Article: Russian Family Isolated in Siberia

The link below is to an article that looks at an isolated family that lived in Russia’s Siberian region, having fled persecution many years ago. This is a fascinating story.

For more visit:
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/history/2013/01/for-40-years-this-russian-family-was-cut-off-from-all-human-contact-unaware-of-world-war-ii/

Today in History: 24 May 1522

England: Puritan John Jewel was Born

On this day in 1522, John Jewel, the English Bishop of Salisbury was born. He studied at Oxford.

Jewel was known to the early English Reformers, including Thomas Cranmer and Nicholas Ridley who were both martyred for their faith. Though he signed Catholic articles of faith, he fled to Continental Europe.

Under Elizabeth I, Jewel returned to England, where he became involved in the Elizabethan reforms to the Church of England.

For more, visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jewel

Book:
The Life of Bishop Jewel, by Charles Webb Le Bas

Today in History – 26 April 1865

United States: John Wilkes Booth is Killed

On the 14th April 1865, John Wilkes Booth assassinated the President of the United States of America at Ford’s Theatre, in Washington D.C. Booth, a Confederate sympathizer, managed to escape the scene of his crime and fled on horseback to a farm in northern Virginia. It was here, 12 days after his attack on the president that Booth was shot and killed.

John Wilkes Booth was born on the 10th May 1838, into the well known Booth family and became a well known actor in his own right. But it would be his assassination of Abraham Lincoln that he would always be remembered for.

Eight other co-conspirators were tried and convicted for their parts in the assassination and other roles in the plot that resulted in the death of the president. Four of these were hung a short time later.

 

Today in History – 23 April 1661

England: Charles II Crowned in Westminster Abbey

Following the death of Oliver Cromwell in 1658, political events led eventually to the restoration of the English monarchy and the ascension of Charles II to the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland. His father, Charles I, was executed by Oliver Cromwell at Whitehall on the 30th January 1649 towards the end of the English Civil War and Charles fled the country. With the death of Cromwell and the collapse of the English Commonwealth, Charles was invited to return to England and did so with great public fanfare on the 29th May 1660. He was crowned in Westminster Abbey on the 23rd April 1661.

For more on Charles II, visit:
Charles II