Birth Locations – Page 74 – The Exasperated Historian

546) Dorothy Garrod

546: Dorothy Garrod

Archaeologist and The First Woman to Hold an Oxford Chair

Born: 5 May 1892, London, United Kingdom

Died: 18 December 1968, Cambridge, United Kingdom

This meant Dorothy was the first female professor at Oxford. Almost ten years earlier, she had also become the first female professor at Cambridge.

She was a pioneer in the Paleolithic Period and served as the Disney Professor of Archaeology from 1939 to 1952 (which has no relation to the giant Disney media corporation).

Dorothy led excavations at Mt. Carmel in Palestine that led to important findings in human evolution. She also excavated in Gibraltar, Lebanon, and Kurdistan.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dorothy-Annie-Elizabeth-Garrod

https://trowelblazers.com/dorothy-garrod-2/

https://trowelblazers.com/dorothy-garrod/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/161721002/dorothy-annie_elizabeth-garrod

545) Claudia Octavia

545: Claudia Octavia

Empress of Rome

Born: c.40 AD, Rome, Roman Empire (Present-day Rome, Italy)

Died: 62 AD, Pandateria, Roman Empire (Present-day Ventotene, Italy)

Claudia was the stepsister and wife of Nero, first cousin of Caligula, and daughter of Claudius.

Nero treated her like crap—trying to strangle her on numerous occasions and divorcing her after his mistress got pregnant on the grounds that (though not proven) Claudia was barren. Then he banished her to a far-off island and executed her by making it look like a suicide (cutting open her veins and suffocating her in a hot bath).

Claudia’s head was cut off and sent to the mistress as a present, or something.

The bright side of this story is that it is said Nero was plagued with nightmares concerning Octavia and his mother (whom he also had killed, Agrippina the Younger), for the rest of his life.

Sources:

https://www.roman-emperors.org/octavia.htm

https://historywitch.com/tag/claudia-octavia/

544) Empress Matilda

544: Empress Matilda

Holy Roman Empress and German Queen

Born: February 1102, Oxfordshire, England (Present-day Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom)

Died: September 1167, Rouen, France

Also Known As: Empress Maud

Matilda was also Queen Regnant of England during the Anarchy and English Civil War.

She was the only legitimate surviving child of Henry I, and therefore his sole heir.

Matilda married the Emperor of the German states (and later the Holy Roman Emperor) Henry V when she was twelve and he was thirty-two, but he died before they had any children and she returned to her father’s court in England.

Matilda was then married to the Count of Anjou and Maine, Geoffrey, (he was nine or ten years younger than her, he was around thirteen and she was twenty-three) and they had three sons. She was in Anjou at the time of her father’s death and so her fast-moving cousin tried to take the throne—kicking off the Civil War. Its important to note that her father, Henry I, had deemed Matilda the heir to the English throne, but when he died Stephen of Blois (the cousin) gained the backing of the powerful barons as the legitimate heir. Not only was Matilda the wrong sex (those dang X chromosomes at it again!) but she was in the wrong country to claim the throne, and pregnant, and so Civil War commenced.

After three years of fighting she was proclaimed Queen but alienated her subjects in London from her arrogance and the fact she was viewed as a foreigner married to a foreign power. Matilda would never be crowned; she had to flee and never retook the throne, instead her son would go on to become Henry II.

She was the daughter of Henry, the wife of Henry, and the mother of Henry (all different Henrys, but still!). And if that isn’t confusing enough, her mother was Matilda as was her grandmother.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

One Bloody Thing After Another by Jacob F Field

The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England by Dan Jones

Queens of the Conquest: England's Medieval Queens Book One by Alison Weir

The Warrior Queens by Antonia Fraser

Kings & Queens of England and Scotland by Plantagenet Somerset Fry

Sources:

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Empress-Maud/

https://www.medievalists.net/2013/04/empress-matilda-lady-of-the-english/

http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/normans_21.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8619917/matilda-of_england

543) Vibia Sabina

543: Vibia Sabina

Roman Empress

Born: c.83-88 AD, Rome, Roman Empire (Present-day Rome, Italy)

Died: 136 AD

She was the second cousin once removed and wife of Hadrian. When they married, Vibia was anywhere from twelve to seventeen, and Hadrian was six to twelve years older (depending on which birth year you believe or use for Vibia). They stayed married for thirty-six years until Vibia’s death.

Vibia’s marriage was definitely not all sunshine and rainbows; originally married to Hadrian for political reasons, it soon became clear that while Hadrian was bisexual, he was primarily gay and really only interested in seeing either already married women in the aristocracy or some of his choice male associates.

Vibia was angered that he didn’t pay all that much attention to her (she had been raised to be the center of attention at all times), and so she made it abundantly clear that she hated him and the reason he didn’t have children is because she refused to have sex with him.

Hadrian became Emperor after his maybe-maybe not legally adoptive father Trajan died (that’s a whole other story, for all the details read the Encyclopedia article below). Though they continued to loathe one another, Hadrian and Vibia stayed married and Vibia enjoyed being empress. She traveled with her husband extensively and became known under the titles “Augusta” and “New Hera”. Her portrait was stamped on many of the coins from that time.

Vibia’s ashes are buried inside of Hadrian’s tomb.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Sources:

https://finds.org.uk/romancoins/emperors/emperor/id/15

https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/sabina-88-136-ce

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/197064740/vibia-sabina

542) Faustina the Elder

Courtesy of Mount Holyoke College Art Museum

542: Faustina the Elder

Roman Empress

Born: c.90-105 AD, Rome, Roman Empire (Present-day Rome, Italy)

Died: 140 AD, Cappadocia, Roman Empire, (Present-day Cappadocia, Italy)

Also Known As: Annia Galeria Faustina

Faustina was the wife of Antoninus Pius.

Unlike most Emperors and Empresses of Rome, Faustina and Antoninus really loved each other and ruled over a mostly peaceful and prosperous empire. Faustina was given the title of Augusta, a high honor for a Roman Empress.

One type of coin that survives from this period bears an inscription explaining that one of Faustina’s charities was to help educate women and poor girls in Rome.

Marcus Aurelius was her nephew and later adopted son. Another adopted son was Lucius Verus (both he and Marcus were later Emperors).

Upon her death, Faustina’s husband had her deified and dedicated a temple to her in the Roman Forum. He also opened a charity in her name to help orphaned girls in Rome and had many coins struck with her image. Hundreds of these coins not only survive but provide historical context for the time. A cult also spread after her death and became wildly followed.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Sources:

http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/6553/unknown-maker-portrait-of-faustina-the-elder-roman-ad-140-160/

https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/faustina-i-c-90-141-ce

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faustina_the_Elder

https://www.livius.org/articles/person/faustina-i/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/197065107/annia-galeria-faustina

541) Julia Agrippina

Julia speaking on her son, "As long as he becomes emperor, let him kill me!"

Original Latin: "Occidat dum imperet."

541: Julia Agrippina

Roman Empress and Wife of Claudius

Born: 4 November 15 AD, Colonia Claudia Ara Agripinnensium, Roman Empire, (Present-day Cologne, Germany)

Died: 23 March 59 AD, Roman Empire, (Present-day Miseno, Italy)

Also Known As: Agrippina the Younger or Agrippina Minor

Claudius was also her uncle. Agrippina was the sister of Caligula and Mother of Nero. Now, if her genealogy wasn’t confusing enough already, she was also the great-granddaughter of Augustus; placing her in an even more prominent position in society. Basically, Agrippina had all the connections, and used them to her advantage. After all, Agrippina and her son Nero were the only surviving descendants of Augustus, Rome’s first emperor, after the assassination of her brother and niece.

Agrippina received the title of Augusta, a very high honor in Rome. Instead of being a backseat player in the world of deadly Roman politics, Agrippina ensured she was on the frontlines of every power move. Her influence was so great she even named her birthplace after herself; the city today is known as Cologne, Germany.

Her life story was very interesting; and let’s just say she wasn’t a saint. To sum up, Agrippina was exiled from Rome for two years for conspiring against her brother (Caligula) before being allowed to return. Then, she was accused of poisoning her second husband before marrying Claudius (her third husband) later that same year—convincing Claudius to adopt Nero (her son with a previous husband) as his heir instead of Claudius's own biological son. It’s also suspected she later poisoned Claudius. Nero was only sixteen or seventeen when he succeeded Claudius, so Agrippina first acted as regent to her son, but her power weakened over time and Nero eventually had her put to death.

After ten years of reigning as Rome's first empress in all but name, Agrippina was quickly cremated and her ashes buried in an unmarked grave in the modern city of Miseno in Italy. A swift and brutal end to a dynamic and powerful woman.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Arsinoe of Egypt and Macedon: A Royal Life by Elizabeth Donnelly Carney

History’s Naughty Bits by Karen Dolby

National Geographic History Magazine March/April 2021 Edition (Article “Agrippina's Power Play” by Isabel Barcelo)

One Bloody Thing After Another by Jacob F Field

Uppity Women Speak Their Minds by Vicki Leon

Women in Ancient Rome by Paul Chrystal

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julia-Agrippina

http://etc.ancient.eu/education/agrippina-the-younger/

https://www.livius.org/articles/person/agrippina-minor/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/197065402/julia-agrippina

540) Mary Wilde

540: Mary Wilde

Oscar Wilde’s Half-Sister

Born: 1847, Ireland (Today Most Likely the Republic of Ireland)

Died: 8 or 9 November 1871, County Monaghan, Ireland (Present-day County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland)

Mary and her sister Emily died in a manor fire by complete freak accident.

The girls were attending a Halloween party on the holiday night. Even though the sisters were illegitimate, they still enjoyed a place in Ireland’s high society, explaining their presence at the party.

It is said they died after one of the sisters' (most likely Mary) dress caught fire when she moved too close to the burning candles. The other guests panicked and ran, but the other sister (most likely Emily) raced to Mary’s side to try and smother the flames. Unfortunately, she failed in her endeavor, and her own dress caught fire as well. Accounts vary as to how the sister’s got out of the house, but what is known is the fire was eventually put out; but by then the sisters had suffered third-degree burns to most of their bodies.

Their injuries were fatal, but both sisters had to suffer through extreme agonizing pain. After they died, a large-scale effort was made to cover up their deaths. Their names were changed, not only in the notice in the newspaper noting their deaths, but also on the official death records. This was done to preserve their father’s reputation. As a prominent doctor, William Wilde did not want the public to know that his two illegitimate daughters had died in such a tragic way. Historians cannot even verify if Oscar knew his half-sisters existed.

In fact, after 1871, there would be no mention of the sisters again until a biography of their father was published in 1942, and even then, the details were scarce, and they remain so today. The only details that are known for certain are this: Emily and Mary attended a party on the night of 31 October 1871. At the party, both of their dresses caught fire, and they later died from their wounds sometime in the month of November 1871. No known images of them from life survive either, or their birthdays or the location they were born.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Sources:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-strange-secret-behind-the-tragic-deaths-of-oscar-wildes-halfsisters

http://www.irishidentity.com/extras/gaels/stories/wilde.htm

https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/secret-tragic-deaths-oscar-wildes-sisters

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/171751901/mary-wilde

539) Emily Wilde

539: Emily Wilde

Oscar Wilde’s Half-Sister

Born: 1847, Ireland (Today Most Likely the Republic of Ireland)

Died: 21 November 1871, County Monaghan, Ireland (Present-day County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland)

Emily and her sister Mary died in a manor fire by complete freak accident.

The girls were attending a Halloween party on the holiday night. Even though the sisters were illegitimate, they still enjoyed a place in Ireland’s high society, explaining their presence at the party.

It is said they died after one of the sisters' (most likely Mary) dress caught fire when she moved too close to the burning candles. The other guests panicked and ran, but the other sister (most likely Emily) raced to Mary’s side to try and smother the flames. Unfortunately, she failed in her endeavor, and her own dress caught fire as well. Accounts vary as to how the sister’s got out of the house, but what is known is the fire was eventually put out; but by then the sisters had suffered third-degree burns to most of their bodies.

