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Wallis Simpson

Blue Ridge Summit, 19 Jun 1896 – Villa Windsor, 24 Apr 1986

9 facts3 sources

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 19 Jun 1896

    Born in Blue Ridge Summit

  2. 24 Apr 1986

    Dies in Villa Windsor, aged 89

Family

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Parents

Partner

During her lifetime

She lived through 10 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Blue Ridge Summit.

General history, not a record about the family: each item says where it comes from.

The 1890s · Wallis is born in Blue Ridge Summit

Who governed

What people wore

Standardization of the Men's Sack Suit

By the 1880s, the sack suit became the standard business attire for middle-class American men, featuring an unadorned jacket that fell just below the hips and replaced formal frock coats for daily work.

Getting around

Railroads replace steamboats

As railroads expanded in the 1880s and 1890s, they made river steamboats increasingly inefficient and costly, eventually causing river transportation for passengers to fall by the wayside.

At the table

Five-cent beer and free lunch perk

In cities, a workingman could purchase a five-cent beer at a local saloon that included a free lunch of sausage, cheese, beans, bread, and sauerkraut.

The “Russian flu”. A flu pandemic travelled the world by rail and steamship in a few months, killing about a million people.Around the world · 1889–1890

The “Russian flu”. A flu pandemic travelled the world by rail and steamship in a few months, killing about a million people.

Unknown · CC BY 4.0

In the news1895

Industrial workers equaled agricultural workers

By the mid-1890s, the number of industrial workers in the German Empire grew to match those in agriculture, marking a major demographic shift toward urbanization and factory labor.

Music

Popularity of Parlor Organs

Following the Civil War, parlor organs, also known as reed or cabinet organs, became highly popular in American homes. Manufacturers marketed them as elegant pieces of furniture suitable for even the most sumptuously furnished rooms.

Daily life

Demanding daily chores and cooking stoves

Cooking relied on cast iron stoves that required up to 50 pounds of coal or wood daily and constant attention to dampers and fires. Housework was so demanding that laundry day was nicknamed Blue Monday due to its exhausting labor.