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americangirlstar · 3 years ago

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American Girl Birthdays - updated through 03/18/2023

I got inspired by @addywalkerstan‘s quick analysis of AG birthdays and wanted to see 1) when every confirmed birthday was relative to each other, and 2) when the unconfirmed bdays could potentially be.

All of the Historical characters and a few Contemporaries have confirmed birthdays, either in the books or via American Girl’s social media. Here is my list of confirmed birth months and dates; under the cut will be speculation on the Unknowns.

Confirmed Dates:

January 01 - Melody Ellison (1954)

February 12 - Courtney Moore (1976)

February 28 - Ivy Ling (1966)

March 03 - Marie-Grace Gardner (1843)

March 18 - Blaire Wilson (2009)

March 19 - Josefina Montoya (1815)

April 04 - Rebecca Rubin (1905)

April 09 - Addy Walker (1855)

April 10 - Maritza Ochoa (2008)

April 11 - Alice Nanea Mitchell (1932)

April 14 - Joss Kendrick (2010)

April 21 - Felicity Merriman (1765)

April 22 - Molly McIntire (1934)

May 01 - Julie Albright (1966)

May 05 - Claudie Wells (1913)

~May 06-08 - Tenney Grant (2005) [sources under the cut!]

May 07 - Maryellen Larkin (1945)

May 15 - Luciana Vega (2006)

May 19 - Kit Kittredge (1923)

May 22 - Nicki and Isabel Hoffman (1990)

May 26 - Samantha Parkington (1895)

May 28 - Cécile Rey (1843)

June 08 - Kirsten Larson (1845)

July 14 - Evette Peeters (2008)

August 14 - Lea Clark (2005)

~August 15 - Kaya’aton’my (1755)

August 22 - Ruthie Smithens (1923)

August 25 - Makena Williams (2008)

September 13 - Kira Bailey (2010) AND Corinne Tan (2011)

September 17 - Grace Thomas (2005)

September 29 - Emily Bennett (1933)

September 30 - Kavi Sharma (2010)

October 08 - Saige Copeland (2003)

October 15 - Nellie O’Malley (1895)

October 22 - Caroline Abbott (1802)

November 5 - Elizabeth Cole (1765)

~November 8 - Isabelle Palmer (2004) [sources under the cut]

no confirmed birthdays for December

Isabelle Palmer Birthday: born Autumn 2004; she is nine in Isabelle, which takes place at the beginning of the school year, and she is ten in Designs by Isabelle, which ends around Winter Break. Isabelle states in Chapter 4 of Designs that her tenth birthday was the week before the book began. There are still “a few weeks” before the performance in December, so her birthday is late Autumn, likely late October–early November.

However, back in 2014, Isabelle’s actress Erin Pitt did make a post on November 8 2014, reading “Happy birthday Isabell![sic] I’m so glad I could spend that time with you.” [x] Not sure if she was referring to the girl she’s taking a picture with or the character, but considering Pitt was there with an Isabelle doll, Nov 8 is a likely date!

Speculated Dates:

Now, here’s how I’m going with speculation: I’m going to negate the time period in which the girls’ books take place, as their birthdays would have been mentioned. Gwen, Sonali and Logan could be exempt from this since they had no books from their POV, but this is speculation, not fact, so let’s go.

Lindsey Bergman - born 1991. Her book takes place during the school year, seemingly not winter, so likely Spring or Autumn. I wasn’t quite sure if her story took place during the beginning or end of the school year, which would help decode whether it was Spring or Autumn; if anyone knows send me a message. Otherwise, her birthday is likely in Summer or Winter. Though, personally, I think it would be cute if her birthday was September 01, since she was first released on that date in 2001.

Kailey Hopkins - born 1993. Her book takes place during the summer of 2003, so her birthday is likely during Spring, Autumn or Winter.

Marisol Luna - born 1995. Her book takes place from October 22-29 2005, so her birthday is not within those dates.

Jess McConnell - born 1996. Her book begins in January; Sarita is on school break, so it’s probably her winter break? So Jess was born anytime but mid-January.

Nicki Fleming - born 1997. Her series takes place from Spring to Autumn 2007, with a break over Summer and with the story ending around December 2. However, there is a break between November 2 and December 2, in which Nicki’s twin sisters age a month. Nicki’s specific age is not mentioned in the second book, so her birthday could be Summer, November 3-December 1, or later in Winter.

Mia St Clair - born 1998. Her first book takes place roughly in the autumn and ends in early January; her second book takes place the next autumn. So she’s likely a Spring, Summer or late Winter (late Jan-Feb) birthday.

