# Surprising info you found out about an historical figure? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 19, 2019, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861 "2019-08-19T02:39:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861/81 "2019-08-22T11:57:25Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Some other famous freemasons: > > Richard Pryor > Don Rickles > Harry Houdini > Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart > Michael Richards > Harpo Marx 14 US Presidents were freemasons George Washington James Monroe Andrew Jackson James Polk James Buchanan Andrew Johnson James Garfield William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt William Taft Warren Harding Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Gerald Ford ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861/82 "2019-08-22T16:16:02Z")
Two from the serial killers trivia department: Ann Rule got her first contract to write a book about the disappearance and murders of several young women before her friend Ted Bundy (or anyone else) was considered a suspect. She dismissed the idea that he was a serial killer for years, but finally came to accept it. When Robert Resslear, head of the FBI serial killer unit, first went to interview John Wayne Gacy in prison, Gacy said he remembered Resslear from growing up in the same neighborhood. Resslear thought Gacy was conning him until the latter mentioned the church where they went to Cub Scout meetings together, the town’s bowling alley, and Resslear’s house, where his mother had some very unusual flower pots on their front porch. ---
**Author:** ![Snake\_Plissken\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Snake\_Plissken\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snake_Plissken_1)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861/83 "2019-08-22T16:16:57Z")
A remarkably well-travelled man in the 5th Century BC could have met Zoroaster, Confucius, Lao Tze, the Buddha and Socrates. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861/84 "2019-08-22T16:47:13Z")
Something I just read this morning: Noted early 20th century Black civil rights pioneer W.E.B. DuBois died in 1963 on the day before Dr. King’s March on Washington, where King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech. By that time, DuBois was living in Africa and had denounced his American citizenship. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861/85 "2019-08-22T17:10:07Z")
> [@Snake\_Plissken](#): > > A remarkably well-travelled man in the 5th Century BC could have met Zoroaster, Confucius, Lao Tze, the Buddha and Socrates. That’s the plot of Gore Vidal’s novel **Creation**. Although some dispute if all those characters were truly contemporary, or even existed (especially _LaoTze_) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861/86 "2019-08-22T17:13:56Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > When Mary Todd Lincoln was once asked if her husband, Abraham, had any hobbies, she replied “cats.” Abraham Lincoln didn’t like his first name and his family and friends called him Lincoln. William Sherman went by the name Cump, which was a shortening of his middle name, Tecumseh. Ulysses Grant got the nickname Sam as an adult. But growing up he was known as Lyss. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861/87 "2019-08-22T17:49:07Z")
Jefferson Davis’s first wife was the daughter of his commanding officer, Zachary Taylor, later President of the United States. Taylor refused to grant his permission to the marriage because he did not want his daughter living the life of an Army wife, stationed in remote Western forts, so Davis resigned his commission, but they married before the resignation went into effect. Sarah Taylor Davis died of yellow fever three months after the wedding. His second wife, Varina Banks Howell, granddaughter of a former Governor of New Jersey, was 18 when they married. He was 35. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861/88 "2019-08-22T18:16:23Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Abraham Lincoln didn’t like his first name and his family and friends called him Lincoln. > > William Sherman went by the name Cump, which was a shortening of his middle name, Tecumseh. > > Ulysses Grant got the nickname Sam as an adult. But growing up he was known as Lyss. Grant’s given first name was “Hiram,” but apparently no one ever called him that. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861/89 "2019-08-22T19:13:16Z")
Grant was born “Hiram Ulysses Grant.” When he was nominated for the U.S. Military Academy, the congressman filled out the paperwork as “Ulysses S. Grant.” Fixing the error would have been a bureaucratic headache, so he simply adopted the new name. When people saw “U.S. Grant” and asked what the initials stood for, his classmates joked that it must be “Uncle Sam.” Thereafter, his classmates nicknamed him “Sam.” ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861/90 "2019-08-22T19:57:38Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > John Entwistle , bass player for the Who, was a freemason for his entire adult life. And of course had the most fabulous rock’n’roll death, by a cocaine-induced heart attack in a hotel bed with a stripper, at age 57. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861/91 "2019-08-22T20:03:37Z")
Too late to edit: That reminded me of Albert Speer, who died in bed with his secret English mistress in London at age 76. ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861/92 "2019-08-22T20:48:32Z")
Does Trump proclaiming that he is 'The King of Israel" count? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861/93 "2019-08-22T21:10:11Z")
[Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Alphonse,_Duke_of_Anjou) is a leading pretender to the throne of France. He’s descended not just from the Capets, but Queen Victoria, King Alfonso XIII of Spain and Fransisco Franco. Wait, what? One of these is not like the others … ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861/94 "2019-08-22T21:18:25Z")
Poor George Washington had horrendous dental problems. By the time of his first inauguration, he had exactly one natural tooth. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861/95 "2019-08-22T21:37:59Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > Poor George Washington had horrendous dental problems. Horrendous is every sense of the word. Some of Washington’s false teeth had been extracted from slaves. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2019, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861/96 "2019-08-22T22:28:18Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Horrendous is every sense of the word. Some of Washington’s false teeth had been extracted from slaves. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2019, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861/97 "2019-08-24T04:58:58Z")
As a teenager, George Washington was all set to serve in Britain’s Royal Navy but gave up the idea when he saw how much it upset his mother. He ended up an officer in the Virginia militia instead. During the American Revolution, he regularly managed to evade the superior British forces by using the knowledge of the American hinterland he had gained in his civilian career as a surveyor. As for his false teeth, ordinary people would sometimes sell the teeth still in their mouths to the craftsmen who made dentures. Washington’s sole remaining tooth was used to anchor his dentures, but it’s not known if he was able to chew with them. They probably were for cosmetic purposes only. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2019, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861/98 "2019-08-24T05:04:59Z")
The stern look on Washington’s face in most official portraits and statues was due to the extreme discomfort of having his false teeth in his mouth as he posed. Without them, he had a kind of “Granny Yokum” look with his chin higher than normal. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2019, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861/99 "2019-08-24T05:18:29Z")
The artist who painted Washington’s official portrait (I guess the one Dolly Madison saved when the British burned Washington, aka Federal City, in 1814) tried to put his subject at ease by making small talk. The only thing George was interested in discussing was farming. The famous statue of Washington in the Virginia State Capitol was based on a life mask and actual measurements of George’s body: > **[Statue of George Washington (Houdon)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_(Houdon))** > > George Washington is a statue by the French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon from the late 18th century. Based on a life mask and other measurements of George Washington taken by Houdon, it is considered one of the most accurate depictions of the subject. The original sculpture is located in the rotunda of the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, Virginia, and it has been copied extensively, with one copy standing in the United States Capitol Rotunda. > The date given for the sculpture varies. It was... ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2019, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861/100 "2019-08-24T05:31:53Z")
It has always been thought that William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor, the first two US presidents to die in office, succumbed to pneumonia caught on Inauguration Day and bad cherries and buttermilk consumed at a Fourth of July celebration, respectively. There’s now speculation that the water for the White House was drawn from a source contaminated with sewage and both men died from cholera instead. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-info-you-found-out-about-an-historical-figure/838861.md?page=6)