Notable Burials West Laurel Hill Cemetery: Oil, Paper Towels & Singers

BILLY PAUL  (1934-2016)--  Born Paul Williams.  Singer of "Me and Mrs. Jones."

TEDDY PENDERGRASS  (1950-2010)--  R&B / Soul singer

JOSEPH NEWTON PEW  (1848-1912)--  Founder of Sun Oil Co., now Sunoco.

ARTHUR HOYT SCOTT  (1875-1925)--  Inventor of the paper towel.

We Got a Good Thing Going On.  --DaCoot

About the Octagonal Barn in Spring Grove That Is Endangered at the Former Fred Hatch Farm

 From the October 1, 2022, Northwest Herald (McHenry County, Illinois) "Only you can ensure local history will be 'barn' again" by Kurt Begalka.

The exterior of the 1876 octagonal horse barn in Spring Grove, Illinois, is not much to look at (despite being octagonal).  However, go inside and look up.  Well, that's a whole different story.  That ceiling appears almost cathedral-like.  

And, it might well be the only remaining octagonal barn in McHenry County.

Jack Pease, president of McHenry-based Super Aggregates Inc., recently bought the remainder of the Fred Hatch Farm (site of the now-demolished first silo in the United States that was designed by Fred Hatch).  This farm was most recently owned by the Kattner family.

I knew one of the Kattners, Ed.

Pease said he intends to mine the estimated 100 acres on the north side of Main Street and develop the current Kattner farmstead to the south (where the barn is located).  That means tear it down, subdivide it into lots.

This land is on Spring Grove's Main Street a short distance east of Wilmot Road.

--Cooter

Charles Willson Peale-- Part 3: Not That Painting, That Museum

And, by the way, that painting of Washington which Dolley Madison supposedly saved from the White House was not by Charles Willson Peale.  It was by Gilbert Stuart.  Just in case you're wondering.

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Peale was quite the Renaissance Man as he knew a lot about a lot of things.  He not only had expertise in painting, but also many other fields like carpentry, dentistry,  optometry, shoemaking and taxidermy.  Around 1804, he obtained  the American patent  rights to the polygraph (creates a copy of writing) from its inventor John Isaac Hawkins.

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The Peale Museum

He also had a great interest in natural history and organized the first U.S. scientific expedition in 1801.  That led to his founding of  what became the Philadelphia Museum, later known as  Peale's American Museum.  After his death, his museum failed and was sold to showmen P.T. Barnum and Moses Kimball.

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Peale had ten children, most of them named after his favorite artists.  Three of them became noted artists:  Rembrandt Peale,  Raphaelle Peale and Titian Ramsay Peale.

--CootPeale

Top 10 Inventions That Changed the World

From the June 19, 2021, ListVerse site by Toby Oliva.

I will just be listing them, but if you go to the site, there is more information.

10.  Time

9.  Space travel

8.  Machine Learning   You know, computers, etc.

7.  Math 

6.  Printing Press

5.  Internet

4.  Sanitation

3.  Mythology   An interesting one.

2.  The Scientific Method

1.  Dessert   Another very interesting selection.

I Think I'll Start With Dessert.  --Cooter

It Happened on July 31: Chris, Marq and Tommy

From the July 31, 2020, Chicago Tribune "On July 31..."

**  1498--  Christopher Columbus reached the island of Trinidad on his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere.  (Especially interesting in these days of rage when his statues are being attacked and removed.  He made a huge impact on world history regardless of where you stand on him.)

**  1777--  The Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, was given the rank of major general in the American Continental Army.   That is very, very young.  But, without him and France, I don't think the colonies would have achieved their independence, and then all the leaders would have been branded as traitors and all sorts of bad things might have happened to them.)

**  1877--  Thomas Edison took out a patent leading to the development of the phonograph.  (And that development sure had a huge impact on my life.

--Cooter

More On Ohio's Presidents-- Part 7: Could the Use of an X-Ray Machine Have Saved McKinley's Life?