Chrissa Maxwell, Gwen Thompson, Sonali Matthews - born 1999. Their story takes place during the Spring of 2009, around Valentine’s Day (February 14) and the beginning of the Autumn 2009 school year. The Minnesota 2009 school year ended at about June 30, 2009, and began again Tuesday August 25. So birthdays could be before February 14, during the Summer, late Autumn or Winter.

Lanie Holland - born 2000. Series takes place from Spring through Summer 2010, so her birthday is likely in Autumn or Winter.

Kanani Akina - born 2001. Series takes place over the Summer of 2011, so her birthday is likely in Spring, Autumn or Winter.

McKenna Brooks - born 2002. Her first book begins in September, with her gymnastics meet in November. Her second book begins two months before “March-fest,” which would put it in January. I doubt she has a December birthday as her aging up would have been mentioned, but it’s still possible. McKenna was born anytime between April–August or (unlikely) December.

Gabriela McBride - born 2006. Her series takes place June 23-November 11 2017. Her birthday could be any date but those.

Tenney Grant and Logan Everett - born 2005/2004 respectively. Theirs ended up being really complicated so see below.

Suzanne “Z” Yang - born 2004. Series takes place April 3 to Mid-Summer 2017, so her birthday could be January-April 2 or in Autumn/Winter.

Gwynn Tan - born 2015. Corinne’s first book takes place in the Winter, likely November as Corinne and Gwynn are in school and Winter Break is not mentioned. It does take place over several weeks, so perhaps November to early December? The second book takes place at the beginning of spring, so late March; we then have a camping trip that is at the beginning of Summer, and a three-month timeskip afterwards to the end of Summer. Gwynn could have been born January–early March, April–early May, mid-Summer or September–October.

Tenney and Logan information:

According to her journal, Tenney begins Saturday October 1 2016 and ends Monday November 14 2016, throughout which she is definitely twelve.

Tenney: In the Key of Friendship picks up March 4 2017 and ends May 2-5 2017; her journal stops at May 5 but the plot of In the Key ends at about May 2. Tenney is still twelve during this period (Chap.11 of In the Key)

Tenney Shares the Stage is still during the school year, and my research shows the 2016-17 school year ended in Nashville at ~May 25, so Shares the Stage is sometime in May. Logan is fourteen by this point (Chap.1)

A Song for the Season, meanwhile, takes place early November to December, with Chapter 1 being “already November”, and the tour taking place “six weeks” later, the “day after school lets out for winter break” and ending on Christmas. From what I can tell, Winter Holidays in Nashville schools went from roughly December 18 2017-January 2 2018. The six-week date was given to Tenney on a Wednesday, which would put that day at about November 8, and the beginning of the book was just a few days before, on a day before a school day, so I believe it was a Sunday, so that would be the 5th. Tenney and Logan’s ages are not stated in this book.

Logan’s birthday is not from November ~5 to December 25. Since he could be 13 in In the Key, it’s hard to tell if he was born anytime from March to May, but he was fourteen before ~May 6. He and Tenney were not friends by the third book so he likely wouldn’t have mentioned his birthday previous to it, however she did know he was fourteen by Shares the Stage, so I presume at some point she asked someone. So his birthday is before ~May 6, or sometime from roughly May 25–November 5.

Tenney’s birthday, meanwhile, may be easier to find. Because her journal was given to her for her birthday, as stated from a note at the beginning of the book. Tenney’s first entry is on the 9th, though it doesn’t mention her birthday, and neither does the end of her journal on the next May 5. Tenney’s birthday is somewhere between May 6-8.

#american girl #american girls #american girl dolls #beforever #girl of the year #world by us #birthdays #mine #americangirlstar

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kaileeandag · 5 years ago

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American Girl: Where Are They Now?

I wonder “What did the historical characters do when they grew up?” So,here’s what I think.

Kaya: becomes a famous warrior after inheriting the name Swan Circling. Contracts Yellow Fever in 1804 and passes away soon after, at the age of 50.

Felicity Merriman: becomes owner of her father’s shop when she was 20. Marries Benjamin Davidson at the age of 18, once the war is over. Passes away peacefully in her sleep in 1854, at the age of 89. Via adoption, her descendant is comedian Tommy Davidson.

Elizabeth Cole: becomes a schoolteacher. Is arrested in 1795 and executed for treason in 1796 at the age of 31.

Caroline Abbott: at the age of 25, becomes a ship captain. Passes away in childbirth five years later, leaving her daughter to be raised by her father.

