charachter biography

Luke Raines
Character Biography

When Dill turned 30 the year was about 1950 or so and he decided to start writing books. He didn’t know what to write about, all he knew is that he loved to write books. He wrote a series of children’s books and he wrote some short stories for magazines. He decided that he wanted to write about something different. He began to write about fashion. After he began to write about fashion he was much happier with his work. When we wrote about fashion he mostly wrote about what was the coolest fashions and what wasn’t hip.
“One of the latest trends fashions in 1961 was the ‘bouffant’ look which was when a dress had a tight top and a puffy bottom”(www.kyrene.k12). Dill thought one really cool look was the beatnik look. Dill would always dress in black and drink coffee in poetry clubs. He met a girl named Julia in on of those clubs. He soon fell in love with Julia and married her in 1964.
“By 1965 jeans were a symbol of rebelliousness political and social beliefs’ (Valene Steele pg 51). Dill began to write about and wear jeans all the time. Eventually he started his own line of jeans. The company fell apart in 1972 when Julia had a baby. He wasn’t making enough money for the baby doing the work that he did so he went back to college and got a teaching degree.
By 1976 Dill didn’t have enough time to write books. His wife divorced him that year. The only way he made money was being a second grade teacher at Dogwood elementary in Wisconsin. When Dill’s son turned 12 Dill decided to tell him about his childhood. Both he and his son were very close. Dill died in 1989. He choked to death on a sandwich.
Everyone was extremely saddened by Dills death. His son never lost his loving feeling for his dad. Everyone went to his funeral Including Scout, Jim, and all of Scout’s children. Dills ex – wife died a year later. Dills son was incredibly depressed but moved on and started writing books about his dads stories of Maycomb.

Biography of Lynda Peagram

Biography of Lynda Peagram




Lynda Peagram was born on the 28th of December 1961 she weighed 8lb 3oz. She first started school at the age of 5 at lee chapel south in 1966. Then in 1973 she started secondary school at woodlands in Basildon. Lynda started work in 1978 in London in the bank of England. Then in 1982 she got engaged to Gary Peagram and a year later they got married at holy cross church in Basildon. They then got their dog Mac he was a boxer and as a puppy used to chew everything up. In 1989 she gave birth to her first child Clare michelle Peagram on the 3rd may. When Clare was born Mac looked after her. Also 5 months after Clare was born Lynda’s dad Roy passed away he was and still is greatly missed. Then Lynda gave birth to jenny Nicole Peagram her second child. A year after jenny was born Lynda lost a baby but then two years later Charlie Michael Peagram was born since then Lynda has changed jobs and is happily married with three children.

A Man and His Gun

A Man and His Guns

      The Colt six shooter will always be a legend to many fighting men.  Whether you

know it as an accurate, cowboy, Texas Ranger, gun-slinging, out West, corral gun, or as a

little protection, the Peacemaker by Samuel Colt  and Samuel Colt will never be forgotten. 

             

   Samuel Colt is known as the inventor of the first revolving firearm. Colt was born in

1814 to a family were money was not the pressing issue.  His father ,Christopher, was a

man that owned his own silk mill in the town where Colt was born, Hartford, Connecticut.

Colt's mother died when he was six and his father's business started to fail. When Colt Colt

was seven, he was fascinated by guns.  He took apart his father's gun in a field and was

able to successfully rebuild it.  At the age of ten Colt was an apprentice in his fathers mill,

mostly dying clothes. Science, adventures of an active life, and mechanics were all the

favorite passions of young  Colt. The adventures eventually led Colt into trouble.  At the

age of seventeen Colt was expelled form a preparatory school in Amherst, MA.

      During the years of 1830 - 1831 Colt voyaged to India..  It was during these

years that Colt first conceived the idea of a revolving firearm.  Some think it may have

come from watching the revolving wheel of the ship, turning and locking.  While on board

ship,  Colt must have seen other revolving firearms in London or  India.  He carved a

wooden model of his ideal gun while he was at sea.  None of what Colt may have

previously seen on revolving guns could have led to his invention. His ideas were not

copied from any source, even though the revolving idea was not unique.

