The "Fred Dent Grant" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Looking through the myriad of notes and articles that I have accumulated over the past year or so that may have given me a good story to share with you.  One such article, which I only added to my collection a week or so ago, was titled "2 more tales that you will not read anywhere else."  Article was written by Jack Brubaker, aka "THE SCRIBBLER" who writes for the LNP Lancaster Online daily newspaper.  Jack's column/stories are always entertaining, but still are factual...usually!  The story I re-read for my story today featured two short tales that are known as "Frederick Dent Grant" tales.  Seems that Frederick was the first-born son of the 18th President of the United States who left the 7th Cavalry just before George A. Custer marched with his regiment to annihilation at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.  This little bit of unusual historical knowledge was shared by Jack with his history major friends at Franklin & Marshal College when he was a sophomore.  From that point forward, all mildly interesting or trivial historical tidbits became known by Jack's friends and classmates as "Fred Dent Grant" stories or moments.  "THE SCRIBBLER" column I had just read featured two of those such stories.  Are you ready?  The first features a young black woman by the name of Keziah Wolrich who was the first housekeeper for U.S. Rep. Thaddeus Stevens.  She had married Ephraim Wolrich who was a slave, whose freedom was purchased by Stevens who in turn made him an indentured servant.   Stevens grew dissatisfied with his work and sent him packing which saddened Keziah who in turn tried unsuccessfully to commit suicide.  But, wait...that's not the end of the story.  Keziah and one of her two children, as well as her estranged husband all died of consumption in 1837.  Twenty years later her surviving child asked Stevens to help him go to New York to get a job on the steamship "Central America."  On the ship's return trip to New York, the ship, loaded with thousands of pounds of gold, sunk off the coast of South Carolina and all on the ship drowned.  That ship was finally discovered in 1988 and now, after a legal battle, the gold can be purchased on the internet at inflated prices!  Great story, Jack.  I can see why your college buddies called this a "Fred Dent Grant" tale.  Now, the second "Fred Dent Grant" tale came about due to an item in the most recent Baer's Almanac which happened to be edited by Linda L. Weidman who happened to be the daughter of Gerald Lestz who at one time was the writer of "THE SCRIBBLER" column.  Yep! The same column that Jack Brubaker now writes!  Seems like Weidman collects interesting stories to supplement her weather forecasts, gardening ideas, folklore and other stuff in the nearly two-century-old almanac.  The almanac states that Hannibal Hamlin, Abe Lincoln's first Vice President, died in Bangor, Maine during a card game in 1891.  And, to top all of that...Hamlin was also playing cards in his Washington hotel room when he learned he had won the vice presidential nomination in 1860.  "I neither expected it or deserved it," the US Senator wrote to his wife.  Seems that the Senator was very irritated when the news arrived, since it ruined the only good hand he had that evening.  Well, how can you top those two "Fred Dent Grant" stories?  I'm not even going to try, Jack!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.