Birth Locations – Page 64 – The Exasperated Historian

642) Kellyanne Conway

642: Kellyanne Conway

Strategist and The First Woman to Run a Successful United States Presidential Campaign

Born: 20 January 1967, Camden, New Jersey, United States of America

Kellyanne did this for President Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential cycle.

She served as an advisor for President Trump from 2017 to early 2020, when she stepped away from her White House role to focus on her family.

Kellyanne holds degrees in political science and law. In the early 1990’s, she began working as a professional pollster. Kellyanne’s focus was getting female voters out to vote for Republican candidates. She even launched her own company to focus on this work: inc./WomanTrend. Kellyanne has worked with various Republican candidates and spokesmen over the years and has even written a book.

Unfortunately for Kellyanne, she gets a lot of flack not just for working in the Trump White House, but also from other so-called feminists as well. Let’s be completely honest people, if Kellyanne had run Hillary Clinton’s campaign, she would have been celebrated all over the world, but she didn’t, so now everyone in the media and the majority of the left hates Kellyanne, including her own husband!

That’s right, more often than not, when Kellyanne’s name is in the news, its because her husband is attacking her coworkers online. So much for being a supportive partner, right?

To be completely fair, Kellyanne has faced some criticisms that are actually worthwhile, not just attacks for being a Conservative woman. Included in these are her repeated violations of the Hatch Act, which is supposed to stop members of the United States Government from participating in certain partisan activities.

Sources:

https://www.biography.com/personality/kellyanne-conway

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-kellyanne-conways-husband-donates-to-joe-bidens-campaign-20200304-mwqoacuggfcutfxvomhrea5cyi-story.html

641) Mary Bradford Johns

The Facebook post from which the photo was found lists the source as "Battles and Sketches of the Army of Tennessee" by Bromfield Lewis Ridley, Published in 1906

641: Mary Bradford Johns

Confederate Folk Figure

Birth and Death Dates Unknown, Tennessee, United States of America

Mary is remembered today for rallying forlorn Confederate Troops during the War Between the States.

She is remembered as the Heroine of the Battle of Nashville for her efforts to perk up the troops and convince them to fight.

There is very little genealogical information about Mary available online. We know her parents were Edward Bradford and Virginia Austin Campbell. She married on 19 June 1873 to John Johns, her childhood sweetheart, and she was from Tennessee. She had three children.

Sources:

https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/johns/2482/

https://www.facebook.com/105448059536657/photos/a.125511960863600/552628218151970/?type=1&theater

640) Sarah Winchester

640: Sarah Winchester

Folk Figure and Heiress to the Winchester Repeating Arms Fortune

Born: c.1840, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America

Died: 5 September 1922, San Jose, California, United States of America

Sarah is remembered for continually building on her home in San Jose, California—purportedly to keep the spirits killed by Winchester rifles from haunting her.

Sarah was born to a wealthy upper-class family in Connecticut, but the exact year of her birth remains unknown to this day. She was one of seven children and educated well. In fact, Sarah was taught four languages and attended a school for young ladies.

By the time Sarah was of eligible age to marry, her parents had already decided on a husband. His name was William Winchester, and he was the only son to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company fortune.

Sarah’s only daughter Annie died when she was only forty days old from marasmus—the inability to absorb nutrients and proteins. In essence, Annie starved to death and there was nothing her parents or doctors could do to help her. Sarah and William would have no other children.

In 1881, William died suddenly from tuberculosis, only a year after his own father’s death. By then, historians account that Sarah’s mental health was already starting to fail. She was never able to fully recover from her daughter’s death, and others believe Sarah was also haunted by the wealth her Winchester family collected. In her eyes, Winchester money was blood money.

With William’s death, Sarah suddenly inherited a fortune estimated to be about $20 Million, around $500 Million today. She also received a 50% stake in the Winchester company. Although Sarah never had anything to do with the daily workings of the company, her stake in it meant she was receiving an additional $1,000 a day (or $26,000 per day in 2019 dollars).

