Tell us an interesting anecdote about the town or city you were born in

[JGalt]

I think I got you beat hands down.

Buried in the "Black section" of the small De Ann Cemetery in Prescott, Arkansas, is a gentleman who was named Guss "Rastus" Ansely (1875-1937).

Quoting from: https://www.arkansasheritage.com/docs/default-source/national-registry/NE0076-pdf...

(BLACK SECTION)
Guss "Rastus" Ansely (1875-1937)

Born in Arkansas in 1875, Guss Ansley was the son of Cyrus Ansley and probably a descendant of slaves belonging to William Strain Ansley who migrated from South Carolina to then Ouachita County, Arkansas, in the late 1850's. Guss Ansley was a businessman and immensely popular in Prescott. He was known as the "Tamale King" of Prescott. He advertised in the local paper and had a telephone to receive orders at a time when many people, regardless of race, did not have a telephone. He sold tamales in a different section of Prescott each day and advertised his schedule. Ansley carried his tamales in an insulated box suspended from a shoulder strap. As he moved through Prescott's neighborhoods on foot, he blew a whistle to announce his presence, and his customers rushed out to buy the hot tamales.

Ansley was such a good cook that the Ku Klux Klan asked him to join . They realized they needed to serve food at their gatherings, and Ansley was the logical choice to prepare the meals . Local legend has it that he did join. Though this was an era of virulent racism, the Prescott KKK was probably more akin to a social club at this particular time, and less akin to violent night rides. In an era when black obituaries did not normally appear in white newspapers , Rastus Ansley's illness was front page news in the Prescott paper. He died at his home on· west Elm in Prescott on December 16 , 1937. His obituary noted that white friends would be welcomed at the funeral, and it also mentioned that the service would not be too long.

https://www.arkansasheritage.com/docs/default-source/national-registry/NE0076-pdf

Now let me see if I can outdo myself.

How about a mysteriously-dead guy who wasn't claimed for years, and was on display in the basement of a mortuary?

"The person known only by "Old Mike" was a familiar figure in South Arkansas from about 1908-1911. He sold pens, paper, thread and other small items from a pack made of canvas and leather. He was seen regularly in Little Rock, Hot Springs, Benton, Arkadelphia and Texarkana. No one ever knew a name, where he came from, or the existence of relatives. This man came to Prescott about every three to four weeks. He would arrive on the South Bound 3:00 p.m. train. He would work the streets and residences near the railroad and would stay over night at Black's (later O'Hollarans) Hotel on West Main Street. (Where Otwells Well Service is located). He would leave South Bound the following day on the same train that brought him to Prescott.

On an April night in 1911, a religious revival was being held in the City Park on the corner between the Old Armory and the swimming pool. Mike was found the next morning, dead, seated on the ground beneath one of the large trees. There was no sign of foul play. Apparently he died of a stroke or heart attack. He was previously reported to have walked with crutches and was somewhat crippled on one side, which further supports his possibly have a stroke, as it could be surmised that he had suffered from one previously.

There was no identification in his pocket, luggage, or otherwise. He had no wallet or purse, just an envelope, blank, containing a small amount of cash.

Mike was embalmed by Cornish Mortuary, placed in a coffin and placed where he could be seen. Such cases were usually identified within a few days. Such did not happen with Old Mike. Efforts by the authorities failed to produce any information. Over the years, many people viewed the body; none could identify it. No missing person reported from anywhere fit Mike's description.

Here is a brief list of known facts about Mike. This information is from the Coroner's report issued by A.M. Ellsworth, Coroner at the time. I was furnished these facts by O.R. Ellsworth, son of the Coroner.

• Mike was possibly of Italian or other Southern European nationality.
• He was probably about 40 to 45 years old.
• Had either suffered a stroke or serious injury to his right arm and left leg.
• He spoke perfect English with little accent.
• He had no known permanent address.

One unusual fact existed: Mike had very sophisticated dentistry performed. Local experts thought that such work could have only been performed in Europe, New York, or Boston. O.R. Ellsworth was an expert photographer -- he photographed the dental work. This work could not be identified in Boston or New York.

Hundreds of people viewed the body. No one could ever offer a positive identification. Part of the mystery is that Mike had very expensive dental work done, including several gold teeth. Samples of this work were sent to Boston and New York, the only areas capable of such sophisticated work at the time and no one could positively identify where the work was done. That, in conjunction with his speaking with a slight accent, suggests that he was probably from Europe somewhere, which also reveals why no one was ever able to identify his remains. It has been suggested that he was possibly of Italian descent, though some reported that his hair had a reddish tint.

