Personal Details

Born	April 28th, 1889
Birthplace	Kewanee, IL, USA
Baptized	No Entry
Baptized at...	No Entry
Baptized by...	No Entry
Baptized in...	No Entry
Occupation(s)	Mechanical engineer, genealogist, salesman, manager, soldier
Died	No Entry
Died at...	No Entry
Cause of Death	No Entry
Burial Place	No Entry
Disposition	No Entry

Parents

Father	[1037]	James Knox Blish, (***) 8
Mother	[1037_sb]	Amy Mason (Rhodes) Blish 8

Spouses, Mates & Children

Wife #1 [1323_sa] - Mildred (Daniels) Blish 9 Married by: No Entry Married at: West Hartford, CT, USA Children by this spouse: I [1380G]+ Matthew (Rhodes) Blish, Jr. 10 b. June 6th, 1920 c. September II [1380H]+ Jane (Blish) Teaze 10 b. February 1st, 1923 c. May

Immediate Family Tree

Gen. 9	Gen. 8	Gen. 7	Gen. 6	Gen. 5
Matthew Rhodes Blish, M.S., E.E.	James Knox Blish, (***)	Charles Cheney Blish, (***)	Colonel Sylvester Blish, (***)	Deacon Thomas Blish, (***)
				Prudence (Hubbard) Blish
			Rhoda (Cheney) Blish	Timothy Cheney
				Rhoda (Skinner) Cheney
		Elizabeth Potter (Bonar) Blish	Matthew Bonar	? Bonar
				? (?) Bonar
			Catharine (Cosner) Bonar	? Cosner
				? (?) Cosner
	Amy Mason (Rhodes) Blish	Albert Rhodes	? Rhodes	No Entry
				No Entry
			? (?) Rhodes	No Entry
				No Entry
		Ann Elizabeth (Read) Rhodes	? Read	No Entry
				No Entry
			? (?) Read	No Entry
				No Entry

