Events in History
- Jan 1 1st edition of New Rotterdam's Daily (3x per week)
- Jan 15 University of Notre Dame receives its charter in Indiana
- Jan 25 Recontre between Reps Weller & Shriver, US House of Representative
- Feb 3 Hector Berlioz' "Carnaval Romain" premieres in Paris
- Feb 4 World's oldest known Bible, "The Codex Sinaiticus" (Sinai Bible), is discovered or stolen in Egypt by Constantin von Tischendorf
- Feb 14 Lt. John C. Frémont becomes first European to discover Lake Tahoe in the US
- Feb 27 Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti (National Day)
- Feb 28 12-inch gun aboard USS Princeton explodes, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Secretary of the Navy Thomas Gilmer, and other high-ranking U.S. federal officials
- Mar 8 King Oscar I ascends to the throne of Sweden-Norway
- Mar 21 Origin of Baha'i Era-Baha'i calendar starts here (Baha 1, 1)
- Mar 21 The original date predicted by William Miller of Massachusetts for the return of Christ and the end of the world
- Mar 28 Jose Zorilla's "Don Juan Tenorio" premieres in Madrid
- Apr 12 Texan envoys sign Treaty of Annexation with the United States
Presidential Convention
May 1 Whig convention nominates Henry Clay as presidential candidate
Henry Clay
Historic Communication
May 24 Samuel Morse taps out "What hath God wrought" in the world's first telegraph message
Samuel Morse
- May 25 1st telegraphed news dispatch is published in Baltimore Patriot
Event of Interest
Jun 6 Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) formed by George Williams in London
George Williams
Historic Invention
Jun 15 Charles Goodyear patents the vulcanization of rubber
Charles Goodyear
Event of Interest
Aug 8 Brigham Young chosen as head of Mormon Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) following the death of Joseph Smith
Brigham Young
Event of Interest
Oct 1 German explorer Ludwig Leichhardt departs Jimbour, the farthest outpost of settlement on the Queensland Darling Downs, to begin his exploration of Australia's Northern Territory from Moreton Bay to Port Essington
Ludwig Leichhardt
Election of Interest
Dec 4 James Knox Polk elected 11th US President
James Knox Polk
Birthdays in History
- Jan 7 Marie-Bernarde Soubirous, [St Bernadette of Lourdes], saint/visionary
- Jan 16 Ismail Qemali, Albanian nationalist (d. 1919)
- Jan 30 Moritz von Bissing, German gov-gen of Belgium (1914-17), born in Ober Bellmannsdorf, Prussia (d. 1917)
- Feb 1 Eduard Adolf Strasburger, German botanist (Angiospermen)
- Feb 1 Granville Stanley Hall, American psychologist
- Feb 17 A Montgomery Ward, found mail-order business (Montgomery Ward)
- Feb 18 Willem Maris, Dutch painter (Hague School)
- Feb 20 Ludwig Eduard Boltzmann, Austrian physicist (statistical mechanics)
- Feb 20 Joshua Slocum, Canadian seaman and adventurer (d. 1909)
- Feb 20 Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian physicist (thermodynamics), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1906)
- Mar 2 Dr. Schaepman [Herman Schaepman], Dutch poet, Roman Catholic priest, theologian, and politician
- Mar 4 Josip Jurcic, Slovenian writer (10th Brother)
- Mar 7 Anthony Comstock, New Canaan Ct, anti-vice crusader/philatelist
- Mar 14 King Umberto I of Italy (1878-1900), born in Turin, Italy (d. 1900)
- Mar 19 Minna Canth, Finland, playwright (The Pastor's Family) and social activist
- Mar 27 Adolphus Washington Greely, American Arctic explorer and recipient of the Medal of Honor, born in Newburyport, Massachusetts (d. 1935)
- Mar 30 Paul M Verlaine, French lyric poet (Sagesse Bonbeur)
- Mar 31 Andrew Lang, Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and anthropologist (Andrew Lang's Fairy Books), born in Selkirk, Scottish Borders, Scotland (d. 1912)
- Apr 16 Anatole France [Jacques Anatole Thibault], French writer (Thaïs, Wickerwork Woman, Nobel 1921), born in Paris (d. 1924)