Josefina Montoya: opens her own imports store in 1855 with the help of her nephews. Never has children and never marries, passing away in her sleep in 1900 at the age of 85.

Kirsten Larson: thanks to her teacher Miss Winston, chooses to become a teacher. Later becomes an advocate for better travel conditions for immigrants in honor of her friend Marta. Passes away at the age of 99 in 1943 surrounded by her family.

Cecile Rey: becomes a nurse along with Marie Grace. Passes away in 1930 at the age of 75 due to complications from Pneumonia.

Marie Grace Gardener: works as a nurse along with Cecile. Contracts Yellow Fever in 1872, but survives. Passes away in 1935 at the age of 90 due to Alzheimer’s Disease.

Addy Walker: becomes a schoolteacher. She never has children, but sees her nieces and nephews, as well as her students, as her children. Writes a book called Running In The Night, publishing it in 1917. Passes away in her sleep at the age of 93 in 1948.

Samantha Parkington: thanks to her aunt Cornelia’s influence, she becomes a suffragist. Votes for the first time in the 1924 Presidential election. Also becomes an advocate for open adoption sometime in the 1960s. Marries her rival Eddie Ryland in 1918, with whom she has two daughters, Deborah in 1931 and Sarah in 1941. Passes away at the age of 88 in 1983.

Nellie O’Malley: speaks out against child labor and advocates for safer work conditions after her adoptive parents Cornelia and Gardner approve of the idea. Is the only one of her siblings to make it to old age, after Jenny passes away in 1930 due to Breast Cancer and Bridget is killed in a car accident in 1920, although her niece survives the accident, and William passes away in 1945 after a sudden heart attack. Appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in 2000 to discuss her cousin/adoptive sister Samantha’s legacy. Passes away at the age of 105 on September 11, 2001, hours prior to the attacks on the World Trade Center. Nellie’s son Joshua passed away in 1977 at the age of 50 due to Lung Cancer, while her daughter Jennifer (born in 1930) is still living at the age of 90.

Rebecca Rubin: becomes a famous actress, making her speaking debut in the 1933 adaptation of King Kong. Her final on-screen appearance is in the 1997 Kirsten Dunst and Britney Murphy film The Devil’s Arithmetic, playing a Holocaust survivor. Marries classmate Otto Geller and has one child with him, son David in 1931. David becomes an actor himself in the early 1960s, his career spanning 55 years prior to his passing in 2015. Passes away in October 2002 at the age of 97. Considered one of the most prominent Jewish-American actresses of all time.

Kit Kittredge: becomes a reporter in the late 1940s, with her first major article being about Joseph McCarthy’s attempt to purge Communism from the country. She criticizes McCarthy in the article, feeling he is fear mongering. Marries Will Shepherd in 1945 when he returns from combat after the end of World War II. After struggling to have children for close to fourteen years, they adopt twin children Justin and Augusta in 1961. Will and Kit become grandparents when their daughter gives birth to a daughter named Amelia in 1990 and when Justin’s son Skylar and daughter Olivia are born in 1992. Retires from journalism in 2010, but comes out of retirement temporarily following the Ferguson Missouri protests in 2014. Passes away at the age of 94 in 2017.

Will Shepherd: manages to make enough money so that he can bring his family to Cincinnati. Is drafted into the Army following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He promises to marry a now adult Kit if he returns home safely, a promise he ends up keeping. Upon his return, he attends college, graduating with his degree in History in 1950. Works as a high school History teacher until his retirement in the early 1990s. When he becomes a grandfather, he dotes on his grandchildren, always taking them to the movies when he is able to do so. Passes away on January 4th, 2019, at the age of 103.

Ruthie Smithens: becomes a nurse, being sent overseas to help injured Allied soldiers during the last year of World War II. Marries Stirling Howard prior to him being shipped off to war, having his daughter Heather in 1943 when he is away. Is diagnosed with Breast Cancer in 1978, but survives. Eventually, she passes away in 1995 at the age of 72 due to a lung fungus called Aspergillosis.

Nanea Mitchell: becomes an advocate for the rights of Japanese-Americans following the end of World War II. Marries her friend Lily Suda’s older brother Gene in 1952 and has twin children Thomas and Sarah with him in 1965. Later becomes a Hawaii state senator in 1980, despite her opponent’s efforts to discredit her because of a meeting she had with former Emperor Showa (Hirohito) to discuss peace between America and Japan. Becomes very popular in Japan due to her advocacy for the rights of Japanese-Americans, becoming an honorary citizen of Tokyo in the late 1980s. Meets with double atomic bomb survivor Tsutomu Yamaguchi in 2006. Passes away three days after her 88th birthday, on April 14th, 2020, due to natural causes.

