CD_III

Born July 1 (Canada Day), 1986 in Waynesboro, Virginia

1991 to 1997- attended elementary school at Riverheads Elementary School

1997 to 2000- attended middle school at Beverly Manor Middle School

2000 to 2004- attended high school at Riverheads High School

February 2004- went to Jamaica

June 2004- graduated from high school

July 2004- went to Canada

August 2004- attended WVU Institute of Technology as an engineering major

following semester quickly changed major to history

June to July 2005- attended Poplar Forest Archaeological Field School, near Lynchburg, Virginia

August 2005- returned to WVU Tech for second year

August 2005- joined WVU Tech golf team

October 2005- helped form the WVU Tech History Club

May 2006- completed second year of college and stopped attending WVU Tech

June 2006 to August 2007- worked at multiple golf courses

August 2006- opened a landscaping business

May to July 2007- worked at a bakery

August 2007- sold landscaping business

August 2007 to current- attend school at University of Mary Washington

I choose these highlights of my life because they help to describe my history and also provide some insight to who I am and what events have shaped my life.  All events listed are events which did have a great deal of influence on my life, and have helped guide me to where I am today.  They will continue to guide me throughout my future.

Chronology is an important aspect of history that must exist for the field.  It is a simple (most of the time) but logical organization of historical information, that when used, helps us see events as they progress.

Although it may not have really shown in my speech on Friday (that was rough), I have almost completed my research for my topic.  One or two happenings during the campaign I still don’t fully understand, so I must dig deeper and hope that I can make sense of it all.  There are a few secondary sources that I need to look at, and I need to look at the microfilm for a newspaper, but once done with that then my research is done.  My next step will be to take ALL of my note cards and sort them into an appropriate order…it may take a while.

For those who are curious, the second story is the truth. There are certain parts of the first story that are true though: I did take a year off from school; My friend used to work at Sawgrass; and I did go to Sawgrass, but never got to play golf there. As for the second story, it is true in every way. It was worth taking the risk of getting caught to jump on the water trampoline. Not because it was Shania Twain (I can’t stand the women) but just for the pure enjoyment of jumping on the trampoline.

    Last year, during my year off from college, I decided to visit a friend who lived in Florida. He worked at the world famous Sawgrass golf course near Jacksonville. I went down there for a short visit; but luckily long enough to squeeze in a round of golf at Sawgrass. We teed off at 8:12 the morning following my first day down in Florida. By the time we arrived at the eleventh hole, I had enough and was ready to call it quits. I could not remember the last time I had such a bad round of golf. Teeing off on the eleventh, things did not get any better as I hit a poor shot that trickled its way to the edge of a water hazard. Once at my ball, I was studying my options and deciding which club would be my best choice. After several minutes, I had concluded, take a 5-iron, and hit it hard and high, to miss a few trees in the balls projected path. Suddenly, an alligator came storming out of the water a few yards away. At the sight of this, I immediately jumped into the golf cart. I was lucky to make it into the cart as my friend had already started to drive off in terror. It was before long that we were crossing a bridge and the feeling of safety returned. We both looked back to see the gator next to my golf ball, standing still, like a statue, with its mouth partially open. Unable to stand or speak, we both started to let out a scared laugh, and without saying a word, we both agreed that our round of golf was over.

Three years ago, I went with a group of friends to Canada for two weeks. We planned spending a week in Toronto and then a week at a cottage that one of my friend’s grandparents owned. After a quick week in the city, we made our way north to the Lake of Bays. With spending some much time in the van, it did not take us long to unload the van and begin to lounge around the cottage. After some time of relaxation, we put all our gear away and began our second week of leisure. I went down to the dock to find a canoe just yearning to be put to use. I went and got one of my friends and in no time, we were out on the water making our way around the lake. We had heard that Shania Twain owned a cottage on the lake so we decided to look for it. Coming around a bend in the lake, there it was. Now I am not a fan of Shania Twain, but it was just the fact of the matter. It was a rather modest cottage for someone of such success, although it was bigger than our cottage. We were looking from a distance, but even from there, I could see that she owned a water trampoline. A desire to jump on it rushed through me and I started to row toward the trampoline. Once my friend realized me intentions, she quickly opposed. I did not listen, and soon enough I had convinced her to want to do the same. We got to the trampoline and started to jump on it. About ten minutes passed and we were having a blast. Then a man came out of the house, he was a security guard. With a walkie-talkie in his hand and a pistol by his side, he strongly suggested us leaving before he would personally escort us away. I was having fun and wanted to continue, but it was easy to tell that this guy was not in the mood for games. We crawled back into the canoe and made our way back to the cottage, looking back once in a while only to see the man there staring at us.

    In Society, Politics, and the Market Revolution: 1815-1845, Sean Wilentz takes a look at the importance of the market revolution and its effects on Americans and their lives, leading up to the Civil War.

