The Wittz End: Jamestown, Virginia

We have been learning so much about American History and are thrilled to be able to go on some field trips at this time, to give a visual to what we have been learning. Two weeks ago we got to go to Jamestown which was the very first English settlement in the Americas which took place in 1607. We have been keeping track of a time line and it has been fascinating to see what the world events were going on around each other. 13 years after Jamestown, the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth America in 1620 and just 4 years after Jamestown the King James Version Bible was printed in 1611.

A mind boggling part of history for me was reading that Thomas Jefferson and his buddy John Adams both died on July 4th, 1826- 50 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed! How cray is that?

We have been going through an American Indian prayer guide and learning about some of the different tribes like the Maya, Inuit, Choctaw, Sioux and Oneida to name a few. We have been given some prayer pointers and have been lifting up requests to the Lord. One specific tribe that stood out to me was the Shawnee. One of the leaders in the 1800s was a medicine man named Tenskwatawa. He was so angry at the whites who had taken his land and killed so many of his people that he put a curse on William Harrison. "The curse declared that Harrison would become president of the United States, but would die in office, meaning while he was still president. The other part of the curse was that every president elected in a year ending with a zero would die in office. Harrison was elected in 1840. He dies one month after becoming president. Since then, every president elected in zero year has died in office, except President Reagan. In 1981 Reagan was shot, but not killed. Why did President Reagan live? In 1980, Christians fasted and prayed that the curse would be broken. Also, a Christian who was a direct descendant of both President Harrison and Shawnee Indians, asked forgiveness for the 'sins of his fathers.' Other Christians repented on behalf of our nation, for 'rebelliousness, violence, and witchcraft.' In response, it seems that God has broken the curse!" (American Indian Prayer Guide, page 79) It is so exciting to learn about history!