ROSS SIMPSON

James Wilson Marshall
(October 8, 1810 – August 10, 1885)

The caption with this photo at the Library of Congress
claims that this was Marshall in front of the mill in 1850.

On January 24, 1848, gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill on
the American River in Northern California. After James W.
Marshall, who’d been overseeing the sawmill’s construction,
found the gold nuggets he and his boss, John Sutter,
attempted to keep

the discovery a secret. However, word soon spread and by
1849 thousands of prospectors, who became known as 49ers,
were flocking to Coloma, California, site of Sutter’s Mill, and
the surrounding region, hoping to strike it rich.

   
James Marshall’s cabin.

   

    
    
    
   
John Augustus Sutter
(February 23, 1803 – June 18, 1880)

The spot where Marshall first discovered the gold that
started the California Gold Rush.

Tim  Maguire

I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom that originally
aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a
ottal of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning six seasons.

The show starred Lucille Ball, her husband, Desi Arnaz,
along with Vivian Vance and William Frawley.

Mary Elizabeth Jenkins Surratt
(1820 or May 1823 – July 7, 1865)

Mary Surratt was executed by the U.S. government for her
role as a conspirator in Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.

Surratt, who owned a tavern in Surrattsville (now Clinton),
Maryland, had to convert her row house in Washington, D.C.,
into a boardinghouse as a result of financial difficulties.

Located a few blocks from Ford’s Theatre, where Lincoln
was murdered, this house served as the place where a
group of Confederate supporters, including John Wilkes
Booth, conspired to assassinate the president. It was
Surratt’s association with Booth that ultimately led to her
conviction, though debate continues as to the extent of
her involvement and whether it really warranted so harsh
a sentence.

A newspaper drawing of Surratt receiving comfort
from one of the priests permitted to visit her in her
prison cell.

Aftermath of the execution of Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell,
David Herold, and George Atzerodt on July 7, 1865.

Surratt’s boarding house, c. 1890, little changed
from how it looked during her occupancy.

Surratt’s boarding house, which now houses a restaurant,
is in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

CAMILLE BOHANNON

ROSS SIMPSON

Benjamin David Goodman
(May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986)

Benny Goodman was a clarinetist and bandleader
known as the "King of Swing".

From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one
of the most popular swing big bands in the United
States.