      When Colt arrived  home from sea, he showed  the  wooden model to his father and a

family friend.  This friend was Henry Ellsworth, Commissioner of the United States Patent

Office. Both Colt's father and Mr. Ellsworth were greatly impressed by the model.   They

encouraged Colt to file for a patent for his revolving firearm. In the year 1831 Colt hired a

man to create the first working model.  In 1836 Colt began the production of the first

revolver after his petition for the patent. Between these years Colt presented lectures on

chemistry and did practical demonstrations of laughing gas.

      On February of the 25, in the year 1835, the first United States patent was granted for

Colt revolver. The patent that Colt received covered eight basic  features.  First, the

application of caps at the end of the gun cylinder.  Second, the application of a partition

between the caps, as well as other basic ideas. The other areas of the patent cover the

application of certain parts of the gun,  the principle of locking and turning the cylinder ,

and all of the basic revolver parts.

      In 1848, the new pocket model revolver was introduced. Colt devised an alternative

means of loading the gun - removing the barrel and cylinder, and either switching an

empty cylinder for a loaded one or using the axis pin as a ramrod. This gun was

nicknamed the "Baby Dragoon" because it resembled the bigger Dragoon.  The pocket-

sized pistols had a larger span of appeal to the public.  Even Colt Houston of Texas

ordered a Baby Dragoon from his friend  Colt. 

      In 1847 the US Army contracted Colt to build his Walker revolver for military use.

This was the first truly practical revolving cylinder firearm.  The main feature of this

firearm was a ratchet of the cylinder to revolve the cylinder.  The revolving was initiated

by the hammer; the motion it made was called "cocking" the hammer.  The way that the

new revolver was described as working Appleton's Dictionary of Mechanics was:

"Colt improvements in firearms , patent 1849, consist in

certain improvements upon that construction of guns and

pistols which has cylindrical revolving breech piece,

provided with a series of parrallel chambers for containing a

series of charges, by revolution of the breech upon it's shaft,

may be brought into line with the bore of the barrel, and be

severally discharged through the same."

What was meant by this is that a cylinder, round piece of metal, contained several charges

(at this time black powder is still being used), that revolved around a center point that

aligned the charge to be able to be fired ou the barrel of the weapon. In 1873 Colt revised

the Colt revised the current design and created the Single Action Army revolver.  This

revolver is commonly called the Peacemaker. In 1896 with the advent of smokeless gun

powder the SAA, or the Peacemaker, was updated and mass produced using Eli Whitney's

mass production ideas. 

     

Houston told Colt, "(If) you have a small pistol, or will soon have one made of choice

quality, I wish you to bring it with you as I wish to purchase one.  I did not know (of

them) until a few days since-  I then saw one for the first time and was greatly pleased

with it."  The type seen be Houston was an  actual Baby Dragoon with a square-back

trigger guard and a Texas Ranger scene on the cylinder.  This particular scene was of a

Texas Ranger and an Indian in a fight scene. 

      

        The Colt revolver served a great purpose for the Texas Rangers.  This pocket-sized

gun could be casually carried around and easily reloaded.  The beauty of the gun was its

six consecutive shots and its precise accuracy.   The Texas Rangers and other Texas

gunslingers know  Colt as the "cream of the crop" in gun making, supreme revolving

techniques and great precision make Colt the number one gun for Texans.

   Bibliography:

1. The Handbook of Texas, p 382

   The Texas Historical Association

2. Colt : An American Legend, all pages

   Wilson Publishing ; Robert Lawrence Wilson

3. How It Works, p 3240

   H.S. Stuttman Inc.

A Book Report on Anne Sullivan Macy

The book I chose to read is called The Touch of Magic written by Lorena A. Hickok.  The story was about Anne Sullivan Macy, Helen Keller's  wonderful teacher.  I had never heard of Anne before I read this book, but while looking in the library my mom explained to me who she was and she seemed like she would be an interesting person to do it on.  I was right.

      Anne Sullivan Macy was born on April 14, 1866 in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts.  At the age of nine she was taken to the outskirts of Tewksbury, Massachusetts with her three year old brother Jimmie.  There, they were sent to the Massachusetts State Infirmary.  Not because they were mentally sick or anything, but because they had nowhere else to go.

      Their mother had died of tuberculosis and their father had left them.  None of their relatives wanted them because Annie was nearly blind and Jimmie had something wrong with his hip and had to walk with a crutch.  Annie's one year old sister was taken right away by her aunt and uncle because she was darling.  Nobody knew where to send them so that's how she ended up at the infirmary.

