Birth Locations – Page 22 – The Exasperated Historian

1042: Elizabeth Colt

1042: Elizabeth Jarvis Colt

She’s Been Relegated to “Sam Colt’s Wife” Status

Born: 5 October 1826, Middletown, Connecticut, United States of America

Died: 23 August 1905, Newport, Rhode Island, United States of America

But in reality, Elizabeth was much, much more.

Elizabeth paved the way for the most famous handgun of all time, the Colt Peacemaker, to be manufactured. She also ensured the Union Army was continually supplied with weapons throughout the duration of the War Between the States.

Elizabeth’s father was an Episcopalian minister. When she married Samuel Colt in 1856, she was able to access Connecticut’s higher ranking social circles and used this to her distinct advantage. They had met five years earlier, and Sam, twelve years older than Elizabeth, was already famous for creating the largest private weapons manufacturing company in the world. At the time, Colt’s factory was producing one hundred and fifty guns a day. When they married, their wedding ceremony was topped off with a six-foot-tall wedding cake decorated with fondant rifles and pistols according to one source.

In 1862, Sam died prematurely at the age of forty-seven, leaving his wife behind to steer his armament factory to new heights. Elizabeth would outlive her husband by forty-three years.

When Sam died, two of their children had also already died. Two of their children still lived and Elizabeth was pregnant with another, though this one would be stillborn. Soon after, another of her remaining children also died. Elizabeth was, however, left with a several million-dollar inheritance to help her care for her young family and the mansion Sam built for her as a wedding present.

In 1864, angry Confederate soldiers burned the Colt factory to the ground in retaliation for the factory choosing to supply the Union Army during the War Between the States. Elizabeth chose to rebuild, only this time she focused on ensuring the new factory was assembled with fireproof materials. She was able to do this thanks to the fact that she had also previously purchased insurance for the building. Not to make any assumptions here but I doubt Sam would have had the foresight to do that.

After the rebuild, Colt manufacturing grew to around 1,600 employees. Elizabeth oversaw the production of the famed six-shooter known as the Peacemaker, while her only remaining son Caldwell designed Colt’s double-barreled shotgun.

Elizabeth was also in charge of The Union for Home Work for twenty-two years. The Union provided daycare for working mothers, as well as meals, libraries, and educational classes for their children.

Elizabeth was the first female president of the Hartford Soldiers Aid Society. As President, she oversaw the raising of $1 Million in donations in just two weeks.

She organized the first Women’s Suffrage Convention in Connecticut (fifty-one years before women secured the right to vote), founded the Hartford Decorative Arts Society, and was President of the Hartford Women’s Auxiliary.

In 1894, Elizabeth’s son Caldwell died in a boating accident in Florida. She had officially outlived all of her children, but buried her grief in the construction of the Parish House for the Church of Good Shepherd in Hartford. She had previously commissioned the building of the Church of Good Shepherd itself in memory of her husband and deceased children at the time. Seven years later, in 1901, Elizabeth sold off her controlling interest in Colt Manufacturing; retiring from the family business but continuing her philanthropy work for the rest of her life.

It’s no surprise Elizabeth was rightly titled the First Lady of Hartford (the capital of Connecticut).

Elizabeth was posthumously inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame in 1997.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Sources:

https://www.cwhf.org/inductees/elizabeth-hart-jarvis-colt

https://connecticuthistory.org/elizabeth-jarvis-colt-born-today-in-history/

https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/elizabeth-jarvis-colt-survives-to-make-the-colt-45/

https://cedarhillfoundation.org/notable-resident/elizabeth-colt/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/12544/elizabeth-hart-colt

1041) Elizabeth Rawdon

Courtesy of The Things That Catch My Eye

1041: Elizabeth Rawdon, Countess of Moira

Antiquarian and Literary Patron

Born: 23 March 1731, Castle Donington, Leicestershire, England (Present-day Castle Donington, United Kingdom)

Died: 11 April 1808, Moira, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Elizabeth was also a pioneer in the study of Bog Bodies. She undertook the first scientific study of a bog body in recorded history. The investigation took place after a bog body was discovered on Elizabeth’s husband’s lands in 1785. Elizabeth published her finds in the periodical Archaeologia.

