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Articles written by charles haddon shank


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  • Creating Fiction from History: 11/9/2022

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Nov 9, 2022

    Sir Robert Moore was born of Scottish ancestry to John and Mary Moore on the official centennial of the birth of this great nation. The family farm was halfway between Lansing and Waukon, on the outskirts of what would soon become the unincorporated community known as Church. John and Mary were heavily involved in the founding of this little community. Born on the fourth of July, at 3:04 in the morning, Robert was a difficult child from day one. First of all, he presented breach and emerged...

  • Dear Editor: Shop Local

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Oct 26, 2022

    Dear Editor, I am not perfect by any means, particularly when it comes to the subject of this letter. At the danger of retracing our steps in what’s probably familiar territory, I again wanted to bring up the subject of Shop Local. I totally understand sometimes it just makes better sense, financially speaking, to shop over the hill in Butte, a bit further in the opposite direction in Bozeman. or up the pass in Helena. Sometimes, if I’m going to be in one of these cities for whatever reason, I might end up doing my shopping at Walmart or...

  • Creating Fiction from History: 10/26/2022

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Oct 26, 2022

    Maggie was almost royalty, but she never got the chance. Born Magda Joanna Kowalski, Maggie was the daughter of a distant descendant to the Hapsburgs. Only a lowly lieutenant at the time, her father was unfortunate enough to be stationed aboard a certain mail train traveling between Warsaw and St. Petersburg. It was this train that was the subject of the infamous Bezdany Raid. Even more unfortunate for our little heroine, who was barely ten at the time, she and her mother had accompanied her...

  • Creating Fiction from History: 10/19/2022

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Oct 19, 2022

    RonLynn Peltzer was born in 1789 to James and EvaLynn Peltzer of Leitch's Station in the Territory soon to become the State of Kentucky. Her father and mother, along with about 18 other settlers, were the first white inhabitants of Campbell County, in what would soon be northeast Kentucky. RonLynn's father had served as a Corporal under Captain David Leitch during the Revolutionary War. In fact, the Peltzers and the Leitchs had become close friends, as both had immigrated from Europe at about th...

  • Creating Fiction From History: 10/12/2022

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Oct 12, 2022

    On a ridge between the rivers, Haine and Trouille stand the 7th-century city of Mons. In late May of 1889, the man pictured below, possibly the Belgian novelist Henri-Charles Boussuet, was on trial in this capital city of the province of Hainaut as an agent provocateur of the Parti Socialiste Republicain. Posing as a long-lost friend of the group's founder, Alfred Defuissaux, Bousseut had gotten Defuissaux expelled for inciting violence, something the group was trying to steer clear of. The resu...

  • Dear Editor: My take on EVs

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Sep 28, 2022

    Dear Editor, Okay, this is me jumping on the proverbial bandwagon. Most, if not everyone, in town knows that I drive an electric vehicle. It’s not quite the same issue as a Tesla or a Prius but still, the principle still applies. There are definitely advantages to traveling in an electric vehicle. For me, maybe one of the most obvious is its operation, which is nearly silent and therefore, more or less stealthy. As an amateur photographer, I really appreciate being able to move about the countryside, although with somewhat limited range,...

  • Creating Fiction from History: 9/28/2022

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Sep 28, 2022

    Carlene Switzer, possibly pictured here, might have grown up to become one of the most infamous rum-runners in the South. Now, you might be thinking that should be 'moonshiner', but no, Carlene, better known as Tipsey, dealt in rum. Born on August 27th, in the year 1907, Tipsey grew up in the land of her nativity, deep in the Everglades region of Florida. Her parents were second-generation German immigrants who were instrumental in bringing back into commercialization sugarcane production in...

  • Creating Fiction from History: 9/21/2022

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Sep 21, 2022

    The year was 1930. Even with all the hubbub going on further east over the stock market crash of the year previous, the jazz scene in Milwaukee was going strong! Now known as Bronzeville, the jazz district would later host greats such as Duke Ellington and Herbie Hancock; less well-known perhaps, but no less remarkable, was little Harriet Smith, now known as Hattie Smythe. When Harriet's parents passed away within less than a year of each other, Harriet was just turning 18. This was in 1922 and...

