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Tweens in history: Fourth of July heroes
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The Father of our Country--George Washington
Great people were once tweens. For America's birthday, here's a little information about George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Paul Revere.
George Washington--- Born on February 22, 1732, George Washington grew up with nine brothers and sisters. When George was three years old, his family moved to a large plantation that grew tobacco. This plantation was later called "Mount Vernon". George only played with his brothers and sisters because they did not have any close neighbors. When George was seven, his father decided to move. George started going to school in Fredericksburg and helped manage the plantation. When George was eleven, his father passed away and his older brother, Lawrence, became head of the household. At age 14,George joined the British Royal Navy. At age 15, he studied to be a surveyor.
When the “Father of our Country” was a tween, he read and studied geography, military, history, agriculture and deportment subjects. He liked spending his extra time doing land surveys and simple mathematics when he wasn’t riding his horse.
Thomas Jefferson----Born on 13 April 1743 in Virginia, Thomas Jefferson was the third of eight children of Peter Jefferson and Jane Randolph. His father, who was of Welsh descent, was a ship’s captain and worked as a planter for sometime. In 1745, his family moved to Tuckahoe and lived there for seven years before they returned to their home in Albemarle after his father was appointer to the colonelcy of the county. Jefferson’s education began in 1752 from a school run by William Douglas, who was a Scottish minister. From the time he was nine, Jefferson became an avid learner of Greek, French and Latin. Thomas Jefferson’s father died in 1757, making his son an heir to his huge land assets and a number of slaves.
Ben Franklin----Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706. He had nine brothers and seven sisters. Even as a boy, Ben Franklin loved to read. Once, he read a book about swimming and quickly taught himself the basic swimming strokes. He built himself wooden paddles for his hands and feet to help him swim faster. He used a kite in the breeze to pull him along, making it easier to swim. Later, he read a book about eating meat and decided to try being a vegetarian. He figured it was healthier, but also that he could save money. He also liked to write. However, no one was interested in what a young boy had to say. So he wrote secretly, using the name Silence Dogood, and slipped his stories under the door of his brother's print shop. His brother published the stories in his newspaper and everyone loved to read them. Later, when James found out who Silence Dogood really was, he was angry with Ben and their relationship was never the same.
Paul Revere-----Excerpted from a review on Jean Fritz’s book, “And then What Happened, Paul Revere? We learn that he was a very busy lad, always working on something. Once he made a collar for a man's pet squirrel. Paul Revere would run and ring the church bells during crisis periods. In 1756 he joined the war to protect Forst William Henry at Lake George. Ended up that he was not needed so he sat with his gun under a tree. He married and had 8 children but 2 died as babies. Then his wife died and he remarried to have 8 more children but 3 died young.
Paul Revere did many things to make money including making silver things but eventually became a dentist. The book talks about mistakes he made so he was not perfect. His handwriting was known to not be neat and once he built part of someone's barn on someone else's land. Paul Revere was one of the group who dumped the tea into the Boston Harbor. Then he set out to let everyone know, riding his horse a long distance to spread the news. This started his rides delivering messages and being a secret agent. Of course he is the one who put the two lanterns in the church window for a sign to alert people that the English were coming by water. We learn of all of his mistakes and how it turned out in the end.
Happy Birthday America!
For more info: Visit the History Channel and your local Library.
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