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Rogers, AR Real Estate News

By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Alexander Wood was born in Cupar, Scotland back in 1817 to James and Mary. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy and at the University of Edinburgh. He received his MD in 1839. It wasn’t until 1853, that he invented something that will forever place him in the history books, more on that in a moment.In 1858, he was elected President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. He died in 1884.What you may not know about Alexander Wood is that he was stung by a bee (date unknown). He pulled the stinger out and examined it. From that one bee sting he invented the first hypodermic needle that used a true syringe and hollow needle. Not bad from a simple bee sting don’t you think?   He died in 1884, at 67.Until tomorrow give someone the free gift of a smile. 
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Hubert Blaine was born in Bergedorf, Germany back in 1914. He emigrated to the United States settling in Philadelphia. He found work as a typesetter, he also was a member of the American Name Society. It wasn’t until 1938 that he gained attention for something which we will get to shortly.In 1964, the IBM 7074 computer at the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company could process one million policies but refused to hand Hubert’s last name. So, let’s get to it. According to him the spelling of his last name was (going to copy and paste here, so there is no mistakes) Wolfe­schlegelstein­hausenberger­dorffvoraltern­waren­gewissenhaft­schaferswessen­schaftswaren­wohlgefuttern­und­sorgfaltigkeit­beschutzen­vor­angreifen­durch­ihrraubgierigfiends. In a law suit between him and Yellow Cab Co...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Frederick William was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England back in 1897 to Frederick Sr., and Florence. Educated at the charterhouse School in Surrey, at the start of WWI he enlisted in the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars. He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps as a fighter pilot. In 1917, he was shot down and remained a prisoner-of-war until the armistice.He received his law degree in 1920, but did not like the job so he moved to Kenya to take up farming. Not liking that job either he returned to England where he was recruited by the Royal Air Force, assigned to the Air Section (MI-6). He retired in 1946 as a Group Captain. He died in 1990 at 92.What you may not know about Frederick William Winterbotham is that he was a spy for the British. Alfred Rosenberg that he was just a civil...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
David Marshall was born in Cumberland County, North Carolina back in 1900 to James and Laura. As a young boy, he worked at his family’s farm. In the 8th grade he was expelled from school. When he was 15 he enlisted in the Navy but they found out about his age and discharged him. In 1917, he enrolled in the Blackstone Military Academy however he failed to complete the first semester. Having failed at many jobs he began to operate an illegal distillery near Godwin, North Carolina. Some deputies found the still, as they were transporting evidence they came under fire from David. Deputy Alfred Pate was struck two times by bullets and died at the scene. David was arrested the next day charged with murder. While in prison he worked in the machine shop. It was there where his true talents were...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Anna Wessels was born in Hackensack, New Jersey back in 1863 to William and Jane. After graduating from high school, she became a schoolteacher. When her sister Millie narrowly died while in childbirth her life’s direction made a change. She went back to school to become a physician. She enrolled in the Woman’s Medical College of New York. Graduating in 1891, she taught pathology and hygiene at her alma mater.In 1884, she moved to New York City working with the Department of Health diagnostic laboratory. In her first year, she isolated a strain of the diphtheria bacillus. An antitoxin was produced and shipped to doctors in the United States and England free of charge. She had a short visit to Paris bringing back a culture of the rabies virus. In 1905, she developed a new method for prep...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Johannes Widmann was born in Eder, Bohemia back in circa 1460. He attended the University of Leipzig in the 1480’s. Sorry I know this is vague but that is all I have to go on. Stay with me on this, I promise we’ll get through it. He received his Bachelor of Art Degree in 1482 and his Doctorate in 1485.I’ll give you the English version, in 1489 he published the Nimble and Neat Calculation in all Trades. Handwritten notes by him shows he was holding lectures on algebra. Evidence shows this is the first known university lecture on the topic. He died in Leipzig in 1489.What you may not know about Johannes is that in his writings and book is that he was the first person to use the (+ and – symbols). I bet he would be proud to know those symbols have survived for 529 years now with no end in ...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Buster Warenski was born in Kimberly, Nevada back in 1942. Frankly I do not have any information about him that is until 1966 when he was 24. Prior to that his hobby was making knives however after seeing a photo of a knife made by Gil Hibben he started making knives full time.By 1975 was president of the Knifemakers’ Guild for 2 terms and a Blade Magazine member of the Cutlery Hall of Fame. He was famous for his “Art Knives” making them exclusively after 1975. He built a recreation of the gold dagger found in King Tut’s tomb. It took him 5 years to make the knife from 32 ounces of pure gold, that knife beame his “Legacy Knife”. He went on to build “The Gem of the Orient”, that one had 153 emeralds totaling 10 karats, 9 diamonds totaling 5 karats. That one took him 10 years to build. It...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