She was also a carrier of five English peerages in her own right, including being the Baroness of Botreaux, Baroness of Hastings of Hungerford, Baroness Hastings of Hastings, Baroness of Hungerford, and Baroness de Moleyns. Elizabeth inherited those five titles from her brother Francis, but was also the Countess of Moira thanks to her husband who was the Earl of Moira.

Elizabeth had at least five children, but little else of her life is easily available to be researched online. Unfortunately one of the only available sources to list here is her Wikipedia entry.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Sources:

https://www.geni.com/people/Elizabeth-Hastings-Baroness-Hastings/6000000004566406567

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Rawdon,_Countess_of_Moira

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG185607

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/191746576/elizabeth-frances-rawdon

1040) Melissa Lora

1040: Melissa Lora

Former President of Taco Bell International

Birth Date and Location Unknown

Lora retired in the summer of 2018 after working at Taco Bell for thirty-one years.

Lora joined the company in 1987 working as an analyst. She had previously earned an MBA from the University of Southern California. While Lora was working for Taco Bell, the chain opened five thousand new locations (their goal was to have nine thousand locations around the world by 2022).

Another woman, Liz Williams took over as president after stepping down from the CFO position.

Lora is now the Director of the MGIC Investment Corporation. She is also the lead independent director for KB Home and is a director of ConAgra Brands Inc.

In 2023, NVIDIA announced that Melissa had been named to their board of directors, as well as their Audit Committee.

Very little else about Melissa is readily available on the internet, but her story is still one worth sharing. Maybe someday more information about her will crop up, but in the meantime her story will remain an inspiration to those hoping to rise through the ranks of a corporation whose name is recognized in households across the world.

Sources:

https://mtg.mgic.com/board-member/melissa-lora

https://www.tacobell.com/news/melissa-lora-to-retire-from-taco-bell

https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissalora

https://www.meatpoultry.com/articles/20593-former-taco-bell-exec-joins-conagra-brands-board

https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-names-melissa-lora-to-board-of-directors

1039) Babe Didrikson Zaharias

"My goal was to be the greatest athlete who ever lived."

1039: Babe Didrikson Zaharias

One of the Greatest Athletes of All Time

Born: c.1911-1914*, Port Arthur, Texas, United States of America

Died: 27 September 1956, Galveston, Texas, United States of America

Original Name: Mildred Ella Didrikson

Babe was also an Olympic Athlete and was named the “Woman Athlete of the Half-Century” by the Associated Press in 1950 for her skill in basketball, track and field, volleyball, baseball, tennis, swimming, boxing, diving, bowling, billiards, skating, cycling, golf, figure skating, football, and more.

Babe was a tomboy and was always outside playing various sports and games as a child. According to one source, when she was asked if there was anything she didn’t play as a child, Babe replied, “Yeah, dolls.”

Babe was one of seven children. Her parents were Norwegian immigrants and didn’t have a lot in terms of money, but that didn’t stop Babe from dreaming big.

Babe claimed she earned the nickname Babe (in homage to Babe Ruth) after hitting five home runs in a single game as a child.

In 1932, Babe qualified for five different Olympic sports for that years’ games. Unfortunately, the rules at the time stated women were only allowed to compete in three events. Babe chose the javelin toss, the hurdles, and the high jump. She won gold in the javelin toss and hurdles and silver in the high jump. Babe’s achievements meant she became the only athlete, male or female, to ever win individual medals in separate running, jumping, and throwing events. As of 2021, no other athlete has been able to claim this status.