This is where Sarah’s life story becomes a bit twisted. According to some, Sarah went to visit a psychic medium in Boston, who told her she needed to find a way to appease the angry spirits of those killed by Winchester Rifles. This goes along with the popular notion that Sarah only built the Winchester House to appease such spirits. Others claim Sarah didn’t build the house for spirits at all, and instead she was simply interested in other notions like Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism. Whatever the case, Sarah soon packed up and left Connecticut behind, settling in San Jose, California.

In 1884, Sarah purchased an already existing farmhouse instead of consulting an architect to build something new just for her. From 1886 until her death in 1922, Sarah continually had carpenters building onto the already existing structure. The house would eventually reach seven stories in certain sections. The layout of the house also makes no sense to any “normal” person looking in from the outside. There are staircases leading nowhere, doors opening out into the air, windows that open into interior rooms, and hallways that circle back on themselves for no apparent reason. To say its easy to get lost in the mansion is an understatement; what house with over 160 rooms wouldn’t be confusing?

The house wasn’t just odd though, it was also decorated and designed to have all the trappings money could buy. The home had one of the earliest designs for an indoor shower, running hot water, central heating and air conditioning, and other amenities. Mrs. Winchester was also tiny and suffered from debilitating arthritis, so certain staircases built just for her have stairs that are actually made from risers and are only several inches apart to ease the ache in her joints.

After so many decades of incessant building, Sarah passed away peacefully in her sleep. Her niece and secretary would sell the house at auction soon after.

In 2018, a Hollywood film entitled Winchester depicts a highly fictionalized and sensationalized account of Sarah’s later years; starring Helen Mirren as Mrs. Winchester.

Today, visiting the Winchester Mystery House is still a major tourist attraction in Southern California. You can tour the house itself as well as other buildings on the property, and sometimes the tour guides will tell ghost stories during the tour. Unfortunately taking photographs inside the house is not possible because of copyright issues, but photos of the grounds itself are permitted. In 2023, the house will celebrate one hundred years as a tourist attraction.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Haunted West: Legendary Tales From the Frontier (Magazine Published by Centennial Today, Fall 2020)

100 Greatest Mysteries: The World's Secrets Revealed (Magazine by History)

Sources:

https://allthatsinteresting.com/sarah-winchester

http://thetruthaboutsarahwinchester.com/

https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/sarahs-story/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5125/sarah-lockwood-winchester

639) Aleksandra Samusenko

639: Aleksandra Samusenko

Soviet Tank Commander During World War II

Born: 1922, Soviet Union (Present-day Chita, Russia)

Died: 3 March 1945, Nazi Germany (Present-day Poland)

Aleksandra was the only female T34 Tankman in the 1st Guards Tank Army.

She received the Order of the Red Star for her efforts in the fighting.

It’s been reported Aleksandra lost her husband and family in the war.

She was killed by her fellow soldiers when she was crushed under tank treads by a driver who didn’t see her in the dark.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Sources:

https://ww2gravestone.com/aleksandra-grigoryevna-samusenko/

https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Aleksandra_Samusenko

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/196732403/aleksandra-grigoryevna-samusenko

638) Dr. Ruth Westheimer

“Nobody is going to want me because I’m short and ugly.”

638: Dr. Ruth Westheimer

Sexologist Known Affectionately as Dr. Ruth

Born: 4 June 1928, Frankfurt, Germany

Died: 12 July 2024, Manhattan, New York, United States of America

Original Name: Karola Ruth Siegel

Dr. Ruth was a media personality in radio and TV and a published author.

When Ruth was a child, her parents sent her to an orphanage in Switzerland to escape the rise of the Nazis. Both of her parents would be killed in Nazi death camps. Ruth’s upbringing in the orphanage was extremely hard. She was treated as a maid, and after letters from members of her family stopped coming, she could only fear the worst. Ruth was also targeted because of her already increasing knowledge on taboo subjects such as human sexuality and menstruation. It was while living at this school that Ruth also met her first boyfriend. They remained friends until the ends of their lives.