Another oddity to President McKinley's  assassination was that part of the exposition was the demonstration of a new device called  an X-Ray Light  Machine.

The surgeons operating on President McKinley removed one of the bullets but couldn't find the other and they sewed him up with the bullet still lodged.  Later, McKinley inquired  that maybe the doctors could use the X-Ray machine to find the second bullet, but they refused because they didn't know of possible side effects of its use.

Instead, they opted to reopen the wound and look some more, but still could not find it.

When McKinley died, it was later determined that he had died of a bacterial infection resulting from unsanitary operating conditions at the time.

--Cooter

Deaths: Charles Sanna-- Part 4: Parents Were Italian Immigrants, Served in WW II

Charles Albert Sanna was born in Philadelphia on Nov. 9,1917.  Both parents were Italian immigrants.  His father came to the U.S. at age 13 and later managed a dairy company in Philadelphia, and ice cream company in Washington and a gelatin operation in Chicago.

The family eventually settled in Madison, Wisconsin where Charles graduated high school and attended the University of Wisconsin and received a degree in mechanical engineering in 1939.  He joined the Navy two years later and rose through the ranks to become a superintendent of submarine construction at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine.

While there, he met Margaret "Peggy" McGee and they married in 1946.

After WW II, Sanna's father convinced him to join the family dairy business, then known as Sanna Dairy Engineers.  This proved crucial to the company as he designed a 60-foot-tall stainless steel dryer in Menominee  that powdered milk and died eggs.

Even though his postwar career was mostly involved with dairy, he never forgot the men who served on his submarines during the war.  I'll write about that in my Tattooed On Your Soul: World War II blog later today.

--Cooter

A New Filing Cabinet Patent in DeKalb in 1944

From the March 20, 2019, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1944, 75 Years Ago.

"A patent has been granted to J.A. Miller of North Ninth street according to word received from Washington, D,C.,  for an improved filing cabinet.

"Mr. Miller, superintendent at the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, has had several  patents granted in the past few years and his friends will be interested  to learn of the latest one."

A drawing of the new patent accompanies the article.  I was unable to find out anything else about Mr. Miller.

--CootPat

Anti-Submarine Seagulls in World War I

From the March 8, 2014, Listverse "10 Totally Bizarre Plans to Win Wars" by Marc V.

ANTI-SUBMARINE SEAGULLS

During World War I, the British researched ways to battle the growing U-boat menace.

One plan was to send people out in rafts to smash periscopes with a hammer.  Another suggested training seagulls to sit on periscopes and defecate.

A man by the name of Thomas Mills designed and patented a diving submarine with food on the periscope to train gulls to approach it, perch, eat and hopefully leave a calling card to blind the German crew as to surface going-ons.

Oh Well.  Gulls Do That Anyway.  --Cootergull

Christopher Latham Sholes "Father of the Typewriter-- Part 4: QWERTY

At this point, Soule and Glidden turned their shares to Sholes and Densmore.

Experimental versions of the typewriter were sent to a few stenographers for their criticisms and this helped improve it.  The first 50 machines produced had an average cost of $250.

They took the machine to E. Remington and Sons, a manufacturer of firearms, sewing machines and farm implements.  They offered to buy the patent from them.  Sholes sold his half of the patent for $12,000.  Densmore insisted on a royalty for his share, which eventually earned him $1.5 million.  Eventually, the machine became known as the famous Remington typewriter.

Sholes continued working to improve the typewriter in Milwaukee.  In 1873 he developed a new arrangement for the keys which became known, and still is, as the QWERTY keyboard.  (Hey, I just typed it.)  It was so made so that commonly used letter combinations were split up to prevent keys from jamming when typists pressed them too quickly.

The QWERTY keyboard was an instant success and has since made the transition from typewriters to computers.

Christopher Latham Sholes died on February 17, 1890, after a long battle with tuberculosis.

