On This Day

March 1847 in History

Events in History

  • Mar 1 Michigan becomes 1st English-speaking jurisdiction to abolish the death penalty (except for treason against the state)
  • Mar 3 US Post Office Department is authorized to issue postage stamps
  • Mar 7 US General Scott occupies Vera Cruz, Mexico
  • Mar 10 1st money minted in Hawaii
  • Mar 18 1st Dutch public telegram
  • Mar 25 Pope Pius issues IX encyclical "On aid for Ireland"
  • Mar 29 12,000 US troops capture Vera Cruz, Mexico

Birthdays in History

Alexander Graham Bell

Mar 3 Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born British-American inventor (telephone), born in Edinburgh, Scotland (d. 1922)

Alexander Graham Bell
Inventor Alexander Graham Bell
  • Mar 4 Carl Josef Bayer, Austrian chemist (invented Beyer Process to produce aluminium), born in the Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia (now Poland) (d. 1904)
  • Mar 8 Carl von Bach, German mechanical engineer, born in Stollberg / Erzgeb (d. 1931)

Kate Sheppard

Mar 10 Kate Sheppard, New Zealand suffragette and the most prominent member of New Zealand's women's suffrage movement, born in Liverpool, England (d. 1934)

Kate Sheppard
Suffragette Kate Sheppard
  • Mar 14 Antonio de Castro Alves, Brazilian poet (Espumas Flutuantes), born in Muritiba, Brazil (d. 1871)
  • Mar 23 Alexandru D Xenopol, Romania, historian
  • Mar 27 Otto Wallach, German chemist (Nobel 1910), born in Königsberg, Germany (d. 1931)
  • Mar 31 Yegor Ivanovich Zolotarev, Russian mathematician (d. 1878)

Deaths in History

  • Mar 9 Mary Anning, British fossil collector, dealer, and palaeontologist (Jurassic marine fossil beds of Lyme Regis in Dorset), dies of breast cancer at 47
  • Mar 29 Auguste De Polignac, Premier of France, dies at 66

Historical Figures

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