Absalom Yancey and the Lady's Newspaper 1850

We have a family heirloom in our household. It is a collection of the Lady’s Newspaper from the year 1850. Originally it had been carefully bound, but with time it has been deteriorating and now has only one of its back pieces intact.  It belonged to my great-grandmother, from all accounts a feisty character. She held onto this collection, carefully bound, and it was only when my mother first visited her with my father she suddenly took a shine to him and insisted on presenting him with this carefully bound book.  

Over the years I have dipped in and out of this collection of newspapers, enjoying the wide range of issues covered and deeply frustrated by others. For example, there are huge sections dedicated to royal court proceedings, which consist of details of where an Earl went to Europe and which landed gentry had gone to Bath, and all kinds of nonsense about the royal family and what they were up to. Obviously, people in the 1850s, were as fascinated by royalty as some are today.  

There are huge sections entitled Accidents and Offences, recording, dire accidents, like mines flooding, industrial fires, or people being dismembered inside spinning mill machines.  Gruesome accounts of events such as the decapitation of a worker are spelled out with horrific detail. It was depressing to find that the normal conclusion of the coroner to all these workers’ deaths was invariably ‘died under unforeseen circumstances’ or ‘death by misadventure’.  Murders are also elaborated on with excessive relish and it seems that people have always been fascinated by crimes of a gruesome nature.   Nowadays, we have whole TV channels dedicated to this genre, but in the 1850s, it was part of a column, entitled Accidents and Offences.

There are simply pages and pages devoted to crochet and lacework. Obviously, something a fashionable woman was interested in those days. 

Then, of course, there were sections on drama, musical theatre, and popular literature. An unusual addition was a whole column, entitled Charms and Amulets, I need not go further. There was an interesting chess problem given in every publication which surprised me given its audience.  There was an interesting and rather nasty piece, entitled simply, Gypsies. Quoting from the paper, 

‘These swarthy itineraries, have spread themselves all over Europe, as is testified by various travellers of all nations, and everywhere, like the Jews, pretend to keep themselves as a distinct people. Attempts have been made to drive them out of various countries.’  

Prejudice like this towards various nationalities (and indeed the poor from anywhere), leeches from almost every page.

Daring fashion trends from Paris and London are given with under the title, General Observations on Fashion and Dress.  

As you can see from the illustration. There is no flesh on show just the mere glimpse of a hand and face.  But then again fashions do change with the decades and these were very early days indeed.  I came across a very small note about a certain Absalom Yancy in the States. I almost regret finding it, as it has prompted me to plague my entire family, with either giving details of his life or asking them to do research to find out the details I don’t know.  Here is the article with which I shall now plague you too!

A person cannot be held responsible for their name, but it does feel a bit weird that someone chose to call him Absalom.  I know it was fairly common to use biblical names in the 19th century, but why choose a chap who not only murdered his own brother but then attempted to overthrow King David, his father?  The unusualness of the name Absalom Yancey, did make it much easier to do research on it.  Note the sympathy towards the aged planter in the article, however, it does point out that he whipped his slave sufficiently hard that he fled and then proceeded to hunt him down with dogs. When I began the research I already had my doubts on which side sympathy should be given.   A little bit of research had indicated that his father was Zachariah Yancey (1754-1852) and his mother was called Nancy (1807-1891). I was even able to find Absalom Yancey’s will and testament online. Note the section where he gave his slaves to his children and his odd anger at one of his daughters inheriting her mother’s estate rings loud and clear. The slave’s increase means that all the children that the slaves might have by the time of his death would belong to Absalom’s descendants too.

ABSALOM YANCEY

IDENTITY: SON OF ZACHARIAH & ELIZABETH (MAYES) YANCEY

STATE: ALABAMA

COUNTY: RUSSELL

DATED: 1841

PROVED: 1850

RECORDED: RECORD BOOK 2 PAGE 12

I, ABSALOM YANCEY, of the State and county aforesaid being in a low state of health but of sound and disposing mind and being fully persuaded of the certainty of death am moved to make this my last will and testament.

Item 1st. I give my soul to God who gave it, my body to be buried at the discretion of my friends.

Item 2nd. I will and bequeath unto my two sons MILTON P. S. YANCEY and ULYSSES Z. M. YANCEY and my daughter MARY A. T. YANCEY the settlement of land whereon I now live. It being the east half of section number twenty three in township number nineteen in Range number twenty eight containing three hundred and twenty acres more or less; also all my landed Estate which I hold in the state of Georgia.

Item 3rd. I will and bequeath unto my three children above named all my negroes, thirteen in number together with all their increase named as follows, viz. Sarah, Candis, Alfred, Eliza, George, Tony, Robert, Louisa, Evaline, Elvira, Loyd, James, Arminda, together with all my stock of horses, mules, cattle, sheep, and hogs, and all my household and kitchen furniture and tools of every description including my gin and thrashing machine.

