Thomas Mercer
Judge Thomas Mercer (March 11, 1813 – May 25, 1898) was a pioneer associated with the early history of Seattle. Seattle's Mercer Street and Mercer Island in Lake Washington bear his name. Biography Early life Mercer was born in Harrison County, Ohio on March 11, 1813, and was the eldest son of Aaron and Jane (Dickerson) Mercer, natives of Virginia and Pennsylvania, respectively. Aaron Mercer moved to Ohio in boyhood, being among the pioneers of that country. He learned the process of manufacturing woollen cloths and blankets and then operated his own factory very successfully for a number of years. Illinois In 1834 he was among the pioneer settlers at Princeton, Bureau County, Illinois. The eldest of fourteen, Thomas's education was chiefly in the school of necessity. As labor was the chief occupation of the pioneer, and in the noble army of workers Judge Mercer has been arrayed throughout his life, he was a bright, active boy, quick in mathematics and mechanical work. Hi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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King County Council
The Metropolitan King County Council, the legislative body of King County, Washington, consists of nine members elected by district. The Council adopts laws, sets policy, and holds final approval over the budget. Its current name and structure is the result of a merger of King County and the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle, better known as Metro, which was a federated county-city structure responsible for water quality and public transportation. Councilmembers As a result of a County Charter amendment passed by voters in the United States elections, 2008, November 2008 elections, all elective offices of King County are officially nonpartisan; that being said, all current council members have made their party affiliations a matter of public record. *District 1: Rod Dembowski (D) took office 2013 *District 2: Girmay Zahilay (D) took office 2020 *District 3: Sarah Perry (D) took office 2022 *District 4: Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D) took office 2016 *District 5: Dave Upthegrove (D ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, grilles, railings, light fixtures, furniture, sculpture, tools, agricultural implements, decorative and religious items, cooking utensils, and weapons. There was an historical distinction between the heavy work of the blacksmith and the more delicate operation of a whitesmith, who usually worked in Goldsmith, gold, Silversmith, silver, pewter, or the finishing steps of fine steel. The place where a blacksmith works is called variously a smithy, a forge or a blacksmith's shop. While there are many people who work with metal such as farriers, wheelwrights, and Armourer, armorers, in former times the blacksmith had a general knowledge of how to make and repair many things, from the most complex of weapons and armor to simple things ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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HistoryLink
HistoryLink is an online encyclopedia of Washington state history. The site has more than 8,100 entries and attracts 5,000 daily visitors. It has 500 biographies and more than 14,000 images. The non-profit historical organization History Ink produces HistoryLink.org, stating that it is the nation's first online encyclopedia of local and state history created expressly for the Internet. Walt Crowley was the founding president and executive director. Foundation In 1997, Crowley discussed preparing a Seattle- King County historical encyclopedia for the 2001 sesquicentennial of the Denny Party. His wife Marie McCaffrey suggested publishing the encyclopedia on the Internet. They and Paul Dorpat incorporated History Ink on November 10, 1997, with seed money from Priscilla "Patsy" Collins, by birth a member of Seattle's wealthy and prominent Bullitt family. The prototype of HistoryLink.org debuted on May 1, 1998, and attracted additional funding for a formal launch in 1999. The website ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lake Washington Ship Canal
The Lake Washington Ship Canal, which runs through the city of Seattle, connects the fresh water body of Lake Washington with the salt water inland sea of Puget Sound. The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks accommodate the approximately difference in water level between Lake Washington and the sound. The canal runs east–west and connects Union Bay, the Montlake Cut, Portage Bay, Lake Union, the Fremont Cut, Salmon Bay, and Shilshole Bay, which is part of the sound. History The ship canal project began in 1911 and was officially completed in 1934. Prior to construction of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, otherwise known as the Salmon Bay Waterway, water used to exit Lake Washington via the Black River which flowed from the south end of Lake Washington into the Duwamish River. As early as 1854, there was discussion of building a navigable connection between Lake Washington and Puget Sound for the purpose of transporting logs, milled lumber, and fishing vessels. Thirteen years later, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lake Union
Lake Union is a freshwater lake located entirely within the city limits of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is a major part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, which carries fresh water from the much larger Lake Washington on the east to Puget Sound on the west. The easternmost point of the lake is the Ship Canal Bridge, which carries Interstate 5 over the eastern arm of the lake and separates Lake Union from Portage Bay. Lake Union is the namesake of the neighborhoods located on its east and west shores: Eastlake and Westlake respectively. The northern shore of the lake is home to Gas Works Park. Notable features of the southern area of the lake—collectively known as the South Lake Union district—include Lake Union Park, Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI), and the Center for Wooden Boats. The Aurora Bridge (officially the George Washington Memorial Bridge) carries State Route 99 over the western arm of Lake Union. The Aurora Bridge is so named because it carrie ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lushootseed Language