After the Olympics ended, Babe traveled the Vaudeville circuit and performed with various traveling basketball teams for the rest of 1932.

The following year, in 1933, Babe leapt to golf, tennis, and bowling. She spent the rest of her life concentrating primarily on golf, but never gave up the other sports entirely. She won eighty-two tournaments throughout her career.

In 1950, alongside two other female golfers, Babe helped found the Ladies Professional Golf Association. For this reason and because of her prolonged time spent in the golf world, Babe is most associated with golf today despite all of her other accomplishments in other sports.

Babe was married, but one source claims later in the marriage she was more interested in her friend Betty who was a fellow athlete and spent time at her home. However, none of the other sources I read even mention Betty so take this part of the story with a grain of salt.

She was the opposite of everything a woman of her time was supposed to be; but instead of letting the critics get to her, Babe just kept doing what she was doing. She is remembered for being flamboyant, arrogant, and cocky at times, which didn’t endear her to her teammates, but Babe never seemed to care about that either. She wanted to be the greatest athlete in the world, and she was going to achieve that goal. Most impressive of all, Babe did this all before Title IX ensured female athletes were able to compete and be given the space they needed to prove themselves on the various fields, lanes, and greens across all sports. True, Title IX protects women and girls in sports in educational fields (meaning any school or university in the United States that receives federal funding), but its also true that Title IX has enabled many women and girls to transition from college athlete to the professional arenas.

In 1953, Babe was diagnosed with colon cancer. Surgeons removed the initially discovered tumor, and Babe continued to compete in golf tournaments. However, a few weeks later, her doctors informed Babe the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes and was inoperable. She died three years later at the age of just forty-five. Babe never had children, but she had made her mark and would never be forgotten.

Babe was posthumously inducted into the Olympics Hall of Fame, and was also posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2021.

*Babe claimed she was born in 1914, however surviving documentation indicates the correct birth year was most likely 1911.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

The Book of Awesome Women: Boundary Breakers, Freedom Fighters, Sheroes, and Female Firsts by Becca Anderson

Time Magazine's 100 Women of the Year (Alice appears in the 1932 article, "Babe Didrikson")

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Babe-Didrikson-Zaharias

https://usopm.org/babe-didrikson/

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/mildred-zaharias

http://www.espn.com/sportscentury/features/00014147.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1139/babe-zaharias

1038) Eunice Kennedy Shriver

“I was twenty-four before I knew I didn’t have to win something every day.”

“Like diabetes, deafness, polio, or any other misfortune, [intellectual disabilities] can happen in any family. It has happened in the families of the poor and rich, of governors, senators, Nobel prizewinners, doctors, lawyers, writers, men of genius, presidents of corporations – the President of the United States.”

1038: Eunice Kennedy Shriver

Not All Kennedys are Cursed

Born: 10 July 1921, Brookline, Massachusetts, United States of America

Died: 11 August 2009, Hyannis, Massachusetts, United States of America

Eunice was a member of the famed Kennedy family. Her parents were Joe Sr and Rose, while her eight siblings included the politicians President John F Kennedy, Attorney General Robert F Kennedy, and Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy and her sisters included Kathleen “Kick” Cavendish and Rosemary. Each of Eunice’s siblings achieved fame for their own famous, or infamous, activities, but Eunice never sought the spotlight in the same way as some of her other brothers and sisters.

In college, Eunice earned a bachelor of science degree focused in sociology. This made Eunice the first woman in her family to graduate with a four-year college degree. During World War II, she worked in the US State Department’s Special War Problems Division. After graduation, Eunice worked at the Department of Justice helping underprivileged youth. One of her goals was to stop teenagers from dropping out of school by introducing vocational and trade skills to ensure they would have career opportunities in the future. Eunice also worked as a social worker at a women’s penitentiary and then as an advocate for juvenile court and various religious organizations in Chicago, Illinois.

