On This Day

February 1820 in History

Events in History

  • Feb 6 1st organized emigration of blacks back to Africa (NY to Sierra Leone)
  • Feb 6 US population announced at 9,638,453, African Americans 1,771,656 (18.4%)
  • Feb 6 First 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society start a settlement in present-day Liberia
  • Feb 23 Cato Street conspiracy uncovered, attempt to murder British Prime Minister Earl of Liverpool and Government Ministers

Birthdays in History

  • Feb 1 George Hendric Houghton, American Protestant Episcopal clergyman (d. 1897)
  • Feb 2 Hans E Schack, Danish politician/writer (Phantasterne)
  • Feb 3 Elisha Kent Kane, US Arctic explorer (Kane Basin off NW Greenland)

Person of interestDoc Durant

Feb 6 Doc Durant [Thomas C. Durant], American financier and railroad promoter (Transcontinental Railroad-Union Pacific), born in Lee, Massachusetts (d. 1885)

Financier and Railroad Promoter Doc Durant
Financier and Railroad Promoter
Doc Durant

Person of interestWilliam Tecumseh Sherman

Feb 8 William Tecumseh Sherman, American Major General in the Union Army, born in Lancaster, Ohio (d. 1891)

Union General William Tecumseh Sherman
Union General
William Tecumseh Sherman

Person of interestSusan B. Anthony

Feb 15 Susan B. Anthony, American social reformer and women's suffrage movement leader, born in Adams, Massachusetts (d. 1906)

Suffragette Susan B. Anthony
Suffragette
Susan B. Anthony
  • Feb 17 Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau, Catholic cardinal (d. 1898)
  • Feb 20 Mahlon Dickerson Manson, American druggist politician and General (Union Army), born in Piqua, Ohio (d. 1895)
  • Feb 28 John Tenniel, English cartoonist and illustrator (Punch, Alice in Wonderland), born in London, England (d. 1914)

Deaths in History

  • Feb 14 Charles F, Duke of Berry, murdered at 42
  • Feb 14 Cosme Argerich, Argentine physician and founder of the Medicine School of Buenos Aires, dies at 61
  • Feb 15 Pierre-Joseph Cambon, French member of Committee of Salut Public, dies at 63
  • Feb 15 William Ellery, US attorney (signed US Declaration of Independence), dies at 92
  • Feb 16 Georg Carl von Döbeln, Swedish Lieutenant General and war hero, dies at 61
  • Feb 29 Johann Joachim Eschenburg, German literary critic (b. 1743)