1863 - (Civil War) Skirmish at Jones Crossroads, Mississippi
The 6th Wisconsin Light Artillery fought an action at Jones Crossroads, Mississippi.
1898 - Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir Born
On this date, Golda Meir (nee Mabovitch) was born in Kiev, Russia. Economic hardship forced her family to emigrate to the United States in 1906, where they settled in Milwaukee. She graduated from the Milwaukee Normal School (now University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) and joined the Poalei Zion, the Milwaukee Labor Zionist Party, in 1915. In 1921, she emigrated to Palestine with her husband, Morris Myerson, where they worked for the establishment of the State of Israel. Meir served as Israel's Minister of Labor and National Insurance from 1949 through 1956 and as the Foreign Minister until January of 1966. When Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol died suddenly in 1969, Meir assumed the post, becoming the world's third female Prime Minister. She died in Jerusalem on December 8, 1978. [Source: Picturing Golda Meier]
1943 - Race Car Designer Harry Miller Dies
On this date, race car designer Harry Miller died. Born in Menomonie on December 9, 1876, Harry Miller dropped out of high school at age 15 to work in the machine shop of Knapp, Stout & Company. In the mid-1890s, Miller built the nation's first gasoline outboard engine which he clamped to a rowboat. He also mounted a one-cylinder engine to his bicycle which is thought by some to be the first motorcycle in the United States. Miller and his wife Edna moved to Los Angeles in 1897 where he opened a machine shop. Miller built his first automobile in 1905. Although he remained active in the design of engines for inboard racing boats and airplanes, Miller made his name in the design of racing cars. Famous driver Barney Oldfield commissioned Miller to design a racing car in 1916. He continued building engines and race cars, and from 1922 through 1929, Miller's creations won 73 of the 92 major U.S. races. Miller died on May 3, 1943. [Source: Wisconsin Lore and Legends , page 15]
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