Once World War II came to an end, Ruth and some of her other friends immigrated to then-Palestine (today Israel), where they became Zionists. Ruth officially changed her name from Karola to Ruth and was trained as a sniper with the Haganah. She was wounded by a bomb during The 1948 War, and the recovery was slow and arduous.

After the war, Ruth married an Israeli soldier. They moved to Paris and Ruth began studying medicine at the Sorbonne. After five years, the marriage came to an end and her husband returned to Israel. Soon after, Ruth received her restitution check from the West German Government. These checks, which were sadly for pitiful amounts (Ruth’s was 5,000 Marks or about $1,500 dollars), were paid to survivors of The Shoah. After receiving the money, Ruth and her new French boyfriend moved to New York City.

Upon arrival, Ruth and her boyfriend married after realizing Ruth was pregnant. She gave birth to a baby girl named Miriam and went back to school thanks to a scholarship. However, the marriage didn’t last long, and as Ruth recounted in a documentary about herself, she got custody of their daughter while hubby #2 got to keep the car.

In 1959, after struggling as a single mother while still attending school, Ruth graduated with her master’s degree in sociology and began working as a research assistant at Columbia University. In 1961, Ruth was on a ski vacation when she met Manfred Westheimer, a fellow Jewish immigrant who soon became the love of her life. They married nine months later and had a son named Joel. Around this time, Ruth also became an American citizen.

Another interesting fact about Ruth is that she stood at only 4 feet seven inches tall. Her husband Manfred stood at five feet five inches, so he was really the perfect size for her. Her height difference initially worried her, and Ruth wrote in her diary that she was scared she would never find love. Ruth’s beloved third husband Manfred passed away in 1997, but Ruth still lived in the same apartment in which they lived when he was alive.

In the 1960’s Ruth found herself working at Planned Parenthood in Harlem, New York. This job would launch her career in the sexology industry. In the early 1970’s, Ruth was able to become an associate professor of sex counseling at Lehman College in the Bronx. She was also continuing to work on her doctorate at this time.

Soon after, Ruth got her “big break” when she was offered $25 a week to participate in a fifteen-minute radio program entitled Sexually Speaking, which initially ran on just after midnight on Sundays. Surprisingly, the show was a huge hit. Her show was extended to an hour and Ruth was allowed to take calls from people listening live on the air. By 1983 the show was regularly taking a quarter of a million callers each week. The following year, her show was nationally syndicated.

Ruth soon earned her own television programs and was able to publish numerous books. In fact, her forty-fifth was released in 2019, entitled Sex For Dummies. Ruth also released a documentary on Hulu that same year, and I will tell you right now, as someone who has watched it, I highly recommend it. I’ve linked the trailer to the program, appropriately entitled Ask Dr. Ruth, here in this article.

Dr. Ruth lived to be ninety-six years old.

Badges Earned:

Located in My Personal Library:

Dr. Ruth's Guide to Good Sex by Dr. Ruth Westheimer

Sources:

https://www.biography.com/personality/dr-ruth-westheimer

https://www.timesofisrael.com/at-90-spunky-dr-ruth-westheimer-now-focuses-on-what-comes-before-foreplay/

https://sfi.usc.edu/news/2024/07/36551-remembering-dr-ruth-westheimer#:~:text=In%201981%2C%20she%20appeared%20on,and%20even%20a%20talk%20show.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/272455305/karola-ruth-westheimer

637) Frances Bean Cobain

"I don't want to be titled as Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain's daughter. I want to be thought of as Frances Cobain."

637: Frances Bean Cobain

Musician, Model, and Self-Described Visual Artist

Born: 18 August 1992, Los Angeles, California, United States of America

Frances is most known for being the daughter of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love. Her childhood and upbringing were, not normal, to say the least.

According to some reports, two days after Frances was born, a social worker arrived to look into the drug situation going on with her parents. After a long legal battle, her parents were able to regain custody, and they hired nannies to help care for Frances. However, in 1994, Kurt died, but the circumstances around his death remain unclear. In 2003, Frances’s mother was arrested for drug related issues.

In 2003, after her mother’s arrest, Frances was placed in the care of her grandmother Wendy, whom Frances has referred to as the only constant presence in her life. By 2005, her mother had regained custody of Frances. But by 2009, Frances was once again placed with her grandmother and her aunt, and a restraining order against Courtney was also taken out to keep Frances and her mother apart.

In 2014, Frances married a fellow musician, but by 2016 had filed for divorce. The marriage was not officially dissolved until 2018. In the divorce settlement, Frances was forced to give up the guitar her father had used to play at Nirvana’s iconic MTV Unplugged performance. Unfortunately for Frances, she had gifted her now ex-husband the guitar and so he was able to legally claim it in the divorce proceedings.

In 2019, Frances admitted she is uncomfortable with her inheritance she received upon her father’s death. She says she has this large amount of money that she never worked for or did anything to get, but it will also never go away. Frances also admitted that after becoming sober in 2016 she learned to stop living her life to excess and instead hopes to do something meaningful with her life. Frances’s net worth is estimated to be over $11 Million.

Frances also stated she is friends with fellow famed children of celebrities Billie Lourd and Sean Lennon. Billie is the daughter of Carrie Fisher and Sean the son of Yoko Ono and John Lennon. Suffice to say all three understand exactly what it means to grow up in the spotlight with a million eyes on you at all times.

Badges Earned:

Located In My Personal Library:

Love & Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain by Max Wallace and Ian Halperin

Sources:

https://www.biography.com/personality/frances-bean-cobain

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2019/02/07/kurt-cobains-daughter-frances-bean-talks-guilt-inheriting-fortune/2806822002/

636) Lieserl Einstein

636: Lieserl Einstein

Albert and Mileva’s Missing Daughter

Born: January 1902, Kingdom of Serbia (Present-day Novi Sad, Serbia)

Died: September 1903, Most Likely Serbia

From the few surviving details that can be pieced together it is believed Lieserl’s birth was difficult and she was mentally handicapped possibly as a result. Lieserl was also most likely adopted out and then died when she was around a year old from scarlet fever or an infection.

There is no evidence Albert ever saw or met his daughter, whom Mileva had given birth to in secret in her home country of Serbia, most likely at her parents’ home. The reason for the secrecy? Mileva and Albert were not married at the time of Lieserl’s birth, and therefore she was illegitimate.

Albert and Mileva would go on to have two sons, one of whom also suffered from mental illness. Eduard, who was called "Tete" by his family, most likely suffered from schizophrenia.

Lieserl was unknown to historians until 1986, when one of Mileva and Albert’s grandchildren uncovered a cache of letters her parents had exchanged between 1902 and 1903. After September of 1903, Lieserl is never mentioned again, leading many to believe she died around that time. And though she is referred to as Lieserl in letters, some historians believe that was a nickname and not her full name she would have been christened with.

In 2012, Lieserl’s story came to life for young adult readers in the Margaret Peterson Haddix series The Missing, which recounts the stories of missing children from history. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves history, science fiction, or time travel stories.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

American Spirit Magazine Article "Einstein's Equal" by Emily McMackin Dye (May/June 2024 Edition)

Caught by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Sources:

https://www.einstein-website.de/biographies/einsteinlieserl_content.html

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,31490,00.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/155675528/lieserl-einstein

635) Sadako Sasaki

635: Sadako Sasaki

The Real Girl Behind Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes

Born: 7 January 1943, Hiroshima, Japan

Died: 25 October 1955, Hiroshima, Japan

Sadako was two years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. At the time the bomb was dropped, Sadako and her family were two kilometers away from the site of the blast. For many years no one suspected anything was amiss.

One day, in 1955, Sadako was participating in her school’s relay race. She started to feel extremely dizzy and tired. The symptoms went away before coming back over and over again. Soon after, Sadako became so dizzy she fell and could not get up. Her parents took her to a Red Cross Hospital, and Sadako was diagnosed with leukemia. She was one of very many Japanese people who fell ill with the blood cancer.

