Mae's Real Stories

February is sometimes called the “month of birthdays” because we celebrate the birthdays of two famous presidents. They are George Washington, born February 22, 1731, and Abraham Lincoln, born February 12, 1809. There is a holiday called “Presidents' Day” every February to celebrate their birthdays. George Washington was the first president of the United States: "the father of our country."

We honor Lincoln because as president, he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which said that all men and women in the United States would be free, and no one would be a slave. I wrote more about Lincoln here: Abraham Lincoln and here: Going on a Trip.

In our family two people have birthdays in February. Alice’s birthday is February 7, and Uncle Larry’s birthday is February 6.

Every birthday of the year is shared by many people, some famous, some not so famous. Why is this? Well millions and millions of people have been born througout history, and each year has only 365 days in ordinary years or 366 days in Leap Years. So every birthday must be used over and over.

I tried to find which famous people share Alice’s birthday. A famous mathematician named G.H. Hardy was born on February 7, 1877. This is interesting, since Alice has many many relatives who are mathematicians.

A jazz musician named Eubie Blake was born in Baltimore, Maryland on February 7, 1883, and he lived to be 100 years old.

Eubie Blake started to play music for other people when he was only 15 years old, and wrote a lot of music called ragtime. He wrote songs named "I'm just wild about Harry" and "Memories of You." He was so famous that his face once appeared on a postage stamp.

Last year on Alice's birthday, a new baby was born next door. So Gracie's little brother also shares Alice's birthday! His first birthday is the same day as Alice's fourth birthday this year.

On February 7, 1867, Laura Ingalls Wilder, who wrote the “Little House” books was born. Evelyn read all of the Little House books when she was a little girl, and she really enjoyed them.

Another famous author, Charles Dickens, was born in England on February 7, 1812. His most famous story is called “A Christmas Carol.”

Larry told me that he shared a birthday with another February president, Ronald Reagan, who was born February 6, 1911. On February 6, 1940, a news announcer named Tom Brokaw was born in South Dakota, and on February 6, 1932, Francois Truffaut, a French film director, was born.


Here is a photo of Uncle Larry and Aunt Elaine: