Historical coincidence
I work part time giving tours at a museum called the Sewall-Belmont House. The house was originally built in 1800 by Senator Robert Sewall of Maryland. The house is now the 5th and final headquarters of the National Woman's Party. Founded in 1917 by Alice Paul, the NWP has worked for equality for women by fighting for equality legislation.
Yesterday, Robert Sewall and Alice Paul showed up to visit the museum.
Well, actually, just people who were named after the real Sewall and Paul.
A man rang the doorbell to come take a look at the house as he was passing by. He told me his last name was also Sewall, and just had to see the house because of the coincidence. When I told him it was originally built by Robert Sewall, he repiled "Well, I'm also Robert Sewall. Does that make me the owner of this house?" The guy was pretty funny, too. As I showed him around, he would periodically quip that we have made changes to the house without his approval. "I see you painted this room. In my day, it was bright orange." He had fun walking around "his" house.
Not 10 minutes after he showed up, a woman rang the doorbell. She smiled, pointed to her 18-month old daughter, and said "This is Alice Paul. I wanted to show her the house where her namesake came from." She named her daughter Alice Paul!!! She kind of stole my idea, but I would never have gone through with it cause I don't really like the name Alice.
But I digress.
So on the same day, two people named after icons of the museum both show up just out of the blue. I took lots of pictures. I thought it was a really neat historical coincidence.
Yesterday, Robert Sewall and Alice Paul showed up to visit the museum.
Well, actually, just people who were named after the real Sewall and Paul.
A man rang the doorbell to come take a look at the house as he was passing by. He told me his last name was also Sewall, and just had to see the house because of the coincidence. When I told him it was originally built by Robert Sewall, he repiled "Well, I'm also Robert Sewall. Does that make me the owner of this house?" The guy was pretty funny, too. As I showed him around, he would periodically quip that we have made changes to the house without his approval. "I see you painted this room. In my day, it was bright orange." He had fun walking around "his" house.
Not 10 minutes after he showed up, a woman rang the doorbell. She smiled, pointed to her 18-month old daughter, and said "This is Alice Paul. I wanted to show her the house where her namesake came from." She named her daughter Alice Paul!!! She kind of stole my idea, but I would never have gone through with it cause I don't really like the name Alice.
But I digress.
So on the same day, two people named after icons of the museum both show up just out of the blue. I took lots of pictures. I thought it was a really neat historical coincidence.