  • Creating Fiction from History: 9/14/2022

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Sep 14, 2022

    Harriet Peregrin Smith, Hattie for short, possibly pictured here, was born to a mixed couple in Georgia. Her parents, Reginald and Darlene Smith, had been approved for a marriage license after special consideration, even though the ban against interracial marriage remained in effect at the time. One may wonder at the strings that must have been pulled. Fortunately for Hattie, the strings were pulled and thus her birth was legitimized! Hattie was possibly three-months-old when this photograph was...

  • Creating Fiction From History: 9/7/2022

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Sep 7, 2022

    For an Irishman at the turn of the century Chicago, young Tom Thumb (Thomas O'Malley) had his work cut out for him! The dapper young fellow possibly featured in the photograph might later have become one of the most infamous inhabitants of the Windy City. However, for the purposes of this story, we'll focus instead on his earlier life in this melting pot. Thomas was a fairly recent immigrant from the Emerald Isles, having sailed into New York Harbor on January 1st, 1892, under the watchful eye o...

  • Creating Fiction from History: 8/31/2022

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Aug 31, 2022

    The year was 1905. Several years previous, Hans and Gisela Grothe, recent immigrants from Germany, had become the proud parents of twin girls, Sylvie and Monika. Monika was the darker-haired of the two, with a head of hair that could almost have passed for raven. Her sister, Sylvie, being somewhat lighter in complexion, had lighter, but deep auburn hair. If one caught her in the right light, they would almost think she was a flaming redhead! Monika was technically the older of the two, having em...

  • Creating Fiction from History: 8/24/2022

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Aug 24, 2022

    Tomas and Sylvia Svoboda had just recently arrived in America. They had sailed aboard the sail steamship City of Adelaide from the Port of Shanghai to San Fransisco. Being a distant member of the Bohemian royal family, newlywed Tomas was now near the end of a whirlwind world tour with his new wife. Having passed over many dangerous usually very rough roads through Europe and Asia, the Svobodas finally arrived in Shanghai on April 9th, 1893. After roughly a month at sea, the semi-royal couple fin...

  • Dear Editor: Pandemic a Blessing in Disguise?

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Aug 17, 2022

    Dear Editor, These are just a few thoughts running through my head for a couple of years now. What if the recent so-called pandemic (some say Plandemic) has been a blessing in disguise?! Now, whether one believes there’s anything to all these conspiracy theories floating around or not, one must admit though it has been quite painful, much if not all of what has been revealed in the past years is eye-opening. And that is, to say the least! When this pandemic hit our shores back in early 2020, after spreading waves of terror around the world,...

  • Creating Fiction from History: 8/10/2022

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Aug 10, 2022

    Her parents might have had an inkling, but when little Destiny Phantasia Fairchild first appeared on the scene in September of 1871, she looked like a fairly normal newborn baby. Douglas and Antonia Fairchild obviously knew something, blessing her with such an ostentatious name. In that day and age especially, what with the fledgling nation still reeling from its first civil conflict, people were ready to grasp the slightest little ray of hope. It didn't take long, then, when she emerged on the...

  • Creating Fiction From History: 8/3/2022

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Aug 3, 2022

    Persephone, Lilith, and Phantasia. Poor little girls! The first two names weren't so bad; they could be condensed to Percy and Lily (thought Percy sounded a bit boyish.) But Phantasia? What could possibly be done with that? Phanty? Fanny? Tase? Tasia? Not much better! The Houseman girls really didn't have any choice. Their mother was of Greek heritage, while their father was, of all things, an Askenazi Jew of Belarussian descent. The world into which these particular girls were born, 1840s New...

  • Creating Fiction from History: 7/27/2022

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Jul 27, 2022

    Frederich Charles Blumenfeldt was born to Frederich and Florence Blumenfeldt, German immigrants who had settled on Makee Ridge in the area of what would become Waukon, Iowa. The town itself would not be incorporated as such for several decades. So Fred, as he was known, born in the fall of 1846, did not technically grow up in Waukon, though he probably knew its environs better than anyone! Along with the famous Shattuck family, the Blumenfeldts were among the first white settlers who dared venture into this region of the brand new state of...

  • Creating Fiction from History: 7/20/2022

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Jul 20, 2022

    Marbella and Dinae Washington were, respectively, both the daughters of a mixed-race couple from Panora, Iowa, in what has now been designated a Guthrie County Historical Village. Just a hundred feet or so from the Middle Racoon River, the Washington girls were both born water babies, even though Dinae was adopted by the Washingtons just before her fifth birthday. Even though Marbella was a couple of years older, Dinae soon all but surpassed her sister with her readiness to the water! Grover...

