Betty White (1922-2021) in 1988 As you may have noticed, we tend to pick each month here in the **First Names First male and female names that both start with the same letter. So as we had Benjamin two weeks ago, it is now time for Betty! ** So, take your pick, and find some inspiring stories behind the names. Give this a couple of minutes – for lives lived have all something worthwhile to tell us. Continue reading

When do we reach our intellectual peak? When our thoughts and reasoning seem to travel in the speed of light, and we absorb everything we experience with such lightness - at the age of fifteen perhaps? Or later? Twenty-one? No matter which age, there comes a time when we start noticing the decline. It is inevitable, like all the phases of life. Of course we get less agile physically - if we now ever were that in the first place - and lose a lot of our physical strength and capacities. Continue reading

Once in a while we visit here in Streets & Squares some smaller city anywhere in the world. This time it will be Missoula in the mountaineous state of Montana, United States. Missoula was founded in 1860 as Hellgate Trading Post while still part of Washington Territory. By 1866, the settlement had moved upstream 5 miles east, and been renamed Missoula Mills, later shortened to Missoula. The city is divided by Clark Fork River. Continue reading

Olof Skötkonung as depicted on a coin of his from around 1030 This one did not necessarily happen exactly 1000 years ago for the exact date remains unknown. But sometime during the winter of 1021 and 1022, the King of Sweden, Olof Skötkonung, dies at the age of 41 - or 42 - in the village of Husaby in southwestern Sweden. He had ruled Sweden since 995, i.e. since his teenage years. Continue reading

A 17th Century Mill in Castelnaudary, France Photo courtesy Max Pixel As of today, Journeys of Life contains year files for four whole centuries. That is, the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Those plus some of this 21st century we now live in span the years 1601 and 2021. The year files aim to give you a quick look at any of these years with some background information and the most notable persons born at that time. Continue reading

In the year 1340, King Edward III of England is declared King of France (Jan 26), Rotterdam in the County of Holland is officially declared a city (Jun 7), the kings of Castile and Portugal defeat the Nasrid ruler of Granada and his Moroccan allies (Oct 30), and there are around 74 million Europeans. 1340-0305 Cansignorio della Scala* Lord of Verona - Verona (1375/35) 1340-0306 John of Gaunt* English prince/military leader/statesman - Ghent, Flanders (1399/59) Continue reading

In the year 1601, Valladolid becomes the capital of the Hispanic Monarchy until Madrid takes over in 1606 (Jan 11), William Shakespeare’s Hamlet has possibly its first performance (spring), Jesuit Matteo Ricci becomes the first European to enter the Forbidden City in Beijing, invited by the Ming Dynasty Emperor, a rainy summer causing a bad harvest leads to severe famine in Russia and the Baltic Sea countries - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

One of the many statues of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616). Picture credit Yanajin33 In the year 1603, French explorer Samuel de Champlain sails to Canada (Mar), Queen Elizabeth I dies, having ruled since 1558, and Tokugawa Ieyasu is granted the title of _shōgun, _establishing the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo – thus the 265-year-long Edo period begins (Mar 24), James I is crowned as King of England with limited ceremonies due to plague (Jul 25), Acadia, the French colony in North America, is founded - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Not all work is compensated. But we all deserve to get paid for our work. Sometimes the compensation is ridiculously small, and we may sell ourselves short. We can think of a million occasions when compensation has not been forthcoming at all. Or maybe we get rewarded, paid for our work retroactively through completely different people and for completely different reasons. There is a Latin saying for this what should be so obvious, yet remains so elusive: Continue reading

This time in **First Names First **it is all about **Benjamin!**Often shortened as Ben, and a popular name since the 1800th century, seems like. So take your pick, and find some inspiring stories behind the names. Give this a couple of minutes - for lives lived have all something worthwhile to tell us. Let them! Benjamin Bramer* mathematician/architect/inventor – Felsberg, Germany (1588) Benjamin Keach* Baptist preacher – Buckinghamshire, England (1640) Continue reading

