Public Education (1943–46) by President Manuel Ávila Camacho; he then served as the Secretary of Foreign Affairs (1946–1951) under President Miguel Alemán Valdés. Later, in 1958-64, he was again appointed to serve as Secretary of Public Education, this time under President Adolfo López Mateos.

Read a speech given by Jaime Torres Bodet, then Secretary of Public Education in Mexico, at the 25th anniversary celebration of the Summer Institute of Linguistics in Mexico. January 24, 1961.

From wikipedia:
Dr. José de Diego y Benítez (April 16, 1866 – July 16, 1918), was a statesman, journalist, poet and advocate for Puerto Rico's independence from Spain and from the USA.

De Diego was born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico and received his primary education in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. He then moved to Spain where he graduated from the "Polytechnic College of Logroño". While in Spain, de Diego collaborated with the newspaper "El Progreso" (Progress) which was founded by José Julián Acosta and which attacked the political situation in Puerto Rico. This led to various arrests and eventually he returned to the island.

Read two poems by José de Diego, free from Elboricua.com

From wikipedia:
John Hanson (April 14 [O.S. April 3] 1721 – November 22, 1783) was a merchant and public official from Maryland during the era of the American Revolution. After serving in a variety of roles for the Patriot cause in Maryland, in 1779 Hanson was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress. He signed the Articles of Confederation in 1781 after Maryland finally joined the other states in ratifying them. In November 1781, he became the first President of Congress to be elected under the terms of the Articles of Confederation. For this reason, Hanson was later promoted as having been the first President of the United States, one of several myths about him.

Read more about John Hanson and the spurious claim that he was President of the United States free at snopes.com.

From wikipedia:
Josephine Baker (June 3, 1906 - April 12, 1975), born was an American-born dancer, actress and singer. She was given the nicknames "Black Venus", "Black Pearl", and "Creole Goddess". She became a citizen of France in 1937.

Early life
Josephine Baker was born on June 3, in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Tom Ado. Her father's identity is debated. It is often said that he was Eddie Carson, who certainly was the lover of Carrie McDonald.Her father is identified as vaudeville drummer Eddie Carson by the official biography of her estate; however, there are other sources that state that her father was a travelling Jewish salesman. She was of mixed ethnic background: Native American/African American. She descended from Apalachee Indians and Black slaves in South Carolina.

Learn more about Josephine Baker; visit the Official Site of Josephine Baker.

From wikipedia:
James Parkinson (April 11, 1755 – December 21, 1824) was an English physician, geologist, paleontologist, and political activist. He is most famous for his 1817 work, An Essay on the Shaking Palsy, in which he was the first to describe "paralysis agitans", a condition that would later be named Parkinson's disease after him.

James Parkinson was born in Shoreditch, London, England. He was the son of John Parkinson, an apothecary and surgeon practising in Hoxton Square in London. In 1784 Parkinson was approved by the City of London Corporation as a surgeon.

Read "An Essay on the Shaking Palsy," by James Parkinson, free from psychiatryonline.com.

For wikipedia:
Sol Hurok (Solomon Isiaevich Hurok; born Solomon Izrailevich Gurkov) (April 9, 1888, Ukraine — March 5, 1974, New York City) was a world famous 20th century American impresario. Hurok moved to the United States in 1906 and became a naturalized citizen in 1914.

During Hurok's long and illustrious career, S. Hurok Presents managed many major performing artists, including Marian Anderson, Irina Arkhipova, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Feodor Chaliapin, Van Cliburn, Isadora Duncan, Michel Fokine, Emil Gilels, Jerome Hines, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, David Oistrakh, Anna Pavlova, Jan Peerce, Svyatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich, Arthur Rubinstein, Isaac Stern, Galina Vishnevskaya, Efrem Zimbalist, and many others.