  • Creating Fiction from History: 7/13/2022

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Jul 13, 2022

    "That's it! I'm done!" Bella felt these words to the bottom of her bottomless soul. She wanted to say them so badly, but this was unheard of in 1860s New England. So what Cymbelminne Rickmeister actually said, in a most humble and obedient manner, was, "Yes, Father! Yes, Mother!" The Rickmeisters, two of Montpelier's leading citizens, were not actually her parents, though they had taken very good care of her. As teenagers will be though, Bella was not always very appreciative. Orphaned at the te...

  • Creating Fiction from History: 7/6/2022

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Jul 6, 2022

    Born Mary Jane Wheeler, this mischievously beautiful person emerged kicking and screaming into this cold cruel world on the third of July, 1842. The second daughter of William and Janelle Wheeler, Mary Jane lived most of her life on the family farm in the hills surrounding what is now the sprawling metropolis of Butte, Montana. A second-generation American, William had migrated westward in 1839, leaving behind his own parents in Iowa. Unbeknownst to William and his new bride at the time, they be...

  • Creating Fiction From HIstory: 6/22/2022

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Jun 22, 2022

    Ever wonder what porters did when they weren't working on the Underground Railroad, helping southern blacks migrate to safer climates in the North? In 1921, the Union persevered and slavery was officially a thing of the past. However, Ohio, as did many of the so-called "border-states," still ran an Underground Railroad of sorts; it had long since emerged into the open air of a newly reunited country. These porters, while their work was not as dangerous as that carried on by the likes of Harriet...

  • Creating Fiction from History: 6/15/2022

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Jun 15, 2022

    Billy sure loved his rocks! Big ones, small ones, dull ones, shiny ones, light ones, heavy ones; if it caught Billy's eye (not many didn't), it soon found its way into his trusty (or make that "rusty") red companion. Where it went from there depended on how heavy or light, shiny or dull, small or big. The big ones usually became part of some landscaping project. Sometimes it was a fence of whatever size and purpose. Others were simply a marker for some grave, whether it was some poor little...

  • Creating Fiction from History: 6/8/2022

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Jun 8, 2022

    John James Scanlan, Ph.D.: He liked the sound of that! John James entered this life on April 21st of the year 1894, son of John and Riordan Scanlan, of County Louth, on the East Coast of Ireland. Soon after the birth of their first son, John and Riordan relocated to the American Mid-West, which was still in the process of becoming United. John James, therefore, grew up knowing nary but the wheatfields they were surrounded by when the trouble started brewing across the pond. While the Scanlans we...

  • Dear Editor: We Have Forgotten Who We are As a People

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Jun 1, 2022

    Dear Editor, I apologize beforehand for the relative touchiness of the subject at hand. However, here we go again! The most recent school shooting has anti-gun, or at least stricter gun law advocates, in an uproar. I realize we’ve been here before, but guns are not the issue. History tells us stricter regulations or just outright gun bans simply make the average citizen easier prey for those who would unrighteously try to control us. No, the issue, the problem, if you will, is human nature! Society in general plays a part in this drama as...

  • Creating Fiction From History: 6/1/2022

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Jun 1, 2022

    Andree de Villiers, of Basque ancestry, was a relative newcomer to this strange new world. She had emerged into the old world of the Biscay region of France, to be exact, in the mountain village of Oloron-Sainte-Marie, on September the 13th of the year 1874. Her parents, Eneko and Amala, had passed away, respectively, when Andree was 2 and 5 years of age. Born Andree Garcia, our heroine was adopted by a fairly wealthy couple living in a quiet little chateau on the outskirts of Paris soon...

  • Op-Ed: The Importance of Water in Development

    CHARLES HADDON SHANK|Jun 1, 2022

    Imagine if you will, a lone figure trudging through a barren desert landscape with nothing but miles and miles of seemingly endless seas of sand to keep them company. Obviously, of primary importance to that person would be finding WATER and finding it FAST! The importance of water to the continuation of human life cannot be downplayed. Water is most important to all of life, from the lowliest seedling to the greatest land mammal. This is not so much a response to Rebecca Lawton’s piece from last week’s (May 25, 2022) Ledger as it is...

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