An Wang was born in Shanghai, China back in 1920. His father taught English at an elementary school and his mother was a homemaker. Graduating from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 1940 with a degree in electrical engineering. He emigrated to the United States attending Harvard University earing a PhD in applied physics in 1948.After graduation, he invented something we still use to this day, more on that later. He started his own engineering business in 1951 as a sole proprietorship. His patent was issued in 1955, and as they say the rest is history. By 1970, his company had sales of 27 million and 1,400 employees. By 1989, he employed an estimated 30,00 people headquartered in Tewksbury, Massachusetts and later Lowell, Massachusetts. He died of cancer in 1990 at 70.What you may not kn...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Frederic Waller was born in Brooklyn, New York back in 1886 to Frederic and Katherine. I don’t have much information about his early childhood. When he was an adult he worked for Paramount Pictures holding several patents including Cinerama, using a curved film screen that extends his peripheral vision. For that invention, he received an Academy Award.What you may not know about Fred Waller is that he also invented two other things we still use to this day, there have been improvements to his inventions but the basic concept remains the same. He also was the first to obtain a patent for a water ski and an Anemometer. The Anemometer is used to determine wind speed and direction. Bet ya didn’t know that one, did you?Until tomorrow give someone the free gift of a smile, I promise it won’t ...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
This one is going to be short.John Walson was born in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania back in 1915. I do not have any information about him until 1948. He was the owner of Mahanoy City General Electric appliance store. He had an issue receiving signals from Philadelphia television stations. So, what did he do well he erected an antenna on a utility pole from a local mountaintop. He ran an electrical wire from the antenna to his store for reception, it worked.What you may not know about John is that he is the inventor of cable TV. However, he wasn’t finished as he also was the first cable operator to use microwave to import distant television stations. The first to use coaxial cable to improve picture quality and the first to distribute pay television programming. His descendants now own Serv...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
John Findley was born in Fall River, Massachusetts back in 1852, to David and Martha. He graduated from Monmouth College in 1872, moving on to the University of Wooster and earning Sc.D from Armour Institute in 1904. He was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 for a project.At the time, he was paid $25,000.00 per year having the second largest salary in the American Government, behind only by the salary received by the President. He resigned from the project returning to the United States in 1906. Back at the States he conceived and designed the passenger terminal facilities for the Chicago and Northwester Railway. From 1911-1916, he was president of Westinghouse, Church, Kerr and Company. He was president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Railway Enginee...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
William Walker was born in Newington, Surrey, England back in 1869. In 1887, he was training to be a diver at Portsmouth Dockyard. He was a man of many talents working his way through diver’s attendant, signal man and finally passing his medical exam and deep-water test qualifying him as a deep-water diver in 1892.In 1912, he was presented with a silver rose bowl by King George V for his work on a particular work on an assignment he did between 1906 to 1911. He was also honored being appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order. He as the foreman in charge for the construction of the new naval docks in Gibraltar. He was involved in the wreck of the SS Dordone in Newport. Sadly, he died during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918.Now, back to his assignment from 1906 to 1911. In those yea...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Charles Cheers was born in Cheshire to John and Margaret. He was educated at the Liverpool Institute. He was an Alderman and member of the Court of Common Council. He also served as Sheriff in 1907, the Lord Mayor from 1915-1916. For his services to London he received a Knighthood. His name appears on many memorials in Hythe, Kent. He was a member of the Sussex Motor Yacht Club, he also contributed to many charities throughout England. He died in 1941 at 82.What you may not know about Charles Cheers Wakefield 1st Viscount Wakefield is that in 1899, he founded Wakefield Oil Company. While I know that name doesn’t jog most people’s memory it was later changed to Castrol. I know most men will recognize that name. That company is still in business to this day, they produce lubricants that a...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Philip Vaughan was a Welshman, sorry I do not have a clue on where or when he was born, who his parents were, what education he had. In summary, I don’t have hardly any information on him except that is for just one thing. We’ll get to that in a few.He was a proprietor and agent of an iron foundry at Carmarthen and Kidwelly. In 1800, he signed a co-partnership deed with John Morgan Jr. That same year he signed a 21-year lease for the Carmarthen rolling mills from John Morgan. He was elected a burgess of Carmarthen. He died in 1824, but I do not know to this day how old he was. Sorry I just could not find out that information.What you may not know about Philip Vaughn is that in 1794 he received a patent for something that while it has changed is still in use to this day. you may be askin...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Ward Tunte was born in Lorain, Ohio back in 1894. As a young child, he started saving his money to enroll in the Case School of Applied Science. He graduated for a perfect 4.0 GPA, after graduation he joined the staff of Goodyear in Akron, Ohio in 1917. In 1918, he received his pilot’s license, he raced hot air balloons in three International Race’s in 1926, 1929 and 1930 he won the Gordon Bennett Cup in ballooning. All in all he won five annual National Balloon Races. He worked for Goodyear until 1962. After his retirement, he travelled across the country as a motivational speaker, periodically flying hot air balloons. He died in 1978 as the results of a stroke.What you may not know about Ward Tunte Van Orman is that he was also an American inventor. His inventions include the inflatab...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Gustave Trouve was born in La Haye Descartes, France back in 1839. In 1850, you could find him studying to be a locksmith however due to poor health he moved to Paris where he found work as a clockmaker. While there he invented a carbon-zinc pocket-sized battery to power his automata (a device made in imitation of a human being).In 1872, he developed a portable military telegraph. In 1874. he developed what you could now call a prototype for the modern day metal detector. It was used to located bullets for extraction in human patients. In 1874, he improved the sound intensity of Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone system by incorporating a double membrane. In 1880, he took a small electric motor attached it to a tricycle thus inventing the world’s first electric vehicle. He died in 1902, ...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Daniel Treadwell was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts back in 1791. I can’t find anything else on him until 1818, so let’s start from there for this history lesson. His first invention was a machine used for making wooden screws in 1819, during that same year he devised a new form of a printing press.During the same year he went to England where he conceived the idea of a power press. When he returned to the States he used that press to print sheets of paper, being the first on this continent to be used other than hand power. In 1822, he co-founded the Boston Journal of Philosophy and the Arts. In 1825 the city of Boston hired him to make a survey for the introduction of water. In 1826, he devised a system of turnouts for railway transportation on a single track.I’m not finished, in 1829,...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Elizabeth Thackery was born in Manchester, Lancashire, England back in 1767. When she was 21 he stole 5 handkerchiefs however she was caught by the authorities. While I do not have any information about the court case what I can say is that she was sentenced to seven years in prison.She was placed about the convict transport ship Friendship in 1787 arriving in Australia in 1788. Apparently, she had a rebellious nature for in 1791 she received 25 lashes for coming in from her settlement without permission. In 1810, she married Samuel King a Marine Private settling in the Derwent Valley. They were married for 46 years.What you may not know about Elizabeth is that she was the first know convict girl to set foot on Australia. She died in New Norfolk, Tasmania in 1856. She is also known as t...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Robert Augustus was born on the island of Montserrat in the Caribbean back in 1853. Sorry, but I don’t have any data on him until he joined the Navy in New Jersey in 1881. Assigned as an ordinary seaman on the USS Kearsarge. On October 26th 1881, another seaman fell from a Jacob’s ladder falling into the harbor at Hampton Roads. The sailor could not swim so Robert jumped in the bay to save the sailor. It took another sailor Cadet Midshipman John B. Bernadon helping Robert to save the seamen’s life. On the morning of December 20th, 1883, the training ship USS Jamestown was docked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The ship was docked alongside the USS Yantic. Later on, that morning a young man by the name of A.A. George fell overboard from a plank between the two ships. Again, Robert jumped into...
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By James Dray
(Fathom Realty)
Robert Switzer was born in Fromberg, Montana back in 1914 to Emmet and Maud. The family moved to Berkeley, California where he attended the public school. In 1932, he received a scholarship from the Scaife Scholarship foundation. He attended college at the University of California, Berkeley studying to be a physician.In 1933, while working for the H.J. Heinz Company unloading tomatoes from a freight car he fell and suffered several serious injuries which included a skull fracture and damage to his optic nerve, which of course ended his hopes of being a doctor.It was while he was recovering that he and his brother Joseph discovered something that will forever place them in the history books, so let’s get to it.He and his brother Joseph was the inventors of the first black light fluoresce...
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