NFL Quiz: (1) Who holds the record for most TDs in a single
season? (2) Who was the last player to lead the league in TDs,
rushing, 3 consecutive years? (3) Who holds the record for
consecutive years leading the league in TD receptions?
Answers below.
Thanksgiving Day…and the Pilgrims
[The dates and initial facts are true…I may have mixed up some
other items, however.]
In the humble opinion of this editor, Thanksgiving is the greatest
holiday. It certainly defines us as a people better than any other.
But, as I frequently am, I was embarrassed to find out just how
much I have forgotten about the genesis of the holiday. So print
this up and go over it with your kids.
1607 – The first permanent English colony was founded by more
than 100 colonists in Jamestown, VA, May 13th. In December of
1607, Captain John Smith and two companions were captured by
Indians while in search of food. His companions were killed but
Smith was spared by the intercession of Pocahontas, America”s
First Babe.
1607 – Glassmaking was practiced for the first time in Jamestown.
This is an excuse to praise, and remember, my great Uncle Bill, a
true artisan of the craft himself at the Westmoreland Glass
Company outside of Pittsburgh, PA.
1608 – John Smith had two Indians (Mazola and Niblet) teach him
how to raise Indian corn. Faced with starvation, the colonists
accepted this new grain, although opposition existed. Allen
Iverson becomes the first to wear corn-rows.
1609 – The first marriage in the American colonies takes place
between Anne Burrows and John Laydon in Virginia. No word
on how long it lasted.
Winter of 1609-10 called “starving time” and many died.
1611 – It is estimated that the European population in the colonies
was 210.
Tobacco – The early explorers were astonished to see Indians
smoking tobacco, a plant unknown in Europe. Tobacco leaves
were soon taken to Europe where smoking became a rage. For a
time it was believed that the fumes had miraculous curative
powers. NASCAR, seizing on the opportunity, gets Winston to
sponsor a new racing series that would sweep the south.
In Virginia, John Rolfe, planted the first successful crop in 1612.
By 1619 it was the leading export of Virginia.
1616 – A smallpox epidemic among Indians relieved future New
England colonies of the threat of major hostilities with the
Indians. The tribes were virtually destroyed.
1619 – July 30th, the first legislative assembly in America, the
House of Burgesses, convened at Old Church, Jamestown, VA.
Pork was doled out the first day and everyone went home for 6
months.
Meanwhile, for much of the 17th century it was a period of
religious dissent in the British Isles against the established Church
of England. The best known of these groups were the Pilgrims,
who were Separatists, and the more numerous Puritans, who
would establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1620 – And so it was that in September, 120 English Puritans,
who were to call themselves Pilgrims, set sail from Plymouth,
England to head for Massachusetts. It was World Series time.
On November 21, 1620, at sea off the New England coast (and
having missed the Series), the Pilgrims agreed to establish a
preliminary government and the Mayflower Compact was signed.
The compact bound signers to majority-rule government in the
Pilgrim colony, pending receipt of a royal charter. This becomes
a significant first step in the development of democracy in
America.
December 26, 1620, the Plymouth Colony, the first colonial
settlement in New England is founded. They settled on what is
now Cape Cod Bay, Mass. The Pilgrims named the first town
after their port of departure. During the first winter nearly half
the settlers died.
Finally, in 1621, the surviving Pilgrims celebrated the first harvest
of the Plymouth Colony in December of that year. The Dallas
Cowboys played the Green Bay Packers. [It”s not known who
Detroit played in the first game.]
1863 – On October 3rd, Abraham Lincoln proclaims Thanksgiving
a national holiday, to be observed the last Thursday in November.
1939 – FDR moved Thanksgiving Day one week back to
stimulate Christmas shopping. In 1941 Congress officially
confirmed the 4th Thursday, not the last Thursday, as
Thanksgiving Day.
*The common Wild Turkey is really of the genus, “Maleagris
Gallopavo.”
Top 3 songs for the week of 11/22/69: #1 “Wedding Bell Blues”
(The 5th Dimension) #2 “Take A Letter Maria” (R.B. Greaves)
#3 “Something” (The Beatles).
Quiz Answers: (1) Emmitt Smith, 25, 1955 (2) Leroy Kelly,
Cleveland, 1966-68.15,11,16. (3) Don Hutson, 5, 1940-44.
Next Bar Chat, Friday…And from all of us at StocksandNews,
a blessed Thanksgiving.
