Margaretta Energy (Gerdes) Larsen (1877 - 1922)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Margaretta's lifetime.

In 1877, in the year that Margaretta Energy (Gerdes) Larsen was born, on November 21st, Thomas Edison announced his new invention - the phonograph. Recording sound was considered to be Edison's first great invention. On November 29th, he demonstrated the phonograph for the public.

In 1887, by the time she was just 10 years old, on January 20th, the US Senate gave the US Navy the right to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base. Pearl Harbor is on the island of Oahu, a part of the Hawaiian Islands. The Navy was given direction to maintain "a coaling and repair station" at the harbor.

In 1903, at the age of 26 years old, Margaretta was alive when two brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright, flew the first powered heavier-than-air plane. They flew 4 times in one day - the longest flight lasting 59 seconds and a little over 852 feet. While the brothers had notified several newspapers of their attempt, only one - a local paper - covered it. After their 4th flight, a gust of wind caught the plane, turned it over, and totaled it.

In 1918, Margaretta was 41 years old when federal spending was $12.68 billion, unemployment was 1.4% and the cost of a first-class stamp was 3 cents.

In 1922, in the year of Margaretta Energy (Gerdes) Larsen's passing, on June 22, coal miners in Herrin Illinois, were on strike (coal miners had been on strike nationally since April 1). The striking miners were outraged at the strikebreakers (scabs) that the company had brought in and laid siege to the mine. Three union workers were killed when gunfire was exchanged. The next day, union miners killed 23 strikebreakers and mine guards. No one, on either side, ever faced jail time.