Important Events in 1843
- Feb 1 Oldest continuous writer of insurance in America - The Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York (MONY) opens
- May 22 1st wagon train with 700 - 1000 migrants, departs Independence, Missouri for Oregon
- Jul 19 The steamship SS Great Britain is launched, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, is the first ocean-going craft with an iron hull or screw propeller and the largest vessel afloat in the world
More Historical Events
1843 in Music
- Jan 2 Richard Wagner's opera "The Flying Dutchman" premieres in Dresden
Did You Know?
"A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens is published, 6,000 copies sold
On December 19, 1843
Famous People in 1843
Charles Dickens
NovelistGiuseppe Verdi
Composer
World Leaders in 1843
John Tyler
10th US PresidentRobert Peel
British Prime Minister
Would You Believe?
An alligator falls from sky during a thunderstorm in Charleston, South Carolina
On July 2, 1843
Famous Weddings in 1843
- Feb 6 Frontiersman Kit Carson (33) weds Josefa Jaramillo (14) at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church
- Apr 23 Samuel Gridley Howe, American physician and educator, marries Julia Ward, American poet and author
- Jun 19 Philosopher Karl Marx (25) weds Jenny von Westphalen in Germany
More Weddings & Divorces
1843 in Articles and Photos
The General, The Schoolgirl, And The Famous One-Word Despatch
A magazine hailed General Charles Napier’s battlefield despatch as the finest since Roman times, but it was in fact the work of a clever schoolgirl.
February 17, 1843The Day an Alligator Fell from the Sky
Newspaper cutting fom the Times-Picayune on the day an alligator fell from the sky
July 2, 1843SS Great Britain
A painting of the launch of SS Great Britain, by Joseph Walter
July 19, 1843