Item 4th. It is further my will and desire that my three children above named shall inherit the crop that may be made or growing on the place at my death, together with all the money or notes that may belong to my estate after paying all my just debts.

Item 5th. To my daughter PELONEY ANN ELIZABETH MCCALL I have not given anything in this my Last Will and Testament, my reason for not giving is not for the want of affection for she feels near to me, but my reasons are the following - when she married I gave her a negro and some property and at the death of my father-in-law [H____all?] he willed to her my wife's share of his estate which in justice ought to have been willed to all my children and was much more than a share of my estate.

Item 6th. I hereby nominate my two sons MILTON P. S. YANCEY and ULYSSES Z. M. YANCEY executors to this my Last Will and Testament.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this second day of September in the year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty One.

ABSALOM YANCEY 

Since the slaves are named it suggests that one of the male slaves might have been the one who murdered Absalom.  That leaves us with 6 suspects, Alfred, George, Tony, Robert, Lloyd, or James.  My curiosity got the better of me so I decided to consult the database giving executions in the US from 1608 – 1972.  https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/executions-overview/executions-in-the-u-s-1608-2002-the-espy-file executions US.  

I searched in 1850 for those who had been executed for murder in Alabama to see if any of Absalom’s slaves were mentioned.  It was frustrating not to find any of them.  Strangely, when you examine 1608 – 1972 this gives a total of 7, 363 people executed.  This averages around 20 people per year over this timescale.  Another file gives those more recently executed in the US from 1977-2023 as being 1577 this equates to 34 executions a year on average.  In other words, the US has increased the number of executions a worrisome trend.  

But back to Absalom Yancey when I looked in 1851 there was a black man executed for murder in Alabama and his name was Dick (Yancey) and as it was November that Absalom was killed so perhaps justice took time.  It was not uncommon for slaves to take their slaveholder’s surname. However, none of the slaves mentioned in Absalom’s will match this name.  However, to be fair the will was made out in 1841 so it is possible that this is a recent slave acquired in the nine years that followed after the will was written. Meanwhile, I discovered a legal document concerning Absalom Yancey which indicated that he was more than just a plantation owner with slaves.  He ran a slave trading firm with a partner and we know this because Absalom took his partner to court for stealing some money from him.  See below an excerpt, 

In 1820, Absalom and Jackson M. Yancy established a slave-trading firm. According to Absalom, they bought "a great many slaves either for cash or on credit," spending a total of "twenty thousand Dollars or some other large sum," all of this using his money. He claims that Jackson took the blacks to South Carolina and Georgia, and sold many of them. He charges that Jackson gambled away the profits, and turned over eight thousand dollars of the company's money to one Dr. Thomas Hunt to deprive him of his share. [ further details ]

Obviously, we are often shaped by our peers and their views and perspectives.  Perhaps Absalom was shaped by opinions similar to that expressed by the Southern States well known Presbyterian preacher, Dr. R. L. Dabney of Richmond:

"If our civilization is to continue, there must be a class who must work and not read.... There must not be a mixture of the decent and the vile in the same society. they [the decent? must not be daily brought into personal contact with the cutaneous and other diseases, the vermin, the obscenity, the groveling senti-ments, and violences of the gamins. The State is too poor to afford public education."

It is hard to digest such vile nonsense but perhaps when you and everyone you talk to shares the same views it becomes normalised instead of being recognised as the prejudice it epitomises.

It suddenly struck me that due legal execution might have not been the fate of Absalom’s slave.  After all, lynching was a fairly common aspect of life for African American slaves who misbehaved in the southern states. There is a list of lynchings carried out in the US.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lynching_victims_in_the_United_States

Unfortunately, this search did not prove productive but it was a depressing lesson in how degraded human nature can become when hatred and mob violence enter communities.  A particularly depressing entry from 1851 from California is given below.

So just to recap this woman in her home was attacked by an intruder who assaulted her and in defence she killed him (a white man) and was lynched for it.  Another tale of injustice concerns an African American called Adam.  

I had to read this a few times to get my head around it.  Apparently, it was a local practice that if a white man was murdered a random African-American slave could be chosen as a substitute for the actual criminal (presumably when the actual villain could not be found).  Here the law courts declared the whole shady affair a mistrial and a mob disliking the result broke into the jail and lynched an innocent man.  It all feels quite awful and so very far from any sense of justice and fairness.  

