It also showed that one of them was born illegitimately, which in the 17th century was quite scandalous in families of high status.

The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation and Harvard Medical School recently released results of the first use of ancient DNA to identify remains at Preservation Virginia’s archaeological site within the James Fort at Historic Jamestowne.

Researchers compiled material from the remains and archaeological evidence, along with historical 17th century papers. They concluded in 2013 that the four skeletal remains most likely were those of the Rev. Robert Hunt, Capt. Gabriel Archer, Sir Ferdinando Wenman and Capt. William West.

The four were buried in a place of honor below the altar in the chancel of church.

Wenman and West were known to be kinsmen of Thomas West, the third Lord Baron De La Warr, who arrived in 1610 as the Jamestown Colony’s initial governor. The tentative identifications were made in 2013 through archaeological and osteological analysis.

The men — Wenman (1576-1610) and William West (circa 1586-1610) — arrived in Virginia in June 1610 with Lord De La Warr, the largest investor in the London Company, which received the charter to settle in Virginia.

West and Wenman’s burials were identified because of their matching coffins that suggested they were interred about the same time and with near equal status, said Michael Lavin, director of collections at Jamestown Rediscovery. One man was in his 30s and the other in his 20s, which matched the profiles of the older Wenman and younger West.

After it was determined that DNA could be retrieved from the poorly preserved remains, analysis revealed that, indeed, the men were related, but through the female line — and not through the paternal line — to the first Baron De La Warr, William West, (circa 1530-1595). The maternal relationship was “unexpected,” the report said.

“The people who came here to forge a new life for themselves had family secrets and interpersonal drama just like we do,” Lavin said. “Evidence suggests they were related through an illegitimate birth. A genetic signature was found on the mother’s line and solved a 400-year-old mystery.”

A late 16th century court case regarding the ownership of the late Capt. William West’s possessions was also uncovered by researchers and genealogists examining the West family history.

Mary, the beneficiary of William West’s will and the woman who raised him, sought to reclaim jewels given to West but that had gone to other members of his family. It was revealed that William West, the Jamestown colonist, was born to Elizabeth, the spinster aunt of Thomas West, the second Lord Baron De La Warr and William West’s direct heir, as detailed in the current edition of Antiquity, published online by Cambridge University Press.

“Since he arrived accompanied by two older cousins, it can be assumed that Capt. West’s family also likely encouraged his departure to a place offering greater economic and social opportunities,” Antiquity author Douglas W. Owsley wrote. The connections to the West family helped them secure positions in the new colony.

Capt. William West served only briefly at Jamestown. Soon after his arrival, he was killed by Indigenous warriors in the fall or winter of 1610 at the Fall of the James, near what is now Richmond. Wenman, a knight, was named Master of the Fort Ordinance (artillery) and died shortly after his arrival.

Of the other two burials, the one believed to be the Rev. Hunt (1569-1608) was the only one not buried in a wooden coffin, but rather was wrapped in a shroud. He was among the original 1607 settlers and his burial coincided with the building of the 1608 church.

The other remains — those of Archer — were located between Wenman and West. Archer wrote a detailed account of the construction of the church and served as the Jamestown magistrate. He died during the “Starving Time” in the winter of 1609.

Genetic work and archaeological investigations were all done in accordance with guidelines for the ethical analysis of ancient DNA and the excavation of human remains, the report stressed.

Jamestown Rediscovery, launched in 1994, is a project of Preservation Virginia, a private nonprofit organization that fosters, supports and sustains historic places throughout the state. The organization since 1893 has owned 22.5 acres of land on Jamestown Island that includes the James Fort archaeological site.

The full report in Antiquity can be viewed at bit.ly/3AXBmLO.

Wilford Kale, kalehouse@aol.com

“Virginia’s Revolutionary Histories & Beyond,” sponsored by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture in conjunction with The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and William & Mary, is the third conference in the five-year “For 2026” series that marks the nation’s 250th anniversary of independence.

A pre-conference day of workshops and experiences for K-12 teachers and museum educators will take place on Oct. 24.

Tickets are available through the Omohundro Institute, with prices ranging from $35 to $100. The conference is free of charge to W&M students and Colonial Williamsburg employees.

“‘Virginia’s Revolutionary Histories & Beyond’ will investigate political, intellectual and social change in the Old Dominion and how those changes impacted the nation and world,” a news release said. “The conference showcases a mix of researcher-to-researcher panels, public audience events, roundtable discussions, site visits, workshops and plenary sessions.”