Personalized History Timeline, 1889 to 1989

1837-1901: Reign of Queen Victoria (Hanover) from before birth until age 12 1881-1896: 5th Cholera pandemic from before birth until age 7 1889-1892: Benjamin Harrison president of US from age 0 to age 3 1889: North Dakota enters the union - 39th at age 0 1889: South Dakota enters the union - 40th at age 0 1889: Montana enters the union - 41st at age 0 1889: Washington enters the union - 42nd at age 0 1889: Holerith invents the punch card at age 0 1890: Oklahoma organized as a territory at age 1 1890: Idaho enters the union - 43rd at age 1 1890: Wyoming enters the union - 44th at age 1 1890: Battle of Wounded Knee at age 1 1891: Mormon prophesy of 'coming of lord' by 1891 unfulfilled at age 2 1893-1896: Grover Cleveland president of US from age 4 to age 7 1893-1897: US Financial panic, depression from age 4 to age 8 1893: Movies at age 4 1893: Nikola Tesla invents Radio (not Marconi!) at age 4 1893: New Zealand is 1st to grant women right to vote at age 4 1894-1895: Chinese-Japanese war (1) from age 5 to age 6 1894: Plague in Hong Kong and China - 1 million die at age 5 1896: Supreme court approves separate but equal segregation at age 7 1896: Utah enters the union - 45th at age 7 1897-1901: William McKinley president of US from age 8 to age 12 1898: Spanish American 1-year war at age 9 1899-1923: 6th Cholera pandemic from age 10 to age 34 1899-1902: Boer war from age 10 to age 13 1900: Hawaii organized as a territory at age 11 1900: Galveston Hurricane - 8,000 killed at age 11 1900: Boxer rebellion in China at age 11 1901: Oil discovered in Texas in significant amounts at age 12 1901: Commonwealth of Australia founded at age 12 1901-1910: Reign of King Edward VII (Saxe-Coburg) from age 12 to age 21 1901-1908: Theodore Roosevelt president of US from age 12 to age 19 1901: US President William McKinley assassinated at age 12 1901: Max Planck formulates the Laws of Radiation at age 12 1901: Third law of thermodynamics postulated (W. H. Nernst) at age 12 1901: First British submarine launched at age 12 1903: Nikola Tesla patents logic gates at age 14 1903: Airplane at age 14 1904-1905: Russian-Japanese war from age 15 to age 16 1904: Radar at age 15 1907: Oklahoma enters the union - 46th at age 18 1907: Plastic at age 18 1908: Tunguska atmospheric object explosion at age 19 1909: North pole reached by Matthew Henson of Robert Peary's exp. at age 20 1909: Union of South Africa formed at age 20 1909-1912: William Howard Taft president of US from age 20 to age 23 1910: Halley's Comet at age 21 1910-1936: Reign of King George V (Windsor) from age 21 to age 47 1910: Japan annexes Korea at age 21 1911: South pole reached by Roald Amundsen at age 22 1912: New Mexico enters the union - 47th at age 23 1912: Arizona enters the union - 48th at age 23 1912: Alaska organized as a territory at age 23 1912: Titanic sinks at age 23 1913-1920: Woodrow Wilson president of US from age 24 to age 31 1914: The Bra at age 25 1914-1919: World War I from age 25 to age 30 1915: Einstein's Theory of Relativity at age 26 1916: Sonar at age 27 1916: Irish Easter Rebellion at age 27 1917: US enters WWI at age 28 1917: Russian revolution at age 28 1918-1933: Prohibition from age 29 to age 44 1918-1920: Flu epidemic - 25 million plus die from age 29 to age 31 1919: Shortwave Radio at age 30 1919: League of Nations instantiated at age 30 1920: Palestine established at age 31 1920-1929: Roaring 20's from age 31 to age 40 1920: Women receive right to vote in USA at age 31 1921-1924: Warren G Harding president of US from age 32 to age 35 1922: Insulin made available to diabetics at age 33 1925-1928: Calvin Coolidge president of US from age 36 to age 39 1925: Scopes trial on Evolutionary Theory at age 36 1926: Sound in Movies at age 37 1927: Holland Tunnel opens (New York City) at age 38 1927: 1st transAtlantic solo flight - Lindbergh at age 38 1928: Video Recordings at age 39 1928: Penicillin discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming at age 39 1928: Geiger Counter at age 39 1928: Television at age 39 1929: Stock Market Crash at age 40 1929-1932: Herbert Hoover president of US from age 40 to age 43 1929-1939: Great Depression from age 40 to age 50 1930: Pluto Discovered at age 41 1931-1933: Chinese-Japanese war (2) from age 42 to age 44 1933: Armstrong invents FM modulation at age 44 1933: Radio Astronomy at age 44 1933-1945: Franklin D Roosevelt president of US from age 44 to age 56 1933: Soviet communist party purge at age 44 1934: Longshoreman's strike - 35,000 on strike for 83 days at age 45 1935-1936: Abyssinian war from age 46 to age 47 1935: Dustbowl at age 46 1936: Reign of King Edward VIII (Windsor) at age 47 1936-1952: Reign of King George VI (Windsor) from age 47 to age 63 1936: Spanish Civil War at age 47 1936: Helicopter at age 47 1937: Nylon (by DuPont) at age 48 1937-1945: Chinese-Japanese war (3) from age 48 to age 56 1938: Germany annexes Austria at age 49 1939-1945: World War II from age 50 to age 56 1939: Aircraft Jet Engine invented (by Ohain) at age 50 1939: Digital Computer at age 50 1940: 1st black general in US army at age 51 1940: Color Television at age 51 1941-1945: Manhattan Project from age 52 to age 56 1942: Nuclear Reactor at age 53 1942: Magnetic Recording Tape at age 53 1945: Hypertext at age 56 1945: US drops the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at age 56 1945: United Nations formed at age 56 1945-1952: Harry S Truman president