Trivia: A Few More Fun Facts About Famous Freemasons

Everyone seemed to enjoy the last trivia post, so here's a few more fun facts about famous Freemasons.

Burl Ives

-Burl Ives was once jailed in Utah for vagrancy, and for singing a lewd song while entertaining a group on a public street with his banjo.  He later recorded the song "Foggy Foggy Dew" and it became one of his most popular songs. 

Douglas MacArthur

-Douglas MacArthur's mother was known to be somewhat overprotective of him.  When he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1898, his mother accompanied him.  She stayed in a hotel so close to her son that she could check on him with her telescope to make sure he was studying in his room as he should be.

Roy Rogers

-During the depression, Roy Rogers (then Leonard Slyes) and his father found themselves among the economic refugees who traveled from job to job, picking fruit and living in worker campsites--some of the the same campsites John Steinbeck described in his famous novel The Grapes of Wrath.

Harry Houdini

-As a boy, Harry Houdini had a natural aptitude for locks.  He used to unlock and relock all the cabinets in his family's home with a buttonhook.  In fact, he was later somewhat notorious as the little boy who had unlocked all doors of the shops in his hometown one evening.

Colonel Harlan Sanders

-Before he became famous for his eleven herbs and spices, Colonel Sanders had worked as a soldier, a streetcar conductor, a lawyer, and a gas station owner.  He learned to cook at a young age out of necessity.  He took care of his brothers and sisters while his mother worked in a canning factory.

If you enjoyed these, there are a few more here.  And of course these and many more stories and interesting facts about famous Freemasons can be found in my Famous American Freemasons series.

~TEC

Trivia: A Few Fun Facts About Famous Freemasons

Here's a few interesting facts you may not know about famous Freemasons: 

General George Washington

-Although George Washington seemed reluctant to accept the commission as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, he had done very little to try and stop the nomination, and had taken to wearing his buff and blue military uniform every day when the Second Continental Congress met.

John Philips Sousa

-As a boy, John Philips Sousa accompanied his father to Gettysburg with the Marine Marching Band, where he witnessed Abraham Lincoln give his famous speech. He would later grow up to conduct that same band, and would spend his life writing patriotic marches.

Roy Rogers & Trigger

-Roy Roger's famous horse Trigger had a job even before he met Roy.  He was horse ridden by Olivia de Haviland in the Errol Flynn classic film Robin Hood.  Back then, Trigger's name was "Golden Cloud."

Harry S Truman

-Harry S Truman cheated on his eye exam in order to qualify for military service. He once joked that his weak eyesight had always been a problem, in fact, he was unable to play baseball as a boy until his teammates found him a job he could do that didn't require good vision--umpire.

John Wayne

-John Wayne's nickname "Duke" came from his boyhood when he used to run around around town with the family dog--a giant Airedale.  The local firemen used to call the two "Big Duke" (the dog) and "Little Duke" (the boy).

Now wasn't that interesting?

~TEC

If you enjoyed these, many more little known facts about famous Freemasons can be found in Famous American Freemasons: Volumes I & II