There were two other bodies in Arkansas in similar circumstances. During the 1970s, the Attorney General of Arkansas, Guy Tucker, ordered all three bodies buried. Mike rests in a marked grave in DeAnn Cemetery."

Nevada County Depot and Museum

Weird, huh?

 

[gtopa1]

I'm from a city in Australia from where the First Aboriginal Federal Parliamentarian was elected. He was also the person for whom I first cast a vote. Tweed Heads at the time was and still is part of the Gold Coast.

Senator Neville Bonner AO was the first Indigenous Australian to enter the Federal Parliament.1

On 11 June 1971, Neville Thomas Bonner (1922–1999) was chosen by the Queensland Parliament to fill a casual vacancy in the Senate of the federal parliament caused by the resignation of Senator the Hon Annabelle Rankin. It was a historic appointment, nine years after Indigenous Australians gained the right to vote. Bonner won the seat in his own right in the general election held the following year and continued to represent Queensland in the Senate until 1983.

A Jagera man, Bonner was born in 1922 on Ukerebagh Island, Tweed Heads, New South Wales. Like most Indigenous children at the time, Bonner received little formal education and, during his youth, worked as a rural labourer on properties in Queensland and northern New South Wales. In 1945 he relocated to Palm Island, Queensland, where he became a foundation member of the Palm Island Social and Welfare Association.

By the early 1960s, Bonner had developed an interest in politics and became involved with the One People of Australia League (OPAL) in Ipswich, serving as its Queensland President 1968–74. He joined the Liberal Party in August 1967, just months after the historic 1967 referendum. By 1969 he had become a member of the party’s state executive. At the 1970 election, placed third on the Liberal–Country Party ticket, Bonner campaigned unsuccessfully for the Senate, only to be nominated to fill the casual vacancy the following year.

In his first speech to the Senate during the 1971–1972 Budget, Bonner said:

First and foremost, I participate here as an Australian citizen.… As an Australian, I am concerned for the future of my country, for the welfare of its people and for the quality of life that they enjoy. However, I am conscious of the fact that I am the first member of my race to participate in parliamentary proceedings. I am proud that, however long it has taken, this form of participation has been achieved.2

Bonner believed that the interests of Indigenous Australians would best be advanced by working within the existing political institutions, and by ‘negotiation’, not ‘confrontation’. He described himself as having ‘an all-consuming burning desire to help my own people’. He would later emphasise, however, that he tried in his political career ‘to serve all people’.3

During his 12 years in the Senate, Bonner was a highly respected parliamentary figure, known for his principled approach to politics in his campaign for Indigenous issues and the environment. Among the issues he raised in the Senate were national symbolism, land rights, technological opportunities, East Timor, and social security entitlements. In 1974, Bonner moved a motion that the Senate acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the prior owners of the Australian continent and introduce legislation to compensate them for dispossession of their land. He later served as chair of the Select Committee on Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and the Joint Select Committee on Aboriginal Land Rights in the Northern Territory.

Bonner did not always vote with the Liberal Party and crossed the floor on some 34 occasions. He later said,

I didn't toe the party line. I was a member of the party – fiercely, proudly, a member of the party – but I was not blindly a member of the party. I had a conscience, and political parties don't need people with a conscience. They want bottoms on seats, and hands in the air at the right time.4

Relegated to third place on the Senate ticket in 1983, Bonner resigned from the Liberal Party and narrowly missed re-election as an Independent. He would be made a life member of the Liberal Party 15 years later.

After politics, Bonner held a series of prominent positions including as a director on the board of the ABC and a patron of World Vision and Amnesty International. He remained deeply proud of his role as a trailblazer, but it came at some cost.

It was worse than being out droving … I was treated like an equal on the floor of the chamber, neither giving nor asking quarter, but there were hours just sitting in my office and I went home alone to my unit at night. There was never one night when anyone said, ‘Hey, let’s go out tonight’.5

In 1979, Bonner was named Australian of the Year in recognition of his advocacy for Indigenous rights and in 1984 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia.
In 1998 Neville Bonner was elected a monarchist delegate to the Constitutional Convention held at Old Parliament House, Canberra to consider whether Australia should become a republic. Bonner demonstrated his command over an audience receiving the only standing ovation at the convention following his speech:

How dare you! You told my people that your system was best … We have come to believe that … Now you say that you were wrong and that we were wrong to believe you. Suddenly you are saying that what brought the country together, made it independent, ensured its defence, saw it through peace and war, and saw it through depression and prosperity, must all go.6

Bonner ended his speech by singing a mourning song in Jagera language.