Sadako was scared she was going to die. Her friend came to visit her in the hospital and told her a story. If Sadako could fold 1,000 origami cranes she would soon become well again. Sadako managed to fold five hundred cranes and was told she was well enough to go home for a time. Unfortunately, after a week she had to return to the hospital. Soon after, Sadako peacefully went to sleep and never woke up.

Sadako managed to fold 644 cranes before she died. Afterward, her classmates made the rest to make a thousand to bury with her.

In 1958, her classmates and friends raised enough money to build a monument to all the children who died from war, with a hope for peace in the future. To this day, students from all over the world send paper cranes to lie beneath the monument.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Sadako and The Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr

The Complete Story of Sadako Sasaki by Sue DiCicco and Masahiro Sasaki

Sources:

https://www.hiroshima-is.ac.jp/?page_id=230

https://sadakosasaki.com/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/63940136/sadako-sasaki

June 2025 Update:

In June of 2025, I was given the opportunity to visit Hiroshima and the Peace Gardens and Monuments near "Ground Zero" where the bomb struck in August of 1945. The above photo is of the Children's Monument dedicated after Sadako's death.

634) Saint Eulalia

634: Saint Eulalia

13-Year-Old Martyred During the Reign of Diocletian

Born: c.290, Present-day Merida OR Barcelona, Spain

Died: c.304, Present-day Merida OR Barcelona, Spain

Feast Day: December 10th

Today Eulalia of Merida is the Patron Saint of runaways, torture victims, and widows. Eulalia of Barcelona is one of the two patron saints of the city of Barcelona, and the patron saint of sailors.

In Eulalia’s time, the Roman Emperor Diocletian controlled what is modern day Spain. Diocletian is seen as the last great Pagan Emperor of Rome (and if The Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan books are to be believed, he was also the last Demigod Emperor of Rome). Diocletian is remembered for his cruel treatment towards Christians, and unfortunately his ruthlessness spread throughout the empire.

Eulalia was a young girl full of faith. She refused to worship false idols and pagan gods or turn her back on Christ. Because of her faith and refusal to submit to Rome, Eulalia was martyred.

One story says she was torn apart by hooks, then set on fire. The fire caught her hair, and Eulalia mercifully died from smoke inhalation and asphyxiation.

Another story says Eulalia was given thirteen forms of torture, one for each of her years on earth. The thirteen tortures are as follows: imprisonment in a small prison, being whipped, her skin torn in strips, walking barefoot on burning embers, her breasts were cut, her wounds were rubbed with rough stones, her skin was branded with iron, boiling oil was tossed on her, then molten lead, then she was submerged in burning lime, then she was locked in a flea box, then she was rolled down a hill, naked, in a barrel full of knives, swords, broken glass (you get the picture) before she was finally crucified.

Is it sad I really hope the first scenario is the historically accurate one?

The discrepancy in the story stems from the fact that Eulalia is claimed by two separate cities: Merida and Barcelona. Both stories say Eulalia hailed from their respective cities, around the same time frame (290 AD to around 303 or 304 AD). Both claim she is the patron to certain individuals, and that she suffered a horrific death. In reality, there was probably only one Eulalia, but where she came from or how she actually died is lost to history.

After her death, she became a martyr of the Catholic Church, and soon after a Saint as well.

Sources:

https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=630

https://www.stoketravel.com/stokepedia/the-horrible-history-of-barcelonas-saint-eulalia/

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-eulalia-of-merida-79

633) Judy Garland

633: Judy Garland

Actress and Singer

Born: 10 June 1922, Grand Rapids, Minnesota, United States of America

Died: 22 June 1969, Chelsea, Greater London, United Kingdom

Original Name: Frances Ethel Gumm

Judy started performing at the age of two and a half alongside her sisters Mary and Virginia.