of US from age 56 to age 63 1946: The Bikini at age 57 1946-1989: The Cold War from age 57 to age 100 1947: India and Pakistan emerge from ex-British India at age 58 1947: UN partitions Palestine to Jewish and Arab sections at age 58 1947: Transistor at age 58 1948: NATO formed at age 59 1948: Arabs attack Israel on the day it is inaugurated at age 59 1948: Israel inaugurated as state at age 59 1948: 33 1/3 rpm musical recordings at age 59 1949: Soviets detonate first nuclear bomb at age 60 1949: Apartheid policy in South Africa at age 60 1949: 45 rpm musical recordings at age 60 1950-1954: McCarthyism from age 61 to age 65 1950: World pop. est. at 2.4 billion at age 61 1950-1953: Korean War from age 61 to age 64 1950: Bunche 1st black to win Nobel Peace Prize at age 61 1951: Electricity from Atomic Power at age 62 1952: 1st Thermonuclear Device Detonated at age 63 1952-2050: Reign of Queen Elizabeth II (Windsor) from age 63 until after line end 1953-1960: Dwight D Eisenhower president of US from age 64 to age 71 1954: Racial segregation in schools ruled unconstitutional at age 65 1955: Invention of Velcro at age 66 1955: Warsaw pact formed at age 66 1955: Introduction of Salk Polio Vaccine at age 66 1955: Fiber Optics (by Kapany) at age 66 1956: Ocean liner Andrea Doria collides with the Stockholm, sinks at age 67 1957: Sputnik Launched - 1st (artificial) satellite at age 68 1958: Stereo LP recordings come into usage at age 69 1958: FM Stereo Broadcasts at age 69 1958: Integrated Circuit at age 69 1958: US space agency (NASA) established at age 69 1959: Hawaii enters the union - 50th at age 70 1959: Alaska enters the union - 49th at age 70 1959: 1st nuclear powered merchant vessel, Savannah at age 70 1960: 1st weather satellite (Tiros I) at age 71 1960: World subsurface circumnavigation by US sub Triton at age 71 1960: Pantyhose at age 71 1960: Laser at age 71 1961: First human in space - Yuri Gagarin at age 72 1961-1963: John F Kennedy president of US from age 72 to age 74 1961: 1st US manned spaceflight - Alan Shephard at age 72 1961-1970: 7th Cholera pandemic from age 72 to age 81 1962-1965: Vatican II from age 73 to age 76 1962: Cuban missile crisis at age 73 1963: 1st artificial heart at age 74 1963-1968: Lyndon B Johnson president of US from age 74 to age 79 1963: Compact Cassette Recordings at age 74 1963: Pres. Kennedy Assassinated at age 74 1964-1975: Vietnam War from age 75 to age 86 1964: US civil rights bill at age 75 1965: 1st spacewalks (US, USSR) at age 76 1965: Blacks riot in Watts neighborhood, Los Angeles at age 76 1966: 1st soft landings on moon (US, USSR) at age 77 1966: 8-track tape players at age 77 1967: 1st human heart transplant at age 78 1967: Marshall 1st black supreme court justice at age 78 1967: Six day war: Israel-Arabs at age 78 1967-1970: Nigerian civil war from age 78 to age 81 1967: Physicist John Wheeler coins the term Black Hole at age 78 1968: Martin Luther King assassinated at age 79 1968: Robert Kennedy assassinated at age 79 1969: Moon Landing - Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin at age 80 1969-1974: Richard M. Nixon president of US from age 80 to age 85 1969: Woodstock Music Festival at age 80 1970: Nat. Guard murders 4 students at Kent State at age 81 1970: Microprocessor at age 81 1971: Intel ships 1st uProcessor: the 4004 at age 82 1971: Pakistani civil war at age 82 1973: The Internet at age 84 1973: October war (Israel-Arabic nations) at age 84 1974-1976: Gerald Ford president of US from age 85 to age 87 1974: Pres. Nixon resigns in disgrace at age 85 1975: Byte Magazine, issue #1 - September at age 86 1975: Ebola virus appears - 90 percent lethal at age 86 1975: The 1st home computer: The Altair 8800a at age 86 1976: Whites accept principle of black majority rule in S. Africa at age 87 1976: American Bicentennial at age 87 1976: Television begins satellite delivery at age 87 1976: VHS Video Recordings at age 87 1977-1980: James Earl Carter Jr president of US from age 88 to age 91 1977: Neutron bomb at age 88 1978: Laserdisc video recordings at age 89 1978: 1st test-tube baby at age 89 1978: Jonestown religious group mass suicide - 913 people die at age 89 1979: Three Mile Island nuclear event at age 90 1979: Margaret Thatcher 1st Woman Prime Minister in UK at age 90 1980: Mount St. Helens Erupts at age 91 1981: 1st space shuttle flight - Columbia at age 92 1981: IBM PC ships at age 92 1981-1988: Ronald Reagan president of US from age 92 to age 99 1981: 1st female supreme court justice at age 92 1982: 1st genetically engineered product - insulin at age 93 1983: Bluford 1st black in space at age 94 1983: Pioneer 10 leaves the solar system at age 94 1983: Compact Disks at age 94 1984: HIV determined to be cause of AIDs at age 95 1984: Apple Macintosh Ships at age 95 1985: Amiga Computer Ships at age 96 1986: Shuttle Challenger explodes at age 97 1986: Halley's Comet at age 97 1986: Chernobyl power plant melts down at age 97 1986: Mir space station deployed at age 97 1987: 2000th satellite launched: USSR's Cosmos at age 98 1988: Turin shroud precisely carbon dated to 1330 AD - shroud is a hoax at age 99 1989: Powell is 1st black chairmain joint US chiefs of staff at age 100 1989: Pons and Fleischmann claim cold fusion at age 100 1989: Fall of Berlin Wall at age 100 1989-1992: George Bush president of US from age 100 until after line end 1989: US Invades Panama, topples Noriega at age 100 1989: Breakup of the Soviet Union at age 100

