Events in History
Event of Interest
Jan 6 Naturalists Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland reach Quito, Ecuador
Alexander von Humboldt
Election of Interest
Napoléon Bonaparte
- Jan 26 Congress passes an act calling for a US Capitol library
- Jan 29 John Beckley of Virginia appointed first Librarian of Congress
- Feb 2 1st leopard exhibited in US, Boston (admission 25 cents)
- Feb 8 Simon Willard patents banjo clock
- Mar 16 Law signed to establish US Military Academy (West Point, NY)
- Mar 16 US Army Corps of Engineers established (2nd time)
- Mar 25 Great Britain and the French Republic sign the Treaty of Amiens
- Mar 28 Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers discovers 2 Pallas, the second asteroid known to man.
- Apr 8 French Protestant church becomes state-supported & -controlled
Event of Interest
Apr 15 William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy see a "long belt" of daffodils, inspiring the former to pen "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud".
- May 3 Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city
- May 19 French Order of Legion d'Honneur forms
- Jun 4 Grieving over the death of his wife, Marie Clotilde of France, King Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia abdicates his throne in favor of his brother, Victor Emmanuel
- Jun 9 US Academy at West Point founded
- Jun 15 Toussaint L'Ouverture leaves Haiti, prisoner on French ship Héros
- Jul 4 US Military Academy officially opens (West Point, NY)
- Jul 7 1st comic book "The Wasp" is published in Hudson, New York criticizing Republican politicians
- Aug 2 Napoleon declared "Consul for Life"
- Aug 7 Napoleon orders re-instatement of slavery on St Domingue (Haiti)
- Aug 25 Toussaint L'Ouverture imprisoned in Fort de Joux, Jura, France
- Sep 11 France annexes the Kingdom of Piedmont.
- Oct 10 1st non-Indian settlement in Oklahoma
- Nov 1 Delegates meet at Chillicothe, Ohio, to form a state constitutional convention.
- Dec 2 Britain sells Suriname to the Netherlands
Birthdays in History
- Jan 3 Charles Pelham Villiers, British House of Commons member (d. 1898)
- Jan 6 Ion Heliade-Radulescu, Romania, author/novelist/writer (Gramatica)
- Jan 13 Eduard von Bauernfeld, comedic playwright, born in Vienna, Austria
- Jan 19 [Jean] Silvain van de Weyer, 1st Belgium min of Foreign affairs (1831)
- Jan 22 Richard Upjohn, American gothic architect (Trinity Chapel, NY)
- Jan 31 Jan C J van Speijk, Dutch naval hero
- Feb 2 Jean-Baptiste JD Boussingault, French chemist
- Feb 4 Mark Hopkins, American educator/philosopher (Williams College)
- Feb 11 Lydia Maria Child, American author, journalist and abolitionist (Juvenile Miscellany), born in Medford, Massachusetts (d. 1880)
- Feb 16 Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, American philosopher (d. 1866)
- Feb 19 Wilhelm Matthias Naeff, Swiss Federal Councillor (d. 1881)
- Feb 21 George Douglas Ramsay, Brevet Major general (Union Army), born in Dumfries, Virginia (d. 1882)
Victor Hugo
Feb 26 Victor Hugo, French author (Hunchback of Notre Dame, Les Miserables), born in Besançon, France (d. 1885)
Victor Hugo
- Feb 27 William George Frederick Cavendish Bentinck, Lord George Bentinck
- Mar 16 George Archibald McCall, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1868)
- Mar 24 Jacob van Lennep, Dutch poet and novelist
- Apr 4 Dorothea Dix, American social activist, born in Hampden, Maine (d. 1887)
- Apr 12 Francis Libermann, French religious leader (Congregation of Heart), born in Saverne, France (d. 1852)
- Apr 13 Leopold Fitzinger, Austrian zoologist (d. 1884)
- May 6 Friedrich Wilhelm Schirmer, artist
- May 15 Isaac Ridgeway Trimble, Major General (Confederate Army), (d. 1888)
