Joel R Poinsett

Daily Pic (National Poinsettia Day)

Wild Wonders of Europe/Radisics/Minden Pictures

The story of the poinsettia

The winter holidays are the poinsettia’s time to shine. Today, National Poinsettia Day, marks the anniversary of the death of Joel Roberts Poinsett, the physician and botanist who first introduced the colorful plant to the United States in the late 1820s. He discovered the plant while he was serving as the first US ambassador to Mexico, the plant’s native country, where Aztecs once used it to produce red dye. According to legend, the poinsettia’s association with Christmas began in 16th-century Mexico, where a little girl—too poor to buy a gift—gathered weeds from the roadside and placed them in front of a church altar. They eventually produced lovely red leaves alongside the green ones, and the poinsettia plant was on its way to becoming a Christmas tradition.

Daily Pic 12/12/17

© Flavia Morlachetti/Moment/Getty Images

Gnomes at a Christmas market in Pergine Valsugana, Italy



Today in History 12/12 (Joel Roberts Poinsett)

Joel Roberts Poinsett (Courtesy of Wikipedia)(1851) Politician and diplomat Joel Poinsett dies
Joel Poinsett, who had served in the US House of Representatives and as Minister to Mexico, dies of tuberculosis. Poinsett had seen the Flor de Nochebuena, or Christmas Eve flower, in Mexico and sent samples of the plant back to the US—where it would become known as the poinsettia.
Joel Roberts Poinsett was an American physician and diplomat. He was the first U.S. agent in South America, a member of the South Carolina legislature and the United States House of Representatives, the first United States Minister to Mexico, a Unionist leader in South Carolina during the Nullification Crisis, Secretary of War under Martin Van Buren, and a co-founder of the National Institute for the Promotion of Science and the Useful Arts.
Lived: Mar 02, 1779 – Dec 12, 1851 (age 72)
Party: Democratic Party
Spouse: Mary Izard Pringle
Education: University of Edinburgh · Royal Military Academy, Woolwich
Children: William Allston Pringle (Son) · Edward J. Pringle (Son)
Parents: Dr. Elisha Poinsett (Father) · Katherine Ann Poinsett (Mother)
Highlights
  • 1800: In 1800 Poinsett returned to Charleston hoping to pursue a military career.

  • 1807: In January, 1807, Czar Alexander and Poinsett dined at the Palace.

  • 1816: In July 1816, Poinsett traveled to New York to meet Carrera.

  • 1818: After being re-elected to the South Carolina House in 1818, he became a member of the Committee on Internal Improvements and Waterways.

  • 1828: On 12 January 1828, in Mexico City, Poinsett signed the first treaty between the United States and Mexico, the Treaty of Limits, a treaty that recognized the U.S.-Mexico border established by the 1819 Adams–Onís Treaty between Spain and the U.S.

  • 1851: He died of tuberculosis, hastened by an attack of pneumonia, in Stateburg, South Carolina, in 1851, and is buried at the Church of the Holy Cross Episcopal Cemetery.

Joel Roberts Poinsett, Secretary of War
TITLE: Joel Roberts Poinsett, Secretary of War CALL NUMBER: PGA – Fenderich, no. 182 (B size) [P&P] REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZ62-23834 (b&w film copy neg.) RIGHTS INFORMATION: No known restrictions on publication. MEDIUM: 1 print. CREATED/PUBLISHED: [no date recorded on shelflist card]
wiki/Joel_Roberts_Poinsett
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(1851) Politician and diplomat Joel Poinsett dies.
Also on this day,

1925 | World’s first motel opens in San Luis Obispo, California
Arthur Heineman opens the Motel Inn in a town midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. As people began driving longer distances, Heineman sought to offer travelers a spot for the night beyond camping. Now, they could drive up to his “motor hotel” or “motel” and sleep in comfort.
1980 | Armand Hammer buys Da Vinci notebook for $5 million
At an auction in London, the oil tycoon outbids the room for a Leonardo da Vinci notebook, from around 1508, that contains notes and drawings about water and its properties. In 1994, the notebook will be on the block again, but this time it’ll go for $30.8 million.
2003 | Keiko, the orca star of ‘Free Willy,’ dies in Norwegian fjord
After a $20 million project to reintroduce him to the wild, Keiko succumbs to pneumonia off the coast of Norway. In captivity since he was a pup, Keiko never reintegrated with wild orca pods and continued to seek out human contact during his year and a half in the open ocean.

Today in History 12/12/17

This photo from 1942, provided by Boys Town, shows Boys Town founder Father Edward Flanagan, center, being surrounded by his charges (© Boys Town/AP)(1917) Father Edward Flanagan establishes Boys Town near Omaha
The 31-year-old Irish priest opens the doors to a Victorian mansion as a home for troubled boys. He starts out with just six kids, but numbers will quickly grow. Thanks to help from local citizens, Flanagan will move the home to a large facility outside of Omaha to serve more children.
Boys Town, formerly Girls and Boys Town and Father Flanagan's Boys' Home, is a non-profit organization dedicated to caring for its children and families, with national headquarters in the village of Boys Town, Nebraska. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated as a National Historic Landmark on February 4, 1985.
Founder: Edward J. Flanagan
Address: 14100 Crawford Street, Boys Town, NE 68010
Phone: (402) 498-1141
Opened: 1917
Tax ID: 47-0376606
CEO: Steven E. Boes (Since 2005)

Boys Town NFS
Nebraska Family Services building in "Boys Town", Nebraska, just outside Omaha. AKA Father Flanagan's Boys' Home , W. Dodge Rd., Boys Town, Nebraska. This is the general place that the movieBoys Town was based on. A National Registered Historic Place and National Historic Landmark.

wiki/Boys_Town_(organization)
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