--CootType

Christopher Latham Sholes, "Father of the Typewriter"-- Part 2

But Sholes' real interest was inventing new and useful items.  He moved to Milwaukee and spent some time as editor of the Milwaukee News and later the Milwaukee Sentinel.  When Abraham Lincoln offered him the position as a collector for the Port of Milwaukee and he accepted.  he knew this would mean working fewer hours and he would have more time to work on his inventions.

Latham Sholes and fellow inventor Samuel W. Soule developed a machine that numbered pages in a book and they got a patent for it in 1864.  Another man, Carlos Glidden, an attorney, suggested that they might be able to make their machine also produce letters and words as well.

In 1867, Sholes ran across an article about a machine called the Pterotype which was a prototype of te typewriter which had been invented by John Pratt.  Sholes decided that the machine was too complex to work well so set about creating his own version.

--CooterType

Christopher Latham Sholes "Father of the Typewriter"-- Part 1

From the July 15, 2015, Hi-Liter "Just our type: Kenosha newspaper editor recognized as 'Father of the Typewriter'  by Sandra Machaq.

Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Sholes is known as the "Father of the Typewriter" according to Charles Edward Weller in his 1918 book "The Early History of the Typewriter."  Sholes also is known as the inventor of the QWERTY keyboard which is still being used on computers.

Latham Sholes was born in Pennsylvania and became a printer apprentice after which he moved to Wisconsin and worked for his older brothers who owned and published a newspaper in Green Bay.  Next, he went to Madison and became editor of the Wisconsin Enquirer.

One year later, he moved to Kenosha, then known as Southport and became publisher of the local newspaper.He then got into state politics.

--DaCoot

Some More Chicago Innovations-- Part 7: Playboy

4. PLAYBOY was funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hugh heffner's mother and the magazine launched in 1953, catching the front edge of the sexual revolution, bringing nudity and adult content to mainstream pop culture. In the tradition of predecessor magazines like Esquire, it introduced readers to many of the 20th century's best writers. //// Grew into a multi-media empire, including those Playboy Clubs. //// Just Read It For the Articles and Funnies, You Know. --Cooter

Some More Chicago Innovations-- Part 6: Shopping Centers

SHAOPPING CENTERS: Chicago was at the forefront of the City Beautiful movement that made setting aside land for public use a priority. But, another land use became even more influential: the mall. //// Other cities claim to have the first urban shopping center, but the NRHP deemed it to be Lake Forest's Market Square, which opened in 1916. //// An early version of what became the typical indoor mall, the Lake View Store, opened in the U.S. Steel company town of Morgan Park, Minnesota. But, this mall was designed by the Chicago architectural firm Dean & Dean. //// Of course, one of the very early modern indoor malls, Randhurst. opened in Mt. Prospect, Illinois, in Chicago's Northwest Suburbs in the mid-1960s. That was a big hangout for all the local high schoolers, including those of us from dear old Palatine High School. //// Jus' Hangin' Out at the Mall. --Cooter

Some More Chicago Innovations-- Part 5: Portable Radios

#6. PORTABLE RADIOS: Broadcasting became the dominant mass media of the 20th century and helping to set the stage was Chicago area's Zenith which introduced what is considered to be the first modern potable radio in 1924. (Remember those huge old radios that cameout first?) //// Later Zenith introduced the first pay-TV service in 1947, FM stereo broadcasting (authorized by the FCC in 1961) and the first wireless TV remore control in 1955. //// Thank You Zenith, Especially for the REMOTE!! --Cooter

Some More of Chicago's Innovations-- Part 4: Improvisational Theater and Mimeograph Machine

