Charlotte Bridgwood

AKA:
Charlotte Dunn Bridgwood, Lotta Lawrence, Lotta Bridgwood
Birth Name:
Charlotte Dunn
Birth Date:
August 18, 1861
Birth Place:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Death Date:
August 20, 1929
Place of Death:
Hollywood, California
Age:
68
Cause of Death:
Unknown
Cemetery Name:
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Claim to Fame:
The Odd and the Interesting
Associates:
Charlotte Bridgwood patented the first electrically powered windshield wiper in 1917, improving previous manually-operated wipers such as the one patented by Mary Anderson in 1905. However, her wiper used rollers rather than blades and did not catch on. She was also the mother of silent screen star Florence Lawrence (a.k.a The Biograph Girl) who followed her mother in inventing automotive accessories.

Fun Fact

In October 1917, Charlotte received a patent for the first automatic windshield cleaner.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Hollywood Forever Cemetery

6000 Santa Monica Blvd.

Los Angeles, California, 90038

USA

North America

Map:

Map of Hollywood Cemetery in Los Angeles, California
Map of Hollywood Cemetery in Los Angeles, California

Grave Location:

Chapel Columbarium, 2nd floor, UWW, Tier 3, Niche 2

Grave Location Description

From the main entrance take the first right and the Chapel Columbarium will be on your right. Enter the main chapel. Charlotte Bridgwood’s grave is at the top of the stairs, the second niche on the left at the stairwell.

Grave Location GPS

34.0902533455, -118.3208711428

Visiting The Grave:

Photos:

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Read More About Charlotte Bridgwood:

Videos Featuring Charlotte Bridgwood:
10 Women That Changed Automotive History
The Windshield Wiper: A Female Innovation
The Life and Sad Ending of Florence Lawrence - The First Movie Star

See More:

Chang and Eng Bunker

popular name: Chang and Eng Bunker

date_of_death: January 17, 1874

age: 62

cause_of_death: Chang: cerebral blood clot/Eng: unknown

claim_to_fame: The Odd and the Interesting

best_know_for: Chang Bunker and Eng Bunker were Siamese-American conjoined twin brothers whose fame led to the term "Siamese twins" to become synonymous for conjoined twins in general. They were first pair of conjoined twins whose condition was well documented in medical records. Eng and Chang Bunker were connected at the chest by a five-inch-wide band of flesh, and performed as curiosities world-wide. After retiring from performing, they settled in Mount Airy, North Carolina, bought a farm, and took up farming. They became naturalized citizens, adopting the surname Bunker, and in April 1843 they married a pair of sisters, Adelaide and Sarah Yates. Chang Bunker died on January 17, 1874, from a cerebral blood clot and his brother Eng Bunker died three hours later.

Friederike Hauffe

popular name: Friederike Hauffe

date_of_death: August 25, 1829

age: 27

cause_of_death: Unknown - multiple health issues

claim_to_fame: The Odd and the Interesting

best_know_for: Friederike Hauffe was a German mystic and somnambulist. She suffered from convulsions, and fell into spontaneous trances. Frederike claimed to have communicated with spirits and experienced visions, and she was made famous by the physician Justinus Kerner who examined her at Weinsberg in 1826. Kerner recorded alleged instances of clairvoyance and prophetic dreams. She drew with tremendous speed perfect geometrical designs in the dark, used the divining rod with great skill, exhibited disturbances of a poltergeist character, and communicated extraordinary revelations from the spirit world.

Mary E. Hart

popular name: Mary E. Hart

date_of_death: October 15, 1872

age: 47

cause_of_death: Unknown

claim_to_fame: The Odd and the Interesting

best_know_for: As the story goes, at 48 years old Mary E. Hart, as she was known in life, “just drops to the floor” one day at midnight. Believing her dead, her family had her buried at Evergreen Cemetery the very next day. However, one night her aunt has a terrible nightmare that Mary’s not actually dead. The aunt eventually convinces the family to exhume the body, and when they open the coffin, they find Mary’s nails bloodied from scratching and a petrified look on her face as if she died of asphyxiation. Legend has it that she may of just suffered a stroke when she fell to the floor, her family not realizing she was still alive. So now urban legend has it that Midnight Mary haunts Evergreen Cemetery and will curse anyone with certain death if they are found in the graveyard at midnight or caught desecrating her grave.

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