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Famous Wynerians from the Republic of Wyneries
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Dowd, Ian (1827-1911)
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Ian Dowd was one of the "Original Dozen" whose estates would be subdivided into the lots that became
the City of Sherwood. His homestead, at a convenient near-midway point between Newchester and Newhaven,
became a meeting point for government and a capitol district, the Grapeshire Preserve (similar to the District
of Columbia in America), was was eventually established as the seat of government; nearly a third of the
Preserve was purchased from Dowd, who had been granted 1,000 acres at the southwest junction of the West Fork
and the main artery of the River Robin.
Dowd served on the Sherwood City Council on four separate occasions and served as Senator twice. He
served as Mayor of Sherwood once and during the final 16 years of his life was President of the Commission on
the Preservation of National History.
Dowd became quite wealthy from his real estate deals but his original homestead site remained quite
original and primitive while the city of Sherwood grew up modern and affluent around it. Today, the site is
an historic one, deeded to the nation for historic preservation.
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Flash, Jack (1944-present): Current ROW Prime Minister (since 2002)
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Jack Flash was born a year after the Japanese abandoned ROW during World War II. He was raised in a
"never again" household that placed great emphasis on defence; before the war his parents had, like most
Wynerians, been pacifistic and were easily occupied and humiliated by the Japanese. Jack Flash attended public
school initially, but upon reaching "the age" was sent to a private military academy where he excelled. He
graduated, was commissioned and went to the National Academy where he obtained a higher degree in engineering.
Flash served in the Marines and retired unexpectedly while his file was being considered for Brigadier. He
then returned to university and studied economics, government and law. He obtained no new degrees but
evidently obtained what he sought, for after three years of study he left university and ran for the Senate
as a POD (Party of Defence) candidate. Despite no real party backing or national recognition, he only
narrowly lost. This raised serious eyes in the POD hierarchy and he was appointed to the National Research
Office as Deputy Director, despite having no formal experience in science or technology. He proved, however,
to be a capable manager and administrator and after six years at NRO the POD supported him for the Senate.
He was elected handily.
Flash served three terms in the Senate before making a successful bid for POD leadership. He thus
became a rather junior leader of the Senate and when a new President was elected in 2002 he was named to the
Prime Ministry. His tenure at Number 10 Dowd Street has been punctuated by his support of the United States
in the War on Terror and by his support of advanced defense technologies.
The PM is married, has three sons and two Springer Spaniels. His middle son is serving in the Army
in Afghanistan.
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Gallo, Ernie (1816-1899): first President of ROW, founder and owner of largest winery
in ROW
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Original organizer of the two-ship migration party for California that ended up settling Rockland and
founding the Republic of Wyneries, E. Gallo was a famous winemaker who studied reports of California and was
interested in establishing vineyards in the Sonoma and Napa Valleys north of San Francisco even before the
discovery of gold at Sutters Mill. The Gold Rush provided the impetus as he feared the unsettled valleys
would be soon over-run and the land unavailable to agriculture. His leadership in caring for the ship-wrecked
settlers, organizing scouting and mapping parties, and in administering the allocation of scare resources
during those early years in Rockland made him an obvious choice as first President of the Republic.
Despite a lifetime of service to the new nation, E. Gallo still managed to build the largest and most
prosperous winery in ROW, although he relied on his younger brother Jules to manage the estate for long periods
on end.
E. Gallo died on August 4th, 1899 on the evening of his 83rd birthday. He choked at dinner while
attempting to swallow a whole hard-boiled goose egg.
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Gallo, Jules (1820-1906): first Prime Minister of ROW
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Younger brother of Ernie Gallo, Jules was the brawn where Ernie was the brains. Instrumental in the
early years for helping shape the form, workings and ethic of the Government, he served as PM only six years
and then retired to run the combined estates of the two Gallos, building them into a dynasty still unmatched
in the world today.