Eunice was also active in her male family member’s ambitions in the political realm. She organized tea parties and gathered Irish Catholic voters for her brother John’s senate and later presidential runs. She even spent months on the campaign trail, over and over again throughout her life, for her brothers and later husband as well. After her brother John was elected president in 1960, Eunice was hospitalized with exhaustion from her overwork on the campaign trail, but she didn’t mind. Her brother had emerged victorious after all. Around the same time, Eunice was diagnosed with Addison’s Disease (which her brother John also suffered from).

In 1953, Eunice married Robert Shriver. Together they had five children, including a daughter Maria who went on to marry (and later divorce) Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In 1957, Eunice took over as director of the Joseph P Kennedy Jr Foundation. Named and founded in honor of Eunice’s eldest brother who died during World War II, the foundation sought to improve the ways society viewed people with intellectual disabilities as well as identifying the causes of intellectual disabilities in the first place.

According to Eunice’s biography as posted on the Special Olympics website, Eunice used her position as director of the foundation to better the world at large. These betterments included:

“The creation of President Kennedy’s Panel on Mental Retardation in 1961, development of the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development in 1962, establishment of a network of university-affiliated facilities and intellectual disabilities research centers at major research universities across the United States in 1967, and the creation of major centers for the study of medical ethics at Harvard and Georgetown universities in 1971. In the 1980s, she pioneered the "Community of Caring" concept as a character-education program for teens; this idea led to the creation of 16 "Community of Caring" Model Centers and the establishment of “Community of Caring” programs in 1,200 public and private schools across the United States.”

(Full article linked under the sources tab below).

Today, Eunice is best remembered for being a founding organizer of the Special Olympics. Eunice fought to create the Special Olympics after learning the truth about her older sister Rosemary, whom she had always been especially close to.

Rosemary was the oldest Kennedy sister, and you can read her complete story by clicking her highlighted name above and reading her article here on this website. The shortened version, however? Rosemary suffered brain damage during her birth and, later in life, her father had a secret lobotomy performed on her to keep her quiet and compliant.

Eunice was horrified to learn this truth. She was also horrified by the treatment and stigmatization of people with mental disorders in general at the time.

In college, Eunice became an athlete. She decided there was no better way than to unite those with mental disabilities with the rest of the public than through sports and other physical activities. In 1962, Eunice opened “Camp Shriver”, which allowed children with intellectual disabilities to come to a summer camp in her backyard. The camp was designed to help the children see what exactly they could do and how strong they actually were. Only six years later, the first Special Olympics were held in 1968 in Chicago.

Over the next fifty years, the Special Olympics evolved into an organization that has helped over six million people across two hundred countries.

Eunice herself was awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom alongside numerous other accolades throughout her life. Until the day she died, she never stopped fighting for acceptance and the betterment of all mankind. She lived a long and full life, all of her children survived childhood, she did amazing work to help people all over the world, and she proved that not all Kennedys are in fact, cursed.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Eunice: The Kennedy Who Changed the World by Eileen McNamara

The House of Kennedy by James Patterson and Cynthia Fagen

The Kennedy Curse by Edward Klein

Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed by Maureen Callahan

Sources:

https://www.specialolympics.org/eunice-kennedy-shriver/bio

https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/the-kennedy-family/eunice-kennedy-shriver

https://www.nps.gov/people/eunice-kennedy-shriver.htm

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/40538920/eunice-mary-shriver

1037) Giulia Tofana

1037: Giulia Tofana

Professional Poisoner

Born: c.1620, Present-day Palermo, Italy

Died: c.1659, Present-day Rome, Italy

Giulia is remembered today for the salacious rumor that she helped over six-hundred women poison their husbands to escape their marriages, until finally being brought down by a bowl of soup. Yes, you read that right, six-hundred men.

So how did she do it, and was it all true?

Giulia was a maker of fine cosmetics. In seventeenth century Italy, there was no government oversight to look into what ingredients went into the concoctions women and men put onto their skin in order to alter or enhance their appearance, and this lack of oversight allowed Giulia to strike.