Additional Information

Matthew Rhodes Blish received his early schooling in the grammar and high schools of Kewanee, Illinois. He then entered the University of Michigan in the department of mechanical engineering and graduated in the class of 1911 with the degree of B.S.E. In June 1912 he received the degree of M.S.E. from Michigan. During his college career he was active in student government work and in his fifth year served as president of the Michigan Union. He became a member of several campus societies and of the national fraternities, Beta Theta Pi, Tau Beta Pi and Sigma Xi. On graduation he entered the employ of the Sullivan Machinery Co., Claremont, N.H. and Chicago, Illinois, being located at Chicago in the general sales department from January 1913 to April 1917 and at Denver, Colorado as district Manager until October, 1917, when he was called into service in World War I. Upon discharge in December 1918 he entered the employ of the Liberty National Bank, (since New York Trust Co.) New York, N.Y. in the industrial department. Nine months in 1919 and 1020 were spent in Scandinavian countries on a survey of industrial conditions. From 1924 to 1941 he was with the American-Canadian Properties Corp. as general manager and later as secretary-treasurer at New York, N.Y. until January 1927 and from then to 1941 at Bridgeport, Connecticut. Since July 1941 until his retirement in April 1954 he was in the employ of the Dictaphone Corporation, Bridgeport, Connecticut as Production Control Supervisor and later as Plant Engineer. He served in World War I as Captain of Ordnance at Washington, D.C., Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Aberdeen, Maryland and finally at Saybrook, Connecticut as Commanding Officer of a Proving Ground for Anti-Aircraft guns. Since December 1927 he has made his home in Fairfield, Connecticut. He has served as Deacon of the Congregational Church, as president of the Boy Scout Council, Family Welfare Society, and the Rotary Club of Bridgeport, as treasurer and Chairman of the blood program of the Fairfield Chapter, American Red Cross and as a member for eleven years of the Fairfield Police Commission.