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Himmel, Joseph (1836-1894)
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German citizen shanghaied at Bremerhaven and impressed into British naval seaman's service aboard the
HMS Staleworthy. Himmel jumped ship as HMS Staleworthy left Newchester Harbor on December 2nd, 1858. The
British sent ashore a detail of Royal Marines to fetch seaman Himmel. When Rockland's settlers refused to
hand him over, the Marines attempted to take him by force and two settlers were killed, an incident known as
the "Newchester Massacre" which led directly to "The Founding," the declaration of The Republic of Wyneries.
Himmel later married Laura Dorling and established Dormel Fabrics Mill in Millford. He founded the Wyneries
Millers' Guild in 1867, served as its president for 11 years, and also served four 2-year terms on the
Millford City Council. He ran successfully for mayor in 1890 but resigned after only three months in office
when his wife died of consumption. His seven children and 39 grandchildren attended his funeral three and a
half years later following a natural death.
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Lukus, Linus (1821-1888): originator of "The Great Fertility"
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Linus Lukus and his family of seven were granted 1,012 acres, which he named Prancing Horse, northwest
of where the city of Overwatch grew. There, in 1862, he collected huge quantities of seaweed washed ashore and
spread them to dry on a barren lava flow to see if it might serve him as emergency fodder for his few livestock
during the winter. Unaware of his plans, two of his workers scattered stable droppings over the drying seaweed,
ruining it for its intended purpose. But the combination composted and formed a thin layer of rich soil.
Lukus then experimented, improved and speeded up the process. Indeed, he developed a method still used
today by every landowner in ROW, although industrial composting is done on a huge scale and creates more
fertile land per year than all the individual efforts combined. However, because of Linus Lukus, a largely
barren land of thousands of lava flows, known aboriginally as "the land of rock and more rock", has become
transformed into a land of vineyards and wineries.
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Murphy, Walter "Shallow Water" (1806-1891): Captain of P.S. Grounding,
Superintendent of Grapeshot Naval Academy, First Admiral of ROW Navy
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Captain of Passage Ship Grounding which, on the night of December 11th, 1849 was blown by gale
winds into Wretched Rocks (followed by sister ship P.S. Battenkill) on the southwestern coast of an
uninhabited land, leading directly to the stranding of all passengers and crew and the settling of the land
they called "Rockland." Captain Murphy organized the initial defense of the settlement(s) and, after the
Republic of Wyneries was declared on Christmas eve 1858 he was appointed Admiral and charged with founding and
commanding a navy.
Admiral Murphy established Grapeshot Naval Academy on the northern point overlooking Newhaven Harbor,
where the city of Pointe now stands. Classes were held in a tent for 39 students for two years while the first
permanent building was being constructed. Murphy himself attended half the classes. He taught the other half.
He trained his naval officers well, anticipating the day when ROW would actually have ships to sail, but also
recognized his navy was grounded and so also trained them as Marines. In 1864 the ROW received the frigate
HMS Staleworthy as reparations for the "Newchester Massacre" and renamed it RS Intrepid (RS
stands for Republic Ship). It served as the model for seven future Intrepid-class ships built locally in ROW.
Admiral Murphy designed a brigantine, smaller than a frigate, for coastal and even river operations, the first
of which bore the name RS Landing and therefore is referred to as the Landing-class brigantine.
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Zwick, Samuel
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First person convicted in Rockland of an imprisonable offense, to wit, "For felling a quantity of
living trees (six) beyond his personal, permittable allotment and without authorization to participate in
communal woodcutting activities." Sentenced to two years incarceration in jail, but no jail existed, so Zwick
spent two years living in a tent while quarrying stone and constructing a jail he never spent a night in. The
six trees Zwick cut down beyond his personal allotment were used for the roofing and framing of the jail,
which originally housed two prisoners and a jailer and was slowly expanded to house eight prisoners, sleep a
jailer, and contained a small kitchen and armory. It is preserved in Landing as the "old wing" of the City
Enclosure.
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This section is still under construction. Please check back in a few weeks....
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