Molly McIntire: becomes a lawyer in 1950. Becomes known in the Chicago area after being asked to defend John Wayne Gacy during his trial. Is shot into the national spotlight after Ron Goldman’s family hires her to work for them during the OJ Simpson trial. Marries Howie Munson in 1950, their marriage lasting for 16 years prior to their divorce in 1966. Molly and Howie move to England in 1963 and after the divorce, Howie moves back to the States, leaving Molly to raise their 2 year old son Austin. Becomes a grandmother when Austin’s wife gives birth to a daughter named Taylor in 1992 and son Richard in 1993. Molly moves back to Illinois in 1976 with a now 11 year old Austin, settling in Chicago. Becomes a United States Senator in 1996 and votes for senator Barack Obama in the 2008 and the 2012 presidential elections.

Emily Bennett: upon her finishing secondary school, attended college in order to become a teacher. Gives birth to a son named Albion on July 4th, 1964, the same day that Molly gives birth to her son Austin. Emily raises Albion as a single mother due to the father abandoning her shortly after her son’s birth. Moves to Chicago in 1983, reuniting with Molly after she moved back to the States. Publishes a series of children’s books about her friendship with Molly starting in 1988. Her grandson Alastair is born on September 14th, 1992. She publishes an autobiography in 2017, appearing on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah to promote it. Alastair drew the cover of the book, which depicts Molly and Emily as children sitting under an oak tree.

Maryellen Larkin: marries classmate Davy Fenstermacher in 1963 following her high school graduation. Her motive is believed to be that she doesn’t want Davy to fight in Vietnam, so she chose to marry him so he wouldn’t be drafted. Their son Thomas is born in 1965 and when Thomas is in 5th grade, Maryellen goes to college in order to get her degree. She becomes a special education teacher, working for 31 years prior to her retirement in 2011. Her choice to allow her students to take part in mainstream classes such as choir confuses her co-workers. However, this becomes the norm following the passing of the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1990. Her granddaughter Vanessa is born in July 1992 and due to her being her only grandchild, she spoils her rotten.

Melody Ellison: attends medical school, earning her medical license in 1983 at the age of 29. Gives birth to her only child Donna Summer Ellison on January 15th, 1992, on what would have been Martin Luther King Jr.’s 63rd birthday. Her daughter was conceived via In-Vitro Fertilization. Adores her only child and her various nieces and nephews. Is going to retire as a doctor in 2022, at the age of 68.

Julie Albright: wants to become a basketball player, but she is unable to due to the WNBA not existing until 1996. Becomes a professional wrestler in 1987 at the age of 21. She marries classmate T.J. Jefferson in 1989, during the few months she had off. Retires temporarily in April 1992 following the birth of her twin children Rachel Tracy Joyce and Damien Thomas Daniel. Her daughter’s middle names come from her aunt Tracy and maternal grandmother Joyce Albright, while Damian’s middle names come from his father and maternal grandfather Daniel Albright. Returns to pro wrestling in 1995, working with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) until its closure in 2001, retiring permanently soon after. When she was away wrestling, her children would stay with her sister Tracy, Tracy’s husband Mike Stenger, and Julie’s nephew Jonah (born 1988) and niece Aubrey (born 1992.) Becomes an advocate for the rights of LGBT individuals after her son Damian comes out as gay in his Junior year of high school and her nephew Jonah comes out in 2006, during his Senior year of high school.

Ivy Ling: works as a special education teacher until 2003, when she becomes a stand up comedian. She says that her primary influence for pursuing a career in stand up was Margaret Cho. Her daughter Julie was born in November 1991 and was named after her best friend Julie. Her daughter even inherited the nickname ‘Alley Oop’ from her honorary aunt.

Let me know what you guys think! This is just what I think happened.

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desertdollranch · 5 years ago

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Make a pomander ball with Felicity

Winter is the season for fresh citrus, and Felicity is in the kitchen with me today to help me with this easy, fun craft project: a pomander! In the picture above, she’s holding the clove-studded orange to show you what the finished project will look like. And after I tell you exactly why she and I are making these, we will show you how make your own.

This project comes from Felicity’s Craft Book, which was part of the line of kid’s craft books made by Pleasant Company in the 1990s. Many of the projects are geared towards older children, but this is one of my favorites from the book that has stood the test of time. For the past decade or so, I’ve made new pomanders every year from an orange studded with cloves, and hung them up in all my closets. They work nicely as natural air fresheners during the coldest parts of winter when all my windows stay closed. The book says “its spicy scent will last for years” but I find that a fresh one becomes necessary after a year or so.

