|
Charles Ellet, Jr.
Charles Ellet Jr. (1 January 1810 – 21 June 1862) was an American civil engineer from Pennsylvania who designed and constructed major canals, suspension bridges and railroads. He built the Wheeling Suspension Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world from 1849 to 1851. He conducted the first Federal survey of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers as part of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. Ellet published multiple books and essays on wide ranging topics including macroeconomic theory, suspension bridge construction, railroad construction, river flood control and steam powered battery rams. During the American Civil War, Ellet received a commission as colonel and created and commanded the United States Ram Fleet, a Union Army unit of ram ships converted from commercial steamers. His ram ships played a critical role in the Union naval victory at the First Battle of Memphis. He was wounded during the battle (the only casualty on the Union side) and died soon after. E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Bucks County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 646,538, making it the fourth-most populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Doylestown. The county is named after the English county of Buckinghamshire. Bucks County is part of the northern boundary of the Philadelphia– Camden– Wilmington, PA– NJ– DE– MD Metropolitan Statistical Area, more commonly known as the Delaware Valley. It is located immediately northeast of Philadelphia and forms part of the southern tip of the eastern state border with New Jersey. History Founding Bucks County is one of the three original counties created by colonial proprietor William Penn in 1682. Penn named the county after Buckinghamshire, the county in which he lived in England. He built a country estate, Pennsbury Manor, in Falls Township, Bucks County. Some places in Bucks County were named after locations in Buckinghamshire, including Buckingham and Buckingham T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wheeling Suspension Bridge
The Wheeling Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the main channel of the Ohio River at Wheeling, West Virginia. It was the largest suspension bridge in the world from 1849 until 1851. Charles Ellet Jr. (who also worked on the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge) designed it and supervised construction of what became the first bridge to span a major river west of the Appalachian mountains. It linked the eastern and western section of the National Road, and became especially strategically important during the American Civil War. Litigation in the United States Supreme Court concerning its obstruction of the new high steamboat smokestacks eventually cleared the way for other bridges, especially needed by expanding railroads. Because this bridge was designed during the horse-and-buggy era, 2-ton weight limits and vehicle separation requirements applied in later years until it was closed to automobile traffic in September 2019. The main span is from tower to tower. The eas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First Families Of Virginia
First Families of Virginia (FFV) were those families in Colonial Virginia who were socially prominent and wealthy, but not necessarily the earliest settlers. They descended from English colonists who primarily settled at Jamestown, Williamsburg, the Northern Neck and along the James River and other navigable waters in Virginia during the 17th century. These elite families generally married within their social class for many generations and, as a result, most surnames of First Families date to the colonial period. The American Revolution cut ties with Britain but not with its social traditions. While some First Family members were loyal to Britain, others were Whigs who not only supported, but led the Revolution. Most First Families remained in Virginia, where they flourished as tobacco planters, and from the sale of enslaved people to the cotton states to the south. Indeed, many younger sons were relocated into the cotton belt to start their own plantations. With the emancipati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Daniel (judge)
William Daniel, Jr. (November 26, 1806 – March 28, 1873) was an American slaveowner, lawyer, legislator and jurist who served on the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, that state's highest court, from 1846 to 1865. Early and family life Daniel was born on November 26, 1806, to Margaret Baldwin Daniel probably in Winchester, Virginia at her parents' home. His father, William Daniel Sr. (1770-1839) was a lawyer, legislator and beginning in 1813 judge of the general court in Cumberland and Campbell Counties based in Lynchburg. His father's second wife, the widow Paulina Jordan (1780-1840) was a daughter of Col. John Cabell (d. 1815) and the widow of Hector Cabell (son of Col. William Cabell), and this man's elder sister Mary Cornelia Briscoe Daniel (1804-1843) married Mayo Cabell and would die at the Cabell estate "Union Hill" after birthing nine children. His mother's brother was Judge Briscoe Baldwin. He was thus descended from the First Families of Virginia. Daniel rec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner John Lynch (1740–1820), John Lynch, the city's population was 79,009 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills" or the "Hill City". In the 1860s, Lynchburg was the only city in Virginia that was not recaptured by the Union (American Civil War), Union before the end of the American Civil War. Lynchburg lies at the center of a wider Lynchburg metropolitan area, metropolitan area close to the geographic center of Virginia. It is the fifth-largest Metropolitan statistical area, MSA in Virginia, with a population of 261,593. It is the site of several institutions of higher education, including Virginia University of Lynchburg, Randolph College, University of L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Carpenter
Samuel Carpenter (4 November 1649 – 10 April 1714) was a Deputy Governor of colonial Pennsylvania. He signed the historic document "The Declaration of Fealty, Christian Belief and Test" dated 10 September 1695; the original is in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Samuel was also called the "First Treasurer" of Pennsylvania, and was a partner and friend of proprietor William Penn. Early life Born in Horsham, Sussex, England, Samuel was baptised in the Church of St. Mary's Horsham on 20 December 1649. He was the youngest son of John Carpenter, the Sheriff of Horsham, who was murdered while attending his duties in Horsham on 9 August 1671, by his second wife Sarah (maiden name unknown). His ancestry, claimed by General Louis H. Carpenter, claims descent from a Thomas Carpenter who married Ales or Alice Fiste, a widow, at St. Mary's Parish Church in Horsham on 20 May 1565.Samuel Carpenter and his Descendants' compiled by Edward Carpenter & his son, Gen. Louis H. Carpente ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