Scholarly daytime panels at the W&M School of Education will include topics such as the legacy of the Bray School students, the formation of The Virginia Gazette and “Lawyers, Guns and Money.”

The Oct. 25 evening session, scheduled for the Hennage Auditorium at the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, will feature “Beyond Words: Bringing History to Life Responsibly,” a panel discussion. The moderator will be Katharine Pittman, a Colonial Williamsburg nation builder who portrays Martha Washington.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian Alan Taylor, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation chairman at the University of Virginia, will speak at the Oct. 26 evening session at the Glenn Close Theatre in Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall at William & Mary.

To register, visit bit.ly/3z4cHEB. All “For 2026” registrants receive a ticket voucher to Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area and Art Museums good for the duration of the conference.

Wilford Kale, kalehouse@aol.com

Such is the case of Robert Schmuhl’s biography “Mr. Churchill in the White House: The Untold Story of a Prime Minister and Two Presidents” (Liveright, 384 pgs., $32). And, by the way, this is good, very readable and crammed full of enjoyable anecdotes.

A favorite author, the late Stanley Weintraub, wrote extensively about the British prime minister’s first trip to the White House in December 1941 in his well-received book “Pearl Harbor Christmas” (2011). Bestselling author David McCullough also described the Franklin Roosevelt-Churchill White House meetings of 1941 in his short book, “In the Dark Streets Shineth: A 1941 Christmas Eve Story” (2010).

Schmuhl does, indeed, spotlight the Churchill’s first White House visit in December 1941, but he also writes extensively using much research about three other White House visits and four visits to Roosevelt’s country home, Hyde Park.

Later with “General Ike,” President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954 and 1959, Churchill’s stays at the White House became legendary.

Describing Churchill’s stays at Roosevelt’s White House, Michael O’Donnell of the Wall Street Journal wrote, “These visits were not social calls or empty pomp; they had a serious purpose. Churchill was there to coordinate details of wartime strategy and to cultivate Britain’s most important ally.”

Personal diplomacy was what Churchill was all about; the same was said of Roosevelt, Schmuhl writes.

Professor emeritus in American studies and journalism at the University of Notre Dame, Schmuhl provides a crisp analysis to put each visit into a world and multinational context, taking pains to focus on Churchill’s idiosyncrasies, demands and requests. As one White House staff said, he “acted as though he belonged there.”

Churchill’s first visit from late 1941 until mid-January 1942 was his longest and most involved. Staff members, Schmuhl relates, felt “Churchill just moved into the White House” to stay one week, but remained more than three weeks.

On one occasion, Schmuhl relates, Roosevelt went to Hyde Park for multiple days and left Churchill at the White House alone. He quotes British Gen. Hastings Ismay regarding Roosevelt’s departure: “On leaving (Roosevelt) said, in so many words, ‘Winston, please treat the White House as your home. Invite anyone you like to any meals, and do not hesitate to summon any of my advisers with whom you wish to confer at any time you wish.’”

First lady Eleanor Roosevelt had mixed feelings about Churchill personally, but very much disliked his routines at the White House, such as roaming the halls at all hours, Schmuhl explains. She also nudged her husband and the government to purchase Blair House, across Pennsylvania Avenue, as a “presidential guest house.”

Blair House was bought, but Churchill never stayed there, the author stresses, because “he wanted to stay close to power.”

“There will never be another series of visits (to a U.S president) as we saw with Winston Churchill,” Schmuhl writes.

Another readable novel

Retired William & Mary professor Robert Archibald is gradually making a name for himself as a novelist, writing one book a year, with his sixth and newest novel, “Fractured Frame” (Blue Fortune Enterprises, 273 pgs., $18.99).

To be honest when I heard about this book, I was hoping that Archibald had resurrected retired professor Phil Philemon, his erstwhile sleuth, and his covey of friends who in his first three books worked earnestly to bring killers to justice. Those novels were first-rate mysteries and page-turners.

Professor Phil did not return (hopefully he will in future Archibald tomes), but Archibald has done well and created another riveting story. Horace Narwhal committed a stupid crime in 1968 and instead of a jail sentence joins the Army. He fulfills his obligation, returns home to build a new life and along the way falls in love with a police detective.

On the other side is loner Kenny Sturgis, who works for his father. Then he meets Maybell Wilcox, who brings all kinds of fun, but she’s manipulative. Her actions eventually put him in a difficult situation — he’s charged with murder.