She will be eternally remembered for portraying Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz film but to say she suffered horribly at the hands of studio executives and her mother is a gross understatement. Her mother started off her career when Judy was still a child, dragging her all across the country to perform in nightclubs, vaudeville shows, and any other venue that would take her. By the mid-1930’s, Judy’s mother’s work had paid off, and Judy was signed to MGM Studios in Hollywood.

For two years, Judy hung around the MGM lot with not much to do, but in 1937 her career really started to take off. As her career started to pick up, the studio and Judy’s mother began to give her pills to keep her awake on set. Soon after, she was also started on a round of amphetamines to keep her weight from fluctuating. Judy was still a young teenager, and these pills would ensure Judy would remain addicted for the rest of her short life.

For Judy’s performance singing “Over the Rainbow” in The Wizard of Oz, she received a special juvenile Academy Award. Soon after, Judy began pursuing more adult roles in film. In 1941, she married for the first time after eloping with a musician. Soon after the wedding, Judy got pregnant. Her husband and the studio executives convinced her to have an abortion to keep her virginal, good-girl, image up.* By 1944, Judy was divorced for the first time.

Judy began to have affairs with other actors, and after the filming of Meet Me in St. Louis wrapped, Judy and the actor Vincente Minnelli were living together. Soon after her divorce from her first husband came through, Vincente and Judy became engaged. They married only months later. This marriage produced Judy’s daughter Liza Minnelli, but Judy suffered from postpartum depression and her mental health began to decline in the years after Liza’s birth. By 1949, Judy was checked into a rehabilitation facility following her first suicide attempt. By 1950, Judy was fired from MGM studios and her second marriage was over.

Soon after, Judy began a relationship with Sidney Luft. She began traveling to do shows to further her career but had to put a pause on her work after finding herself pregnant. Soon after, she married Sidney. Their daughter Lorna was born soon after. By then, Judy and her mother had completely fallen out with each other, and when Judy’s mother died the following year, Judy was haunted by the fact they had not managed to reconcile before her death.

Judy then signed with Warner Bros studios and starred in the first remake of A Star Is Born. Judy would win a Golden Globe and be nominated for an Academy Award for that role. After her starring role in A Star is Born, Judy gave birth to her only son, Joey. Judy also began losing money hand over fist thanks to her husband’s strong gambling addiction. They began to argue, and would file for divorce and then reconcile numerous times over the next few years.

Judy returned to acting in time to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for the film Judgement at Nuremburg. She saw her divorce to Sidney finalized over the next few years. Soon after, she married for the fourth time, but the marriage was dissolved after five months once Judy learned her husband was a closeted gay man (though the divorce wouldn’t be finalized for three years).

Judy moved to London in the latter half of the 1960’s, hoping to be able to earn more money overseas. It was while working in London that Judy met her final husband, a DJ named Mickey. Judy’s issues with drugs and alcohol spiraled out of control while working in London, and one night at the age of forty-seven, she died of an accidental drug overdose. Her daughter Liza would pay for her funeral.

Her onstage and film persona make her seem larger than life on occasion, but in real life, she stood only four foot eleven and a half inches. Judy was seen as a Gay Icon in the 1950’s and 1960’s and is still remembered for her acceptance of the LGBT community to this day.

In 2019, a stage musical about the last years of Judy’s life was turned into a Hollywood film entitled Judy. Though the musical and film are highly dramatized, the film also received high praise and starred Renee Zellweger as Judy.

*Important Note

The only source I have been able to find that documents Judy's abortion during her first marriage is her biography on IMDb (linked below). Usually IMDb biographies are pretty accurate, but I figured I would make this note here to acknowledge that no other source listed included that fact or detail in their biographies of Judy.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Harvey Houses of Arizona: Historic Hospitality from Winslow to the Grand Canyon by Rosa Walston Latimer

The Hollywood Book of Death by James Robert Parish

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History Edited By Bonnie G Smith

The Rough Guide to Film Musicals by David Parkinson

Where Are They Buried by Tod Benoit

Sources:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000023/bio

https://www.biography.com/actor/judy-garland

http://www.judygarlandmuseum.com/judys-life

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/383/judy-garland