This page is a work in progress which will encompass my radio interests as well as my interests in history, genealogy, and human behavior. My interest in radio began when I received BATMAN (TM) walkie talkies as a Christmas gift in 1965. As it turns out, radio is a kind of family affair since my grandfather was a licensed amateur operator, his father was licensed, and my wife is licensed as well. I earned a Bachelor's degree with an emphasis in Sociology, and a Graduate degree in Counseling and Consulting Psychology, conferred by a well known New England University. My private practice is in Educational Consulting. More on that later.

During WWII he was a member of the Rubber Development Corporation . The RDC was one of eight corporations under the management of the War Office, tasked with ensuring that the US had enough raw materials to win the war. RDC's job was to maximize rubber production for the war effort. "With Japan occupying prime rubber producing areas in Southeast Asia, the US feared it would run out of the vital material. Every tire, hose, seal, valve, and inch of wiring required rubber. The Rubber Development Corporation, the chief overseer of rubber acquisition, sought out other sources including establishing a rubber program that sent intrepid explorers into the Amazon seeking rubber specimen that would be used to produce high yields, superior product, and possibility of resistance against leaf blight. The ultimate goal of the program was to establish rubber plantations close to home."[early aviators.com]

The Brazilian jungle in the 40's was not a particularly safe place. "Some of the guys died of malaria, yellow fever, beriberi and hepatitis, but others were killed by snakes, stingrays or even panthers," recalled Lupércio Freire Maia, 86. "They didn't have the proper medicines for diseases or snakebites there in the camps, so when someone died, you buried him right there next to the hut and kept right on working." The Amazon river basin was inhabited by hostile tribes. Mosquito borne illnesses were rampant, fresh water was scarce, and runways were nothing more than dirt paths in the middle of the jungle. Maps of the Amazon river basin were non-existant. Between 1942 and 1946, up to 20,000 native tree tappers did not return from the jungle alive. After World War Two, my grandfather left RDC and continued his career in radio as a Senior Engineer at Western Electric until his retirement.

My grandfather was not only an engineer, but he was also a radio operator with an interest in agriculture. His family (Williams, Ashford, Bennett, Alston) had been planting crops on thousands of acres in North and South Carolina for over 200 years by the time WWII began. His (my) uncle Hugh Hammond Bennett (April 15, 1881–July 7, 1960), is known as the father of soil conservation in the United States. H.H. Bennett was the first Chief of the Soil Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. He is buried in Arlington Cemetary.

My mother is the product of a marriage between the North and South as it were. My grandmother often told me tales about the cultural differences between her husband's romantic debutante sisters and herself, a child of hard headed Yankee pioneers. When my mother visited her grandparents in Massachusetts, she had such a thick southern accent, she was immediately dubbed "Dixie Lee" by her northern relations.

Another interesting family figure in my southern family heritage is my Great Grandmother's brother, Colonel Risden Tyler Bennett. He fought at Sharpsburg (Antietem) and Gettysburg and in several other famous battles. His horse was shot out from under him three times, he was wounded once, and at Gettysburg he was taken as a prisoner of war and housed in Delaware. After the war and his release, he returned home to North Carolina and the practice of law. He was an author and his memoirs were widely published. He was elected to the North Carolina Congress twice. If interested, you can read his Congressional Biography here. Years later, Brigadier General William R. Cox wrote: He "was of imposing presence, strong individuality, and an able commander. His voice was clear and sonorous and there was no mistaking or disobeying his commands." Civil war buffs will enjoy Colonel Bennett's Official Report, titled, Report of December 6, 1862 for Anderson's (NC) Brigade.

Beginning in the year 1630, the Winthrop Fleet consisting of seventeen ships in all, but not sailing all together, brought at least one thousand passengers from England and possibly as many as 1,500. My uncle Robert Feake, Gentleman, a goldsmith from London was among the passengers. John Winthrop, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, was the son of Adam Winthrop, son of Adam, (my wife's grandfather) Lord of Groton Manor. John Winthrop was educated at Cambridge University and Grey's Inn law school. His father Adam was called to the outer bar of the Inner Temple following a recommendation to the benchers from Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester. He was one of the signatories of a declaration of loyalty to the protestant Queen Elizabeth I, signed by the barristers of the Inner Temple in 1585. John Winthrop's reputation for integrity won his appointment by the London Company as commander of the settlement fleet of 1630. He was a Puritan Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1630 through May 1634. He was elected to eight other annual terms until his death in 1649. Winthrop House, located on the campus of Harvard University is one of seven original houses on the campus.

