"In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue..." Didn't we all learn this as school kids? Sadly, Columbus Day today seems to be just a day off from work (for some), no mail delivery, and some great sales at the mall.Some Columbus Day history:
The first recorded celebration honoring the discovery of America by Europeans took place on October 12, 1792, in New York City. The event, which celebrated the 300th anniversary of Columbus' landing in the New World, was organized by The Society of St. Tammany (also known as the Columbian Order).
In 1937, at the behest of the Knights of Columbus (a Catholic fraternal service organization named for the voyager), President Franklin D. Roosevelt set aside Columbus Day as a federal holiday. In 1971, President Richard Nixon declared the second Monday of October a national holiday.
In honor of Columbus Day, how about taking some time to promote the Christopher Columbus Essay Contest at your local high school? This contest is open to students in grades 9-12, and this year's topic is, "How did the four voyages of Columbus change our perception of geography and alter world economics?"
Chapter chairmen should collect student essays by November 20, 2007. Your winning chapter essays are due to our District Representative, Mary Alice Ambrose, by December 31, 2007.
More Columbus Day information:
- The History of Columbus Day (from The History Channel)
- The Library of Congress
- Columbus Day (from Wikipedia)
- Columbus Day - The U.S. Department of State
- Read the Proclamation from President Bush
*******************************
We've talked a bit about genetic genealogy at a few of our meetings, so I thought you might find this article from The New York Times to be of interest today: "Seeking Columbus’s Origins, With a Swab".
Also, if you missed last night's "60 Minutes" report on DNA, "Reconstructing the Family Tree," you can watch it here.
Hubby and I watched it last night, and I can't say that I learned a whole lot that I didn't already know. However, I will say that I'm intrigued enough to order an mtDNA test for myself and a Y-DNA test for Hubby and my father. I'll keep you posted. :-)
1 comment:
Dearest Madame District VIII Director Lizybth: Darn, I wish I'd seen that DNA program. I talked my father into getting his DNA sent in to FamilyTree DNA Testing (I think that was the name--I found it thru the Green Surname Project (Green was my maiden name) either thru Ancestry.com, or via Genealogy.com/GenForum, one of the two. The results came back, and it looked like he did have some identical matches out there, but all the jargon that you have to wade thru can be a bit intimidating. We haven't done a lot with the info--maybe this winter we'll delve more deeply into contacting the 100%'ers. A cousin recognized one of the names so we are not genetic orphans, thank God!
I have been interested in having my dad do this ever since my mum and I did our trip to England back in 2001; have I told you about it? we ended up meeting Dr. Bryan Sykes, the author of the book, "Seven Daughters of Eve". He is a geneticist at Oxford U in England, and that's his schtick, delving into genetics and genealogy. He started the company, "Oxford Ancestors" and our cousin who organized our trip ended up working for him for several yrs. I think that it would be a great Program to develop for Nat'l submission...if it hasn't been already. Hmmmm...but since I'm just a snooper from Dist. VII, you'll have to torture me to get the rest of the information.... :-) Susan
Post a Comment