- Jun 2 Adrian van der Hoop Jr, Dutch poet/critic
- Jun 12 Harriet Martineau, controversial journalist, political economist, abolitionist and life-long feminist (d. 1876)
- Jul 1 Gideon Welles, Secy Navy (Union), (d. 1878)
- Jul 9 Thomas Davenport, invented 1st commercial electric motor
- Jul 21 David Hunter, American Major General (Union Army), born in Troy, New York (d. 1886)
Alexandre Dumas
Jul 24 Alexandre Dumas, French author (The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo), born in Aisne, France (d. 1870)
Alexandre Dumas
- Jul 26 Winthrop Mackworth Praed, English politician and poet, born in London, England (d. 1839)
- Jul 26 Mariano Arista, President of Mexico (1851-53), born in San Luis Potosí, Mexico (d. 1855)
- Aug 2 Nicholas Patrick Stephen Wiseman, 1st archbishop of Westminster
- Aug 5 Niels H Abel, Norwegian mathematician (Abel's Comparisons)
- Aug 13 Nikolaus Lenau, Hungarian German poet (Faust, Die Albigenser)
- Aug 14 Letitia Elizabeth Landon, England, poet (Heath's Book of Beauty)
- Aug 20 Cadwalader Ringgold, Commander (Union Navy), (d. 1867)
- Sep 4 Marcus Whitman, missionary, led to US securing Oregon
- Sep 6 Alcide d'Orbigny, French naturalist, born in Couëron, France (d. 1857)
- Sep 13 Arnold Ruge, German philosopher and writer (d. 1880)
- Sep 19 Louis Kossuth, Hungarian President of Hungary (1849)
- Sep 24 Adolphe d'Archiac, French paleontologist and geologist (d. 1868)
- Oct 8 Peter Hofstede, the Great, Dutch reformed theologist
- Oct 16 Isaac Murphy, Governor of Arkansas (1864-68) (d. 1882)
- Oct 25 Joseph Montferrand, French-Canadian logger and strong man, born in St. Lawrence, Montreal (d. 1864)
- Oct 26 Miguel I, King of Portugal (1828-34), born in Palace of Queluz, Sintra, Portugal (d. 1866)
- Nov 9 Elijah Parish Lovejoy, American newspaper publisher and abolitionist, born in Albion, Maine (d. 1837)
- Nov 14 August F Pott, German philologist (Etymology Forschungen)
- Nov 19 Solomon Foot, American politician (d. 1866)
- Nov 20 James Lawrence Lardner, Comm (Union Navy), (d. 1881)
- Nov 29 Wilhelm Hauff, German writer, born in Stuttgart (d. 1827)
- Dec 2 Melancthon Smith Wade, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Cincinnati, Ohio (d. 1868)
- Dec 15 Janos Bolyai, Romania, mathematician (non-Euclidean geometry)
- Dec 27 Thomas Fearnley, Norwegian landscape painter
Weddings in History
Wedding of Interest
Oct 4 English romantic poet William Wordsworth (32) marries childhood friend Mary Hutchinson
Deaths in History
- Feb 2 Welbore Ellis, 1st Baron Mendip, British statesman (b. 1713)
- Feb 26 Esek Hopkins, American Revolutionary War admiral and Commander in Chief of the Continental Navy, dies at 83
- Apr 18 Erasmus Darwin, English physician writer and botanist (grandfather of Charles Darwin), dies at 70
- May 2 Herman Willem Daendels, Dutch statesman (b. 1762)
Martha Washington
May 22 Martha Washington, 1st US First Lady (1789-97), dies at 70
Martha Washington
- Jul 6 Daniel Morgan, American soldier and politician (Battle of Cowpens, Whiskey Rebellion), dies at 66
Marie Francois Xavier Bichat
Jul 22 Marie Francois Xavier Bichat, a founder of histology, dies from falling down stairs at 30
Marie Francois Xavier Bichat
- Aug 3 Henry DFL, prince of Prussia/general/diplomat, dies
- Aug 10 Aepinus, [Franz UT Hoch], German physician/physicist, dies at 77
- Sep 24 Alexander Radishchev, Russian writer, commits suicide by drinking poison at 53
- Sep 26 Baron Jurij Vega, Slovenian mathematician and military officer (b. 1754)
- Nov 12 Charles van Poucke, Flemish sculptor, dies at 62
- Nov 16 André Michaux, French botanist, dies at 56
- Dec 31 Francis Lewis, Welsh/US merchant/signer (Declaration of Independence), dies at 89