UF Pitcher Josh Edmondson Drafted

Congratulations to University of Florida pitcher Josh Edmondson, who was drafted today by the Los Angeles Angels in the 41st round of the MLB draft.

Glass Artist From Sweden

Monica L. Edmondson is a contemporary glass artist, who works from her studio in Sweden. Her web site offers looks at her work, along with details on her technique for producing her art.

Edmondson Schools

Edmondson appears in the name of many schools across the country. Here's a look at a few of the elementary schools...

Laurene Edmondson Elementary - Loveland, Colorado
Opened in 1979, it's named for a lady who taught music in the school system for 34 years.

Earl E. Edmondson Elementary School - Norwalk, California
Located just outside Los Angeles.

Edmondson Elementary - Brentwood, Tennessee
This school, just south of Nashville, opened in 1994.

Roger Edmondson Honored

In an earlier post, I told you a bit about Roger Edmondson, president of the Grand-Am Racing series. Roger has just been honored with induction into the Road Racing Drivers Club (RRDC). The RRDC was formed in 1952 with a goal to serve the future of road racing by mentoring new drivers on both amateur and professional levels. Edmondson was inducted by RRDC President Bobby Rahal, winner of the 1986 Indy 500.

Congratulations to Roger!

The Edmondson Ticket

I've come across a fascinating story concerning an invention by one of our Edmondsons. It was called the Edmondson Railway Ticket, and was the brainchild of Thomas Edmondson (1792 - 1851).

While working as a station master on the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway (in England), Thomas devised the idea of a new type of railway ticket: a small piece of cardboard, pre-printed with journey details (as opposed to the then current hand-written paper bill). The tickets would be numbered by hand, and validated by a separate date-stamping press when purchased. He later developed a machine which would print tickets in batches complete with the serial numbers. He patented this machine, and was able to charge a royalty to railway companies amounting to ten shillings per annum per mile of the company's routes. The Edmondson ticket continued to be used by British Rail until 1990.

The tickets often had "security measures" included to prevent counterfeits. For example, on the route between Manchester and Leeds, eastbound tickets had a picture of a fleece on the back, and westbound tickets a bale of cotton.

This web page has pictures of many variations of Edmondson tickets, as well as printing machines, plates, date stamps and ticket racks. Excellent stuff.

Click here to see a picture of the marker on a home in Lancaster, marking Thomas Edmondson's birthplace.

Security Lockdown at N.Y. University

A toy gun yesterday caused Alfred University in Alfred, New York to go into lockdown. Police said it is likely a group of students were playing a game known as "Humans vs. Zombies", a live-action role-playing game that splits students into two teams, “humans,” who are armed with NERF guns or water squirt guns who have to defend themselves from “zombies” who try to eat them.


Alfred University President Charles Edmondson said the University is considering banning toy gun games on campus.

Miscellaneous #1

Edmondson and Associates is a Covington, Kentucky law firm focusing on consumer law.

Donna Edmondson is a professional wedding photographer, apparently based in West Virginia. Wonder if she gives discounts if the wedding includes Edmondsons.

Fran Edmondson is an artist in the Chicago area, and paints in both watercolor and oil. Her web site features some examples of her work, which is "currently focusing on personal imagery in abstract."

New Project For Ade Edmondson?

Best known for starring as a punk named Vyvyan in The Young Ones, Adrian Edmondson looks to be preparing for a new project. He told Maxim magazine (in jest I hope) that he and long-time comic partner Rik Mayall are planning a new series about "a couple of pensioners who hit each other with frying pans." Ahh, classy...

Paul Edmondson - Motorcycle Racer

Just ran across this, courtesy Google News...

The second round of the British Enduro Championship took place at Lossiemouth in Scotland over the weekend and proved to be a very successful outing for the Relentless Suzuki Enduro Team.

Paul Edmondson piloted his brand new fuel injected Suzuki RM-Z450 to victory on both days in the E2 class and a first and second place in the overall standings, putting Edmondson back into the title chase.