Lushootseed (txʷəlšucid, dxʷləšúcid), also Puget Salish, Puget Sound Salish or Skagit-Nisqually, is a language made up of a dialect continuum of several Salish tribes of modern-day Washington state. Lushootseed is one of the Coast Salish languages, one of two main divisions of the Salishan language family. Its pre-contact range extended from modern-day Olympia, Washington to Vancouver, British Columbia, spoken by roughly 12 thousand at its peak. The dialects of the language can be split into two categories: northern and southern, which can further be split into dialects spoken by the individual peoples who spoke it. Today, it is mostly used in heritage and symbolic purposes, like on signage or place names. It is seldom spoken today, and is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger. Phonology Lushootseed has a complex consonantal phonology and 4 vowel phonemes. Along with more common voicing and labialization contrasts, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Duwamish Tribe
The Duwamish ( lut, Dxʷdəwʔabš, ) are a Lushootseed-speaking Native American tribe in western Washington, and the indigenous people of metropolitan Seattle, where they have been living since the end of the last glacial period (c. 8000 BCE, 10,000 years ago). The Duwamish Tribe descends from at least two distinct groups from before intense contact with people of European ancestry—the ''People of the Inside'' (the environs of Elliott Bay) and the ''People of the Large Lake'' ( Lake Washington)—and continues to evolve both culturally and ethnically. By historic language, the Duwamish are (Skagit-Nisqually) Lushootseed; Lushootseed is a Salishan language. Adjacent tribes throughout the Puget Sound- Strait of Georgia basin were, and are, interconnected and interrelated, yet distinct. Today, some Duwamish people are enrolled in the federally recognized Tulalip Tribes of Washington as well as the Muckleshoot Tribe. The present-day Duwamish Tribe developed in parallel with th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of the Continental Army, Washington led the Patriot forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War and served as the president of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which created the Constitution of the United States and the American federal government. Washington has been called the " Father of his Country" for his manifold leadership in the formative days of the country. Washington's first public office was serving as the official surveyor of Culpeper County, Virginia, from 1749 to 1750. Subsequently, he received his first military training (as well as a command with the Virginia Regiment) during the French and Indian War. He was later elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses and was named a delegate to the Continental Congress ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lake Washington
Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle. It is the largest lake in King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington, after Lake Chelan. It borders the cities of Seattle on the west, Bellevue and Kirkland on the east, Renton on the south and Kenmore on the north, and encloses Mercer Island. The lake is fed by the Sammamish River at its north end and the Cedar River at its south. Lake Washington received its present name in 1854 after Thomas Mercer suggested it be named after George Washington, as the new Washington Territory had been named the year before. Earlier names for the lake include the Duwamish name ''Xacuabš'' (Lushootseed: literally "''xacu''" ''great-amount-of-water + "abš" people''), which referred to peoples who stayed along the coastline of Lake Washington, as well as Lake Geneva by Isaac N. Ebey; Lake Duwamish in railroad surveys under Governor Isaac Stevens; At-sar-kal in a map sketched by engin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Independence Day (United States)
Independence Day (colloquially the Fourth of July) is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States of America. The Founding Father delegates of the Second Continental Congress declared that the Thirteen Colonies were no longer subject (and subordinate) to the monarch of Britain, King George III, and were now united, free, and independent states. The Congress voted to approve independence by passing the Lee Resolution on July 2 and adopted the Declaration of Independence two days later, on July 4. Independence Day is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball games, family reunions, political speeches, and ceremonies, in addition to various other public and private events celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the United States. Independence Day is the n ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Probate Judge
A probate court (sometimes called a surrogate court) is a court that has competence in a jurisdiction to deal with matters of probate and the administration of estates. In some jurisdictions, such courts may be referred to as Orphans' Courts or courts of ordinary. In some jurisdictions probate court functions are performed by a chancery court or another court of equity, or as a part or division of another court. Probate courts administer proper distribution of the assets of a decedent (one who has died), adjudicates the validity of wills, enforces the provisions of a valid will (by issuing the grant of probate), prevents malfeasance by executors and administrators of estates, and provides for the equitable distribution of the assets of persons who die intestate (without a valid will), such as by granting a grant of administration giving judicial approval to the personal representative to administer matters of the estate. In contested matters, the probate court examines t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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King County, Washington
King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the state's most populous city. King County is one of three Washington counties that are included in the Seattle– Tacoma–Bellevue metropolitan statistical area. (The others are Snohomish County to the north, and Pierce County to the south.) About two-thirds of King County's population lives in Seattle's suburbs. History When Europeans arrived in the region that would become King County, it was inhabited by several Coast Salish groups. Villages around the site that would become Seattle were primarily populated by the Duwamish people. The Snoqualmie Indian Tribe occupied the area that would become eastern King County. The Green River and White River were home for the Muckleshoot tribal groups. In the first winter after the Denny Party lande ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |