(September 15, 1846 – August 21, 1910)
On this day in 1899, George F. Grant, an African American
dentist from Boston, received US Patent number 638,920
for the world’s first golf tee.
Neither a marketer nor an inventor, Grant, who was also
the first African-American professor at Harvard, gave
away a few copies of his creation but made no money
from it before he died.
Brenda Lee with Elvis Presley.
Singer Brenda Lee is known for her rockabilly, pop, country,
and Christmas music. She achieved her first Billboard hit at
age 12 in 1957.
Some of Lee’s most successful songs include "Sweet Nothin’s",
"I’m Sorry", "I Want to Be Wanted", "Speak to Me Pretty", "All
Alone Am I", and "Losing You".
Her song "Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree", recorded in
1958, topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 2023, making Lee
the oldest artist ever to top the chart and breaking several
chart records. She is 81 years young today.
After a 13-year struggle with the bottle, stockbroker Bill Wilson
took his last drink of the hard stuff on this day in 1934.
The following year, he along with Doctor Bob Smith, would
found Alcoholics Anonymous the groundbreaking program
that treated alcoholism not as a moral failing, but as a
disease.
On December 10, 1690, a failed attack on Quebec and
subsequent near-mutiny force the Massachusetts Bay
Colony to issue the first paper currency in the history
of the Western Hemisphere.
With a shortage of coins and nothing else to pay the
troops with, Governor William Phips of Britain’s
Massachusetts Bay Colony faced a potential mutiny.
With no other option, the General Court of Massachusetts
ordered the printing of a limited amount of government-
backed, paper currency to pay the soldiers.
Sir William Phips
(February 2, 1651 – February 18, 1695)
The envoy of Sir William Phips (right) demanding the
surrender of Quebec, 1690.