Giulia’s most sought-after product was called Aqua Tofana; a pretty name for a deadly poison. Today, researchers believe the secret ingredients ranged from arsenic, belladonna, and lead, all of which are deadly in the right amounts.

During the Renaissance Period, many marriages were arranged, and once married, women lost all their rights as individuals. They couldn’t own property or be involved or heard in government. Their husbands could beat them without fearing reprisal. And with divorce not an option for various reasons for the vast majority of women, the only escape from their torment on the home front was the convenient death of their husbands. This was where Giulia stepped in.

Some accounts say Giulia was able to poison hundreds of men for over fifty years, but this rumor could hardly be considered true given the fact that most agree Giulia only lived around forty years. The story about the soup is also hard to prove. Supposedly Giulia sold a vial of Aqua Tofana to a woman who went home and put the poison in her husband’s soup. Before the man could enjoy his dinner, however, his wife stopped him from ingesting it. This obviously made the man suspicious and he contacted the authorities, who questioned the would-be widower. After cracking under the pressure, the woman confessed Giulia had sold her the poison and Giulia was arrested. According to this tale, she confessed under torture to having murdered hundreds of men and was later executed alongside her daughter. The rumors didn’t die with her, and supposedly over one hundred years later, Mozart claimed on his deathbed he had been poisoned with Aqua Tofana.

Now, these stories are all well and good, but are they anything other than that, stories?

Unfortunately, little information about Giulia as a person survives today. There are no known portraits of her known to have been painted during her lifetime, meaning her true appearance is lost to history. All of the sources agree on a certain set of facts, meaning the following is most likely the closest to the truth we’ll ever get:

Giulia’s mother was convicted of murdering her husband and executed when Giulia herself was a young teenager. Whether she got the recipe from Aqua Tofana from her mother or not is unknown, but it seems widow-making was the family business. Giulia went on to spend around twenty years traveling up and down Italy, enabling women to murder their husbands through her concoctions before moving on to the next city, long before any suspicion could be arisen.

Giulia also worked with her daughter, and was likely a widow herself. While Giulia’s customers referred to her discrete poison as “Aqua Tofana”, she actually packaged and sold the concoction under the label “Manna of St. Nicholas of Barri.” This label made the poison look even more non-threatening, seeing as another lotion under the same name was being sold at the same time. The poison itself could kill a man with only a few drops, administered over several days. This made the man’s death mimic a slow-acting disease.

Eventually, Giulia and her daughter were caught. Whether or not this actually happened after a poisoned bowl of soup was administered is unknown for certain, but it definitely makes a good story. All of the sources agree Giulia, her daughter, and some of their “coworkers” were eventually tortured and executed. The figure of six hundred men killed stems from this torture, meaning one cannot actually pin that figure on Giulia with certainty. Most individuals would admit to whatever they were told to admit to under duress, and so we may never truly know how many men Giulia killed.

In March of 2021, news broke that the long-time lead singer of the famed band Sugarland, Jennifer Nettles, spent the Covid-19 Lockdown writing songs for a new Broadway musical inspired by Giulia Tofana’s story. As of yet the play doesn’t have a title attached to it, but maybe someday soon the musical will make it to the stage for the public to enjoy, and maybe learn a thing or two along the way.

Sources:

https://allthatsinteresting.com/giulia-tofana

https://medium.com/@editors_91459/meet-the-woman-who-poisoned-makeup-to-help-over-600-women-murder-their-husbands-cfb03929c36d

https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/giulia-tofana-the-italian-serial-poisoner-who-became-a-legend

https://deadline.com/2021/03/grammy-winning-country-star-jennifer-nettles-developing-stage-musical-about-17th-century-crusading-poisoner-giulia-tofana-1234720891/

1036) Alice Coachman

“I made a difference among the blacks, being one of the leaders. If I had gone to the games and failed, there wouldn’t be anyone to follow in my footsteps. It encouraged the rest of the women to work harder and fight harder.”

