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Gentry, AR Real Estate News

By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Benjamin Church was born in Newport, Colony of Rhode Island back in 1734. He attended the Boston Latin School and then Harvard College in 1754. He studied medicine continuing his studies in London where he married Hannah. When he returned to the Colonies he was known as a talented physician and a skillful surgeon.In 1774, he was elected to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and later a member of the Committee of Safety. In 1775, he was a member of the examining board for surgeons for the army. In May, he was sent to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to consult the Continental Congress for the defense of Massachusetts. What you may not know about Benjamin is that he was the first Surgeon General of the United States Army, serving from July 1775 to October 1775. He was active in Boston’s Sons...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Jessie Armour was born in Westerly, Rhode Island back in 1834to Benjamin and Mary. He worked for his father making baby carriages. At eleven he designed a tool drill the ten evenly spaced holes in carriage wheels. He continued to make improvements adding a brake to carriages, a model which folded and an oscillating axle. He was issued a number of patents for his inventions.He died in Brooklyn, New York in 1920, he was 85.What you may not know about Jessie Armour Crandall is that he invented the Shoo-fly rocking horse back in 1859. He was issued a patent for a spring-loaded rocking horse. He also invented “nesting blocks”, that is where one takes a large box and makes another smaller one to fit inside the bigger one, the process continues. It is popular for kids to learn their ABC’s and ...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
John Walter Vincent was born in Durham, North Carolina back in 1919. He moved to New York where he studied at NYU before graduating from the New York University School of Medicine. He joined the United States Army in 1943, serving as the official physician for the Tuskegee Airmen.While serving he spent a year in France where he performed the country’s first open heart surgery. After being discharged he worked at the Harlem Hospital for forty years rising to the position of chief of thoracic surgery. What you may not know about John Walter Vincent Cordice is that on September 20, 958 he was called in to operate on someone who was stabbed with a paper knife. He mapped out a strategy and successfully operated on the patent saving his life. Nothing remarkable except that the patent was Dr. ...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Jacob R. Cohen was born in Deer Park, New York back in 1921 to Phillip and Dorothy. He attended Richmond Hill High School graduating in 1939. His father had abandoned the family he delivered groceries and sold newspaper and ice cream to help support the family. In the 1960’s he was working as a salesman falling into financial debt. It wasn’t until 1967, that his fortune would swing into his favor. He was a last-minute replacement for The Ed Sullivan Show and was a big hit. After his performance, he headlined several shows in Las Vegas. He was a regular on The Dean Martin Show and The Tonight Show, appearing a total of 35 times. In 1980, he received a Grammy Award for an album he produced.If you haven’t figured it out by now I’m writing about Jacob Rodney Cohen. Don’t recognize the name,...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Mary Chilton was born in Sandwich, Kent, England back in 1607 to James and Susannah. When she was thirteen she left with her family on the Mayflower to journey to the New World. After their arrival, her father died in December of 1620 and her mother died six weeks later in January of 1621.She married John Winslow around 1624, that union produced 10 children. The family moved to Boston. In 1676, she made out her last will and testament, she died on May 1, 1679.What you may not know about Mary Chilton is that she is reported to be the first European woman to step ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts. You may also recognize some of her descendants which include: George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush Robert Warren Miller and Howard Dean to name a few.Your day is worthwhile when you make someone smi...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Erwin Chargaff was born in Czermowitz, Duchy of Bukovina, Austria-Hungary back in 1905. At the outbreak of WWI, his family moved to Vienna. He attended the Vienna College of Technology. He studied chemistry in Vienna earning a doctorate. He moved to the United States in 1925 serving as the Milton Campbell Research Fellow at Yale University.He returned to Europe in 1930, as the assistant in charge of chemistry at the University of Berlin. When the Nazi party began he moved to Paris working at the Pasteur Institute. In 1935, he moved back to the United States working at Columbia University until his retirement in 1992. He died in Manhattan, New York City in 2002 he was a young 96.What you may not know about Erwin, is that he discovered the two rules that helped lead to the discovery of th...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
