Martin Waldseemuller, b. 1507. German mapmaker and geographer who gave America its name, named after Amerigo Vespucci, the man Waldseemuller thought had made the first voyage to the American continent.

Walter de la Mare, b. 1873.

Some one came knocking
At my wee, small door;
Someone came knocking;
I’m sure-sure-sure;
I listened, I opened,
I looked to left and right,
But nought there was a stirring
In the still dark night;
Only the busy beetle
Tap-tapping in the wall,
Only from the forest
The screech-owl’s call,
Only the cricket whistling
While the dewdrops fall,
So I know not who came knocking,
At all, at all, at all.

De la Mare also wrote this poem that we use to tease the very industrious Tim in our family:

POOR tired Tim! It’s sad for him.
He lags the long bright morning through,
Ever so tired of nothing to do;
He moons and mopes the livelong day,
Nothing to think about, nothing to say;
Up to bed with his candle to creep,
Too tired to yawn; too tired to sleep:
Poor tired Tim! It’s sad for him.

Guglielmo Marconi, b. 1874. Inventor of the wireless telegraph, without which we probably wouldn’t have the internet now. What kind of mother would name her child Guglielmo?

Maud Hart Lovelace, b. 1892. Author of the beloved Betsy-Tacy books. All my girls have been quite fond of these books about Betsy, her sister Julia, and her friends, Tacy and Tib. The series takes Betsy from age five through four years of high school, a trip to Europe, and then a wedding. I wonder if Eldest Daughter who is in France now is planning to emulate Betsy and make that sequence a pattern for her future. No Joe yet though.