1036: Alice Coachman

The First African American Woman to Earn an Olympic Gold Medal

Born: 9 November 1923, Albany, Georgia, United States of America

Died: 14 July 2014, Albany, Georgia, United States of America

According to the official Olympics website, Alice was the first woman of color to earn a Gold medal.

Alice was one of ten children and grew up in the deeply segregated Southern United States. Being both a woman and African American meant Alice had to work three times as hard as other male athletes to achieve her goals. She often trained on dirt roads and had to create her own hurdles in order to practice. Compound that with the fact the 1940 and 1944 Olympic Games were canceled because of World War II, and all of Alice’s achievements are even more remarkable than they seem on first glance.

Alice competed in track and field on the 1948 US Team. Her main sport was the High Jump, and Alice had held the American National Title in the sport for ten years before her Olympic win.

Alice’s medal was personally presented to her by King George VI of the United Kingdom. She was the only American woman to earn a gold medal at the 1948 games, in all of the events, making her achievement even more remarkable.

When Alice returned to the states, she met President Truman in the White House and was honored with a parade in her hometown of Albany. The 1948 Games ended her athletic career; she was twenty-four years old at the time and graduated from college the following year.

Alice was also the first African American to endorse a major product when she was hired by Coca Cola in 1952. She went on to become a teacher and worked in her spare time to help those in need by creating a financial foundation.

By the time she died, Alice had been inducted into nine different Halls of Fame. In her personal life, she was married twice and had two children.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

The Book of Awesome Women: Boundary Breakers, Freedom Fighters, Sheroes, and Female Firsts by Becca Anderson

Sources:

https://www.olympic.org/news/alice-coachman-athletics

https://theundefeated.com/features/alice-coachman-became-the-first-black-woman-to-win-olympic-gold-1948-games-in-london/

https://www.teamusa.org/Hall-of-Fame/Hall-of-Fame-Members/Alice-Coachman#profile

https://usopm.org/alice-coachman/

https://www.biography.com/athlete/alice-coachman

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/132815462/alice-marie-davis

1035) Mary Golda Ross

"I was brought up in the Cherokee tradition of equal education for boys and girls. It did not bother me to be the only girl in the math class.”

1035: Mary Golda Ross

The First Female Native American Engineer

Born: 9 August 1908, Park Hill, Oklahoma, United States of America

Died: 29 April 2008, Palo Alto, California, United States of America

Mary had Cherokee ancestry. Her great-great-Grandfather was the great chief John Ross, who led the Cherokee Nation during the horrid Indian Removal Act and other trying times of the 1830’s. Because of her Cherokee upbringing, Mary was used to equal education opportunities between the sexes which better prepared her for her future in a male-dominated world.

Mary graduated with a degree in mathematics from the Northeastern State Teacher’s College in Oklahoma (later earning a master’s in the same field). She went on to teach science and math in the more rural parts of her state during the Great Depression. Mary went on to become a statistician for the Bureau of Indian Affairs as well as an advisor to the female students at the Santa Fe Indian Boarding School in New Mexico.

Mary worked for Lockheed Martin on their Missile Systems Division, and spent thirty-one years with the company. She also helped design the P-38 Lightning Fighter Plane and was often the only woman (aside from a secretary that is) working on the various assignments.

She also worked on NASA’s Apollo Program (which sent several teams of astronauts to the moon) and various other space flight programs. Much of her work remains classified many years after her retirement.

In 1958, Mary appeared on an episode of “What’s My Line?” in which panelists had to guess Mary’s occupation based on the clue she somehow worked with rockets and missiles.

After retiring from Lockheed Martin, Mary continued to give lectures encouraging others to join the engineering field. At the age of 96, in 2004, Mary joined the procession many thousands strong to oversee the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC, a part of the Smithsonian Museum network.

In 2019, Mary was honored on a special minting of a $1 Gold US Coin. She also has a middle school in her home state of Oklahoma named in her honor, and was represented by a Google Doodle in August of 2018.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Sources:

https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/mary-golda-ross-she-reached-stars

https://www.cherokeephoenix.org/education/mary-golda-ross-mathematician-engineer-and-inspiration/article_35dde35c-7b67-11eb-a57a-df1679a79491.html

https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=26040

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/mary-ross-a-hidden-figure/

https://www.okcps.org/Page/103

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/32113706/mary-golda-ross

1034) Dorothy Fosdick

1034: Dorothy Fosdick

Foreign Policy Expert

Born: 17 April 1913, Montclair, New Jersey, United States of America

Died: 5 February 1997, Washington DC, United States of America

Dorothy helped bring about NATO, the United Nations, the Marshall Plan (aka The European Recovery Effort following World War II) and spent three decades as a chief strategist in the Cold War (working for Senator Henry Jackson). She was also an advisor for Adlai Stevenson when he ran for president in 1952 but later became disenfranchised with him.

Dorothy had a doctorate in public law and taught political theory.

When the Policy Planning Staff of the State Department opened in 1948, she was the only female employee. Dorothy was a firebrand; standing only five foot one didn't mean anything for her. When Dorothy walked into the room, everyone turned and paid attention to whatever she had to say.

Dorothy’s sister phrased it that she had no personal ambition and simply wanted to save the world. She never married or had any children.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/10/us/dorothy-fosdick-83-adviser-on-international-policy-dies.html

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-02-16-9702160139-story.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/119772943/dorothy-fosdick

1033) Naia

1033: Naia

One of the Oldest Skeletons Ever Found in North America

Lived: c. 10,000 BC, Present-day Mexico

Naia is the name given to a set of skeletal remains found deep under the water in a cave in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. The cave was later dubbed Hoyo Negro, meaning Black Hole in Spanish because of its extreme depths.

Naia was a teenage mother who lived a harsh grueling existence. Researchers believe from the wear and tear on her skeleton that Naia would have traveled far and wide throughout her life, but never carried much more than what she needed to survive.

Naia’s bones and teeth also reveal she survived long periods of “nutritional stress”, meaning she had little to eat. She was between the ages of fifteen and seventeen when she died and is one of the most complete skeletons ever found dating to more than 12,000 years ago. Among the bones recovered was an intact skull, both arms, part of her pelvis, and a leg.

Naia was first discovered in 2007 (alongside other ancient skeletons like sabre-tooth cats, giant ground sloths and more), but after her remains were disturbed by recreational divers, research anthropologists retrieved her skeleton between 2014 and 2016 in order to preserve her for future generations. DNA sequencing done on Naia’s remains helps give credence to the idea that the earliest Native Americans were actually Asian in origin, but more shocking is the fact that her DNA also reveals a link with the Native Americans of today.

Because of the location of Naia’s bones, researchers believe she died after falling into the pit, which was not completely submerged at the time of her death like it is now.

Naia’s story is recounted on my personal favorite episode of NOVA entitled “First Face of America.”

Badges Earned:

Located In My Personal Library:

Lost Cities, Ancient Tombs: 100 Discoveries That Changed the World edited by Ann R Williams (Naia's story is recounted, but she is not named in the book)

Sources:

https://www.nature.com/news/ancient-bones-reveal-girl-s-tough-life-in-early-americas-1.21753

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/140515-skeleton-ice-age-mexico-cave-hoyo-negro-archaeology

https://www.archaeology.org/issues/161-1501/features/2793-mexico-cave-clovis-dna-naia

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ancient-bones-reveal-girl-rsquo-s-tough-life-in-early-americas/

https://www.kpbs.org/news/2018/jan/31/nova-first-face-america/