Mr. McNabb's letter was a curiosity. I remember a Leonid meteor shower many years ago that was particularly spectacular. Over 100 meteors per hour. From descriptions of the Nov 1833 meteor shower, I "ain't seen nothing yet." "My Lord! What a morning" When the stars begin to fall. (Negro Spiritual) http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/m/y/mylwhatm.htm Or how about, "Stars Fell On Alabama", both a book and a 1930s pop song, also based on African American tradition. On line sources (NASA) estimate there were over 1,000 meteors per hour in the 1833 shower. Many were so bright they were visible after dawn. In one man's journal, he states that some of the meteors appeared as large as a full moon. The shower was bright enough to wake people sleeping in their houses and log cabins. The gentleman who recorded the event in his journal was educated and he understood these were meteors streaking through the sky -- not "stars falling from the firmament". After sunrise, he and his family left their home and began the trek westward. He reports that along the way they met with several backward and uneducated people who reported such tales as hearing the stars fall into the water and sizzle. One man claimed that he had seen one hit a grove a trees that burst into flames. The author dismissed these accounts as ignorant superstition. I've requested a roll of microfilm for the "Georgia Journal" published in Milledgeville, Ga, which was, at that time, the capitol of Georgia. From Mr. McNabb's letter, I believe that John C. Calhoun, author of nullification and twice candidate for president, may have been in Milledgeville on 12 Nov 1833. Calhoun ended up dropping out of the presidential race both times and served as vice president. In 1831, he resigned from office, the only vice president ever to resign. He led the nullification forces and was serving as Senator from South Carolina when that state threatened to succeed from the union. President Jackson informed the state that he could call up forces to put down the rebellion within days. In Nov 1833, the Secretary of the Treasury withdrew all federal funds from the National Bank to be redeposited in selected state banks. There may well have been an attempt to organize the Confederacy in 1833. Within a few years of that date, a former Milledgeville resident was elected as the second President of Texas. On 19 Nov 1833, one week after the meeting, there was a riot in Milledgeville and I'm curious about that as well as the possibility that the Civil War may have been delayed 29 years by a meteor shower. Mr. Headlee, according to Mr. McNabb, had not witnessed the event. Nor did he live to see the one in Nov 1866. But by all accounts, it was a comparative dud. The 1833 shower may not have been visible in Lawrence County. If anyone has ever run across a reference to this event in journals or letters from Lawrence County, I'd love to hear of them. Can you imagine standing out on the prairie, trying to calm your livestock, miles from your nearest neighbor? My Lord! What a morning!

my great grandfather was a boy of 13 in 1833 and family has record of the stories he told of 'when the stars fell'. He lived in western Georgia...bordered on Alabama. It is so interesting to read this account of this event in my great grandfather's life. peggy [email protected] wrote: > Mr. McNabb's letter was a curiosity. I remember a Leonid meteor shower many years ago that was particularly spectacular. Over 100 meteors per hour. From descriptions of the Nov 1833 meteor shower, I "ain't seen nothing yet." > > "My Lord! What a morning" > When the stars begin to fall. > (Negro Spiritual) Peggy <'}}}}>< Genealogy: Begins as an interest, Becomes a hobby, Continues as an avocation, takes over as an obsession and in its last stage is an incurable disease." Lueck http://www.geocities.com/lueck_lick/ Honnoll http://www.geocities.com/honnoll_honnell/index.html Winton http://www.geocities.com/mawpeggy1946/index.html