Archibald’s turns and twists are NOT predictable. You’ll just have to read and find out whether Narwhal and his police girlfriend come to Sturgis’ aide or not. It’s a goodie!

A children’s refuge in wartime France

Williamsburg writer Marty Parkes has put together a remarkable book, “The Children’s Front: The True Story of an Orphanage in Wartime France” (Indie Books International, 118 pgs., $20).

This is an unusual little book and should have been mentioned months ago. It is unusual in that it focuses on the orphanage that saved hundreds of displaced youngsters during World War II when families were separated by death, military occupation or simply economics.

If it were not for American Seymour Houghton, who saw the plights of these youths, many of them would not have survived either the war or its aftermath. Houghton established the Refuge des Petites and it became a leader in what was later known as The Children’s Front — a term for children who spent their formative years against dramatic, mostly negative events that impacted their childhood.

Parkes not only writes about the orphanage, but also includes a semi-biography of Houghton and how his parents met him. Parkes continues the relationship until Houghton dies many years after the war.

Parkes paints a portrait — often in simple black and white — of the trials and tribulations of starting and continuing to operate the orphanage. Beginning with the fall of France and the months before the U.S. entered the conflict, Houghton was in France at the orphanage.

He returned to his parents’ New York home just before the war. All the while he maintained contact with the orphanage he founded. Support all through the years came from American benefactors.

Parkes’ account of one of the amazing human-interest stories caught in the throes of conflict that should be part of the war’s history. And through this book, it is!

Have a comment or suggestion for Kale? Contact him at Kaleonbooks95@gmail.com.

Construction was begun 90 years ago and for years, until 1990 the stadium was simply called Cary Field because it was, simply, Mr. Cary’s field — the turf upon which games were played.

The Cary family, dating from Jamestown prior to 1622 when a Thomas Cary was born at the colonial colony, had owned property around Warwick and in the Williamsburg area for about 200 years. Later, a descendent and member of the William & Mary Board of Visitors, T. Archibald Cary of Richmond, gave money to the school and the football field, circa 1907-09 was named in his honor.

Earlier, during the presidency of Lyon G. Tyler from 1888 to1919, another Cary family member had given the land where the field was to be located to W&M.

In fact, the name was to honor both him and his father John Baytop Cary, an alumnus and also a W&M Board of Visitors member. However, in April 2021, during discussions on renaming buildings, instead of renaming the field at the recommendation of a select committee and President Katherine Rowe, the name “Cary Field” was retained and all references would be only to T. Archibald Cary.

A Cary ancestor, Henry Cary, the younger, was associated with William & Mary in the 18th century. In 1720 he took over the construction of the Governor’s Palace and probably was the builder of The Brafferton in 1723. He also built the President’s House in 1732.

Construction of the current football stadium — Cary Field — began late in 1934 and was ongoing when the first game against the University of Virginia was played Sept. 21, 1935. The game ended in a 0-0 tie.

When the new Cary Field was built with a grant from the federal Works Progress Administration , there was an incongruous feature — 500 seats at the 50-yard line on one side of the stadium were eliminated and there was a large open entry way.

Word had it the WPA wouldn’t build an athletic stadium, but would build an agriculture exposition center where rodeos could also be held — hence the entryway at the center of the stadium. The cost of the stadium was $138,395.

Davis Y. Paschall, William & Mary president from 1960 to1971, was a student and waited in the dining hall on then-W&M President J. A. C. Chandler at the time the stadium was being considered.

In a 1997 interview, he said, “I never heard Dr. Chandler use the word rodeo about the facility, but basically I always thought it was a noble idea. They would have it for agriculture and they could eventually play football in there.

“Football in those days was not a great big attraction,” Paschall added.

Walter J. Zable, a football player from the Class of 1937, and his wife, Betty, from the Class of 1940, gave $10 million in the fall of 1990 as part of the W&M fundraising Campaign for the Fourth Century.

The Board of Visitors subsequently named the stadium for the Zables and it became known as Walter J. Zable Stadium at Cary Field.

A major transformation of the stadium occurred with the addition of expanded second-tier seating on the west side and a renovation of the remaining structure, thanks to multimillion gifts from alumni Hunter Smith and James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin.

Nearly 400 games have been played on Cary Field. The largest crowd came on Nov. 5, 1949, at the game with the University of North Carolina, which featured its All-American star tailback, Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice. An estimated 19,000 watched UNC win 20-14.

On Nov. 16, 1985, the official attendance at the stadium was 18,054 for the W&M game against the University of Richmond. W&M won 28-17, and the game was part of the year’s Homecoming activities.

