The guy who designed my book found this photo in my collection of documents from the Beale Papers at the Library of Congress and liked it: I seem to remember “Newport” written on the back of it, but couldn’t find much more about it. Beale had family in Newport, Rhode Island, and sometimes spent time …
The Book is finally out
The book is finally out. Thanks to everyone who assisted me in this project. It took a bit longer than I hoped, but there were some factors out of my control. I have some copies that I have been giving out to people I know and for promotional purposes. Those copies have maybe three very …
General Beale’s Unpopular Defense of the Indians/Native Peoples.
On April 11, 1873, General Edward Canby was murdered by Modoc Indians. The word “murdered” is correct as he killed during peace negotiations, under a flag of truce, which is a crime under international law. Americans then were outraged about this, but General Beale (Truxtun’s father), at the risk of losing friends and his reputation, …
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Truxtun, Marie, and the Chinese
I get a lot of visitors to this website from Shanghai, China. I’m sure it has nothing to do with hacking, but rather because Truxtun Beale was fascinated by China. Sure, he lobbied for continuing the Chinese Exclusion Act, but he visited China as a young man and appreciated their culture. From Census records we …
Death Valley Days with General Beale (and Truxtun)
Truxtun’s father, General Edward Fitzgerald Beale, was a hero of the old west. His career started out in the Navy, but he ended up as a general in the California Militia. The 1950s TV show, Death Valley Days, has two episodes that feature Beale. The first, Gold Rush in Reverse, is about him bringing news …
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The sordid history of Grover Cleveland and the Baby Ruth candy bar.
Grover Cleveland’s name has popped up on these pages, so I thought I would share some interesting stories about him. From New York State, Cleveland was the first Democrat and first man who had not served in the military to get elected president since the Civil War. He was also the first president to serve …
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Bar Harbor, Maine, 1889
A purpose of this blog is to give me a space to write about topics that are not in my book (still in the works) but are related to it. There are many interesting stories about the families involved in late 19th-century American politics. I previously posted a copy of this photo from the Maine …
The Russian “Flu” and the Blaine Family
We aren’t experiencing anything new with the coronavirus pandemic. It’s happened before. Most don’t realize it or how much better off we still are from people who lived in the past. Take, for example, the Russian “Flu”, then commonly called La Grippe, which swept the world starting in 1889. Last year, Bloomberg Opinion write, Mark …
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Catrina Beale in 1970
Catrina Beale was Truxtun’s cousin. Born in 1900, she was the only child of John Forbes Beale, a Washington D.C. attorney, and Catharine Beale. John Beale died in 1923 and Catharine died in 1931. Then unmarried, she lived with Truxtun and Marie. They might have looked at her as a daughter, as she was close …
Christmas at Decatur House
General Edward Fitzgerald Beale bought Decatur House, an historic home in Washington, D.C. near the White House, just after the Civil War. He and his family entertained people there for years, just as his daughter-in-law Marie would for many years after. A favorite time of year was Christmas. Gerald Eugene Thompson in his dissertation titled …