The Trailblazer

Week 31:#52 Ancestors – Large By Eilene Lyon The person in my tree who looms largest in American history is my cousin, Col. Ebenezer Zane. He could be, and has been, called many things: Frontiersman, Pathfinder, Indian-hunter. Zane was quite literally a trailblazer, helping to open the Midwest to settlement before and after the Revolution.... Continue Reading →

August 8, 2020 31

Back on the Bayou

By Eilene Lyon We picked up a rental car at the New Orleans airport and headed to our hotel – a reasonably priced national brand right on St. Charles in the Garden District. For our brief stay in the city, we could take the trollies wherever we needed to go. We took the St. Charles... Continue Reading →

May 26, 2020 47

Mothers of Invention

By Eilene Lyon – May 5, 2020 “Necessity is the mother of invention” – a proverb Why “mother” and not father? I suspect women frequently find themselves in need of a solution to a problem. We tend to be multi-taskers by tradition and that means shortcuts and mechanical aids come in real handy. Plus, we’re... Continue Reading →

May 5, 2020 25

Koch’s Disease

By Eilene Lyon -- March 24, 2020 It felled Egyptian Pharaohs and Greek warriors. It’s likely been around for 9,000 years or more. An estimate is that one in seven people who ever lived prior to 1800 succumbed to the disease, caused by a bacterium. Is this one of those plagues that have been eradicated... Continue Reading →

March 24, 2020 35

Salzburg Scenes

By Eilene Lyon Our Austrian trip began with a flight into Munich, Germany. At the airport, we bought first-class train tickets to Salzburg. A track delay caused us to miss our connection at the München Ost station. No problem, I thought, I’ll check the schedule and we’ll hop on the next train to Salzburg. Fifteen... Continue Reading →

March 17, 2020 28

In The Library

By Eilene Lyon -- December 10, 2019 On this date 168 years ago, Melville Louis Kossuth Dewey (later shortened to Melvil Dewey) was born in Adams Center, New York, to Joel and Eliza (Greene) Dewey. He is credited with inventing the book-cataloging system that bears his name: the Dewey Decimal System. There’s a bit more... Continue Reading →

December 10, 2019 35

Speed Pioneer

By Eilene Lyon -- November 12, 2019 On this date 55 years ago, drag racer Paula Murphy broke her own land speed record at Bonneville Salt Flats, with a two-run average speed of 227.36 miles per hour, to become “the fastest woman on wheels.” The previous year, 1963, she hit over 160 mph in a... Continue Reading →

November 12, 2019 29

Made In Madison

Week 35: #52 Ancestors – At Work By Eilene Lyon This week’s project began as a story about my 4th great-aunt, Catherine Delle, who is credited with establishing the first kindergarten in Madison, Wisconsin. You know I like to write about successful women from my family tree. As I researched, I ended up finding more... Continue Reading →

August 31, 2019 38

Alias Addison Porter – 2

By Eilene Lyon Please read Part 1 before proceeding. The Second Clue After the Jefferson Zane/Zinn fiasco, I set the Addison W. Porter problem aside…until I began reading through some documents from my research trip to Idaho in June. Yep, another clue about Porter turned up. How random is that? Most of the research involved... Continue Reading →

August 18, 2019 26