This is for you hockey lovers! The list of the 100 Greatest NHL Players (NHL 100) according to NHL. A centerpiece in honoring 100 years of NHL hockey, selected by distinguished members of the hockey community. There are so many great hockey players that it can’t have been an easy task to select the greatest. Nevertheless, this is the official list of the National Hockey League. Shown here a là Journeys of Life - chronologically, showing also the possible other professions or activities of the player, and followed by a monthwise list. Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_3118” align=“alignleft” width=“379”]The four Galilean moons compared to Earth and its moon[/caption] In the year 1610, Galileo Galilei first observes the four Galilean moons of Jupiter: Ganymede, Callisto, Europa and Io (Jan 7), Polish troops occupy Moscow (Jul 4), Henry Hudson sails into what is now known as Hudson Bay, believing it was the Pacific Ocean (Aug 2), the Tuscans fight the Turks (Oct 10), the Orion Nebula is discovered, first shipments of tea to Europe by the Dutch East India Company are made around this time - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

Happy New Year 2022! So, it is the first of the month, and time again for another great quote! This one rings so true for all ages, no matter when we live, how educated we are and what opportunities we are given. It takes faith and courage to overcome this obstacle: _“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. Continue reading

Countries have different ways of denoting floors in a building. If you’re used to one system, it may be confusing to encounter another one as you travel abroad. This article might help you with that. The European method of naming floor levels starts with zero (0). Zero is the ground floor, and the one above it the first floor (1), two flights up the second floor and so on. Here follows a simple list of floor systems in some countries. Continue reading

In the year 1469, King Edward IV of England is taken prisoner after the Battle of Edgecote Moor (Jul 26), Edward is released and resumes the throne (Sep), Ferdinand II of Aragon marries Isabella I of Castile, thus unifying Spain (Oct 19), Moctezuma I dies and is succeeded by Axayacatl as the Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan - and all these fine people were born: 1469-0213 Elia Levita* Hebrew grammarian/scholar/poet - Neustadt, Holy Roman Empire (1549/79) Continue reading

Osaka Castle (1597), one of Japan’s most famous landmarks In the year 1614, Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe in Jamestown, Virginia (Apr 5), hostilities resulting from an attempt by Toyotomi Hideyori to restore Osaka Castle begin, outraging Tokugawa Ieyasu (Nov 19), the Siege of Osaka begins (Dec 4), Christianity is banned throughout Japan (1614), the Rosicrucian Order is instituted in the Holy Roman Empire - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

This time in First Names First we have** Tina/Tiina!** Often sort for Christina, Christine, Kristina etc. But here taken as the preferred first name. So pick one of the names below, and then follow the Wikipedia link to see what if anything the person could contribute your life with. Why not give a couple of minutes of your life to this for lives lived have something worthwhile to tell us – let them! Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_3123” align=“alignright” width=“357”]A merry-go-round at the London Zoo (photo by Elliott Brown)[/caption] In the year 1620, the first merry-go-round is seen at a fair in Philippapolis, Turkey (May 17), the oldest stone church in French North America is begun in Quebec (Jun 3), Johannes Kepler’s mother is arrested for witchcraft (Aug 7), Mayflower departs from Plymouth, England (Sep 16) and arrives with the pilgrims and planters at Cape Cod in Massachusetts (Nov 21), a severe frost freezes the Thames in London, the modern violin is developed, witch hunts begin in Scotland - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

A good idea to do in Loviisa: walk the Myllyharju nature trail, and climb the three-storey Kukkukivi sightseeing tower (1906). This time Streets and Squares visits Loviisa, a tiny, picturesque town on the southern coast of Finland some 90 km east of Helsinki. It is a bilingual city (Finnish & Swedish), and was actually known until 1752 as Degerby. Its current name it received from the Swedish king Adolf Fredrik, who so liked the city when he was visiting there that year that he named it after his wife, Queen Lovisa Ulrika. Continue reading

Journeys of Life has been around for quite a while now. Our aim has always been to have stories of interest accompanied by cool or telling images tied to the theme. The bulk of the site are the year files though. For this is a site specifically geared for genealogists, and others interested in either personal or public history. Then there are all the article series, many of which have an article appearing on a certain fixed date. Continue reading