Of course, this is only a tiny snapshot of an even greater injustice that had already taken place much earlier than 1850.  From 1662-1807 British and British Colonial ships purchased 3, 415, 500 Africans for the transatlantic slave trade and of that number only 2, 964, 800 survived that dreadful sea journey.  Only Portugal and Brazil transported more than Britain and the total number of Africans sent across in the transatlantic slave trade is reckoned to be 12 million. This was the largest forced migration in human history.  In 1807, thanks to people like Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce, the slave trade was abolished in Britain.  However, it was not until 1838 that slaves in the British colonies were freed.  As far as the US was concerned it would not be until 1865 that slavery would be abolished.  

Of course, the driving force for the transatlantic slave trade was profit.  It is interesting to note historically injustice has often been fuelled by the financial gain of others.  Today, the US has over 1.77 million people incarcerated in prisons (this has dropped 14 % from an even higher figure since the Covid outbreak in 2020), and incarcerated workers in the US produce at least $11bn in goods and services annually.  While pay rates for prisoners in the US vary widely by state and job, the average minimum wage is $0.93 per day.  China has the second largest prison population (1.69 million) in the world.  However, to set this in context the US has only a total population of 334 million whereas China has a total population of 1425 million.  It is clear that the US is pretty unique in how many of its own citizens it keeps incarcerated.  It has been claimed that a full quarter of all prisoners worldwide are held in U.S. jails and prisons and sixty-five percent of the total U.S. prison population is black.  When the Lady’s Newspaper mentioned poor Absalom Yancey’s murder the sympathy of its readers was definitely with the slaveowner and not his whipped slave.  One wonders how the future will judge our present society’s injustices and our ability or inability to see them?

If thine eyes be turned towards mercy, forsake the things that profit thee and cleave unto that which will profit mankind. 

Bahá’u’lláh 

Shit Lessons

When I was six, my parents returned from Australia to the village Dungiven, high in the Sperrin mountains in Northern Ireland. On my first day in the village primary school I felt like the odd one out with my Australian accent and was nervously playing with the salt and pepper glass containers on the table at lunchtime. Unfortunately, I managed in my nervousness to smash one of them. The headmaster’s wife flew down vulturelike and was furious with me.

She proceeded to tell the entire school and a terrified me, that since the top of the small salt seller was mirrored, I had, in fact, broken a mirror and would now have 7 years of bad luck. My maths was good enough to work out that my life would be pretty horrid until I turned 13. 

Lesson 1: Shit can happen. 

Strangely when I was 13, seven years later, and waiting outside my secondary school for the bus home a bird pooped on my head. I remember the embarrassment of all the white shit in my hair. Given that the seven years bad luck had almost ended I remember hoping that it had marked the last of an unlucky seven years. However, another cynical part of me made a mental note.

Lesson 2: Unexpectedly, shit can even fall from above.

In my university, studying science, one of my friends was really into shit. He was keen on building biodigesters (this was almost half a century ago!) and eager, to point out that slurry (shit) could be fed into a biodigester and be broken down into wonderful useful compost and valuable methane.

Creating good stuff out of crap seemed a no-brainer to us all. He graduated with a first class, honours, and did a PhD on the same subject and spent ages promoting biodigesters everywhere to anyone who would listen. To his distress, farmers and industrial polluters alike weren’t interested at all. They explained it was simply cheaper to dump it in rivers and lakes and pay a fine. He approached government authorities like the department of Agriculture and the Water Service and explained the situation. They weren’t interested either. 

Lesson 3: Some people simply don’t give a shit.

Two decades passed and I had a family with three sons and a new home, a gatelodge in Magheramourne.  Before long, I discovered, there was shit in my garden. Not a solitary dog poop messing up the green lawn but a swimming pool of the stuff at the bottom of my garden. I flagged it up to the relevant authorities and soon a man in overalls came to inspect. Over two years, more and more men came, in increasingly better clothing, and all agreed that it certainly looked and smelt like a ditch full of shit. Eventually, even our local MP came to view my shit ditch.

One of the Department of agricultural officials politely expressed concern about the health and safety of my three young children with such a hazard so close.   It turned out that our lodge house was suffering from the sewage funnelled from the neighbouring stately home. It had been converted into a hotel but still used the same septic tank designed for a single family. As a result, raw sewage poured in and out of the septic tank. When sized correctly solids have time to settle at the base of the tank and the overflow pipe higher up the tank allows water to drain out. It’s not a high-tech affair but when shit capacity exceeds the septic tank's ability to separate solids from liquids then the consequences are pretty dire.  Shit flows in and out unchanged by its quick visit to the septic tank.

After doing two years of everything by the book, eventually writing to even the ombudsman, the hotel was fined a tiny amount. Much less than the cost of replacing their useless septic tank. In hindsight, I should’ve had the courage to take two bucket loads of the raw sewage to the hotel lobby and poured it around the reception area explaining that I was returning their shit from whence it came. No doubt I would’ve been arrested but the subsequent bad publicity for the hotel would have caused them more than the piddling little fine. 

Lesson 4: Sometimes you have to spend years dealing with other people’s shit.

It is now almost sixty years from my first shit encounter at primary school and my biodigester friend was in the local news this week.  He had been invited on the radio to speak about the blue-green algae causing devastation in Lough Neagh (the biggest lough in the UK and Ireland) and our rivers and coastlines.  For the first time people were instructed not to swim in these waters due to the high levels of toxins.  Dogs can die from ingestion of the contaminated water and it can cause suffocation of fish and other creatures.  My friend explained why there was an increase in this blue algae blooms (they are actually not algae at all but a type of bacteria called cyanobacteria which requires sunlight, nutrients and carbon dioxide to grow and reproduce).  He explained that agricultural fertiliser runoff and waste water systems provide the perfect conditions for the algae to flourish.  It is easy to only blame farmers, industries and businesses for their contribution to the problem we are now facing however there are other surprising contributors too. On the 12th September it was revealed that NI Water (a government owned company) was fined 170, 000 pounds for releasing 70 million tons of untreated sewage into local rivers and lakes over the past ten years.  In fact, it is estimated that each year they now release 7 million tons of untreated sewage.  I remember being so disappointed with the department officials who did nothing when the hotel poured their sewage into my garden.  Decades later it is these very departmental bodies themselves who are pouring shit into our waterways.

Lesson 5: It’s important to find out who is responsible for the shit.

The Gihon Spring in Jerusalem

The Gihon Spring is not a constant source of water, it flows occasionally not continually.  It is thought that its name comes from the Hebrew word meaning ‘to gush forth’. The spring emerges in a cave 20 ft by 7 and it has recently been discovered that the earliest buildings in Jerusalem were found here beside the spring around 4500-3500 BC.  

Not only was this a source of drinking water for the ancient settlement but it was also used, via terraces to irrigate the gardens in the close by Kidron Valley where food was grown. Terracing allowed the water to flow in such a way as to irrigate much of the side of the hill leading down the valley. In Scripture, this watered terrace is referred to as the ‘King’s Garden’ (see II Kings 25:4; Jeremiah 52:7; Nehemiah 3:15).

Originally, the spring would flow three to five times daily in winter, twice daily in summer, and only once daily in autumn, which meant that it was necessary to create a pool to store water so that it would always be available to the inhabitants. Originally a fairly straight channel (The Siloam Channel) was made (around 2100–1550 BC in the time of Melchizedek and Abraham) about 20ft into the ground and covered with slabs leading to the Upper Pool of Siloam.  

These underground channels were added to over the subsequent years including the Warren’s Shaft system which led from the Well gate above Gihon down to the spring.  This enabled people to collect water from the spring. In the Iron Age (1200 BC – 550 BC) a winding tunnel was carved into the rock leading from the Spring to the Pool of Siloam (perhaps during the reign of Hezekiah (739 - 687 BC).  

2 Chronicles 32:30

This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper spring of the waters of Gihon, and brought them straight down on the west side of the city of David. Hezekiah prospered in all his works.

This effectively replaced the Middle Bronze Age channel and was likely done in preparation for the Assyrians who were about to besiege the city.  Having a source of water outside the city walls but accessible from inside was a powerful protection for the city of Jerusalem.  However, King David had earlier used some of these underground shafts to capture Jerusalem in 1004BC and this is mentioned in,

 2 Samuel 5:6-10 

Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack….  

Later David’s son Solomon would be crowned King at the Gihon Spring, 

1 Kings 1:32-34

Take with you all the servants of your lord, and let them make Solomon my son ride on my mule, and bring him down to Gihon.  Let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there as king over Israel. Blow on the trumpet and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!

So obviously, the spring has long played a major role in not only the founding of Jerusalem but also in its development.

King Solomon would go on to build the first Temple in 960 BC.  This would be destroyed in 580 BC by the Babylonians and 22,000 Jews would be sent into exile.  In fact, the population was reduced to 1/10 of what it was before.  

The second Temple was built and then consecrated in 515 BC 20 years after the Jews had returned from exile.  This Temple lacked the Ark of the Covenant as this as well as other holy items had been lost. King Hezekiah is the last biblical figure to have seen the Ark.  The Fall of the Second Temple was predicted by Jesus,

Mark 13

As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”

 “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

Jesus Christ was crucified around 30/33 AD and The Second Temple was completely destroyed forty years later in 70 AD by the Romans.  During its long and fascinating history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.

In 2004 a burst sewage main in the Arab neighbourhood of Silan allowed the uncovering of the original Jewish pilgrim path running from the Pool of Siloam to the Temple Mount, Judaism’s most Holy spot.