      A few months after they had arrived, Jimmie got deathly ill.  The doctor's couldn't do anything for him and unfortunately he past away.  Annie took this unbelievably hard for she had realized that Jimmie was the only thing she had ever loved.  

      Annie's attitude then worsened even more because she felt she had nothing left.  She would throw hissy fits at the nurses and kick and scream.  Believe it or not, this is one of the character traits that I most admire about Miss Macy.  She was aggressive and didn't let anyone tell her what to do.  Even though she could hardly see, she lived her own life in her own little world.

      Another trait that I admire about her is that she was a dreamer.  I know I am a big dreamer and can get lost in my thoughts sometimes, but her dreams weren't like mine.  Annie dreamt of being able to see, but most often dreamt of going to school.  Annie wanted to learn but had no one to teach her.

      One day, about a year after Jimmie's death, the State Board of Charities came by to look around.  Annie was so excited because she heard they might be able to send her to school.  When they were leaving she jumped in front of them and yelled out that she wanted to go to school.  The men asked her what was wrong with her and she explained to them that she was nearly blind.

      A few days later, after Annie thought she had blown her chance of ever going to school, a girl from the ward came saying that Annie was to go to school.  Annie was ecstatic and couldn't wait to go.  This is the first major event that I think led to Annie's success.

      The day finally came and Annie arrived at the Perkins Institution for the Blind in South Boston around noon.  She didn't like it at first but later became quite popular.  While the other girls stayed in nice cottages, Annie stayed in an old cottage with fifty year old Laura Bridgman.  Laura was blind, deaf, and dumb.

      Laura Bridgman had gone to that school forty some years earlier and was taught the manual alphabet.  This is where you communicate by spelling words on each other's palms and then feel an object to know that the word spelled is the word felt.

      Annie was simply fascinated with this way of communicating that she learned the manual alphabet. That's why I think Laura was the person who had the greatest influence on Annie.  Annie would spend hours "talking" with Laura.  She would tell Laura what was going on in school and things around them and Laura would share her thoughts and feelings back to Annie.

      Annie was good in school and her teachers saw that.  She had a hard time with Braille but after a lot of hard work, she got it.  I think that is another admirable trait about Annie.  Her eagerness and willingness to learn.  an education was what she wanted all her life and her dream finally came true.  After she learned Braille, Annie would search the library for books.  She loved to read.

      Summer quickly came and all the girls, even Laura, left for home.  The teachers refused to send Annie back to Tewksbury so one of them was able to find her a job doing little work at a rooming house.

      One of the roomers, a young man, really took to Annie and felt sorry for her.  One day he told her that he thought he knew of someone who could help her eyes.  Annie agreed to go see Dr. Bradford at the Carney Catholic Hospital.  He insisted on operating even though she explained to him that she had already had two unsuccessful operations.  He convinced her and started work later that summer.

      He first cut away the scabs on the insides of her eyelids.  This would stop the scabs from scratching her eyeballs.  He said that he would treat her for a few months and then in a year operate again.

      A year passed and Annie, now sixteen, was back.  Dr. Bradford felt good and hopeful that the operation would be successful.  After many days of being bandaged up, the bandages were removed.  Afraid to open her eyes, Annie finally did and was able to see.  Not one hundred percent mind you, but she could see detail and the doctor was smiling.  Being able to see is another thing I think that led up to Annie's success.

      Now that Annie could see she had no reason to go back to school.  She had nowhere to go, so the teachers let her stay and help with the younger kids.  She still attended classes and became so popular that she was voted Valedictorian in her sixth and final year of school.

      The day was so special, but all Annie could think about was what she would do after school.  Annie had no idea what she wanted, but a couple of teachers said that they might be able to find her a job.  Annie didn't want to think about it so left for the summer.

      During a summer day, a letter came for Annie.  It was from her principal asking her to read the enclosed letter.  The letter was from a man from Alabama asking the Perkins Institute if they could recommend a good teacher for his six year old daughter.  She was deaf, blind, and dumb, her name was Helen Keller.

      Twenty year old Annie decided to go.  On March 5, 1887 Annie headed out to Alabama.  This, I think would have to be the third event that led up to Annie's success.

      At first Annie thought she could get through to Helen, but later found that it wouldn't be that easy.  Helen was a dangerous child, like an animal, but what do you expect if you can't hear or see?  After a few days Annie tried to get through to her by being gentle, but during one of Helen's rages she knocked out Annie's two front teeth.