The book doesn’t say much else about pomanders, so I looked into it a bit more on my own, and it’s actually very interesting to know why this was included in the book at all. The word “pomander” comes from the French phrase “pomme d’ambre”, which means “apple of amber”. This refers to its origins as an ambergris-scented apple (or sometimes other fruit). Ambergris is a strongly-scented substance produced in the intestines of whales, similar in purpose to how oysters produce pearls to soften an irritant. Ambergris starts off smelling awful, but as it ages takes on a sweeter and more mellow scent.

For this project, though, we’ll be using other materials more easily obtained, and not for the same purpose that Felicity used them.

In Felicity’s time, pomanders, tussie-mussies (another project from the book consisting of an herb and flower bouquet) and other strongly-scented items were used as a protection against bad smells, insects, and illness. Felicity’s Craft Book states that colonists visiting sick friends would bring along a pomander to smell so as to avoid becoming sick themselves. They knew most illnesses were contagious, but had incorrect ideas of why they were contagious, attributing it to miasmas, or contaminated vapors that carried foul air. Protection against the “bad air”, foul smells, and airborne particles from decomposing organic matter was necessary to guard against disease.

In the 18th century, the spread of disease was poorly understood. Bacteria had first been observed with a microscope by Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek a hundred years previous to Felicity’s stories, and the medieval Arabs had begun to theorize about how it happened. But it wasn’t until the late 1800s that people were able to establish a definitive connection between viruses and bacteria as public health risks.

Felicity and other colonists also would have had only folk medicine as treatment for infectious diseases--some of which worked, some of which did nothing, and some of which made the patient sicker. Using leeches to treat inflammation and infection (as seen in Felicity’s short story, “Felicity Takes a Dare”) was a common remedy that was sometimes dangerous or unhelpful. Some natural remedies had antibiotic properties, but either were unreliable or were not effective when taken internally.

The discovery of penicillin wouldn’t happen until 1928. Since then, infectious diseases have become much less of a threat than they were before, with many being almost entirely wiped out thanks to modern antibiotics. But in the 18th century, folk remedies like pomanders were all the colonists had to fight against the constant and looming threat of dying from a common disease.

You might think that wasting valuable and somewhat expensive citrus on a pomander ball wouldn’t be something that a middle-class family like the Merrimans would have done. Oranges weren’t as common in Virginia as other fruits, like apples; Felicity’s Craft Book states that citrus fruits were usually imported from the Caribbean, although certain wealthier colonists in Williamsburg had greenhouses in which to grow citrus.

But, as it turns out, both oranges and cloves make a very effective insect repellent. Flies hate the smell of cloves, and mosquitoes and ants hate the smell of citrus. It’s not as effective as some modern repellents, but it is certainly better than nothing in a world where death in unexpected ways and by unknown means was always lurking. And the colonists certainly had experience with insect-borne diseases, such as yellow fever. They may not have understood HOW their pomanders worked, but that they DID work.

You probably don’t need a pomander for the same reasons that Felicity did. As for me, I live in an area without mosquitoes, and the flies are all dead by winter, so I don’t need the powers of insect repellent. I like smelling the spicy, sweet scent of cloves and orange when I open any of my closets. It keeps the air from smelling stale and dusty.

Instructions after the cut.

Here is what you need:

An orange

A length of ribbon

A nail

Cloves (you’ll need a lot)

Cinnamon (also an effective repellent for many insects, including ants). If you don’t like the smell of cinnamon, you use ground ginger, nutmeg or allspice.

Tie the ribbon around the orange, gift-wrap style, and knot it at the top.

Leave excess ribbon; you’ll be hanging this up to dry.

Use the nail to poke holes into the orange’s skin, following along the ribbons as a guide.

Fill the holes you made with cloves.

Do this along each section of ribbon.

It looks very pretty if you use the cloves to make patterns on the sides.

Poke a few extra holes into the skin. Then start stuffing the holes with cinnamon to give it a stronger smell.

Sprinkle the whole orange with cinnamon and shake off the excess.

Then it’s ready to hang up!

Choose a dark, dry closet, and hang it from a clothes hanger. It’ll take a few weeks to dry completely, but when it does, the scent will last a long time.

It’ll look like this when it’s dry:

#american girl dolls #felicity merriman #felicity's craft book #crafts #doll crafts #history #felicity's outfit: homemade dress made from Colonial Elegance pattern by Fashioned by Rebecca

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