Several trips to the Boyce Thompson Southwestern arboretum provided no evidence that the cactus named after my great uncle, Echinocereus boyce thompsonii, actually blooms. I even bought one in the visitors center and brought it home to Maryland, where it failed to bloom over several years but did succeed in ruining a couple nice shirts. […]
Archives for July 2014
The Man from Asarco Once Visited St. Louis
Julius Kruttschnitt, Jr. (1885-1974) was so famous in Australia that a letter addressed “Julius Kruttschnitt, Australia” was likely to reach him. But in the late 1960s, when the mining magnate visited the St. Louis suburb where my family lived, he was just another great-grandfather visiting his great-grandchildren. According to his biography, The Man from Asarco, […]
Judah P. Benjamin Was Forced to Leave His Desk Behind
When Judah P. Benjamin fled the country following the Civil War — he needed to skedaddle since he’d served as Secretary of State for the Confederacy — there was only so much he could take with him. First, the portly attorney could only fit so much on his horse, which he rode through the South, […]
Long-Lost Hugh Simmers Bracelet Recovered
Anne Oxley of Vermont earlier this year bought a bunch of sterling silver at an auction, thinking she’d sell it for scrap. Thankfully, she noticed that one bracelet had the name “Hugh Simmers” inscribed on the front. On the back another inscription read, “Good Luck From Kings Cinema Staff, Edinburgh. 10-10-17.” “I have always wanted […]
J.E. Thompson Brought Indoor Plumbing to Greer, Ariz.
Locals remember the scene when J.E. Thompson first visited Greer, Arizona, on his way from New York to Phoenix. He arrived in 1919 with his clan in a Twin 6 Packard touring car, which was about the grandest thing that many residents had ever seen. He was referred to as the local millionaire. But the […]
J.E. Thompson’s Greer Cabin Went Up in Flames!
Great-Grandfather J.E. Thompson (1875-1950) used to vacation at a cabin in the White Mountains on a plateau about 1,000 feet above Greer, Ariz. Great-grandfather called the small, one-room building far from civilization his “hunting shack.” It’s unclear how much hunting he did there. There will be no opportunity for forensics. The cabin burned a few […]