      Annie decided to take the initiative and tried disciplining Helen.  Something of which her parents never did.  She thought it would be best if she could be alone with Helen so they moved into their own little cottage a few minutes away from Helen's parents.

      Annie started teaching Helen the manual alphabet that she had learned from Laura Bridgman.  Helen was able spell things back, but still they had no meaning to her.  About a month after Annie's arrival, Helen finally figured out that the word Annie was spelling was

the word of the object she held in her hand.  Soon after this Helen starting writing in Braille.  A lot of it didn't make sense, but as she was learning sentences it got better.

      After about a year of working with Helen, Annie decided to take her to Boston.  They didn't spend long there, but Helen soon became a celebrity.  Everyone was interested in Helen, who wouldn't be?

      During their long time of fame, Helen and Annie met a lot of neat, interesting people including a very nice young man named John Macy.  He worked for a magazine and was one of the greatest supporters Helen and Annie ever had.  When Helen grew up, John decided that he would ask Annie to marry him.  Annie at first wasn't sure because he was eleven years younger than her.  She finally said yes and they were married on May 2, 1905.  Annie was now thirty-nine and John was twenty-eight.

      The marriage only lasted eight years before John decided to sail to Europe.  It wasn't a divorce, but more of a separation.  Annie knew that she could count on him if she needed anything, so it wasn't like they hated each other, it just didn't work out.

      Annie and Helen spent the rest of their lives together touring the United States and parts of Canada, talking to people and doing presentations.  Annie off and on during these years, got sick.  Sometimes really bad and sometimes just little colds.  On October 19, 1936, it was different.  A couple of days before, Annie had seemed happy and was laughing and smiling just like her old self.  On that night though, she slipped into a coma and never woke up again.  She had quietly past away, but lived a good, long life of seventy years.  Helen was fifty-six.

      I really enjoyed reading this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes an interesting true story.  The book taught me a lot about the blind and deaf and how they cope with their unfortunate handicap.  It taught me that even though you might have a handicap nothing is impossible.  As long as you put your mind to it you can do anything.  Anyone who likes an inspirational novel would love this book.

A Biography of Henry Ford

A Biography of Henry Ford

        Henry Ford was an American industrialist, best known for his pioneering

achievements in the automobile industry.  From humble beginnings he was able to

create a company that would rank as one of the giants of American and World

industry long after his death.  There is no doubt that Henry Ford was a

successful business man.  The Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford's legacy, has left

its mark on every continent in the world.  However, Ford didn't gain his success

solely on his innovation in the automobile industry.  He was a friend to the

middle class public as well as the workers in his factories.  For this he was

rewarded with financial success by the same people he looked out for.  Moreover,

he repeatedly gave back to society through donations, philanthropic foundations,

and the creation of organizations that would help to educate and benefit the

people. Henry Ford was a man who gained world-wide business success through his

innovative ideas, brilliant management skills, and down-to-earth tactics.

        Henry Ford was born on a farm near Dearborn, Michigan, on July 30, 1863,

and educated in district schools. He became a machinist's apprentice in Detroit

at the age of 16. From 1888 to 1899 he was a mechanical engineer, and later

chief engineer, with the Edison Illuminating Company. In 1893, after

experimenting for several years in his leisure hours, he completed the

construction of his first gasoline engine.  His first automobile was completed

in 1896.  The body was a small crude wooden box, it had a single seat, a

steering tiller, bicycle wheels, and an electric bell on the front.  In 1903 he

founded the Ford Motor Company.

        At first, like his competitors, he made cars that only the wealthy could

afford.  But later he came to believe that every man, no matter what his income,

should own a car.  This resulted in the inexpensive "Model T" in 1908.  It

brought great financial success to his company.  The Model T was in production

until 1927 when it was discontinued in favor of a more up-to-date model.  While

in production the company sold over 15 million cars. In 1913 Ford began using

standardized interchangeable parts and assembly-line techniques in his plant.

Although Ford neither originated nor was the first to employ such practices, he

was chiefly responsible for their general adoption and for the consequent great

expansion of American industry and the raising of the American standard of

living. By early 1914 this innovation, although greatly increasing productivity,

had resulted in a monthly labor turnover of 40 to 60 percent in his factory,

largely because of the unpleasant monotony of assembly-line work and repeated

increases in the production quotas assigned to workers.  Ford met this

difficulty by doubling the daily wage then standard in the industry, raising it

from about $2.50 to $5. The net result was increased stability in his labor

force and a substantial reduction in operating costs.  These factors, coupled

with the enormous increase in output made possible by new technological methods,

led to an increase in company profits from $30 million in 1914 to $60 million in

1916.