#8. IMPROVISATIONAL THEATER: Chicago-born Viola Spolin developed what she called theater games. Her son, Paul Sills started Compass Players, the nation's first improvisational theater troupe and forerunner of today's Second City. // Chicago became a hotbed for improv acting and comedy and a magnet for talent. Lots of really funny Second City alums. //// #7. A.B. DICK MIMEOGRAPH MACHINE: Thomas Edison invented the stencil duplicator, a device that enabled a person to print a number of copies of a document. // Chicago's A.B. Dick is responsible for popularizing the mimeograph machine in the pre-Xerox era. In schools, many, many, many tests and study guides were run off on these, with theirspecific look, feel, SMELL and occasional stain. // (I sure ruined the occasional shirt and tie on these when I taught in the 70s to early 80s. And then, there was that smell, especially when fresh run, but continuing in diminished form for years. //// I Can Smell It All Now. --Cooter

Some More of Chicago's Innovations-- Part 3

9. MODERN OPTIONS TRADING. The Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus is said to have bet on future olive harvests around 300 BC. and there have been various forms of options investment ever after. //// Its modern form began with the 1973 launch of the Chicago Board Options Exchange. //// Chicago through the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicao Board of Trade (CBOT) have long played a big role in the trading of commodities and futures trading. The CBOT even rauised and equipped a battery of cannons that saw service during the Civil War. (Everytime I drive through Central illinois, I listen to the Whip in Farmer City and get to hear those hog and etc. futures. Of course, in these days of prices going up and down so fast, I'm not sure futures trading is a good thing for us. //// --DaCoot

Some More of Chicago's Top Innovations-- Part 1

From the January 19, 2014, Chicago Tribune "Chicago's top innovations: Single list can't hold them all" by Phil Rosenthal. Back in January, the Tribune ran a list of twenty innovations accredited to Chicago and surrounding area. I printed them, but mostly in short form back then. //// Here are the Top Twenty: 1. Nuclear reaction // 2. Skyscraper // 3. Cell phone // 4. Open-heart surgery // 5. Balloon-frame construction //// 6. Mass production of McCormick Reaper // 7. First gay rights group // 8. Reversing the flow of the Chicago River // 9. First televised presidential debate // 10. Fermi-Linux Code. //// The second 10: 11. Farm Silo (Right here in good ol' tax-paying Spring Grove, Illinois) // 12. Ferris Wheel // 13. Deep dish pizza // 14. Consumer preferance research // 15. Mechanical dishwasher //// 16. Pullman sleeper car // 17. Game of softball // 18. Zipper // 19. Mail-order retail // 20. Vacuum cleaner. //// Well, Phil Rosenthal Thinks There Should Be more. Next. --DaCoot

Chicago Innovations That Changed the World-- Part 8: Nuclear Reactor

7. First Gay Rights Group in U.S. (1924). Henry Gerber established the Society for Human Rights. //// 6. Mass-producing the McCormick Reaper (1848) //// 5. Ballon Frame Construction (1833) Augustine Taylor using boards and nails for construction. //// 4. Open-Heart Surgery (1893). Patient was James Cornish. Doctor was Daniel Hale Williams. //// 3. The Cell Phone (1973) Martin Cooper from IIT, innovator at Motorola. //// 2. Skyscraper (1884) The Home Insurance Building. //// 1. The Nuclear Reactor (1942). //// Some Big Stuff. Some Stretches. --Cooter

Fred Hatch's Farm Silo: Brother Bob's Missile Silos

Spring Grove, Illinois' claim to fame other than a huge fish hatchery. The Tribune article had a video about Fred Hatch's innovation. The Hatch farm is still there on Main Street just east of Spring Grove's downtown. There is an eight-sided barn and silo, but not the original one. His grave is on Wilmot Road (going from US-12 to Wilmot, in Wisconsin and founded by the Hatch family in the 1830s) in a small cemetery. //// There is also a plaque to him in a small park by the Nippersink Creek near downtown. //// When we first moved to Illinois back in the early 1960s, my brother Bob had heard about missiles in the Chicago area and thought the silos out on the farms were missiles. //// Easy Mistake to Make. -- DaCoot