Information included in this story came from research done for the book, “Goal to Goal: 100 Seasons of Football at William and Mary,” which Wilford Kale co-authored.

Virginia Democrat U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner announced that a $416,207 grant from the National Park Service will be used to replace the west steps on the portico (courtyard) side of the Wren.

The money is addition to $12.9 million approved earlier by the Virginia General Assembly for the Wren to replace the roof and various water-related issues, associated repairs and restoration of areas of deterioration that need to be addressed.

Utilizing the Park Service’s Save America’s Treasures program, the funds were made through the Historic Preservation Fund, which uses revenue from federal offshore oil and gas leases to fund preservation projects without expending tax dollars.

“As the oldest college building still standing in the United States, the Wren Building at William & Mary has served countless generations of students, faculty and community members,” the senators said in a joint news release. “We’re glad to see this funding, which will help restore and preserve this National Historic Landmark, headed to Williamsburg.”

The work on the steps will begin over winter break and involves a complete rebuild of the steps, according to William & Mary spokesperson Suzanne Clavet. “The damage was known, but only within the last few years has the university come to understand the extremes of the damage.”

Repair work over the years, she said, “no longer sufficiently addresses the deeper structural concerns of the steps — including their foundation.”

Clavet said that while the steps do not appear to be big, “this project brings significant costs given the specialized nature of materials used, such as Portland limestone, meeting historic preservation standards and the specialized labor needed to support” the work.

For example, stonemasons and historic brick masons will be necessary for the construction of new steps as well as blacksmiths to support the wrought iron work.

The steps are not free-standing and are tied into the main building, so disassembling and rebuilding the steps “will require some work involving the exterior wall of the structure itself,” Clavet added.

The total Wren Preservation Project will be completed in stages that started last fall with planning and assessment, according to Sean Hughes, associate vice president for business affairs.

Along with the steps, a major phase for the Wren will be the roof, which is slated to begin late in January. Hughes said the target date for completion is late 2025 before the American Revolution 250 commemoration begins in 2026.

W&M President Katherine Rowe moved out of the President’s House last year and is living in a temporary residence off campus in a home owned by the William & Mary Real Estate Foundation.

The Wren Building was completely restored — inside and outside — by John D. Rockefeller Jr. during 1928-1931, preliminary to the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg by the New York philanthropist. The exterior of the President’s House was restored at the same time.

The only other restoration of the Wren in the past 90 years was between the fall of 1999 and the spring of 2001. Called the “Wrenewal,” the project including upgrading of the electrical and plumbing systems. There also was repair and stabilization work on the walls and foundation.

Wilford Kale, kalehouse@aol.com

Not since David McCullough’s tour de force biography of Truman in 1992 has an author attempted to focus on a specific attribute of Truman’s political career. Roll succeeds brilliantly.

When he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, after the sudden death of Franklin Roosevelt, Truman was oblivious to most of Roosevelt’s plans, promises and/or directives. Since his nomination as vice president, Roll explains, Truman had met with Roosevelt only a handful of times and none with “serious discussions.”

It is the transition — the transfer of power — that is the focus of Roll’s clear, heavily researched narrative.

Andrew Roberts in The Wall Street Journal says it best: “Roll has a fine sense of all the key figures around Truman, but it is his insights into the man himself that are so valuable … this book confirms Truman as a giant of American — indeed global — history.”

A lawyer turned historian, Roll masterfully uses his research on two earlier biographies of chief Roosevelt aide Harry Hopkins and Chief of the Army, Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall to enhance and enlarge Truman’s presidential efforts.

Roll also more clearly defines when and how Truman learned of the Manhattan Project and its atomic bomb. Helping to clarify the myth that Truman learned of the atomic bomb only after he became president, Roll stresses that Truman’s Senate committee in 1942, which investigated defense contracts, was told of a secret weapons project on several earlier occasions.

What is true is that Truman did not know of the weapon’s true potential until he read, as Roll relates, a memo from Gen. Leslie Groves, head of the Manhattan Project. The memorandum succinctly said the power of the nuclear explosion was “between five and twenty thousand tons of TNT and the potential (of the bomb) for winning the war more quickly with a saving in American lives.”

Again, it’s the details that Roll incorporates in his narrative that bring life to his storytelling.

The nation’s 34th press secretary

William & Mary’s own Jen Psaki carved out an enviable 20-year career in politics, which she carefully uses to mold a narrative on how to be a more effective communicator.