        Ford believed that most of the profits should be used to increase the

size of the company's factories.  This was an unusual practice at the time. The

other stockholders wanted to split the profits among themselves in the form of

dividends. Ford  didn't like opposition in his company so he bought out all the

other stockholders in 1919.  Within the ensuing few years, however, Ford's

preeminence as the largest producer and seller of automobiles in the nation was

gradually lost to his competitors, largely because he was slow to adopt the

practice of introducing a new model of automobile each year, which had become

standard in the industry. During the 1930s Ford adopted the policy of the yearly

changeover, but his company was unable to regain the position it had formerly

held.

        In the period from 1937 to 1941, the Ford company became the only major

manufacturer of automobiles in the Detroit area that had not recognized any

labor union as the collective bargaining representative of employees. At

hearings before the National Labor Relations Board, Henry Ford was found guilty

of repeated violations of the National Labor Relations Act. The findings against

him were upheld on appeal to the federal courts. Ford was constrained to

negotiate a standard labor contract after a successful strike by the workers at

his main plant at River Rouge, Michigan, in April 1941.

        Early in 1941 Ford was granted government contracts whereby he was, at

first, to manufacture parts for bombers and, later, the entire airplane. He

thereupon launched the construction of a huge plant at Willow Run, Michigan,

where production was begun in May 1942.  It was said the plant could produce a

bomber an hour. Despite certain technical difficulties, by the end of World War

II (1945) this plant had manufactured more than 8000 B-24 Liberator Bombers and

other military planes.

        Ford was active in several other fields besides those of automobile and

airplane manufacturing.  He was nominated for the office of U.S. senator from

Michigan in 1918 but was defeated in the election. In the following year he

erected the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit at a cost of $7.5 million. He

established the Greenfield Village which is a group of American Historical

buildings and landmarks and he created the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn which

exhibits man's progress in many fields.  Also, he donated large amounts of money

to the philanthropic Ford Foundation which is currently one of the world's

largest.  In 1919 he became the publisher of the Dearborn Independent, a weekly

journal, which at first published anti-Semitic material. After considerable

public protest, Ford directed that publication of such articles be discontinued

and that a public apology be made to the Jewish people.

        Advancing age obliged Ford to retire from the active direction of his

gigantic enterprises in 1945. He died on April 7, 1947, in Dearborn, Michigan.

Ford left a personal fortune estimated at $500 to $700 million, bequeathing the

largest share of his holdings in the Ford Motor Company to the Ford Foundation.

Ford revolutionized American and consequently World industry with his pioneering

use of the assembly line production method.  He turned a small local car company

into one of the world's largest industrial companies.  Henry Ford was a great

businessman and a great human being.  He proved that success cannot simply be

attained with a good product.  He accomplished what many aspire to, but few

actually achieve.  He was able to combine his technological know-how, and

innovative ideas with brilliant managerial practices and respect for his workers

and customers.  Adding in his philanthropic tendencies, it is obvious that Henry

Ford is a perfect model of how to be successful in business and in life.

A biography of George Lucas

George Lucas is one of the most influential film makers in Hollywood history. He is also the guiding force behind Star Wars and its sequels. The Star Wars movies tell the story of the rebels Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo as they battle the evil imperial forces of Darth Vader. These films became some the most popular motion pictures in history.

Lucas was born in Modesto, California, and educated at Modesto Junior College and the University of Southern California, graduating from the university in 1966. His first love was auto-racing, but a near fatal accident forced him out of the sport and into film making. His career began with his prize-winning student film THX-1138, a science fiction story that he reworked as his feature-directing debut in 1971. The film was produced by American Zoetrope. In 1971, Lucas formed his own film company, Lucasfilm Ltd., in San Rafael, California. With the backing of American film producer Francis Ford Coppola, Lucas then made American Graffiti which returned $50 for every dollar spent on production and distribution, a staggering ration in the movie business. The film is considered one of the biggest successes of low-budget film making. It made George Lucas a millionaire before the age of thirty. It also launched the film careers of Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, and Harrison Ford. The film won the Golden globe, the New York Film Critics' and National Society of Film Critics' awards, and also won five Academy Award nominations and over grossed $145 million dollars. Lucas was now a major Hollywood director, and was given support for his next project because of it.