The earlier colony in Plymouth was composed of those people who had fled England for Holland. The Mayflower travelers left Holland, founding Plymouth in 1621. The much larger exodus from the London area in 1630 was known as the Great Migration. These people were friendly with the Plymouth colonists, but they settled the area around Boston, and since Boston contained a deep water harbor, the area became the center of trade in the region. The people who funded the migration were known as the The Adventurers. They founded the Massachusetts Bay Company which settled the area around Boston. Among the Adventurers were my ancestors. Abraham Palmer is listed as an Adventurer who took the oath of Freemen in October 1630. Generally speaking, the Adventurers were successful London businessmen, or landed gentry from the Counties of the eastern coast or the southwest of England. The Freemen were the only colonists who were franchised to vote. The franchise was not offered to all. The oath of a free man was taken very seriously, and anyone violating the oath was asked to leave the colony, which, in those days could mean a quick death at the hands of hostile tribes, or the slow death of starvation! The Freemen had the responsibility of electing the Governor and his Assistants, as well as defending the colony. Often they gave money to the company in order to ensure its survival from year to year. The oath and the requirements pertaining thereto, administered in the Boston court of the session of October 19, 1630, was nothing less than the birth of democracy on the American continent.

My 10th great grandfather, Lieutenant William Palmer, was born in London, England. He and his wife, Judith Feake severed their ties with England when they sold their house on Lombard Street in London in 1639. According to the History of Old Yarmouth (Harvard Library) he was in Scituate, Massachusetts in 1633, in Yarmouth in 1638, commissioned an Ensign in 1638 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. He was appointed by the court to survey the area that became known as Yarmouth (on Cape Cod) in 1639 and to "divide the lands among each man according to his estate and quality." In 1639 he was also appointed by the Court "to exercise the inhabits in the use of arms." It's interesting to note that the population of Yarmouth in 1640 included 16 men who were freemen, and therefore allowed to vote, but there were a total of 50 men on the rolls of those in the militia. William Palmer was on both lists, but complete Democracy was as yet forestalled in Massachusetts. My grandfather fought in several campaigns, and in September, 1642, he was promoted to Lieutenant under Captain Miles Standish. He was made a Deputy to the Court in 1642, 1643, and 1644. He raised a large family. He was one of the original purchasers of Dartmouth (what later became Bedford, MA) in 1652. The Palmer Island Light Station on Palmer Island in Bedford Harbor is named after him. He became a Magistrate in Newtown, Long Island, New York in 1656, and he died in 1661. William's wife Judith moved to Greenwich Connecticut with their 7 children after Judith's aunt Elizabeth Fones Winthrop Feake (niece of the Governor of Massachusetts and cousin of the Governor of Connecticut) purchased Greenwich Connecticut and parts of Oyster Bay, Long Island. See Greenwich Point and click on "history of the point" for more information. Greenwich Point, is now a well-preserved 150 acre park. It was originally called Elizabeth's Neck, and was known as my Aunt Elizabeth's "peticuler perchase" as it was listed in the deed. My grandmother married Jeffrey Ferris following the death of my grandfather. Later, Elizabeth's Neck was renamed Tod's Point after a wealthy industrialist purchased it from the Ferris family in 1730.

My grandmother Judith's brother (my uncle) Tobias Feake was the schout (sheriff) in Vlyssing, New York, at that point, still owned by the Dutch. When the Dutch Governor Stuyvesant commanded that the inhabits of Vlyssing "should not receive or entertain any of those people called Quakers" my uncle Tobias joined with other community leaders and together they created what became known as the Vlyssing Remonstrance. Edward Hart, clerk of the town wrote the document. Tobias Feake was the first co-signer. He also delivered the Remonstrance to Governor Stuyvesant, for which offense he was imprisoned and put on hard rations. The Remonstrance ends thus: "we cannot in conscience lay violent hands upon them, but give them free egresse and regresse unto our Town, and houses, as God shall persuade our consciences, for we are bounde by the law of God and man to doe good unto all men and evil to noe man. Written this 27th of December in the year 1657." The Vlyssing Remonstrance is known as the earliest document advocating freedom of worship in the new world.