“Say More: Lessons from Work, the White House, and the World” (Scribner, 240 pgs., $28.99) uses her vast experience to put things forthright just as she did as press secretary for President Joe Biden and spokesperson for the Department of State under Secretary of State John Kerry.

A 2000 graduate of William & Mary with a double major in English and sociology, Psaki told the college student newspaper in 2015 that the college “served me professionally in many ways, including the fact that it enabled me to develop strong writing skills (and) spend time really learning how to communicate effectively …”

Those traits stood her in good stead in her work on three democratic presidential campaigns and her various appointed political positions, she explained. With a knack for words and phraseology one need only look at some of the titles of her book’s chapters to know exactly what they will entail:

“Remember when that nice man won the election?” “That’s not credible!” “If you can’t say anything nice, you still have to say something,” “When to serve a PsakiBomb?” “A Punch Line China would find Funny” and “Russia says you’re getting fired?”

Psaki uses her keen wit in the book, just as she used it in her press conferences and briefings. She also is known for clarity in skillfully delivering her messages.

She had two young children in her last years of public service and details problems associated with raising kids and White House hitches at the same time. Some of those are found in Chapter 8 — “Kindergarten Open House on the Worst Day in the White House.”

Comedian and commentator on life in general Chelsea Handler says: “You don’t have to love politics to love this book. But with candor and humor, Jen shows the reader what it’s actually like to be in front of the political spotlight, including how to navigate different kinds of bosses and how to deliver a powerful message.”

Today, Psaki can be seen on MSNBC almost daily and, almost ironically, she announced President Biden’s decision not to run for reelection in the late afternoon of July 21.

Some old Alexandria history

“True Tales of Old Alexandria” (The History Press, 192 pgs., $24.99) by Ted Pulliam is a marvelous companion to his earlier illustrated volume, “Historic Alexandria.”

Pulliam stresses at the outset that the stories contained herein are about “real” events that took place from 1609 to 2018 in or around Alexandria. Included in the vignettes are colonists, cannibals, Native Americans, an inept British general, a notorious 17th century as well as a Union soldier, Army Gen. George S. Patton and even six 1920s bank robbers.

One of the more interesting chapters features British Major Gen. Edward Braddock of French and Indian War fame. There is a road in Alexandria named for him and Pulliam wanted to know why. What was the connection?

Simply stated: Alexandria was the headquarters for Braddock after he came to the colonies with troops to confront the French and Indian menace. However, readers will enjoy Pulliam’s 17-page historical explanation.

Another interesting chapter is titled “Boots, Saddles & Tanks: The U.S. Army’s Horse Cavalry Between the two World Wars.” Pulliam’s crisp narrative is full of so many facts that one feels like they are watching an old 7th Cavalry movie or a World War I documentary. It’s the horse soldiers versus armored cavalry. And Patton and his crew win.

Just released is another Pulliam book, “Here’s a Letter from Thy Dear Son: Letters of a Georgia Family during the Civil War Era” from the Mercer University Press. A family of modest means communicates among themselves war experiences and their own disruptions and hardships.

Have a comment or suggestion for Kale? Contact him at Kaleonbooks95@gmail.com.

Cole found that English classical scholar and playwright Richard Paul Jodrell had been given an honorary degree on Feb. 6, 1786. It’s a name not included in published lists of honorary degree recipients.

The story is especially interesting because the diploma came just five years after the British surrender at Yorktown, which virtually ended the American Revolution, and just three years after the signing of the treaty officially ending the conflict.

A 1970 graduate, Cole began researching segments of William & Mary’s history as he approached the 50th anniversary of his graduation. “I wanted, in a modest way, to show my appreciation for my education and to give something back to the college,” Cole explained.

Initially, he began seeking and acquiring 17th and 18th century images of the 10 British chancellors of the college. His research led to the rectors of the college and those who were awarded honorary degrees from 1756 to 1859.

Cole discovered that Jodrell, who was born in 1745 and died in 1831, has no known direct connection with the school nor “the fledgling United States on (Google) or any other website I found,” he said.

In his research, Cole found a notice in a London newspaper, the Public Advertiser, of Sept. 16, 1786, which supported his find. It read:

“The University of William and Mary, in Virginia, has by Diploma, dated the 6th of February last, unanimously conferred the degree of Master of Arts until Richard Paul Jodrell, Esq.; author of the illustrations on Euripides and the Persian Heroine … This is the first instance of any literary honour bestowed on any Englishman, unconnected with America, since the independence of the United States.”

