April 19, 2011              This all played out at a  lunch at Craft & Commerce in downtown San Diego on the corner of Beech and Indio Streets with Richard Page and Mike Weaver.  It’s a new gastro pub in Little Italy in a very old building with an English pub-African safari theme.  The furnishings were […]

As I was pulling together For The Vernons, I reminisced about my brushes with brothers James and  Livingston Taylor. The Guitar Regift I’ve been a huge admirer of James Vernon Taylor ever since he released his monster album, Sweet Baby James in 1970. I’ve entertained myself and a few others with my covers of many […]

James E. Birch-California’s Stagecoach King James Birch stood out among the crowd of passengers and well-wishers assembled on the pier at Vallejo Street wharf in San Francisco. Thursday, August 20, 1857, was a beautiful, warm, sunny day as the 491 passengers began to board the steamship SS Sonora on the first leg of their journey […]

The Paradine Case Movie Caper: 1948 Rose Bowl USC vs Michigan My wife, Hilary, and I went to the 2019 Holiday Bowl at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium with fellow USC alumni, my uncle Stan Case, and his son Dave.  The USC Trojans were soundly beaten by the Iowa Hawkeyes, but everything else was great, including […]

Introduction and Dedication Capt. Hiram Burt (1812-1866) Hiram Burt was born on November 3, 1812, in Taunton, Bristol County, Massachusetts, to Enos Burt (1760-1822) and Hannah Haskins (1774-1843).  He was the second youngest of 10 siblings and had 5 brothers and four sisters.  His father and grandfather, Captain Jacob Haskins, were both soldiers with the […]

Introduction Hannah Gauntt is enshrined in the legend and lore of Newberry, South Carolina for the bravery she exhibited during the American Revolution.   A woman of “Amazonian” size and strength, Hannah exemplified the courage and toughness of the pioneer women who staked out a living in what was then the thinly settled hinterlands of the […]

The Vietnam War is a bad memory that has faded over time for many of us who were young adults when the conflict was raging in a full-throated roar. By 1968, 500,000 American soldiers were stationed in Vietnam.   50,000 had been killed in action.  Multiples more wounded in body and mind. Martin Luther King was […]

Introduction Many wouldn’t know the middle name of singer-songwriter-Music Hall-of-Famer- James Taylor is Vernon.   I was particularly pleased to discover this rather obscure fact because my name is Vernon, although I’ve always gone by Casey.  James’ younger brother Livingston doesn’t have a middle name, as far as I know.  Nor did his uncle, Livingston Vernon. […]

[Note:   This is far from a complete Vernon Family Tree.  It tracks the direct lineage to the Taylor siblings.  In the author’s experience, the reliability of the accuracy of a family tree wanes after the 5th generation.  However, in this case, based on research of similar family trees on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.com, there is more […]

Greetings- I hope 2024 is off to a good start.  For Christmas I got some new, beautiful titanium pieces for my neck.  I also traded in some that weren’t playing nice with my “born-with” parts. It’s like a strange necklace you can’t see.   Recovery is intentionally slow the first couple of months, but we’re getting […]