The Palmer family remained in Greenwich, Connecticut until David Palmer sold his land and purchased 50 acres in Stockbridge Massachusetts in 1739. When David Palmer moved north to Stockbridge, MA, with his wife Lydia Reynolds and their family, Stockbridge was known as "Indian Town." It was the home of a mission that was established to educate the Mahican tribe in 1734 by John Sergeant. The mission was sponsored by Yale College and it produced a community of equality and peace between natives and settlers that lasted 30 years. Eventually, the Mahican were pushed out of the area to the Oneida settlement in upstate New York and then to Wisconsin. The tribe is known today as the Stockbridge Indians.

As war with England approached, the Mahican sent wampum belts to other tribes advising neutrality. However, after a meeting with the Patriots at Boston in April, 1774, Mahican Captain Hendrick Aupamut changed his mind and decided to throw in with the rebels. The Wappinger tribe followed suit. The Stockbridge were one of the few tribes to support the American cause during the war. They participated in the siege of Boston and fought at Bunker Hill that June; saw service at White Plains in 1776; served as scouts for the army of Horatio Gates at Saratoga and fought as a company-sized unit at the Battle of Bennington in 1777; and were at Barren Hill in 1778. For their service, the Stockbridge received a land grant in Vermont (later sold). Unfortunately, the Stockbridge also paid a terrible price for their patriotism ...the war cost them almost half of their adult male population.

My grandfather, Reverend Nathan Mason and his wife Experience Lewis left Swansea Massachusetts in 1763. They landed at Slack's Cove, near the Bay of Fundy, then in Nova Scotia, now in New Brunswick, Canada. They and 13 parishioners founded the first Baptist Church in Canada. It was located in Sackville, NB. Prior to the outbreak of the American Revolution, Canada invited New Englanders to settle in Canada in order to supplant what was called "the French menace" and to represent the British commonwealth. In the years immediately preceding the war, the sympathies of the new settlers lay mostly with the American Colonies. Some went back to the Colonies to help the war effort, and a few actually stayed in Canada (like Colonel Eddy) attacking Canadian forts when war broke out.

"The capture of Quebec, in 1759, marks the beginning of Protestant conquest in Canada. It was in 1763 that the first real foothold was gained in Canada by the Baptists. Members of the Second Church in Swansea, Mass., and of two or three neighboring churches, to the number of thirteen, constituted a Baptist church, chose the Rev. Nathan Mason as their pastor, and emigrated in a body to Sackville, then in Nova Scotia, but since 1784 in the province of New Brunswick. They remained for eight years, during which time their numbers had increased to sixty." Some of my Canadian ancestors remained, and some of them live in Canada today. One of my mother's Canadian cousins was Brigadier General Kenneth Stuart, DSO, MC. My grandfather retained his lands (750 acres) in Canada, but led his congregation to the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts where he and his sons fought in the Battle of Bennington with Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys.

Hezekiah Mason, also my grandfather and a descendent of Reverend Nathan Mason, was a selectman from Massachusetts who was present at the inauguration of President Thomas Jefferson in 1802. The townspeople were so happy to have Jefferon as their President that they decided to make a mammoth (1,200 pound) cheese to offer as a gift at the President's inauguration celebration. It was offered somewhat tongue-in-cheek, as a way to offset what the townspeople thought of the oppressive stuffiness of the Anglican contingent from Boston. Reverend Leland, the town's Baptist Minister and successor to Nathan Mason, delivered the gift along with Daniel Brown and Hezekiah Mason, Selectmen of the town. The giant fromage was accompanied by a speech praising Jefferson, investing him with a mandate from God to end discrimination and indicating that the cheese had been wrought by the labors of freeborn men and women (they were abolitionists) and not a single slave. "Jefferson decided to deliver his written reply to the message as a speech, making appropriate pronoun changes as he went. Declining to accept the messianic mantle offered by Leland, Jefferson praised the Cheshireites for their constitutional theory and pronounced himself particularly grateful for the nature of the gift, a "mark of esteem from freeborn farmers, employed personally in the useful labors of life" who expressed themselves through the medium of the goods that they produced. In 1963, my great grandfather Palmer presented the Berkshire Historical Society with the giant wooden screw to the press which was used to create the cheese.

