From the Mayfield Monitor, Saturday, April 23, 1881:  “Mrs. Ann Eliza Young, the 19th wife of Brigham Young, will lecture in Mayfield about the 12th of May.” What would the wife of Brigham Young be doing on the lecture circuit and why come to Mayfield? Ann Eliza went on the lecture circuit speaking out against polygamy, Mormonism, and Brigham Young after her divorce from Young and excommunication from the Latter Day Saints Church.  The divorce and excommunication make her an instant celebrity. Born September 12, 1844 in Nauvoo, Illinois, Ann Eliza, at 4 years of age, went to Salt Lake…

Elementary school children know that Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas in 1492,  but not when the day to celebrate this event was set aside, thus giving them a holiday from school.  A day to commemorate this event wasn’t made a U.S. national holiday until 1937 after intense lobbying by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal benefits organization.  In 1971, the celebratory day was set as the second Monday in October.  This day is also celebrated in Spain, the Bahamas, Costa Rica and other areas of the Americas under similar names and in Canada the U.S. holiday falls on the…