Read Sol Hurok: America's dance impresario by Harlow Robinson, free from findarticles.com

From wikipedia:
María Félix (8 April 1914 - 8 April 2002) was a Mexican actress, one of the leading figures of the golden era of the Cinema of Mexico. She was commonly known, particularly in her later years, by the honorific La Doña.

Born María de los Ángeles Félix Güereña in Álamos, Sonora, Mexico. Most reference works state that she was born on April 8, 1914. She died on April 8, 2002 in Mexico City of congestive heart failure. It was her 88th birthday.

Watch María Félix in a clip from the film, Doña Bárbara, free from youtube.com.

From wikipedia:
Nadar was the pseudonym of Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (April 6, 1820 – March 21, 1910), a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist and balloonist.

Nadar was born in 1820 in Paris (although some sources state Lyon). He was a caricaturist for Le Charivari in 1848. In 1849 he created the Revue comique and the Petit journal pour rire. He took his first photographs in 1853 and in 1858 became the first person to take aerial photographs. He also pioneered the use of artifical lighting in photography, working in the catacombs of Paris.

Read an article about Nadar, by Bruce Sterling, free from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Dorothea Lynde Dix (April 4, 1802 – July 17, 1887) was an American activist on behalf of the indigent insane who, through a vigorous program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first generation of American mental asylums.

Early life
She grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts (Born in Hampden, Maine), then in her wealthy grandmother's home in Boston. She struggled to find a career in traditional female occupations: schoolteacher, governess, writer. None of these pursuits satisfied her ambition, and in her mid-thirties she suffered a debilitating breakdown. In hopes of a cure, in 1836 she traveled to England, where she had the good fortune to meet the Rathbone family, who invited her to spend a year as their guest at Greenbank, their ancestral mansion in Liverpool. The Rathbones were Quakers and prominent social reformers, and at Greenbank, Dix met men and women who believed that government should play a direct, active role in social welfare. She was also exposed to the British lunacy reform movement, whose methods involved detailed investigations of madhouses and asylums, the results of which were published in reports to the House of Commons.

Read more about Dorothea Dix' efforts on the behalf of the mentally ill, free from psych.org.

From wikipedia:
George Horatio Derby (April 3, 1823–May 15, 1861) was an early California humorist. Derby used the pseudonym "John P. Squibob" and its variants "John Phoenix" and "Squibob." Derby served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Topographic Corps. In his spare time, he wrote humorous anecdotes and burlesques, often under the guise of his pseudonyms.

Read Phoenixiana, by George Derby, free from googlebooks.com.

Walter Percy Chrysler (April 2, 1875 – August 18, 1940) was an American machinist, railroad man, automotive industry executive, and founder of the Chrysler Corporation.

He was born in Wamego, Kansas and grew up in Ellis, Kansas.

Railroad career
Chrysler apprenticed in the railroad shops at Ellis as a machinist and railroad mechanic. He then spent a period of years roaming the west, working for various railroads as a roundhouse mechanic with a reputation of being good at valve-setting jobs. Some of his moves were due to restlessness and a too-quick temper, but his roaming was also a way to become more well-rounded in his railroading knowledge. He worked his way up through positions such as foreman, superintendent, division master mechanic, and general master mechanic.

Visit the Walter Chrysler Museum online at chryslerheritage.com.

From wikipedia:
Marie-Sophie Germain (April 1, 1776 – June 27, 1831) was a French mathematician who made important contributions to the fields of differential geometry and number theory. Germain made significant contributions to the study of Fermat's Last Theorem.

Germain was born to a middle-class merchant family in Paris, France; and at age 13, she read about Archimedes in a book in her father's extensive library. In it, she read that during the Roman invasion of Syracuse, Archimedes was so engrossed in his mathematics that he ignored a Roman soldier who there upon killed him without comprehending the fame of his victim. This inspired the young Germain, as she thought that if someone could be so interested by mathematics as to not realize somebody was about to kill him, it must be an incredibly interesting subject.

Read An Attack on Fermat by Julie Rehmeyer, free from Science News.