In 2023, the stepped remains of the ancient Siloam Pool, long thought to be located elsewhere, were uncovered near the City of David. According to the Gospel of John, it was at this sacred Christian site that Jesus healed the blind man. 

John 9:1-12

He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam”. 

https://nypost.com/2023/01/02/biblical-site-where-jesus-healed-blind-man-excavated-for-public-view-affirms-scripture/

Ancient pilgrims would ritually immerse themselves in the pool of Siloam in order to be cleansed for their climb up north to Jerusalem’s temple. Following more excavations, a largely intact ancient stone road was identified, extending from Siloam up to the area of what is known today as Robinson’s Arch, a partially surviving entrance to the southwestern corner of the ancient temple platform. The Pilgrim’s Road is approximately 2,000 old and is in all likelihood the path that Jesus and his disciples would have taken to ascend to the temple of Jerusalem.  It is thrilling to see this underground route and it allows future pilgrims to follow in their footsteps on this recently discovered road.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUoiyFEPK6o&ab_channel=TheJerusalemPost

https://youtu.be/KUoiyFEPK6o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn_4yZbtR3M&t=2s&ab_channel=themedialine

The O'Shea brothers, enormously talented, and insuppressibly unconventional

The museum Building at Trinity College, Dublin was designed by architects, Deane & Woodward however the stone carvings on doors, windows and capitals were carried out by the brothers John and James O’Shea along with their nephew Edward Whelan from Cork. These stone masons were of considerable talent and the building with its Gothic revival style is impressive even to this day.  It seems the brothers were trusted to be creative and given a degree of freedom in how they worked.

 “Woodward allowed the brothers considerable flexibility and they carved their designs in situ. It is said that they worked from material gathered from the College Botanic Gardens, in Ballsbridge. The keen-eyed may spot cats, snakes, frogs, squirrels and birds, lurking among shamrock, daffodils, oak, ivy, lilies, and acanthus.”

Patrick Wyse Jackson’s ‘A Victorian Landmark: Trinity College’s Museum Building’ in the Irish Arts Review Yearbook 1995, p.151 

Their realism in the stonework is impressive in its detail and the use of depth and negative space is particularly stunning. In places the leaves appear as if curled back to reveal berries behind them.  The usual practise was to carve at ground level and have the work inspected for accuracy and skill before being lifted into situ. However, such was skill of the O’Shea’s they were allowed to carve unworked blocks of stone already lifted high into their final position in the building. The brothers achieved some reknown after their work on Trinity College and on Kildare Street Club.  This later club was described by George Moore in contemptuous terms, 

“The Kildare Street Club is one of the most important institutions in Dublin. … it represents all that is respectable, that is to say, those who are gifted with an oyster-like capacity for understanding this one thing: that they should continue to get fat in the bed in which they were born. This club is a sort of oyster bed into which all the eldest sons of the landed gentry fall as a matter of course…”

The O’Shea brothers incorporated a rather creative criticism of their own in the Kildare Street Club window piece which presents the club members as monkeys playing billiards.  It was clear that these brothers had not only creative ability but also a sense of humour that they freely expressed in their beautiful stone work.

Another example of their creative skills is to be found in Oxford Museum which was opened in 1860.  Henry Acland, a Reader in Anatomy at Christ Church campaigned to have a new museum for both research and teaching purposes.  In particular, he wanted to bring together in one place all the extensive collections that Oxford University had accumulated over the years.  In the open competition for architects for the new museum, Deane and Woodward, of Dublin won with their neo-Gothic design.  Their success was in part due to their earlier success in designing Trinity College Museum in Dublin.  The Oxford Museum was heavily influenced by the ideas of John Ruskin who felt that architecture should be shaped by the natural world. This museum has its place in history as within a year of it being completed it was the venue for the famous debate on Darwin’s Origin of the Species. 

Each column surrounding the court is made of a different British rock while the capitals and corbels are carved into a range of plants.

These carvings took two years to complete (1858-1860) and James and John O’Shea with their nephew Edward Whelan once again demonstrated their exceptional talent as stonemasons of both high quality and creativity.  They used living specimens from the botanic garden to inform their work.  The brothers started working on carvings around the outer windows but a shortage of funds and the constant interference of University officials (the Members of Convocation) meant that the project was never completed.

O’Shea was said to be so incensed he carved owls and parrots as a parody of the University Convocation and was immediately sacked.  He had been heard shouting from high up on the scaffolding,  "Parrhots and Owwls! Parrhots and Owwls! Members of Convocation!" University officials were so angry about this parody that they accused the O’Sheas of "defacing" the building with unauthorised work.

