Today in Johnson City History, Saturday, July 4, 2026
Happy 250th Birthday to the United States of America!
Friday, July 4, 1776: Two hundred and fifty years ago today, “The Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence: ‘Signed by Order and in Behalf of the Congress, John Hancock, President, Attest, Charles Thomson, Secretary.’ The official signing occurred August 2, 1776. The manuscript journals of the Congress for that date state: ‘The declaration of independence being engrossed and compared at the table was signed by the members.’”
(Source: Chase’s 2026 Calendar of Events.)
Here are some additional details: “On July 4, 1776, “Delegates to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence. The men who issued that famous document realized they were signing their own death warrants, since the British would consider them traitors. Many suffered hardship during the Revolutionary War.
“William Floyd of New York saw the British use his home for a barracks. His family fled to Connecticut, where they lived as refugees. After the war Floyd found his fields stripped and house damaged.
“Richard Stockton of New Jersey was dragged from his bed, thrown into prison, and treated like a common criminal. His home was looted and his fortune badly impaired. He was released in 1777, but his health was broken. He died a few years later.
“At age sixty-three, John Hart, another New Jersey signer, hid in the woods during December 1776 while Hessian soldiers hunted him across the countryside. He died before the war’s end. The New Jersey Gazette reported that he ‘continued to the day he was seized with his last illness to discharge the duties of a faithful and upright patriot in the service of his country.’
“Thomas Nelson, a Virginian, commanded militia and served as governor during the Revolution. He reportedly instructed artillery men to fire at his own house in Yorktown when he heard the British were using it as a headquarters. Nelson used his personal credit to raise money for the Patriot cause. His sacrifices left him in financial distress, and he was unable to repair his Yorktown home after the war.
“Thomas Heyward, Arthur Middleton, and Edward Rutledge, three South Carolina signers, served in their state’s militia and were captured when the British seized Charleston. They spent a year in a St. Augustine prison and, when released, found their estates plundered.
“Such were the prices paid so we may celebrate freedom every Fourth of July.”
(Source: The American Patriot’s Almanac by William J. Bennett and John T. E. Gribb.)
Also, on this date in 1776, “The Continental Congress, meeting at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after voting to adopt the Declaration of Independence, went on to approve the following: ‘Resolved, that Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adams and Mr. Jefferson, be a committee, to bring in a device for a seal for the United States of America,’ thus beginning the history of the Great Seal of the United States on the first day of independence. The seal was not designed and used until 1782.”
(Source: Chase’s 2026 Calendar of Events.)
Tuesday, July 4, 1826: Two hundred years ago today, “Former United States Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day, which was the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Adams had once written to Jefferson, in 1813: ‘You and I ought not to die before we have explained ourselves to each other.’ They thus began a spirited correspondence until their deaths. Adams’s last words: ‘Thomas Jefferson still survives.’ Jefferson’s last words: ‘This is the Fourth?’”
(Source: Chase’s 2026 Calendar of Events.)
Thursday, July 4, 1901: One hundred and twenty-five years ago today, The Comet informed readers of several short news items. Some of them follow: “Mr. H. L. McMonigle and family will leave the last of this month for Portland, Oregon, to make their future home. This is a good family, and we regret to lose them.”
“Will R. King, auditor of the Cumberland Telephone Company, stopped off over Sunday to visit homefolks. He was on his way to Bristol to audit the office there.”
Bristol, Tennessee is about 24 miles from Johnson City. It is north, and very slightly east, of Johnson City.
“The Unaka National Bank is now doing the business formerly done by the Banking & Trust Company. It is only a rose by another name. The change occurred July 1st.”
“A heifer belonging to J. D. Weaver went mad last week and died near the Carnegie woods. It is supposed to have been driven mad by looking at the Builtless Granaries and being unable to get it.”
Carnegie was, and still is, a neighborhood in Johnson City.
“Rev. Wm. M. Caldwell and Miss Edith Bentley were married on June 26th at Clayville, N. Y. Will’s baseball friends here hope he has made the ‘hit of his life.’”
“The little daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Weiler, Winnie Mae, fell from the brick wall around the residence of R. J. Lusk Tuesday and had her left forearm broken. She is now doing as well as could be expected.”
“Little Blanche, the infant daughter of Mr. and Mrs. D. W. Shipley, died last Sunday morning after an illness of two weeks with flux. The remains were buried Monday in the family graveyard about two miles north of the city.”
“Flux” was the term used for what we know as dysentery today.
“Architect C. G. Mitchell has about completed the drawings for the addition to be built to Science Hill school building. The new portion will be 96 x 80 in the clear and two stories high. It will be built in front of the present building and will be an ornate structure.”
The Comet was an early newspaper in Johnson City, published weekly, every Thursday.
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