- Apr 22 Lewis Thornton Powell, would-be assassin of Secretary of State William H. Seward (d. 1865)
Elijah McCoy
May 2 Elijah McCoy, Canadian-American inventor of African descent, notable for his 57 US patents (lubrication of steam engines), born in Colchester, Ontario (d. 1929)
Elijah McCoy
- May 3 Édouard Drumont, French anti-semitic journalist, born in Paris (d. 1917)
- May 17 Julius Wellhausen, German biblical scholar (d. 1918)
- May 21 Henri Rousseau, French post-impressionist painter (The Dream, The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope), born in Laval, France (d. 1910)
- May 22 Mary Cassatt, American Impressionist painter (Woman Bathing)
- May 23 `Abdu'l-Bahá, Successor to Prophet of the Bahá'í Faith (d. 1921)
- Jun 1 Galusha Pennypacker, Bvt Major General (Union Army), (d. 1916)
- Jun 1 John J. Toffey, American Civil War hero (d. 1911)
- Jun 3 Detlev [Freiherr Friedrich A von] Liliencron, German poet
- Jun 3 Garret Augustus Hobart, (R) 24th US VP (1897-99)
- Jun 6 Konstantin Savitsky, Russian painter (Travellers in Auvergne), born in Taganrog, Russia (d. 1905)
- Jun 10 Albert Neuhuys, Dutch painter of peasant families (Laren School), born in Utrecht, Netherlands (d. 1914)
- Jun 10 Karl Hagenbeck, German animal trainer (Von Tieren und Menschen)
- Jun 14 Edouard Naville, Swiss egyptologist
- Jun 21 Ernest F Cambier, Belgian colonial pioneer (1st Congo railway) (d. 1909)
- Jul 1 Verney L Cameroon, English explorer (Tanganyika)
- Jul 8 Mary Johnson Lincoln, educator (Boston Cooking School)
- Jul 11 Peter I Karadjordjevic, King of Serbia/Yugoslavia (1903-21), born in Belgrade, Ottoman Tributary Principality of Serbia (d. 1921)
- Jul 22 William Archibald Spooner, reverend/inventor (spoonerisms), born in London, England
Thomas Eakins
Jul 25 Thomas Eakins, American artist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1916)
Thomas Eakins
- Jul 28 Gerard Manley Hopkins, English poet (Windhover), born in Stratford, London (d. 1889)
- Jul 31 Ignazio Guidi, Italian orientalist and archaeologist, born in Rome, Italy (d. 1935)
- Aug 6 Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1900)
- Aug 7 Auguste Michel-Lévy, French geologist (d. 1911)
- Aug 17 Menelik II, King of Ethiopia (1896-1913)
- Aug 22 George Washington De Long, American Arctic Explorer whose disastrous expedition provided evidence to support the theory of trans-Arctic oceanic drift, born in NYC, New York
- Aug 29 Edward Carpenter, English poet and philosopher (Civilisation, Its Cause and Cure), born in Hove, Sussex, England (d. 1929)
- Aug 30 Friedrich Ratzel, German social-geographer (Lebensraum), born in Karlsruhe, Germany (d. 1904)
- Sep 10 Abel Hoadley, Australian confectioner (Violet Crumble), born in East Sussex, England (d. 1918)
- Sep 20 William H. Illingworth, English-American photographer, born in Leeds, England (d. 1893)
- Sep 28 Robert Stout, Prime Minister of New Zealand (1884-87), born in Lerwick, Shetland, Scotland (d. 1930)
- Oct 3 Patrick Manson, Scottish physician and parasitologist (Father of tropical medicine), born in Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire, Scotland (d. 1922)
- Oct 5 Francis William Reitz, 5th State President of the Orange Free State, born in Swellendam, Cape Colony (d. 1934)
Henry John Heinz
Oct 11 Henry John Heinz, German-American entrepreneur who founded prepared-foods company (H.J. Heinz Company-57 varieties), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1919)
Henry John Heinz
- Oct 12 George W. Cable, American writer (Northampton Years), born in New Orleans, Louisiana (d. 1925)
Friedrich Nietzsche
Oct 15 Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher and philologist (Beyond Good and Evil), born in Röcken, Saxony, Prussia (d. 1900)
Friedrich Nietzsche
Louis Riel
Oct 22 Louis Riel, Canadian politician, founder of the province of Manitoba and leader of the Métis people of the Canadian prairies, born in Red River Colony, Rupert's Land, British North America (d. 1885)