These unfinished carvings are still visible today over the main entrance of the museum. The remaining capitals, which had to be subsequently finished in 1910 by other stonemasons, are easily identifiable as they are so evidently beneath the standard of the work of the O’Shea brothers.

The O'Sheas and Whelan would later work with Woolner and the architect Alfred Waterhouse in the design of the Manchester assize courts. 

They produced a series of capitals depicting gruesome forms of punishment in history for this building, an unusual choice for a court building! The original building was demolished following bomb damage in World War Two however some of the brother’s carvings survive in the replacement building.

These enormously talented, and insuppressibly unconventional, mason sculptors, the O'Sheas have certainly left their mark on memorable historical buildings.  Twenty years after working at the Oxford Museum James O’Shea, left his family in Manchester to return to Oxford. However, by this time he was homeless, an alcoholic and he would tragically die here.  It feels perverse that a talent that had beautified one of the most historic buildings of Oxford would find himself living destitute and die alone on those very same streets.

Giant by name and giant by nature

We often look back and think of the ancient structures at Stonehenge (3000 BC to 2000 BC) and wonder about the people who made this impressive spot. We are blown away by their inventiveness, just how did they move those large stones (7.3 metres tall and weighing as much as two tons), and wonder why they did it.  We know the stones were mined quite far away and had to be transported long distances so no wonder we are impressed.  

But almost 6000 years earlier than Stonehenge, Gobekli Tepe in South Eastern Anatolia (Turkey) is a Neolithic archaeological site with 17 pillars inscribed with herds of gazelle and other figures of wild animals. This site makes Stonehenge fairly modern by comparison. This is one of the world’s oldest permanent human settlements and is linked to that interesting period when humanity first transitioned from being hunters and gatherers to having an agricultural lifestyle.  Whereas Stonehenge was probably originally designed as a cemetery, Gobekli Tepe is thought to have originated as the world’s first temple and was quite sophisticated, with grinding stones and mortar and pestles etc. Dating from 9500 to 8000 BCE this is certainly an impressive place.

Amidst all the ancient history of such places, there are also stories that seemed to have survived over the millennia in many parts of the world.  Giants in various shapes and sizes have long been the stuff of legend.  Americans dug up skeletons of giants all over their continent in the late 19th century and early 20th century, and their heights were said to range from 7ft to 20 ft tall.   When these were debunked in 1934 by a leading scientist in the Smithsonian Institution (dinosaur bones were included in these finds), many fanatics convinced of their “truth” turned on this institution. Indeed, Smithsonian archaeologists were accused of destroying giant bones in order to cover up their existence.  

Just in case you thought this confusion was a result of early ignorance of scientific investigation this particular story was revived as recently as 2014. An internet story began circulating that claimed the Smithsonian Institution had custody of giant skeletons but they destroyed "thousands of giant skeletons" in the early 20th century.  Reuters and the Associated Press were this time able to expose the falsity of this.  It is depressing that nonsense reappears like a bad smell again and again.  Do we really have to waste valuable research time and money having to dispel crazy myths over and over again?  You think of education as a progressive process always advancing and illuminating humanity but it appears that miseducation is even more prevalent these days!  Will education deteriorate until it simply consists of just removing erroneous information gleaned? 

Two of my three sons shared a bedroom and my youngest son had his head filled with everything his older brother could think to tell him. For instance, that the universe was formed by a monkey and a vending machine in one long complicated tale that his brother retold so many times my youngest knew it by heart.  I feared my youngest son’s first few years of schooling would just entail unlearning all that his mischievous brother had instilled.  Back to the giant legend and to both ancient discoveries and old manuscripts.

Chinese ancient manuscripts speak of legendary figures of great height with deep-set blue or green eyes, long noses with full beards and red or blond hair.  Strangely much later, Pliny the Elder (23-79AD) mentioned a report from a Ceylonese ambassador to the Roman Emperor Claudius of a people in north-west China who exceeded the normal height, had flaxen hair with blue eyes and who made an uncouth sort of noise when talking.  It all sounds like nonsense but then the Tarim Mummies were discovered and these tall red-haired, Caucasian-looking people were found with felt and woven clothing and seemed very tall. They are called Tarim because that is the region in present-day Xinjiang, China (surprise, surprise - North West China!) where they were found.  They existed in this region from 1800 BC to the first centuries BC and are believed to descend from Indo-European language speakers who migrated into the Russian steppes around 3300 BC (no wonder their language was foreign sounding to those in China). 

One such mummy, known as the Cherchen Man, was an adult male who is believed to have died around 1000 BC and was aged around fifty years at the time of his death. He was tall and his hair was "reddish brown flecked with grey, framing high cheekbones", he had an aquiline "long nose, full lips and a ginger beard", and was wearing "a red twill tunic" and leggings with a pattern resembling tartan. 