Professionally, Jodrell studied law, a family tradition, and was called to the bar from Lincoln’s Inn in 1771. His father, Paul Jodrell, was a barrister and solicitor general to Frederick, Prince of Wales, and a member of the House of Commons briefly in 1751 prior to his death. Jodrell also was a member of the House for two terms, 1790-92 and 1794-96.

Jodrell made his mark not in law, but as a classical scholar and dramatist and friend of Samuel Johnson, the English poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer and editor during much of the 18th century. He was a member of Johnson’s exclusive Essex Head Club, a group of like-minded persons.

Jodrell wrote a number of published works including a number of dramatic pieces produced at private or provincial theaters, such as the comedy “The Boarding School Miss,” farce “One and All” and a historic tale, “The Knight and Friars.”

Cole’s discovery of Jodrell is a story in itself.

At the outset, Cole was interested in the honorary degrees given to Benjamin Franklin in 1756 and the Marquis de Lafayette in 1824. He found the text of the degrees in Latin and Greek in the faculty minutes. Although he had no expertise in Latin, he became familiar with various words and phrases he found in other degrees, such as those of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison (also a W&M president from 1777 to 1812).

“One day, I scrolled past page 314, the last numbered page of the 1754-dated minute book, and noticed a document in Latin and, surprisingly, Greek. The text was not preceded nor afterwards by any explanation,” Cole said.

However, the wording was very similar to other honorary degree texts he had uncovered and studied. The name within the text was “Richardum Paulum Jodrell” and the document was “signed by J.M. Pr.” and three professors, including George Wythe, the law professor and mentor of Jefferson.

Further research by Cole uncovered a letter from Wythe to Jefferson dated just four days after the honorary degree citation. In the letter, Wythe writes of kindness that Jodrell had extended to him and asked Jefferson to send him his own book — “Notes on the State of Virginia” — apparently as a thank you.

“No mention is made in the letter of the honorary degree,” Cole said. “What ‘kindness’ Jodrell performed for Wythe, or for the college for that matter — that would have been elevated so as to be recognized by an honorary degree — is not known.”

Cole, who was a museum specialist for three decades prior to retirement, found that Jefferson sent the book to Jodrell, confirming the action in a letter to Wythe. “I availed myself of the first opportunity which occurred, by a gentleman going to England, of sending to Mr. Joddrel a copy of the Notes on our country, with a line informing him that it was you who had emboldened me to take that liberty.”

Some months later in February 1787, Jodrell wrote Jefferson: “The author of ‘The Persian Heroine,’ having received from Mr. Jefferson Mr. Wythe’s book of Virginia, intreats his acceptance of the inclosed Tragedy.” Jodrell’s “The Persian Heroine” was published in London in 1786.

There are several more incidents in Cole’s continuing examination of Jodrell, William & Mary and Wythe connections.

“The question I still have is how could this man’s honorary degree have escaped researchers in the past and no mention of him be made in any other college material for 235 years?” Cole said.

Cole is now awaiting a translation of the Latin and Greek texts of the Jodrell degree, which he hopes will answer some of his many questions.

Wilford Kale, kalehouse@aol.com

What started with deliveries of the 19-year-old entrepreneur’s homemade cookies in the Williamsburg area moved to a brick-and-mortar store, and now to a new second Cookie Chris storefront in the Richmond area.

Beginning in 2021, Knight, then a Warhill High School junior, successfully developed an original cookie recipe and began baking at home and delivering to customers who heard about his goodies.

As the number of customers grew, he and his parents, Fran and Chris Knight Sr., began to think about a storefront business, which ultimately celebrated its second anniversary last week.

“I love it when people come here, buy my cookies and smile,” Knight said in a recent interview. “That’s really how it all began. It is important that people enjoy my cookies.”

Knight is proud that his Williamsburg store has been making money since Day One. “Business has been great and is a blessing,” he added. About 1,000 cookies are prepared daily.

Cookie Chris is easily recognizable with its light blue-and-pink motif and two big cookies in the signage. After two years in Williamsburg at 1408 Richmond Road, Knight decided to take a big step and expand.

The second Cookie Chris, with the same colors and branding, celebrated its grand opening today at 11571 W. Broad St. in Short Pump across from the Barnes & Noble bookstore.

Initially, Knight considered locating in either Newport News or Richmond. “Finally, it was Richmond because it is filled with people and is kind of home. My family had lived in Glen Allen before moving to Williamsburg and my grandmother, Helen Knight, lives in Richmond. She wanted me to come there with my store.”