[Washington Federalist, 2 Jan. 1802; Boston Mercury and New-England Palladium, 12, 15, 22 Jan. 1802; New York Evening Post, 7 Jan. 1802; Thomas Jefferson to Daniel Brown, Hezekiah Mason, et al, 1 Jan. 1802, Jefferson]

Hal enlisted, was trained in the Special Forces, and came out of Viet Nam as a Major -- and a hero. In a very unpopular war, Hal managed to serve with distinction and honor.

PALMER, HAROLD THOMPSON, JR.

Sergeant, U.S. Army

Detachment A-253, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces

Date of Action: April 12, 1966

Citation:

The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Harold T. Palmer, Jr., Sergeant, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam, while serving with Detachment A-253, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces. On 12 April 1966, Sergeant Palmer was serving as an Advisor to a Civilian Irregular Defense Group on a reconnaissance patrol operating in the Ia Drang Valley, Republic of Vietnam. As the patrol screened their assigned area, they came under intense hostile automatic weapons fire directed by a well-fortified Viet Cong force wounding the patrol's two point men and halting their progress. After hastily organizing the evacuation of the wounded, Sergeant Palmer led the patrol in an assault which routed the insurgents from their concealed positions. As the friendly forces pursued the Viet Cong, they came upon a well-positioned insurgent force. With complete disregard for his own personal safety, Sergeant Palmer exposed himself to intense automatic fire and single-handedly attacked and destroyed two Viet Cong machine gun positions. Sergeant Palmer radioed for air support when the Viet Cong began to move reinforcing infantry to the flanks of the patrol and courageously adjusted the 20-mm. cannon fire to within five meters of his position. As the insurgents pressed their attack, Sergeant Palmer skillfully regrouped the patrol, organized a withdrawal through the undergrowth and, upon reaching a suitable landing zone, immediately radioed for helicopters which evacuated twenty-five of the original thirty-man patrol. Sergeant Palmer's extraordinary heroism and gallantry in actions are in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Army and reflect great credit upon himself and the military service. HQ US Army, Pacific, General Orders No. 194 (August 19, 1966)

The entire history of the Palmer family can be found in Palmer Families in America, compiled by Horace Wilbur Palmer; edited by Nellie Morse Palmer (Mrs. Horace Wilbur Palmer). Neshanic, N.J.: Neshanic Printing, 1966-1973. Interestingly, along with the screw from the 1,200 pound Cheese presnted to Thomas Jefferson, my great grandfather Earl Bacon Palmer gave a piece of the original transatlantic cable to the Berkshire Historical Society in 1963. The museum is located in Moby Dick author, Herman Melville's home 'Arrowhead.' It is said that Melville envisioned the great white whale while looking northward to the 3,000 foot tall Mt. Greylock in the middle of winter. Grandfather Palmer's cousin, Clara Morse, always dressed in black and clutching a black parasol, often came to my grandfather's house for tea after church. They attended the same Episcopal church in which I was baptized. Clara Morse died in 1975. She was the grand daughter of Samuel F.B. Morse, inventor of Morse Code.

Until I was 30 years old I lived in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts not far from where my grandfather David Palmer lived in Stockbridge. My fondest childhood memories are those of living on a 300 acre farm, surrounded by cattle, pasture, mountains, and lots of trees. The population of the town hovered around 500 with perhaps 200 families living in a typical New England village, consisting of a Congregational church, a school, and a main street lined with wooden houses, all painted white, which were built in the 1700's. We lived on a mountain farm above the village. The nearest boys my age lived on a farm about 3 miles away. Our television received 3 channels. I was outdoors most of the time. For entertainment I walked in the woods, fished, swam, and at night I read books from great grandfather's library. Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur, Milton's Paradise Lost, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales -- he didn't own anything we might call "light reading." The closest I got to contemporary fiction was when my great aunt gave me Edgar Rice Burrough's Mars series. These were the adventures of John Carter, Warlord of Mars. Less known but much more entertaining than his Tarzan adventures. They were full of technological marvels like ray guns and speeders that floated above the ground 'using buoyancy tanks of mysterious rays found only on Mars.' Despite the rural environs of the Berkshires, they are located only 1.5 hrs from Boston and 2 hrs from New York city. Home of Tanglewood, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, the Berkshires represent the cultural mecca of New England.

