Stuff You Missed in History Class

Well, On Granny’s Trail just topped 16,000 views, so to celebrate this random achievement, I decided to share a fun podcast with you from Stuff You Missed in History Class that will help you learn a little more about the Western States. Stuff You Missed in History Class researched the true story and presented their findings in this podcast.

The Baron of Arizona, starring Vincent Price and Ellen Dres — The Baron of Arizona, starring Vincent Price and Ellen Drew (This is the movie version, not the podcast)

It’s called “The Peralta Grant and the Baron of Arizona,” and is quite entertaining. It’s about a determined would-be swindler and how he nearly acquired an enormous portion of Arizona for himself. Genealogists will be interested in his creative forgery and the prodigious amount of “proof” he produced to claim his grant.

And to think my ancestors might have ended up with this guy (James Addison Reaves, not Vincent Price) as their landlord!

You can also check out the link to the blog post about this podcast for a few more resources on the topic.

Enjoy the podcast, and thanks for following On Granny’s Trail!

I am happy to share my newest discovery with you…the “Stuff You Missed in History Class” podcast.

It is soooo fun and interesting you simply must check it out! I only happened across it yesterday and already have listened to “5 Historical Hoaxes”, “Ned Kelly’s Last Stand”, “Okichi the Tragic Geisha”, and “The Big Stink of 1858”. There are so many more I can hardly wait to listen to. Good thing I spend so much time in my car!

Each episode explores a fascinating story from history, researched by hosts Katie and Sarah. I appreciate their scholarly approach to historical research, and I also appreciate their wit and their “Get a load of this!” delivery. I have learned a lot of interesting history in the process, because they talk about these stories in context of the bigger historical picture.

If you are wondering what a podcast is, it is a kind of broadcast over the internet that you can download and listen to at your convenience. You can subscribe to a particular podcast and have episodes delivered to your listening device (phone, ipad, computer) automatically. Then when you are on the treadmill and are tired of watching Dr. Oz at the gym, just plug some headphones into your phone and there you go, A History of Underwear!

Here are some tips for podcast fans from iTunes. iTunes has a lot of podcasts available for free download, and you can find them for searching key words, like “Genealogy”. Be sure to spell it right!