Important+People

Pennsylvania has many people who have made a huge impact on the state and it's people so here are a few and their stories.

The first person I'm going to talk about is a woman named Elizabeth Jane Cochrane. Elizabeth was born in Cochran Mills, PA, in 1867. When she grew up she became a reporter. As a reporter she wrote about what was true, not about the obvious. However, that's not the only reason she is an important person. When she was younger she had some formal schooling, which is very rare, especially for a girl! Nevertheless she did! She got her first job when she was 18 years old. The reason how she got it is phenomenal. After the editor printed and artical, entitled "What Girls are Good For," Elizabeth wrote him an angry letter. The editor was so impressed that he gave her a job. While writing for the newspaper called the Pittsburgh Dispatch, Elizabeth wrote under a pen name which was Nellie Bly. She chose this name from a song by Steven Foster called "Nellie Bly." Later on in life, she left the Pittsburgh Dispatch and joined the New York World newspaper. While there she went undercover and acted as if she was an insane person. The reason for this was to see what happens at the institutions with their patients. After she published that story there was an investigation of the asylum. she did the same thing with severl more things like prisons, sweatshops and legislatures. Also, while working for the New York World, there was a contest to see who could guess the exact amount of time it would take her to sail arcoss the world. Her guess was 72 days. On November 14, 1889 she left, and she started writing about what it was like and how lonely it was. When she got back it took a total of 72 days, 6hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds. She passed away in 1922

The next person is highly know for his research on electricity, Benjamin Franklin. Ben was born in Boston in 1706,and moved to Philadelphia in 1723. There he became a printer along with many other things like an inventer, writer, a scientist and a salesman. He got involved with freedom and independence because of his older brother James. Ben was James apperntice while he was a printer. He said James was harsh and tyrannical treatment of me might be a means of impressing me with that aversion to arbitrary power that has stuck to me through my whole life. Around 20 years later he joined the independence effort in Philadelphia. He signed the Declaration of Independence and helped write the Constitution then signed it.Benjamin also was the first for the following: Pennsylvania coin, political cartoon, United States postage stamp, esablished the first volunteer firefighter association, and more. He passed away in 1790 and his dying words were "A dying man can do nothing easy."



The last person I'm going to talk about is a woman named Rachel Carson. She was born in Springdale, PA in 1907. Rachel was a writer, scientist and ecologist. She was hired to write radio scripts during the Depression.However, in her free time she wrote books. One of them was about post World War II geographical and oceangraphical evidence on the life and work under the sea. another book was abouthow some chemicals hurt the enviroment. She studied widlife at Hawk Mountain. Rachel was attacked by some in government and chemical idustry as an alarmist. Nevertheless, she spoke her mind and reminded us about the effects we have on the ecosystem. Which changed the ways humankind viewed the world and the things that live in it. Unfortunately, after a long fight against breast cancer she passed away in 1964.