Their injuries were fatal, but both sisters had to suffer through extreme agonizing pain. After they died, a large-scale effort was made to cover up their deaths. Their names were changed, not only in the notice in the newspaper noting their deaths, but also on the official death records. This was done to preserve their father’s reputation. As a prominent doctor, William Wilde did not want the public to know that his two illegitimate daughters had died in such a tragic way. Historians cannot even verify if Oscar knew his half-sisters existed.

In fact, after 1871, there would be no mention of the sisters again until a biography of their father was published in 1942, and even then, the details were scarce, and they remain so today. The only details that are known for certain are this: Emily and Mary attended a party on the night of 31 October 1871. At the party, both of their dresses caught fire, and they later died from their wounds sometime in the month of November 1871. No known images of them from life survive either, or their birthdays or the location they were born.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Sources:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-strange-secret-behind-the-tragic-deaths-of-oscar-wildes-halfsisters

http://www.irishidentity.com/extras/gaels/stories/wilde.htm

https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/secret-tragic-deaths-oscar-wildes-sisters

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/171751881/emily-wilde

538) Maila Nurmi

"There is no Elvira. There's only a pirated Vampira. Cassandra Peterson slavishly copied my product and made a fortune. America has been duped."

538: Maila Nurmi

Vampira Actress

Born: 11 December 1922, Petsamo, Finland

Died: 10 January 2008, Los Angeles, California, United States of America

Original Name: Maila Syrjaniemi

Not to be confused with Elvira though many people do, Vampira was a completely different character—and she was first!

Maila started off as a burlesque and model in the hopes of breaking into the realm of being an actress.

The role of Vampira was born after Maila went to a costume ball dressed as Morticia Addams and soon enough she was appearing every Saturday night at 11 PM on a cable Television network to host horror films.

This success would be short lived. In 1955, one of her closest friends, James Dean died, and ABC canceled her show, asking Maila to turn over the rights to Vampira (she refused). Suddenly destitute, Maila had to move back in with her mother and start cleaning houses to earn her keep. She returned to Hollywood for some really bad b-movie horror flicks, but by 1962, Mails was out of Hollywood for good.

In the 1980’s she ended up suing for millions in damages after the debut of the Elvira character—convinced Elvira was a rip off of Vampira, but the suit went nowhere.

It should be noted that Maila always claimed she was born in Finland, although some sources state her biographer claims she was actually born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, United States of America.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Sources:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0885533/bio

https://groovyhistory.com/vampira-horror-host-elvira-true-story

https://www.austinfilm.org/2015/02/the-incredible-but-true-story-of-maila-vampira-nurmi/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/23914415/maila-nurmi

537) Caroline Kennedy

537: Caroline Kennedy

Diplomat, Author, Political Figure, and Attorney

Born: 27 November 1957, New York City, New York, United States of America

Caroline served as the US Ambassador to Japan from 2013 to 2017. As of 2022, she is now the US Ambassador to Australia.

Caroline is the oldest and only still-surviving child of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy Onassis. She hadn’t quite yet turned six years old when her father was killed. Two weeks after the assassination, Jackie moved her children out of the White House, and soon after they moved to New York City, trying their best to stay out of the public eye.

Caroline is a Radcliffe and Columbia Law school graduate and mother of three children. Her foray into politics started early, when she worked as an intern to her Uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy, while in college.

After she finished school at Radcliffe (now a part of Harvard), Caroline began working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she met her husband, and as president of the John F Kennedy Library Foundation. She entered law school soon after and published her first of several books. Since then she has become board member for various institutions, including Chairwoman of the Democratic National Convention in 2000.

In 2019, Caroline officially christened the second ship named in honor of her father by the United States Navy.

Badges Earned:

Located In My Personal Library:

The House of Kennedy by James Patterson and Cynthia Fagen

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

Sources:

https://www.biography.com/personality/caroline-kennedy

https://www.jfklibrary.org/about-us/jfk-library-foundation/board-of-directors/caroline-kennedy-honorary-president

https://people.com/politics/caroline-kennedy-christens-navy-ship-uss-jfk/

https://au.usembassy.gov/embassy-consulates-canberra-ambassador/