After I received my Bachelor's degree, I immediately went to work for General Electric (GE) "We bring good things to life" in their Defense Systems division. I was chosen from a field of 1,000 candidates and hired into the Logistics Management Training Program with four other recent graduates in what my manager called 'an effort to bring literacy to the management ranks.' Apparently the engineers GE normally hired were pretty good at math but they couldn't communicate worth a damn. I breezed through the management program at GE, and at the time I didn't realize my good fortune. I was in my 20's, single, on the fast track to the top of a growing division in the #1 Fortune Five Hundred company in the United States, and I had more money than I could reasonably spend.

In a short time I had invented and fielded a computerized database for maintaining major equipment modules. The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) Maintenance Plan Program (MPP) site, has a link to my template at the Navair page, linked from the guidance page. In the past, the Fire Control system in 734 class Los Angeles fast attack submarines; the guidance control assembly in the Trident D-5, nuclear-tipped ICBM, and the CIWS, Phalanx gatling gun, used on board Aegis cruisers, and all other major systems had a cumbersome set of volumes which required shelves of storage space. After the system was implemented, a Navy Chief on a ship could look up all maintenance procedures using only the onboard computer. I was in charge of the tools and test equipment provisioning system and site support provisioning for billions of dollars worth of military equipment.

I had an attack of conscience as I realized that my daily routine consisted of perfecting weapons systems which might conceivably bring about the loss of life of hundreds of thousands of people in a single moment. Now I realize the value of deterrence, but at 30 I decided that I wanted to devote my life to improving the human condition.

I left Defense Systems, steak dinners, 3 martini lunches, and began a new career. To make a long story short, I attended graduate school and received my Master's degree, teaching graduate courses as a Teaching Assistant along the way. In the past 17 years, I've worked in a private school for emotionally disturbed children; at an agency for Latino immigrant youth; in a community mental health center for severely disturbed adults; in a University program for young adults referred for alcohol abuse; at an inpatient facility for drug and alcohol addicts; at a teaching hospital; and as Project Manager for several government funded projects, and finally, as owner/manager of my own consulting practice with an ever-varying number of employees and locations depending on the nature of the project I'm working on. I've been married since 1996 and my wife and I have two children, both boys. My older son (age 7) won the game ball yesterday for hitting one into the outfield and winning the gam with an RBI. Life is good.

My branch of the Crow family in America originated with my grandfather Michael Crow (b. 1765), and Hannah Huhn (b. 1773) They were German pioneers who migrated to Fayette County, Pennsylvania (which was in Virginia at that time). They established a farm and lumber concern called Crow's Mill. They were Lutheran and they raised a family of 9 children. Michael cut lumber from his farm and floated the lumber on a barge to the Mississippi river, south to New Orleans where he would sell the lumber, buy a horse, and ride back to Pennsylvania with the proceeds.

Michael Crow, Jr. married Sarah Gans, daughter of Magdalena Custer and Jacob William Gans. This Custer family is in the same line as General George Armstrong Custer. General Custer and I share a common grandfather in Arnold Custer (Magdalena,George, Paul, Arnold). Arnold Custer's son Paul (also my grandfather) married Sarah Martha Ball. This Ball family is in the same line as President George Washington's family. George Washington's mother was Mary Ball. (George, Mary, Joseph, Colonel William Ball). The men in the Ball family, as in the Washington family, were born in England and educated at either Cambridge and/or Oxford University. They emigrated to Virginia where they served in the colonial forces and became "gentleman farmers." Colonel William Ball and Arnold Custer are my direct paternal grandparents. Arnold Custer is the grandfather of General George Armstrong Custer. Colonel William Ball is the grandfather of President George Washington, therefore Washington and Custer are my first cousins, removed over several generations.

The Crow (Duc De Croy et Duc d'Arschot; Prince de Chimay; Herzog Von Croy), Gans, and Custer families emigrated from Germany in the mid-1600's. Among these lines were hereditary Mayors of Groß-Umstadt (Hessen), Count Von Haren of Kaldenkirchen (a town on the border of the Netherlands) and the line of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, which is an Anglo-Saxon-Danish-Frisian family (Oldenburg) with ties to nearly every royal house in Europe, including ties to the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha line (Windsor) in Britain.