Lucas's next film, Star Wars, revolutionized the commercial film industry. Lucas wrote and directed the science-fiction adventure that almost every studio in Hollywood had turned down, Star Wars took popular culture by storm and redefined the nature of the movies. The film was a gigantic, unprecedented undertaking, and though he tried to maintain fath that it would be at least a modest success, he went through times of terrible doubt. Shooting took months of eighteen-hour days, with Lucas overseeing the tiniest details until, at one point, he was hospitalized for hypertension. Lucas thought that the film would bomb at the box office, but a friend called him and told him what a success it was. People got out of the movie, and then got in line again. Star Wars grossed over $400 million dollars on it's initial run alone. It also created a giant merchandise business. The stress of directing Star Wars led Lucas to hire Irvin Kershner to direct the sequel, The Empire Strikes Back. After Star Wars, Lucas retired from directing and instead focused on producing films and overseeing Industrial Light & Magic, a company he founded in 1975 to create special audio and visual effects for movies and television. He served as Exec. Producer for the Star Wars sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

In 1980, he was the executive producer of Raiders of the Lost Ark, directed by Steven Spielberg, which won five Academy Awards. He was also the co-executive producer and creator of the story for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The film, released in 1984, earned two Academy Award nominations and won an Oscar for its visual effects.

Lucas' next project was the adventure-fantasy film Willow. Based on an original story by Lucas, the film was directed by Ron Howard and executive-produced by Lucas. Willow was released in 1988 and received three Academy Award nominations.



Also in 1988, Lucas executive-produced Tucker: The Man and His Dream. The film, directed b Francis Coppola, got three Academy Award nominations. In the following year, Lucas served as executive-producer for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, earned an Oscar for Best Sound Design, and became the number one worldwide box office hit for 1989.

Lucas also created and produced films and series for television, including The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles series. In 1995, his novel Shadow Moon was published, intended as the first installment in a trilogy called Chronicles of the Shadow War. In 1996, he formed Lucas Learning Ltd., a multimedia publishing company focusing on releasing education CD-ROM's.

In 1997, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi were rereleased. The new versions featured new, digitally enhanced special effects and new scenes that had proved too difficult to include in the original releases. In 1999, Lucas released Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, the prequel to the Star Wars movies. The Phantom Menace tells the story of Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker's father.

Lucasfilm, has today evolved into five Lucas companies. The Lucas group of companies include Lucasfilm Ltd., LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC, Lucas Digital Ltd. LLC, Lucas Licensing Ltd. and Lucas Learning Ltd. Lucasfilm includes all of Lucas' feature film and televison productions as well as the business activities of the THX group which is dedicated to ensuring excellent film presentation quality in theaters and homes through a series of specialized services.

Lucas is living proof that a film maker can grab a large audience with life-affirming material. In 1992, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave Lucas the Irving G. Thalberg Award for maintaining an exceptionally high standard of film making. "I've always tried to be aware of what I say in my films," he said in his acceptance speech, "because all of us who make motion pictures are teachers; teachers with very loud voices."

A Biographical Report on Thomas Fitzsimons

A Biographical Report on

Thomas Fitzsimons

      Thomas Fitzsimons, or Fitzsimmons as his last name was

sometimes spelled, was born during 1741 and died on August 26, 1811.

Originally from Ireland, as young man he immigrated to Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania to start a career as a merchant.  On November 23, 1761,

he married Catharine Meade.  A few months later, with his brother-in-

law, he formed an extensive mercantile and commercial business which

traded chiefly with the West India Islands.  In 1782 Fitzsimons was

elected to the congress created by the Articles of Confederation.

      In 1787, Fitzsimons served as a member to the Constitutional

Convention, where he took an active role.  While there he argued for a

strong national government, stiff restrictions on voting qualifications

and office-holding, against slavery, giving Congress the power to tax

imports and exports, and granting the House of Representatives and

the Senate equal power in making treaties.  He was elected, in 1789, to

the first national House of Representatives for the state of

Pennsylvania.  Fitzsimons is counted among the ranks of Alexander

Hamilton's Federalists.  Fitzsimons was a congress man until his defeat in

1794, after which he returned to private life.