Knight and his parents are confident of their Richmond success because of how well word of mouth gets around about the cookies, Fran Knight said. “We’ve had lots of customers come down here from Richmond to buy cookies. Now they won’t have to make the trip.”

Knight operated his Williamsburg store its first year while still a senior in high school. He helped train a staff who ultimately took over, under the supervision of his parents, when he went off to college. He has hired and trained a staff for the Richmond store to operate similar to his Williamsburg store.

On Saturday, he leaves to begin his sophomore year at Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he is studying philosophy and psychology on a “pre-law track.” But this summer, he’s worked 6-8 hours daily, primarily preparing his cookie dough that his parents will prepare for the two stores when he is away.

It has been that dough that caught the attention of his first customers when he first baked chocolate chip, sugar and oatmeal cookies. Then he started adding other flavors and icings.

“It is important that the dough is right all the time,” Knight said. “My folks will make sure of that.”

This week his stores featured Oreo, chocolate chip, strawberry, iced oatmeal, birthday cake and snickerdoodle, a cinnamon sugar cookie. On the menu for the new store will be strawberry short cake, vanilla butter, rocky road, chocolate chip, cinnamon toast crunch and the “Cookie Chris” special cookie.

There are other customer favorites including banana pudding and strawberry short cake cookies. The stores also feature various kinds of ice cream and milk shakes.

For more about Cookie Chris or to order cookies (delivery is available locally as well as shipping nationwide), visit cookiechris.com.

Wilford Kale, kalehouse@aol.com

JJ’s House, with headquarters in Detroit, conducted a survey analyzing wedding related costs, listing the total costs for the York County site as $22,823.

The No. 1 location for the least costly wedding was Kansas City, Missouri, at $16,204, followed by Weatherford, Texas, at $17,165 and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, at $19,214.

Also in the survey, Virginia Beach ranked 11th and Berryville, Virginia, ranked 18th.

“A wedding is one of the most memorable events in a person’s life, and it’s heartening to see that beautiful celebrations can be affordable,” a spokesperson from JJ’s House said.

Specifically, Yorktown was notable for its affordable rental venue of $7,737, JJ’s House reported, with moderate costs in floral and decorations at $2,382. “Yorktown remains a cost-effective choice for weddings,” the commentary said.

There were nine categories employed in the survey, including: average cost for renting a wedding venue; attire and accessories; catering costs; cost to hire a wedding planner; photography and videography; invitations; music and entertainment; floral and decorations; and wedding care and dessert.

The “most affordable” major U.S. city, New Orleans’ cost was $45,976.

If the lowest costs in every survey category were calculated, the price would be $10,429.

Jane Chertoff and Georgie Darling reported on Zola.com that the average wedding cost in the U.S. this year was $33,000 for 100 guests. While some weddings can cost $100,000, many couples spend $10,000 or even $5,000 or less.

Routinely, as in the JJ’s House survey, Zola lists the most costly wedding item as the venue, if it is not in a house of worship. The least costly is the cake.

Ronald Drabkin’s first book, “Beverly Hills Spy: The Double-Agent War Hero Who Helped Japan Attack Pearl Harbor” (William Morrow, 272 pgs., $29.99) follows his personal interest in espionage after finding that his father and grandfather were involved in counterintelligence.

Hoping to write a family history, he began research, but never found what his relatives did in “the service.” However, Drabkin discovered that Englishman Frederick Rutland was an associate of his grandfather. He sought the FBI files for Rutland still hoping to find some family connection.

There were, however, no details. Recently, unclassified files of Rutland revealed that the British World War I pilot and war hero became a spy for the then-developing Japanese navy. And Drabkin then realized he had his book, not about his family, but about a man who helped Japan in the months and years leading up to Pearl Harbor.

“I am one degree of separation from most of the characters in the story,” Drabkin writes. Much of the background for this book came not from academia, but firsthand, in stories I heard as a child from my father, his family, his tight-knit group of friends who had worked in U.S. intelligence, and friends.”

Rutland’s claim to history was participation in the vast Battle of Jutland in the North Sea in May 31-June 1, 1916. His aerial exploits in the battle earned him the nickname “Rutland of Jutland.” Having flown off British ships redesigned to accommodate airplanes, Rutland gradually became an expert in aircraft carrier design.