Obviously, news of this group had travelled far and wide hence the ancient Chinese and Pliny references.  Height variation is not new, after all, ancient hunter gathers had an average height of 5 ft 9 inches but when an agricultural lifestyle was adopted the average height of a man had fallen to just 5 ft 3 inches by 3000 BC.  In comparison to those average heights, these guys must have seemed like giants!

Our species has been on the move over the millennium and with the aid of modern science we have a better notion of how and when that took place.  It is fascinating to see this movement on a map.

Looking at this movement over the millennium it is no wonder the human race is of many hues, sizes and dimensions. We know that pygmy tribes have an average height of 4 ft 11 inches and we accept that this variation is found in tribes.  So perhaps there were tribes of tall people too? After all exceptionally tall people turn up in unexpected places. Here are a few captured on camera. 

Battista (or Baptiste) Hugo and Antoine Hugo were born 11 years apart in the late 1880s. The brothers were born in Vinadio, a village in the Italian mountains. Baptiste reached a height of 7ft 6.5 inches. Antoine was somewhat smaller at just under 7 ft 5ins.

The Imperial Durbar in Delhi in January 1903 was designed to celebrate the ascension of Edward VI and Alexandra of Denmark as the Emperor and Empress of India. In attendance at the Durbar, were the Rulers from all the big and small states that made up India.  The Maharaja of Kashmir brought along his giant bodyguards who literally stood heads and shoulders above everyone there.  They were twin brothers of which the taller one was 7 ft 9 inches and the shorter one 7 ft 4 ins tall. Called the Giants of Kashmir they were in service of the Maharaja as elite riflemen and his personal bodyguards.

Martine Van Buren Bates (1837-1919), called the Kentucky giant, was 7 ft 9 inches tall and he is photographed below with his wife who was even taller at 7 ft 11 inches.  

Mind you being this tall could bring its own problems.  Martin was one of the few of this height who survived into his 80s.  Health problems can arise due to extreme height and vice versa, health problems can cause extreme height.  There is a disease that triggers excessive growth due to a tumour on the pituitary gland. Gigantism is a very rare condition that happens when a child or adolescent has high levels of growth hormone (GH) in their body, which causes them to grow very tall. Many children with gigantism (29%) have a genetic mutation that causes the pituitary tumour to form. Given this is inherited, nowadays genetic screening of patients with GH excess is recommended to avoid the excessive growth associated with this condition.  In contrast, nowadays to treat short stature, growth hormone can be supplied to children to trigger growth.  It is horrifying to discover that in the 1950s and 60s estrogen treatment was given to some girls to stunt their natural growth.  It was thought if they were tall it would impact their future ability to marry!  

The evidence is clear not only do giants exist now but they have also existed in the past. Here is a table of giants and I have only selected those over 7 ft 5 inches and got no further than India in the alphabet of countries so apologies to those I have left out. Note too, how many died at quite a young age.  Being tall is obviously a challenge to our physical systems.

The next question is, could there have been tribes of giants?  Well, given the genetic components both in terms of simple inherited height and also gigantism it is conceivable that an isolated tribal community could have boosted their height considerably relative to others.  The average height of a man from Netherlands is 6 ft, among the tallest in the world, and their diet which is rich in milk and meat seems to have helped.  The Trapp family in Esko, Minnesota, USA, consisting of mum Krissy (6 ft 3 inches), dad Scott (6 ft 8 inches), children Savanna (6 ft 8 inches), Molly (6 ft 6 ins), and Adam (6 ft 8 inches) demonstrate that clearly having tall parents helps boost height 

Imagine, if instead of having three children the Trapp family had 12.  After all, when I go back to my own family two generations on both sides 12 was a fairly common family size.  Then, suddenly the idea of a tribe of giants seems not just a possibility but a distinct probability.

Interestingly I read this study, which has relevance to where I am from, Northern Ireland.

“An international team of scientists led by Prof. Márta Korbonits from Queen Mary University, London, reported key findings regarding pituitary tumours of genetic origin. The study, published in the journal Human Mutation and covered by the BBC and The Times, identified an increased number of patients with acromegaly and gigantism in the Mid Ulster region of Ireland and demonstrates how a change in the gene called AIP was inherited from one single person, the "common ancestor", who lived approximately 2,500 years ago….These findings may explain the known historical accounts of Irish giants originating from the area and, in a way, justifies the numerous local legends involving giants.”