John Carroll was born in Marlborough Town, Province of Maryland back in 1735 to Daniel and Eleanor. His mother had inherited several thousand acres one of the homes in on the Nation Register of Historic Places. Some of his relatives established what is now Baltimore. His cousin Charles was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence. Being home schooled he was sent to the College of St. Omer in French Flanders. When he was 18 he joined the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).He remained in Europe until he was almost 40 at which time he returned to Maryland. In 1771, he founded St. John the Evangelist Parish in Silver Spring. In 1789, John was appointed the first Catholic bishop in the United States. What you may not know about John is other being the first Catholic bishop is tha...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Camillo Camilliani was born in Florence, Italy around circa 1574 (not verified), he was the son of sculptor Francesco Camilliani. In 1583, the Viceroy Marcantonio Colonna invited him to Sicily to design several coastal fortifications. It took him a full year to review the existing fortifications before coming up with a solution.He published his report, “Description of the marinas of the whole kingdom of Sicily with the necessary guards from horse and foot that are held there”, in 1584. His suggestions were simple by today’s standards, what he suggested is the building of watchtowers along the coastline. They were constructed in such a way that they were able to communicate with each other and warn cities of any approaching enemy. He also designed and built the Fortezza del Tocco, Acirea...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Edward Gowen was born in Smyrna, Delaware back in 1870. He studied engineering in Philadelphia taking his knowledge working for the Pullman Company. In 1912, he founded his own company specializing in the manufacture of pressed-steel chassis frames for automobiles. One of his first clients was the Dodge brothers, they purchased 70,000 all-steel open bodies. Edward was the first person to design the Dodge sedan, virtually ending the open-air touring bodies. It wasn’t long after that the other automobile companies followed Dodge.During the Great Depression, he pioneered the fabrication of stainless steel, helping to create the Pioneer Zephyr. During WWII, his company was the original maker of the Bazooka projectile and the rifle grenade. What you may not know about Edward Gowen Budd, is t...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Charles Brooks was born in Virginia it is believed back in 1865. There are no records of who his parents were, his upbringing including but not limited to any education he may have received. However, for this post all of that doesn’t really matter, so let’s get to it shall we. In the 1890’s you could find him living in Newark, New Jersey working as a porter for the Pullman Palace Car Company. Nothing to write home about, right? Well that wasn’t good enough for Charles, he invented something in which he received a patent for in 1896 #556,711, just a few months later he got another patent #560,154. His invention and his second was so successful that the Pennsylvania state government gave him a $110,000.00 contract. In Buffalo, New York the superintendent adopted Brook’s design as the mode...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Antoinette Louisa Brown was born in Henrietta, New York back in 1825 to Joseph and Abby. It is noted as early as three she was highly intelligent. She graduated from Monroe County Academy shortly after she began to teach school. After four years she had saved enough money to enroll at Oberlin College in Ohio. She graduated in 1847 with a bachelor’s degree.After graduation, she wrote for Frederick Douglass’ abolitionist paper The North Star. She also gave speeches at the World’s Temperance Convention. In 1856, she married Samuel. She did domestic responsibilities for the family and began to write for women’s rights movement. In 1860, at the National Woman’s Rights Convention she engaged in a heated debate about divorce with her colleagues and contemporaries Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Erastus Brigham was born in West Boylston, Massachusetts back in 1814. He was the son of a carpet weaver, apparently not a good one either as his business began to fail. His parents wanted him to become a physician however due to his limited income he was not able to go to college.At the young age of 14 he invented a machine that would manufacture piping cord. By the age of 18 he had invented a handloom for suspender webbing. In 1862, he formulated a scheme of uniform taxation for the United States by means of stamps. He also wrote and published The Tariff Question. He founded the Bigelow Mechanics Institute in 1846, the name was changed to the Bigelow Free Public Library located in Clinton, Massachusetts. On a side note he was the original incorporator of the Massachusetts Institute of...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Wilbur Bestwick was born in Sabetha, Kansas back in 1911. I do not have any information about his parents but I can tell you he graduated for a local high school in Sabetha in 1932.In 1934, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps receiving his basic training at San Diego, California. He was assigned to the USS Louisville pre-WWII. In 1943, he saw action with the 3rd Marine Division in Bougainville and the Guam campaigns. After the war. he serve in various assignments. During the Korean War he was assigned to the 1st Marine Division in Korea. For his service, he was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat “V”. in 1956, he was transferred to the Headquarters Marine Corps, Washington D.C. until his retirement in 1959.What you may not know about Wilbur is that he was the first...