Notes from the White County Historical Society as they appear in "The Carmi Times."

Copyright ©2001 by "The Carmi Times" Permission to reprint granted to Cindy Birk Conley and the ILGenWeb by Tammy Knox, editor, "The Carmi Times."

Presidential trivia:

1. Which president was the first to be inaugurated in Washington, D. C.?

2. What two presidents were father and son?

3. What president was the first to live in the Executive Mansion?

4. Which president was secretly sworn in two days before the official
ceremony?

5. Which president died within a month after his inauguration?

6. Which president was the third president to serve in one year?

7. Which 19th century president wrote a best seller with royalties
amounting to a half million dollars?

8. Who was the first Republican president?

9. Which president was so little known before he ran for office that he
took part in a television game show?

10. Which president is said to have had the largest shoe size? Answers
at bottom of column.

+++++

Middle names have not always been common practice. In fact, in some
countries at some times in history, it has been illegal to have middle
names.

Today many people have as their middle name the maiden name of the
mother (the surname of the mother before her marriage). In France and
Spain, middle names (sometimes called double Christian names) appeared
in the Middle Ages. The Germans in Pennsylvania used several names in
colonial times.

However, middle names did not become common in the United States until
after the Revolutionary War.

Middle names help genealogists in determining if they've found the right
ancestor. However, many middle names appear to be lost down through the
years. My grandfather's name was John A. Marlett. I've spent a lifetime
trying to find out what the "A" stood for as his middle name, and I've
decided I'll never know. My grandmother's name was Zeanel Malinda
Philadelphia Wells. However, this has been handed down by word of mouth
to me; there is no written record of this that I've ever been able to
find. Even her marriage license just lists her as Zannie Wells.

+++++

Answers to presidential trivia quiz:
1. Thomas Jefferson in 1801. 2. John Adams & John Quincy Adams. Soon
we'll be able to add another father and son team to that answer. 3. John
Adams. 4. Rutherford Hayes, a one-electoral vote winner in 1877. 5.
William Henry Harrison, who delivered his 9,000 word inaugural address
bareheaded and without an overcoat during a storm on March 4, 1841. He
died of pneumonia one month later. 6. John Tyler. Martin Van Buren
completed his term March 4, 1841. William Henry Harrison was
inaugurated. He died one month later. On April 6, 1841 John Tyler was
inaugurated to be the third president in one year. 7. U.S. Grant never
saw his memoirs in print, as he died four days after completing the
manuscript, which turned out to be highly successful. 8. Abraham
Lincoln. 9. Jimmy Carter appeared on "What's My Line." He was
Georgia's governor at the time, and the panel had a hard time guessing.
10. Bill Clinton, who wears a size 13 shoe. (I wouldn't testify under
oath that all these answers are correct, but it's the way I have them
figured.)
........
Address letters to Genealogy, White County Historical Society, PO Box
121, Carmi, IL 62821.

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The Coordinator for the White County, Illinois ILGenWeb page is Cindy Birk Conley

Copyright © 2001 by Cindy Birk Conley, all rights reserved. For personal use only. Commercial use of the information contained in these pages is strictly prohibited without prior permission. If copied, this copyright notice must appear with the information.