Louis Riel
- Oct 23 Robert Bridges, English poet (Testament of beauty) and British Poet Laureate (1913-30), born in Walmer, Kent (d. 1930)
- Oct 24 Karl Lueger, anti semitic mayor of Vienna
- Oct 27 Klas Arnoldson, Swedish politician and pacifist (Nobel Peace 1908), born in Gothenburg, Sweden (d. 1916)
- Oct 29 Albert von Rothschild, Austrian banker
- Oct 30 Harvey W. Wiley, American chemist (d. 1930)
- Nov 3 Mehmed V Reshad, sultan of Turkey (1909-18)
- Nov 10 Henry Eyster Jacobs, American Lutheran theologian, born in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (d. 1932)
Weddings in History
Wedding of Interest
Sep 29 Politician Boss Tweed (21) weds Mary Jane C Skaden
Boss Tweed
Deaths in History
- Jan 25 Horace H. Hayden, 1st American licensed dentist and cofounds 1st dental college, dies at 74
- Jan 26 John Wedgwood, British ceramicist and founder of the Royal Horticultural Society, dies at 77
- Jan 31 Henri Gratien, Comte Bertrand, French general and engineer, dies at 70
- Feb 4 Willem de Clerq, Dutch merchant/literary, dies at 49
Henry Addington
Feb 15 Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, British Prime Minister (Tory: 1801-04), dies at 86
Henry Addington
- Feb 16 Joseph Crosfield, English soap and alkali manufacturer, dies at 51
- Feb 27 Nicholas Biddle, US lawyer/diplomat/statesman/financier, dies at 85
- Feb 28 Abel P Upshur, Secretary of State, dies in explosion on USS Princeton
- Feb 28 Thommas W Gilmer, Navy Secretary, dies in explosion on USS Princeton
- Mar 8 Charles XIV [Jean Bernadotte], French-born King of Sweden & Norway (1818-44), Marshall of France, dies at 81
- Mar 21 Leopold van Sasse van Ysselt, Dutch nobleman and politician, dies at 65
- Mar 24 Bertel Thorvaldsen, Danish sculptor (Dying Lion), dies at 73
- Apr 4 Charles Bulfinch, 1st US pro architect (Mass State House), dies at 80
- May 2 William Beckford, British writer (Epsiodes of Vathek), dies at 83
- May 18 Richard McCarty, American politician (b. 1780)
- May 24 William Crockford, clubman/gambler, dies
- Jun 3 Louis-Antoine Bourbon, French duke of Angouleme, dies
- Jun 15 Thomas Campbell, Scottish poet (Ye Mariners of England), dies at 66
- Jun 19 Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, French naturalist (b. 1772)
- Jun 27 Hyrum Smith, founder/leader (Mormon Church), shot by mob in Carthage Ill
Joseph Smith Jr
Jun 27 Joseph Smith Jr, American founder of the Mormon Church, shot by a mob at 38
Joseph Smith Jr
- Jul 11 Evgeny Baratynsky, Russian poet (b. 1800)
- Jul 12 Charles-Louis Panckoucke, French publisher, dies at 63
- Jul 15 Claude Charles Fauriel, French historian (b. 1772)
- Jul 23 Christian Gobrecht, 4th US chief engraver (1840-44), dies in office
- Jul 27 John Dalton, English physicist and chemist (molecular theorist), dies at 77
- Jul 28 Joseph Bonaparte, older brother of Napoleon I and King of Naples and Spain (b. 1768)
- Aug 4 Jakob Aall, Norwegian journalist and statesman, dies at 71
- Aug 11 Jernej Kopitar, Slovene philologist and linguist (Slavic Grammatica), dies at 63
- Aug 14 Henry Francis Cary, translator (Dante), dies
- Aug 29 Edmund Ignatius Rice, Irish founder of the Christian Brothers and Presentation Brothers (b. 1762)
- Aug 30 Francis Baily, English astronomer and describer of "Baily's Beads" during solar eclipse, dies at 70
- Sep 23 Alexander von Benckendorff, Russian general and statesman (b. 1783)
- Sep 27 Charles Nodier, French writer (History du chien the Brisquet), dies
- Sep 28 Pyotr Aleksandrovich Tolstoy, Russian general and statesman (b. 1769)
- Oct 12 Claude Tillier, French journalist and writer (My Uncle Benjamin), dies at 43
- Nov 14 Flora Tristan, French writer and social activist, dies at 41
- Nov 14 John Abercrombie, Scottish physician, dies at 64
- Nov 21 Ivan Krylov, Russian fabulist (b. 1769)
- Dec 2 Eustachy Erazm Sanguszko, Polish general and politician, dies at 76