Just a Buckeye Nut...

OHIO

Ohio, the Buckeye state, whose name is taken from an Iroquoian word meaning “great river,” was probably first settled by Peleo-Indian peoples, who lived in the area as early as 13,000 BCE. Later, ancestors of Native Americans were known as the Archaic peoples. Sophisticated successive cultures of prehistoic indigenous peoples, such as the Adena, Hopewell and Mississippian, built monumental earthworks as part of their religious and political expression: mounds and walled enclosures, some of which have survived to the present.

During the 18th century, the French set up a system of trading posts to control the fur trade in the region, linked to their settlements in present-day Canada and what they called the Illinois Country along the Mississippi River. And, in 1763, France surrendered its claim to Ohio to Britain. From there, Marietta, founded by General Rufus Putnam and named in honor of Marie Antoinette, became the first permanent settlement in 1788.

But, how about some little known facts about Ohio. Here is some interesting, yet not necessarily important trivia about the state. 

 Buckeye Trivia

Feb 19, 1803. Congress voted to accept Ohio's borders and constitution. However, Congress did not get around to formally ratifying Ohio statehood until 1953.

Jan. 5, 1804. Ohio legislature passed the 1st laws restricting free blacks movement.

Oct. 29, 1815. Daniel Decatur Emmett, the composer of "Dixie," which became the unofficial national anthem of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio.

March 24, 1832. Mormon founder, martyr Joseph Smith was beaten, tarred and feathered in Ohio.

Dec 3, 1833. Oberlin College in Ohio, the first truly coeducational school of higher learning in the United States, opened its doors.
  
Sept. 23, 1838. Victoria Chaflin Woodhull (d.1927), American presidential candidate (1872), was born into a family of charlatans in Ohio. Woodhull, a militant suffragist, advocated free love and was Wall Street's first female broker after attracting Cornelius Vanderbilt. She was the first woman to address Congress.

1841-1921. Four of the seven presidents hailing from Ohio died while in office. They were William Henry Harrison, the 9th president, who died one month after his inauguration in 1841; the 20th president, James Garfield, who was assassinated in 1881; William McKinley, the 25th president, who was assassinated in 1901; and Warren G.  Harding, who died suddenly in 1923.

1860-1865.  The 23d Ohio, a volunteer regiment during the American Civil War, included two future presidents and an army commander. The volunteer citizen army that fought the Civil War for the North was one of the most remarkable military assemblages in history. The 23d Ohio contained among its commanding and ranking officers more names that would become famous than any other regiment in the Northern armies.

1862.  Mary Jane Patterson (1840-1894) received a degree from Oberlin College, Ohio, becoming the 1st black female college graduate in the US.

Dec 9, 1902.  Margaret Hamilton, character actress, was born in Cleveland, Oh. She became best known as the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz (1939).

1908. William Henry Hoover, an inventive janitor and founder of the Hoover Vacuum Co., produced the Model O, the first commercially successful portable electric vacuum cleaner. The Hoover Historical Center in North Canton, Ohio, was devoted to carpet-cleaning history.


July 6, 1920. The Democrats ended their convention in San Francisco with the selection James Cox of Ohio and running mate Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Cox and FDR were committed internationalists and lost the elections due to the isolationism of the times.

Jan 26, 1925. Paul Newman, actor (Hud, Hombre, Hustler, Cool Hand Luke), was born in Cleveland.

Oct. 12, 1933. Bank robber John Dillinger escaped from a jail in Allen County, Ohio, with the help of his gang, who killed the sheriff, Jess Sarber.

Oct. 22, 1934. Bank robber Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd was shot to death by federal agents at a farm in East Liverpool, Ohio.
    
Nov. 12, 1934. Charles Manson, [No Name Maddox], mass murderer, was born in Cincinnati, Oh.

August 3, 1940. Martin Sheen, actor, was born as Ramon Estevez in Dayton, Ohio.

March 21, 1952. The Moondog Coronation Ball was held at the Cleveland Arena. It was promoted by Alan Freed, who is credited with coining the term "rock and roll" at WJW radio, and was later cited as the 1st rock concert. The only band to perform (one song) was one led by Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams, before fire marshals closed the show.

May 12, 1995. Larry Wayne Harris was arrested in Lancaster for possession of bubonic plague bacteria. A search of his home found certificates identifying him as a member of the Aryan Nations Church.

Dec 2, 2003. Authorities in Ohio announced that they had linked 12 shootings along a five-mile stretch of interstate around Columbus, including one that killed a woman and another that broke a window at an elementary school. A suspect was arrested the following March. Charles A. McCoy Jr., later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and 10 other charges, and was sentenced to 27 years in prison. (27 years, can you believe that?)

Sept.1, 2005. It was reported that 13% (64 of 490) of the female students at Timken Senior High School in, Canton, Ohio are pregnant. One girl, eight months pregnant, said she believes the school's abstinence-based sex education program isn't enough. (Pretty evident most would say.)

Beautiful Ohio
Written by Ballard MacDonald
special lyrics by Wilbert B. McBride
Composed by Mary Earl

I sailed away;
Wandered afar;
Crossed the mighty restless sea;
Looked for where I ought to be.
Cities so grand, mountains above,
Led to this land I love.

Chorus

Beautiful Ohio, where the golden grain
Dwarf the lovely flowers in the summer rain.
Cities rising high, silhouette the sky.
Freedom is supreme in this majestic land;
Mighty factories seem to hum in tune, so grand.
Beautiful Ohio, thy wonders are in view,
Land where my dreams all come true!