I am not at all sure I agree with that last statement. After all, giants have been mentioned in cultures all over the world so did they all suffer from this disease?  Before modern medicine, gigantism meant you died fairly young so I am not sure that is an evolutionary gain. I don’t want to make a big thing out of this but the tall the short of it is, physical size is just one aspect of being human.  By far the biggest is the person you are inside and the quality of that will determine your own legend and legacy.  Those we remember throughout history were rarely the tallest but they contributed massively to our civilisation.

A hero is born among a hundred, a wise man is found among a thousand, but an accomplished one might not be found even among a hundred thousand men.

Plato

Started with skirting boards and ended with shoes

 It started many months ago. All I wanted was a bit of paint to touch up the skirting boards in the house, a simple task. However, one tin of white paint seemed to cost a fortune in the local hardware shop. Hesitating at the astronomical cost, I spotted a tiny tube of tester paint. This particular tester had a kind of sponge dispenser on the top. It meant you could squeeze the paint out onto the skirting boards directly without the need for paintbrushes and had possibly just enough paint to do all the skirting boards removing all the unsightly stains. 

As with all such hardware purchases, the leftover tube ended underneath the kitchen sink. After six months I purchased a pair of shoes for my mum. She needs to have wedge heels, with shoelaces and light colours, they also need to be soft and comfortable. The shoes when they arrived were a kind of dirty beige colour. This was disappointing but even more upsetting was the fact that they were far too small for my mum despite being her size! These shoes ended up in the back of the cupboard in the bedroom, one of my least successful purchases. Roll on yet another six months and I purchased on the Internet a shoe stretcher.  I never knew such things existed. This one had rave reviews and when it arrived met all my expectations.  

Feet change shape over the years and this stretcher could account for bunions, corns etc.  You just screw it tightly and leave the shoe overnight and by the next day, the shoe fits like a glove.  I spent a happy few weeks altering every shoe I could lay my hands on in the house.  It looks like a torture device but actually removes pain instead of inflicting it.  I was delighted with this purchase and wondered why I never knew such things existed!  

Of course, the yucky beige shoes were stretched and thankfully fit my mum for quite a while.  But she never got used to the yucky colour and for some reason when they got wet, they looked as if they were suede covered in greasy oil stains.  She stopped wearing them and I stretched them some more until they fit me.  They were light and comfortable but looked horrid. I wore them anyway after all waste not, want not.  Finally, this week I decided to change their colour once and for all.  I was determined not to spend any more money on these stupid cheap shoes.  Thankfully, I remembered the skirting board paint tester and used it on the shoes.  Don’t judge me!  I guess using house paint on shoes is not a good idea but I have reached that age where frankly, am I bothered?  The paint is beginning to crack a little but I am pretty pleased with the whole affair.  

There is joy in reaching an age when

1. There is no one to stop you from crazy ideas

2. You get to mess up and move on

3. Success is in the moment not some time in the future

4. You don’t give up on your mistakes you just reverse up and drive over them again

Table your mistakes, learn from them, then move on.

Confucius

Dear One,

It has been such a special time with you and I have luxuriated in all these moments of fellowship. I cannot be grateful enough for all these gifts of love. The heart-to-heart chats, the beautiful walks, and my young grandchild’s hugs all serve as a wonderful immersion in love. 

These past years of Covid have stolen such meetings from too many. Heart-stopping to think of all the fellowships that ended in permanent separation on this earthly plane. There are no words for those who faced such endings. So, it is with utter gratitude I find myself with loved ones these days. I am appreciative of health to enjoy such company and to have weathered this pandemic. Perhaps some of us have emerged scarred from all that has happened. Changed creatures from what we were before. I feel my brain is not what it used to be. No matter, perhaps recovery will take time. That is my hope and, in the meantime, I relish connections with loved ones that seem to stretch with love past the veil of brain fog and communicate heart-to-heart. I don’t have to be 100% to bask in love and laughter. 

Perhaps love, that cord that stretches even past death, is how we all must hold onto that which is vital. I am enjoying CS Lewis’s diary, who knew his spelling, was almost as bad as mine? When called up to serve in World I he wrote to his father to come and see him before he was shipped off to France. He would subsequently find himself on his 19th birthday on the front lines in the Somme Valley and lose his university flatmate and best friend Paddy Moore on those muddy killing fields. His father didn’t visit, not even when his son returned to hospital in the UK injured from France.  C.S. Lewis’s words on this haunt me dreadfully, “my father was a very peculiar man, in some respects: in non more than an almost pathological hatred of taking any step which involved a break in the dull routine of his daily existence.” How true it is, that we have to sometimes break free from dull routines which blind us to the real priorities. I felt travelling to see you was the break I needed to remind myself of how precious such steps are in all our lives.

“Deal ye one with another with the utmost love and harmony, with friendliness and fellowship . . . This goal excelleth every other goal, and this aspiration is the monarch of all aspirations.”

Bahá’u’lláh