Many of the landed gentry from the New England and Virginia colonial periods have ties to the aristocratic families of England, France, and Germany. As this family tree illustrates, the political power in the left and right in American politics is still concentrated along lines of wealth, school, and family ties. Some people might be surprised to find that George Bush and John Kerry are cousins with New England family backgrounds who also both attended Yale. Julia Thorne wrote, “Massachusetts is the locus of one branch of the native aristocracy, Long Island's Suffolk County is the other." The New England families were shipping merchants, masters of the clipper ships and the China trade. I would add that Virginia is the third source of the American aristocracy. Families like Carter, Bennett, Allston, Washington, Madison, Jefferson, and Monroe originated in Virginia. Many (though by no means all) southern families lost everything in the Civil War.

Some families, like the Winthrop, Crow, DuPont, Cabot, Rockefeller, Forbes, Thorne, and Bush lines, were able to generate great wealth over the generations. My children are George Bush's cousins as well as cousins to John Kerry's children, through the Winthrop line. The lineages of American Presidents are nearly as entwined as the royal houses of Europe. Thankfully, my colonial ancestors also passed on a sense of decency, a love of God, and a mandate for hard work and philanthropy.

Judge Alexander Crow; Congressman William Josiah Crow; Senator William Evans Crow; Professor Michael Martin Crow; Trammell Crow; and I, are all descendents of the same family. Michael Crow died in 1864 at the age of 98. Hannah and Michaels' grave stones stand side by side in the shadow of Jacob's Creek Lutheran Church, in western Pennsylvania. The rest of the family are buried at Chalk Hill and at the Crow Hollow Road family cemetary in Point Marion, PA.

Pennsylvania is known for rich soil, and the Crow family did well in farming. However, the region is also known for large deposits of oil, coal, and natural gas. A number of active wells in the Crow inventory are still in operation. As a rule, Columbia Gas Transcorp buys the entire output of the wells which are scattered throughout Pennsylvania, most of them in the Southwest region.

My uncle, Professor Martin "Mike" Crow was employed by the University of Texas and is chiefly known for his work on the life of Chaucer. Mike grew up on the farm in southwest, PA, and like other members of my family, he ended up in Texas (of all places).

Another uncle, Pennsylvania Congressman, Colonel William Josiah Crow, Esq. spent 41 months overseas in the Ordance Corp in the Pacific theatre during WWII. He was a graduate of the Pennsylvania Military College at Chester and a graduate of the Dickenson School of Law in Carlysle. His Congressional Biography is located here. He was also Chief of the legislative branch of the Security Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. See this link for more information.

Pennsylvania Republican Senator William Evans Crow, Esq., father of William Josiah Crow (above) was also a soldier and a lawyer. He was a District Attorney for many years and a writer. See his Congressional Bio here.

The Trammell Crow Company is a real estate development and investment corporation founded in the 40's. It was recently sold for approximately 2 billion dollars to the Richard Ellis Group by the Crow family. The Ellis group says they plan to retain the company name.

The Trammell and Margaret Crow collection of Asian Art is free and open to the public. Located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, the collection is a set of permanent galleries dedicated to the art of China, Japan, India, and Southeast Asia. My favorite Asian art consists of my Japanese prints from the late 1800's and early 1900's. I have several of those hanging in the radio shack here in Pennsylvania.

Trammell Crow's life was dedicated to hard work. He founded the Wyndham Hotel chain; in 1988 he won the Horatio Alger Award and was placed in their association of Distinguished Americans in the company of others like Tom Brokaw, Johnny Cash, Gene Autry, Ronald Reagan, and Maya Angelou, and; in 1990 he was designated the CEO of the National Tree Trust by President George Bush.

For more Gans/Custer/Crow/Ball Genealogy info, see e.g., Selected Bios in the History of Fayette County, by Franklin Ellis, 1882: Fayette Co, PA and the BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA editorially managed by John M. Gresham assisted in the compilation by Samuel T. Wiley, and, A Citizen of the County Compiled and Published by John M. Gresham & Co. 407-425 Dearborn Street Chicago 1889].