Neville Bonner died in Ipswich in 1999 and was given a state funeral at St Stephen’s Presbyterian Church, Ipswich. The Queensland federal electorate of Bonner is named in his honour.

Who was Neville Bonner

Who was Neville Bonner

www.aph.gov.au

Greg

 

[Freedomisneverfree]

There was this man in the 1970's who walked every day down my street. Fast-forward 30 years later, I drove thru my old neighborhood and that same man was walking down my street but his hair had turned gray by now. He had to be the most fit man I ever saw. Always walking where he needed to go.

 

[lg325]

The old City Hall building In Orlando Florida was in the first moments of the movie Lethal Weapon3. Before it was blown up city employees had to clear out the feral cat population that took it over. Most were removed some still hung out on the property and showed up in the movie alongside the stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover.

 

[0311]

Where I live, Marin City is where after the attack on Pearl Harbor became one of the leading housing areas in The Bay Area. Within 6-Months Pearl Harbor, housing for the workers at Marin Ship, Kaiser and other war production plants was being built. A lot of the Liberty Ships built on the West Coast came from workers in Marin City.

 

[JOSweetHeart]

I was born in Orange Park, FL which is just outside of Jacksonville, but I was only there the first four and a half years of my life and so I don't know any of the area's history.

God bless you always!!!

Holly

 

[lg325]

I was born in Orange Park, FL which is just outside of Jacksonville, but I was only there the first four and a half years of my life and so I don't know any of the area's history.

God bless you always!!!

Holly

I hope you get a chance to visit there it's a nice small town right on the St Johns River.

 

[Resnic]

When I was 12 my uncle bought me a Ford falcon and we fixed it up. I drove to school and stayed inside the city I lived in. When I got around 16 if the cops saw me out late occasionally they would have me go down on the interstate which was always empty at night and race me to see what their sheriff's cars could do because I had a mustang at that age I juiced up a little.

I could do shit like that because it was a country town and county. My grandma had the only grocery store in town, everyone knew her and my grandpa who was also the local expert hunter and fisherman. So everyone knew them and grew up with them, the sheriff was a close friend of theirs.

At the vocational school in highschool every other Friday we grilled out behind the diesel mechanics room. Our diesel mechanics teacher never said anything as long as we put a burger and a beer in his hand.

Too many stories to tell here really. But man those were good times.

Course you can't do anything like that around here anymore.

 

[0311]

An interesting tid bit.

I spent many years working the St. Anthony Foundation, back in the day before they moved the Dining Room to their new location, the daily meal was served out of the Dining Room at 45 Jones Street.

The old Dining Room used to serve as a garage/stables in the early 1900s. There is picture of the garage/stables after the '06 Earthquake showing Francisican Fiars giving out loaves of bread to people.

The spirit food and comfort to those in need transends the centuries.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

"The Redcoats are coming!!"

 

[0311]

One more St. Anthony tib bit.

SAF ran an employment program for many years. Men and Women doing yard work, cleaning homes and so forth. One of our more reliable clients who used the employment program was in fact on of the few survivors of sinking of the the crusier U.S.S Indianapolis!

 

[petro]

I was born during the sixties in south Mpls.
This was when the area used to be lower middle class. Lived in the area for a while in the '90's.

Now it is something else and center of the Floyd riots, rampant crime, tent cities and abandoned buildings.

I wouldn't step foot there if you paid me.
Now I live in the exurbs far out from the metro region.

 

[Lord Long Rod]

They used to lynch folks on the town square in my hometown.

 

[whitehall]

North Tarrytown NY that gained it's legend from a novel by Washington Irving changed it's name to "Sleepy Hollow". I was among the graduates of the 2nd class to graduate from Sleepy Hollow H.S.

 

[Quasar44]

My hometown was mostly full of shennies , hebes and hymmies

 

[Zebra]

Baden.Baden

a spa town …. where officers of the Roman legions went to already

 

[TNHarley]

We are known for meth heads and short lived dairy bars

 

[Zebra]

can we go on?

 

[luiza]

Brighton was a small fishing village on the south coast of Merry England .
The Prince Regent, who became George the Fourth , was a bored and boring young man only interested in eating like a pig , drinking heavily and bedding women .
He came to Brighthelmstone, as it then was , to play and escape detection .
Now, Brighton is a City blessed with an alternative culture in just about every area you can imagine and is known around the world .
All thanks to George the Royal Wastrel and his doctor who recommended the sea waters to ease his gout and rheumatism .