Regarding the Pearl Harbor connection, Drabkin writes that Rutland helped with the design of two of the aircraft carriers used by the Japanese in the strike against the Hawaiian naval base. Rutland also provided other “nice-to-know” information and “did — undoubtedly and substantially — contribute to the naval aviation capabilities of the Japanese Navy, without which the Pearl Harbor attack might not have been possible.”

Rutland lived a life of luxury in Beverly Hills, enjoying the friendship of many Hollywood celebrities, thanks to much Japanese money from his espionage work. Later, when he realized a Japanese attack was forthcoming, he tried unsuccessfully to warn the U.S. and his native Britain.

Drabkin also writes about Rutland’s idealism, love of family and his attempts to “make up for his sins.” However, author Barbara Spindel wrote in a Wall Street Journal review: “Evidence of Rutland’s idealism is scant; on the contrary he comes off in these pages as more interested in saving than redeeming himself.”

In 1941 just before Pearl Harbor, Drabkin explains, Rutland returned to Britain and subsequently was interned for two years under a World War II regulation for “alleged hostile associations.”  He killed himself in 1949 without any espionage charges being brought by either U.S. or British authorities.

Musical theater and film director

Who was Rouben Mamoulian?

That was my first question when faced with scrutinizing “Peerless: Rouben Mamoulian, Hollywood and Broadway” (University of Wisconsin Press, 376 pgs., $34.95) by Kurt Jensen.

I first became interested in the book because the author was a journalistic colleague, having worked at The Virginia Gazette in Williamsburg 1984-1987 while I was working as bureau chief for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

The modern-day movie or Broadway musical buff also may not know who Mamoulian was, but in Jensen’s narrative stories, he reveals he directed the original stage productions of “Porgy and Bess,” “Carousel” and “Oklahoma” and the movie classics “Love Me Tonight,” “Queen Christina,” “Clay Streets” and “Silk Stockings.”

This volume, by film reviewer Jensen, is one of an amazing group of books in Wisconsin Film Studies that included subjects such as Somerset Maugham, George Stevens, Glenn Ford and Stanley Kubrick. The University of Wisconsin Press says the film studies “offer works by emerging and eminent scholars focusing on deserving areas of film study.”

Without a doubt, Jensen is one of those whose scholarship becomes very evident early in the manuscript. At the Gazette, Jensen was a very good young reporter, whose detailed research enhanced his work. The same holds true for “Peerless.”

Jensen is also a wordsmith. Forty years ago, his vocabulary and word usage were very good. Now they’re excellent.

Likewise, in The Wall Street Journal, author and Mamoulian specialist Joseph Horowitz put it succinctly: “The author has assiduously scoured the sources at hand. He has scrutinized the self-serving reminiscences Mamoulian recorded and rerecorded in his retirement. He has amassed a trove of anecdotes deftly told and judgments reasonably rendered.”

Publishers Weekly said it is “a scrupulously research portrait” in a “well-told film biography,” echoed the Library Journal.

If you’ve heard little of Mamoulian’s efforts, it will not be a quick read — nor should it be. However, it will be an interesting and important read.

By the way, among Mamoulian’s more fascinating sides is the fact that he was the original director of Elizabeth Taylor’s cinema catastrophe, “Cleopatra.” He spent about two years in preparation work, Jensen explains, but ultimately resigned over one scene. Both he and the film’s executives then were happy.“Cleopatra” was just one of many incidents in Mamoulian’s convoluted life — both private and public. To Jensen’s credit, the biography does the director justice on both accounts.

Living constitutionally

A.J. Jacobs has written a marvelous account of his own year of sacrifice — “The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution’s Original Meaning” (Crown, 304 pgs., $30).

The Constitution is a very serious document, but the way Jacobs tries to live within its framework became a hilarious sequence of incidents. But he also brings some thoughtful and solemnity to it.

Through the Constitution, Jacobs tries to learn about the Founding Fathers and their understanding of certain elements such as free speech and creating all men equal.

Initially, to live within the Constitution, the author felt it was essential to try to live in the style of the late 18th century. He used candles instead of electricity; he also put women in their place. It will still predominately a man’s world, Jacobs related. Few women had gained the right to own property.

This approach was very much like his earlier work, “The Year of Living Biblically,” as he tried to live within the framework of life thousands of years ago.

I totally agree with Publishers Weekly: “Jacob’s well-researched romp carefully reckons with the Constitution’s ethical blind spots while staying consistently entertaining. U.S. history buffs will have fun with this one.”

Have a comment or suggestion for Kale? Contact him at Kaleonbooks95@gmail.com.