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Claude Schaeffer was born in Shamokin, Pennsylvania back in 1894. In 1921, he received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins. In 1924, you could find him at the Case Western Reserve University working as a surgical resident. He stayed there until his death in 1971. In the 1930’s his mission was the problem of how to restore circulation to the heart.To that end he developed a technique where he implanted some pectoral muscle to the heart sack, that provided an additional source of circulation. However, that paled to what he did in 1947.What you may not know about Claude Schaeffer Beck is that in 1947, he performed the first defibrillation on a 14-year-old boy with a congenital disorder. The boy (unknown who he was) made a full recovery. The defibrillator had been designed by him and buil...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Katherine Isabel Hayes was born in Irasburg, Vermont back in 1845 to Henry and Anna. She attended the Adams Academy in Derry, New Hampshire, after graduating she marked William in 1863. The couple moved to India where they worked as missionaries, William died in 1865. Katherine stayed for another 6 months completing her missionary work before returning to the United States.After returning to the States she was trained in hydropathy where she met her second husband Samuel. The moved to New York City, where they were married in 1867. They hadn’t been there long before they moved to Washington, D.C. While Samuel remained in Washington she moved back to New York City where she enrolled at the Woman’s Medical College studying ophthalmology. What you may not know about Isabel Barrows is that ...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Emily Dunning was born in Scarsdale, New York back in 1876 to Edwina and Frances. The family fell upon hard times so her father went to Europe to try and recoup his fortune. While he was away a friend suggested to her mother that Emil might become a milliner’s apprentice. According to Emily her mother said, “That settles the question. You are going to go to college.”So off she went to Cornell University’s medical preparatory course. She earned her medical degree in 1901, scoring the second highest grad in the qualifying exam or internship at Gouverneur Hospital. She married Benjamin in 1904. During WWI, she served as vice chair of the American Women’s Hospitals War Service Committee. She was an advocate of the women’s suffrage, working to improve medical education for women, public heal...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Here is a mystery for you.Joanna Baker was born in New Rochelle, Illinois back in 1862 to Ridley and Mary. Both of her parents were teachers and linguists. At the tender age of 4 she was fluent in Greek, Latin and French as well as the English language. A little later she also picked up German. By the time she was 8 she had read several works in the original languages, some of them by Homer and Virgil.In 1870, the family moved to Algona, Iowa where she enrolled in Algona College. In 1878, when she was 16 she was hired as a tutor of Greek at Simpson College in Indianola. At 18 she published an original translation of Plato’s Apology. In 1881, she enrolled in Cornell College, Iowa graduating in just one year with an A.B. she went on to DePauw University, being hired as an instructor of La...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Lillian Gertrud was born in Worcester, Massachusetts back in 1906 to Carl and Selma.  In 1907, her family received new that Lillian’s paternal grandfather had died in Sweden.  Her father was the executor of the estate, so the family went to Sweden to settle the estate.  It took 4.7/5 years to complete the settlement of the estate.In 1912, the family boarded a ship to return to the United States, she was five years old at the time.  Only Lillian her mother and one brother made it back to the States. When she grew up she worked at several secretarial jobs in the Worcester area, retiring early to take care of her mother.  She died at her home in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts in 2006 at the young age of 99.  What you may not know about Lillian Gertrud Asplund is that she was one of the last thr...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Jesse Armour was born in Westerly, Rhode Island back in 1834. At the age of ten he designed a drill that would evenly space ten holes in a carriage wheel at the same time. You can see where I’m going with this one.Anyway, he obtained over 150 patents for toys. In 1867, he designed a doll carriage with a leather hood. It is owned by the Museum of the City of New York. Among some of his inventions, patents were the Shoo-fly rocking horse in 1859. In 1861, he was given a patent for the first spring-loaded rocking horse. One of his inventions was the children’s building blocks they had a tongue and groove interlocking design which is still in production today. Next, he invented the nesting blocks used for storage they are still manufactured to this day.No, what you may not know about Jesse ...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Surekha Shankar was born in Satara, India back in 1965 to Sonabal and Ramchandra. She attended Saint Paul Convent High School. She went on to study Electrical Engineering from the Government Polytechnic College in Karad. That came to an abrupt end in 1986, more on that in a moment.She found work joining the Central Railway attending training at the Kalyan Training School. After graduation, she was assigned to many different tasks. In 1990, she married Shankar, who is a Police Inspector for the Government of Maharashtra. What you may not know about Surekha Shankar Yadav is that she is the first female locopilot of the Indian Railways in India. As far as I can tell she is still the engineer of trains running in India, she is also teaching Driver’s Training Centre in Kalyan as a Senior Ins...
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