A main focus point of the essay is to describe the Market Revolution and what affects it had in the society, especially on farms.  While describing this, he breaks down the country into sections (South, Northeast, Northwest, etc.) and analyzes each region and its reaction to the Market Revolution.  Not only does it take a look at this from the perspective of the rich white man, but also describes how the Market Revolution affected the common white men, women, and slaves.  Finally Wilentz makes an effort to not only distinguish the politics during the Market Revolution, which is mainly Jacksonian Politics, but also attempts to bring order to the chaos of the politics.

The sources used in this work are mainly secondary sources that were published in from around the 1970s, onward.  Although many sources are relied on for this topic, it is apparent that one of the more important works for the project is Charles Sellers’ Market Revolution: Jacksonian America (1991).

A secondary source I am using is an article written by Howard F. McMains titled “Richard Heath Dabney: A Virginia in Indiana, 1886-1889.

1) The author, McMains, obtained his Ph.D. in history from Indiana University. He has several published essays and a book, The Death of Oliver Cromwell.

2) While studying at IU, McMains ran across some interesting information about Dabney and was able to compile enough information for a short essay. The perspective that McMains takes on this topic is to look at how a Virginia man was treated in Indiana from a Northerner’s view.

3) The methodology used in this article is chronological. The thesis of the essay is to take a further look into Dabney’s time in Indiana, being a Southerner in a Northern place.

4) The article was published in December 1986.

5) I am using this source to get a better understanding of Dabney and his background. Also I hope to use this to help establish the strong ties between Dabney and Woodrow Wilson.

6) A foreseen problem with this source is that its focus is not on Dabney or Wilson but on Dabney’s life “up North”. Due to this, there are some gaps, that need to be filled, with the information dealing with Dabney and Wilson.

When taking notes for a research paper, I find helpful information in my sources and mark it in some way (in books I use a post-it; with the internet I tag it and write down what segment was useful).  I purposely leave this information vague, therefore forcing myself to reread the important information and the material surrounding it.  By doing this I am making sure that I got all of the needed information and in its correct context.  If I come across important information, during my first read, that I may not remember the next time I read it then I will go ahead and write it down.  During my second read of the material I will write down on note cards the information that I want out of the material.  In the headline of the card I place where the information was found on the right side and keywords of the excerpt on the left.

Useful internet source:

Woodrow Wilson’s Presidential Library, eLibrary

This site is particularly useful because it is all primary sources that have been digitized and placed on the internet for more convenient searching.

Unhelpful internet source:

http://www.multied.com/elections/1912.html

Although most of the information appears to be accurate, the website lacks  the necessary credibility.  Also, when the first thing you see on a web page are advertisements, then it loses some credibility there.

The primary source that I am bringing to class on Monday is a letter written on Jan. 29, 1912 by Richard Heath Dabney to Woodrow Wilson.  Dabney was a friend of Wilson, going back to their years spent at the University of Virginia.  The letter was composed during the time that Wilson was struggling for support in Virginia for the Democratic nomination.  The letter refers to a man named Lewis Aylett, who I have not yet had a chance to look at for more information.  Being that Dabney was the leading character in gaining support for Wilson in Virginia, the letter provides a first hand look at how well support is being rallied.  Though this is a very useful and important part of my research it also presents a downfall.  Since these two men corresponded on a regular basis, they made some statements that an outsider would not understand.  I was hoping that a previous letter might clear the statements up for me, but unfortunately that letter has been lost.  I hope that I can overcome this obstacle by once again making a visit to the archives at UVa where most of Dabney’s papers are housed.  In these papers, I hope to find Dabney mentioning what he was talking about with Wilson to a family member, therefore allowing me to fully understand the statements made.  Although the chances of this are slim, it is still worth a shot.

1. As of now, I have e-mailed Dr. Crawley and have discussed my topic with Dr. Howard McMains (prof. at WVU Tech).
2. List of sources I have consulted with so far.
   • Papers of Oscar W. Underwood at the University of Virginia.
   • Papers of Oscar W. Underwood at the University of Alabama.
   • Allen, Lee N. “Twenty-four Votes for Oscar W. Underwood.” Alabama Review 48
   • “The Underwood forces and the Democratic Nomination of 1912.” Historian 31
   • Nixon, H. C. “Politics of the Hill.” The Journal of Politics Vol. 8, No. 2
   • McVeigh, Rory.  “Power Devaluation, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Democratic National Convention of 1924.” Sociological Forum Vol. 16 No. 1
   • Johnson, Evans C. “Oscar W. Underwood; a political biography. Louisiana State University Press.
   • Link, Arthur S. (editor). “The papers of Woodrow Wilson.” Princeton University Press
   • Krichmar, Albert. “The Women’s Rights Movement in the United States.” Scarecrow Press.
3. Search terms: Oscar W. Underwood, Presidential election of 1924, Democratic Convention of 1924, Ku Klux Klan, women’s rights, women’s suffrage, women’s movement, Calvin Coolidge, Underwood’s 1924 campaign, Nineteenth Amendment.