With just a few days to prepare the new bike for the event, Fast Eddy was over the moon with the result. After preparing the machine with a lighting kit and softer springs the 450 never missed a beat. Edmondson hadn’t ridden such a large capacity bike for many years but took to it immediately as the results show.

Following a disappointing opening round of the BEC, Edmondson is right back on course in the series and looks set to go from strength to strength on the new bike.

Paul Edmondson commented, “I’m really pleased with the result this weekend. The bike was fantastic. Initially it was a culture shock going back to a big bike after so many years but the handling was spot on and the new fuel injection system really supplied the power when needed. I’m very impressed; I think that fuel injection is the way ahead after this performance.”

Paul continued, “The result has put me back in the running for the BEC, and after this weekend I feel I’ve got a good shout at putting in a string of good performances, especially with the Relentless Suzuki RMZ450 under me.”

Coach Darren Edmondson Fired... Kind Of

The second post on to this blog included a mention of Darren Edmondson, manager of the Workington A.F.C. football (soccer here in the States) club. Just saw where he and others were dropped from a community program sponsored by the team. Seems a loss for the community.

LaGrange, GA Native Pitching For Florida Gators

Josh Edmondson, a junior from LaGrange, Georgia, is a relief pitcher for the University of Florida baseball team. As a reliever, he's made his way into 11 games, has a 2-0 record, with 16 strikeouts in 22 innings. More impressive, his ERA is only 1.21 and opponents are hitting just .200 against him.

Grand-Am Racing

The Grand American Road Racing Association was established in 1999, and in its ninth season is regarded as one of the world's most competitive road racing organizations. They're based in Daytona Beach, Fla. alongside NASCAR, International Speedway Corporation (ISC) and the Daytona International Speedway. If you're familiar with motorsports, you've probably seen some of their events, like the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, or this coming weekend's Miami Grand Prix. The racing is excellent.

The President and CEO is of Grand-Am Racing is Roger Edmondson. Here's an interesting interview with Roger from 2005, which gives a great description of the series.

An Edmondson Author

Dara Edmondson is an author of "steamy contemporary romances". Not exactly classic American novels, but apparently they pay the bills. Her blog is called Slave To Romance.

Belle Edmondson - Confederate Spy and Smuggler

Isabella Buchanan Edmondson, born in Mississippi in 1840, began smuggling supplies and funds to the Confederate army in 1862, after the fall of Memphis. She served as a Confederate agent throughout the war. In July 1864, she fled south, because the United States had issued a warrant for her arrest.

Edmondson's diary documents her daily routine from January through November 1864. Most of her short entries are simple reports about daily events, while occasionally she expresses her devotion to the Confederate cause. Edmondson also records contemporary news from the front, the activities of her family and the family's slaves, and a trip to Mississippi, where she visited Generals Forrest and Chalmers.

We might not know the story of Belle Edmondson if not for her diary, which is available to read here.

The language is sometimes hard to take, and the picture of daily life is certainly not a pleasant one. But it is an interesting read. And the insight it gives into the mind of a young Southern woman during the dark, frightening days of the Civil War is both startling and sad.

Edmondson DNA Project

I don't claim to know much(or anything really) about this, but there's something called the Edmondson DNA Project. It's part of the World Families Net, which seems to promote using DNA matching to verify family lines. Here is how the site describes the Edmondson project it:

The Edmondson DNA Project is collecting & studying DNA data on Edmondson (and all other possible spellings). The purpose of these tests is to distinguish the relationships between the various lines. Most of us realize we have gone as far as possible with traditional methods of research (courthouse records, bible records, etc.). We have lots of theories about how our lines mesh, but we don’t have any proof positive. DNA testing can help solve that problem and could put us on the right track, showing us which lines are related, and which are not.

Best I can figure, DNA tests start about $99, and go up from there. I'll certainly be keeping an eye on this, and seeing what data they gather.