250 and Counting

Chances are, if you do your basic Google search for “first Mountain Man,” among the top results you’ll get would be a man named John Colter. We’d argue that he was ONE OF the first, but the real anser, as youll hear today, is Joseph Harrison Dixon. Dixon and Colter did, in fact, spend some […]

William Legge was the Second Earl of Dartmouth and, just before the hostilities between the Colonists and the British started in earnest, was also the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the First Lord of Trade. Lord Dartmouth noticed that people throughout the Colonies appeared to be preparing for all-out war, so he sent […]

At one time there were rumors that Benjamin Franklin had lots and lots of children born out of wedlock. (Insert your favorite “lightning rod” joke here.) As usual, the real story is more complicated than that. Franklin courted a woman named Deborah Reed. At the time, he was 17 and she was 15, so her […]

Joseph Gist wasn’t an especially distinguished person, but you don’t have to be distinguised to get noticed on 250 and Counting. Gist was born in Union County, SC and while he moved to Charleston in his teen and college years, he moved to Pinckneyville to practice law. Pinckneyville was part of the Ninety-Six District, which […]

Francis Salvador was a man who is in the history books for two notable things: the day he was elected to public office, and the day he died in the Revoluationary War. That doesn’t ordinarily make a person notable, but Salvador had the distinction of being the first person of his faith to achieve these […]

James Sewall Morsell was a lawyer and then a judge in Maryland and Washington DC for the better part of his career. Perhaps most notable about his long tenure is that he handled freedom petitions for many Black Americans during the slavery era as the families’ representative, something that many other attorneys were not willing […]

Daniel Leonard was the son of a prominent family in the ironworks industry. He lived in Taunton, Massachusetts until shortly after he accepted a position working for the Royal Governor of the state, at which point he became unpopular enough that he was forced to move to Boston, which was under British occupation at the […]

It’s Cake and Candles today for Brigadier General John Harrison, born this day in 1775 in Pennsylvania. Harrison became a local official in his home county until the War of 1812, when he enlisted and his company was sent to defend Baltimore against the British in one of the war’s biggest victories for the American […]

By all accounts, Ben Franklin was a charming guy. And while he has a reputation today for being the sort of ladies’ man who left behind lots of children with single moms, that wasn’t really the case (as you’ll discover in a future episode). But part of his charm came from his diplomacy skills, which […]

The impression that most people have of John Adams, it seems, comes from one of two places. It’s either William Daniels’ portrayal of him in the play and film 1776 (and we’re big fans of that particular bit of cinema), or it’s Paul Giamatti’s portrayal in the seven-part miniseries on cable TV. Both stories had […]

Daniel Dobbins was born this day in 1775. We’re pretty sure that’s the date; listen in and find out why. Dobbins spent most of his time on the waters of Lake Erie. He—and most of the people in the Lower Peninsula of modern-day Michigan—didn’t even know that the War of 1812 was going on until […]

Samuel Seabury was a prominent figure in the Protestant Episcopal Church on this side of the pond. From a political standpoint, he was a Loyalist and spent some time writing pieces urging his followers not to seek independence from England. One piece in particular, which he wrote using a pen name, lit a fire under […]

Thomas Flournoy was born this day in 1775, and while he therefore didn’t have a lot to do with the Revolutionary War, he did have an impact on the Florida Patriot War and on the War of 1812. Now, we’re pretty sure you’ve heard of the War of 1812 but we’re willing to bet that […]

The Philadelphia Packet was a weekly newspaper that had only been around for about four years by the start of 1775, so tensions between the Colonies and the Crown were already in place from the first issue. But while publisher John Dunlap generally sided with the Americans, he did feel a responsibility to present both […]

Welcome to the inaugural episode of 250 and Counting! This is a daily podcast, but don’t worry—it only runs about four or five minutes per day. Those of you of a certain age (ahem) may remember the Bicentennial Minute. For those of you who don’t: As the 200th anniversary of the United States approached, our […]