Randy Seaver over at GeneaMusings.com has his weekly Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge out. This week we’re to look up our grandfather’s birthday, find out what day of the week it was, note any historical events, and see if anyone famous was born on that day.
My Paternal Grandfather, Jean Lassalle, was born 29 Jun 1888 in Ogeu les bains, France. I used Google Search to find the information I needed. The website HistoryOrb.com gave me the day of week: Friday.
They had one historical event for his birthday: the first recording of classical music was made. It was produced on a wax cylinder. The piece was Handel’s “Israel in Egypt”. Using Wikipedia, I found that the recording was made by George Edward Gourard. According to the History Channel website, Gourard was Thomas Edison’s agent in Europe. Wikipediea has a copy of the recording on their page for Gourard.
Wikipedia lists two famous people born on Grandpa’s day in 1888: Alexandr Friedmann, a Russian physicist and mathematician, and Squizzy Taylor, an Australian gangster.
I decided just to stick with the exact day to make it pertain more to my grandfather. However, it was an important year. The first wax drinking straw was invented, the National Geographic Society was founded, George Eastman took out the patent on the “Kodak Box Camera”, California got its very first seismograph (really, 1888?), and Thomas Edison took out a patent on the first movie machine, the “Optical Phonograph.” Sounds like science and discovery was booming that year…and really, where would we be without the invention of the drinking straw?
