{"id":101378,"date":"2024-12-18T09:47:50","date_gmt":"2024-12-18T14:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=101378"},"modified":"2024-12-20T11:10:27","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T16:10:27","slug":"memorable-events-connected-with-christmas-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/memorable-events-connected-with-christmas-part-1.html","title":{"rendered":"Memorable Events Connected with Christmas (part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry shares some stories and trivia connected to Christmases past. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com<\/a>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Today I bring good cheer with memorable events connected with Christmases past. A few merry anecdotes and history trivia that will make for holiday party chat.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:
Illustration: from Christmas past. Credit: Melissa Davenport Berry.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over the years, many traditions, customs, decorations, songs, and stories have become associated with the Christmas holiday season. Here are a few from a Dallas Morning News<\/em> article, and I added some additional festivity into the mix which includes images.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Dallas Morning News (Dallas, Texas), 12 December 1974, page 6<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1492:<\/strong> Christopher Columbus\u2019 ship, the Santa Maria<\/em>, struck a reef off the cost of Haiti and was abandoned on Christmas Day. Timber from the ship was used to build a fortress which was named La Navidad, the Nativity (Puerto de la Navidad, Christmas Port).<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:
Illustration: a 1559 depiction of Columbus\u2019s sailors building the fort of La Navidad, using the remains of the Santa Maria. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1608:<\/strong> Captain John Smith later (in 1612) published what is the first written account of a Christmas-time feast in English North America that he enjoyed in 1608. The full story can be read here at the Colonial Williamsburg site entitled: Captain John Smith’s Christmas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here is the skinny and what was on the menu:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next night being lodged at Kecoughtan; six or seaven dayes the extreame winde, rayne, frost and snow caused us to keep Christmas among the Salvages, where we were never more merry, nor fed on more plentie of good Oysters, Fish, Flesh, Wild-foule, and good bread; nor never had better fires in England, than in the dry smoaky houses of Kecoughtan.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Illustration:
Illustration: Captain John Smith. Credit: Historic Jamestowne National Park Service, Virginia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1776:<\/strong> General George Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware to launch a strategic surprise attack that significantly turned the tide of the American Revolutionary War in America\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:
Illustration: \u201cWashington Crossing the Delaware\u201d by George Caleb Bingham. Credit: Reddit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Side Note:<\/em><\/strong> A great big kudos for General John Glover and his regiment of \u201cMarblehead\u201d sailors from Massachusetts, who played a crucial role in the American Revolutionary War by ferrying George Washington and his troops across the icy Delaware River on Christmas night, December 25th, enabling the surprise attack on the Hessian forces at Trenton, New Jersey, which is famously known as \u201cWashington Crossing the Delaware.\u201d I adore this fellow so much I named my Tiger Cat \u201cGeneral Glover.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:
Illustration: General John Glover of Marblehead, Massachusetts. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1821:<\/strong> The first record of a Christmas tree in America was mentioned in the diary of Matthew Zahm in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The Christmas trees were decorated with gingerbread, apples, raisins, and colored cloth rosettes. Zahm writes that he cut down an evergreen on 20 December 1821 \u201con the hill at Kendrick\u2019s sawmill\u201d to use as a Christmas tree.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:
Illustration: Christmas tree from the 1820s. Credit: Melissa Davenport Berry.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1822:<\/strong> Clement Clarke Moore, a professor at the General Theological Seminary in New York, wrote \u201cA Visit from St. Nicholas<\/a>\u201d to read to his children on Christmas Eve. The famous poem, better known as \u201cTwas the Night before Christmas,\u201d introduced the reindeer-drawn sleigh.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:
Illustration: an illustration from an early edition of \u201cA Visit from St. Nicholas.\u201d Credit: Project Gutenburg.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Moore married Catherine Elizabeth Taylor, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Van Cortlandt) Taylor \u2013 a direct descendant of Stephanus Van Cortlandt, the first native-born mayor of New York City and first patroon of Van Cortlandt Manor, as well as the niece by marriage of Sir Edward Buller, 1st Baronet. Together, Catherine and Clement Moore were the parents of nine children.<\/p>\n

1863:<\/strong> The first fat and rosy-cheeked Santa was drawn by Thomas Nast, a cartoonist for Harper\u2019s Weekly<\/em>. In his sketches, Nast pictured Santa making toys, watching children, and perched on a chimney.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:
Illustration: colorized \u201cMerry Old Santa Claus\u201d by Thomas Nast, 1863. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1868:<\/strong> \u201cO Little Town of Bethlehem<\/a>,\u201d was sung for the first time by the Children of Holy Trinity Sunday School in Philadelphia. The Christmas carol was written in 1868 by Phillips Brooks, an Episcopal priest, who was inspired by his visit to Bethlehem in 1865.<\/p>\n

Brooks was the son of William Gray and Mary Ann (Phillips) Brooks, and a direct descendant of Rev. John Cotton and a great-grandson of Samuel Phillips Jr., founder of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:
Illustration: Philips Brooks. Credit: Boston Public Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stay tuned for Part 2!<\/p>\n

Merry Christmas Peeps!<\/p>\n

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> candle on a Christmas tree. Credit: Malene Thyssen; Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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