Samuel  MacCrea

Timeline
 

1900 - Jan 1 12:00:23 Birth of Samuel! New York, NY

1904 - His company completed their work on the subway, Simon MacCrea moves his family to France, his ties to the US Steel and similar works allows a flourishing construction company to grow and complete much of the initial tunnels under Paris.

1905 - His partnership with George Peabody II from London is cemented.  Peabody was the ousted son of JP Morgan's original partner and predecessor and broke off when GP the first died leaving the chair of the company to JP Morgan. Peabody-MacCrea Construction Co. has great success in the Continent and England. The MacCrea's travel around Europe spending time in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and Great Britan for the next four years.

1909 - The draw of the fortunes of the Standard Oil Co. and the general unrest in Belgium at the time lead the families of Peabody-MacCrea to head back to the United States. They choose Hartford Connecticut as home base.

1910 - despite the problems along the Texas-Mexico border, the oil business continues to grow. Speculating that the oil fields are not entirely located in the southern areas, MacCrea begins to purchase large areas of farmland and pastures in Oklahoma, Colorado, Montana, Louisiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. Family homes are set up in Colorado Springs, Chicago, New Orleans and Great Falls.

1911 - Standard Oil is ordered to breakup. The new is no great loss to Peabody-MacCrea, and the company snaps up a number of the splinter holdings that were once Standard. Captializing on the oil strikes in their own land holdings in Colorado and Louisiana, they expand into railroad, using past experiences in constuctiona and steel to good use.

1912 - Franklin Peabody, (George's twin) dies from small pox.

1913 - Devastated by the loss of Frankie, the families move back to Europe and business concentrates on a new front: ship building.   Peabody-MacCrea become financial partners in a number of British ship building companies, including the White Passenger lines. Simon MacCrea is confident that their influences can prevent further disasters like the Titanic from happening again. Back in the states, the Louisiana holdings that don't have large oil production, are turned to tobacco plantations. As well, the construction and steel factions complete work on the Woolworth building.

1914 - Still not ready to return to the US, and with most of Europe embroiled in the great war, Peabody-MacCrea focus on Northern Africa, spending time in Egypt and Morocco building railroads and sewer systems in the larger cities.

1916 - After their family home is destroyed in the hills outside Verdun, Samuel and Oliver sign up with the British Royal Air Force. Samuel lies about his age to join up. George refuses citing business interests he has taken over in the states. The two young men are part of the same squardon and spend most of the year fighting along the western front.   Peabody-MacCrea focuses interests in the States, the families move back, George III following to take up some of the mantle held by his father following a heart attack and stroke leave the elder Peabody paralyzed and wheelchair bound.

1917 - When Verdun is won, they are transferred to Belgium. Oliver is killed in the raid over Ypres where Samuel is shot down as well. This is the first mission that Samuel lost his plane, having successfully flown 53 missions without a personal loss, including a string of 22 straight missions over France without an injury. Hardened by the double loss of his childhood friend and his SE5a plane, Samuel, now known as "Buckshot" spends a few months convalescing and then fighting with the Belgian resistance before returning to the RAF.

1918 - Buckshot is sent back to Northern Africa to fight the Germans there.  Stationed in Morroco, he flies a series of missions whose goal is the destruction of the spy zeppelins the Germans use for marking troop placement and movement. After the war, Buckshot spends some time in the area working as a translator and traveller, not ready to go back to the States and face his father or join the business.

1919 - The MacCrea's move the family homestead to Northern Colorado, in semi-retirement, Simon starts up a Bison ranch, letting George Peabody III to run most of the Peabody-MacCrea empire from New York.  Buckshot returns to the States in time for Thanksgiving dinner on the ranch. He allows his father to convince him to spend time working the herds and living among the stars. Buckshot is quite taken by the majestic beauty of the unblemished country side, and spends a couple of years on the ranch, before the wanderlust takes hold again.

1921 - George III graduates from Harvard, an impressive feat considering he worked nearly full time with Peabody-MacCrea as the COO.

1922 - Even with 30,000 square miles to cover, Buckshot finds it isn't enough. He leaves home to travel with a roving Rodeo show as the resident trick-shot artist. He gets the job from a series of shooting bets in Kansas City Missouri: Buckshot bets that he can shoot the most "hearts out of a card". The two marksmen line up a number of paces from a wall covered with the 13 playing cards all in the Hearts suit. In numerical order each man must shoot all the heart images on the playing cards, then step one pace backwards. First man to miss a heart loses. Buckshot won at the Six of hearts when his opponent missed, but continued, much to the amazement of the crowd, until the Nine of Hearts, where he missed the last heart. For a brief time he was called the "44 Magnum Kid" due to the fact that he had made 44 clean shots in a row during that bet.

1924 - George Peabody II dies from a stroke, George III takes over Peabody-MacCrea officially as CEO, Simon steps back to silent partner, offering his advice on long term strategies, projects, and expansion without having a seat on the board. Simon allows George III to cast his vote for the 36% of the company stock he has, effectively giving George complete controll with a 72% voting share. George III is the youngest CEO in the United States at the time, at age 25.  Buckshot and George meet again for the first time in nearly eight years at the funeral in New York city.  The two young men rekindle their childhood friendship after bringing eachother up to date on the latest news. George is stunned with the adventurous tales Buckshot has from his travels and tribulations, but even more stunning to him is the fact that Buckshot has almost no interest in eventually taking over from his father as a partner in Peabody-MacCrea. Due to Buckshot's lack of interest in the contruction business, George turns to a Harvard buddy, Robert Moses to head up his new pet project: the Long Island State Park Commission.

1925 - Buckshot continues to hone his skills as a marksman with the traveling Rodeo. During a two year span, he succeeds in visiting every one of the forty-eight States.

1927 - While traveling between shows in South Dakota, Buckshot's trailer is struck by lightning, the ensuing explosion, fires, and confusion lead many to suspect that he is dead. No body was ever found, and a number of his personal items were thought to be missing as well during the investigation of the accident.

1928 - rescued from the fire and lightning storm, Buckshot spends the next few years living with a wandering band of rogue Lakotans. The indians refuse to enter the reserved lands the government has set for them, preferring instead to live as "criminals" free off the lands.  Buckshot joins them learning their language and culture and coming to fuller understanding of his longtime afination with animals.

1931 - Buckshot mysteriously appears on the front porch of his family homestead in northern Colorado. All evidence points to him simply walking up to the house, but none of the farm hands can recall seeing him in the fields or pastures prior to that morning.  He takes up crop dusting as a means of distraction and employment, though in reality he needs no income. Mostly this is another way for his wanderlust to become satiated.

1932 - Buckshot wins a spot on the US Olympic team as a marksman. and wins two gold medals in Los Angeles, one in Skeet shooting and one in Target. He never misses in the competition for Skeet shooting, hitting a consecutive 133 pigeons. As part of the National press coverage, his record with the RAF in the Great War is mentioned. Scandalous rumors about his falsifying records to join up early are quickly and anonymously squelched.