Don't forget to vote today (see how I tie that into this post)

Finally took a photo yesterday of our Allegra wearing her Colonial garb. She plays the part of Elizabeth Clark Hull, grandmother of Commodore Isaac Hull, a U.S. Navy hero who hailed from Derby, Ct.

Hull commanded the USS Constitution during the War of 1812.

Allegra is a history major and she has been enjoying her part-time job working as a docent at the Derby Historical Society's David Humphreys House (above) in Ansonia, Ct.

The photo of the house was taken from an historic cemetery last summer during an Open House Day.

The educators work with fifth graders in a program called "A Day in 1762," which was the year Humphreys was 10, the age of most of the kids who visit to the house for the program. Humphreys was born in the house.

Since part of the program includes a one-hour outdoor tour of the historic district, cold weather will force the program to end later this month. It will start up again in the spring.

Humphreys was a patriot and a Revolutionary War hero. He served as an aide-de-camp to George Washington and later became an ambassador to Spain.

He brought black Merino sheep to this country from Spain and started a successful woolen mill.

Humphreys was a poet and in his younger days he was a teacher.

Humphreys died in 1818 and is buried in Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, the final resting place of some famous folks. They include Eli Whitney, who invented the cotton gin. a device that mechanically removes seeds from cotton, and Noah Webster, a prolific author and lexicographer who published An American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828.

So..how do I get from there to today, Election Day? I guess I could quote 18th century British statesman Edmund Burke, who said: "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it."

He also said: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

To that I would add "good women" as well.

Trying not to be political here, simply hoping everyone exercises his or her right to vote today.

~

My thanks to the Internet for its help in writing this post.