Today is the birthday
… of George Martin. The man who produced The Beatles’ records is 86.
… of Dabney Coleman. Franklin M. Hart Jr. is 80 (that’s the boss in Nine To Five).
… of Bobby Hull. The hockey hall-of-famer is 73.
… of Stephen Stills. The rock and roll hall-of-famer is 67.
… of John Paul Jones. No, not the Navy guy. The Led Zeppelin guy. He’s 66.
… of Victoria Principal. Pamela Barnes Ewing (Dallas) is 62.
… of Mel Gibson. He is 56.
… of Danica McKellar, 37. You know, Winnie from The Wonder Years. After that show she graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with a degree in mathematics.
… of Eli Manning, 31.
J(ohn) R(onald) R(euel) Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, on this date in 1892. Tolkien is best known for his fantasy novels The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings trilogy (1954-1955).
Joseph de Veuster was born on this date in 1840. Known as Father Damien, the Belgian priest spent the last 16 years of his life ministering to the leper colony on Molokai.
“This is my work in the world. Sooner or later I shall become a leper, but may it not be until I have exhausted my capabilities for good.”
With King Kamehameha, Damien’s statue is one of the two chosen by Hawaii to be displayed in Statuary Hall in the nation’s Capitol.
Source: Hawaii State Government: Father Damien
Lucretia Mott was born on January 3rd in 1793.
Inspired by a father who encouraged his daughters to be useful and a mother who was active in business affairs, Lucretia Mott worked as a tireless advocate for the oppressed while also raising six children. Over the course of her lifetime, Mott actively participated in many of the reform movements of the day including abolition, temperance, and pacifism. She also played a vital role in organizing the 1848 Women’s Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, which launched the woman suffrage movement in America.
This is Ms. Mott’s complete New York Times obituary from 1880:
Lucretia Mott died last evening at her residence, near Philadelphia, in her eighty-eighth year. Mrs. Mott, whose name was probably as widely known as that of any other public woman in this or the preceding generation, was born in the old whaling town of Nantucket on the 3d of January, 1793. Her maiden name was Coffin. When 11 years old, her parents removed to Boston, where she went to school, finishing her education at a young ladies’ boarding school in Dutchess County, N.Y., in which, when only 15 years old, she became a teacher. In 1809 she rejoined her parents, who had removed to Philadelphia, and in 1811, two years later, was married to James Mott. She was then in her nineteenth year. Her husband went into partnership with her father, Mr. Coffin, and Mrs. Mott again turned her attention to educational matters. In 1817 she took charge of a school in Philadelphia, and in 1818 began to preach. She made extended pilgrimages through New-England, Pennsylvania, Maryland and parts of Virginia advocating Quaker principles and waging at the same time a vigorous warfare against the evils of intemperance and slavery. In the division of the Society of Friends in 1827 she adhered to the Hicksites. Mrs. Mott took a prominent part in organizing the American Anti-Slavery Society in Philadelphia in 1833, and was a delegate to the famous World’s Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840, where, in company with other female delegates, she was refused admission on account of her sex. She was also prominent in the original Woman’s Rights Convention held at Seneca Falls, N.Y., in 1848, over which her husband, James Mott, presided. During the last 30 years she has been conspicuous in such gatherings and in annual meetings of the Society of Friends. Among her published works are “Sermons to Medical Students” and “A Discourse on Women.”
Apple, Inc. (Apple Computer, Inc. until 2007) was incorporated 35 years ago today. The company had been founded the previous April 1st.