Data for 1845

Maori chief Hone Heke with wife Hariata wearing flax cloaks

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe is published (Jan 29), Florida becomes the 27th U.S. state (Mar 3), New Zealand Wars begin, waged between the Maori and the British (Mar 11), Stephen Perry patents the rubber band (Mar 17), Scientific American begins publication (Aug 28), potato blight breaks out in Ireland, beginning the Great Famine (Sep 9), the Monroe Doctrine states that the United States should aggressively expand into the West (Dec 2), anesthesia is used for the first time for childbirth in Jefferson, Georgia (Dec 27), Texas is admitted as the 28th U.S. state (Dec 29) – and all these fine people were born:

Data for 1844

The Edict of Toleration is passed allowing Jews to settle in the Holy Land (Mar 23), the world’s second police force is established in Hong Kong (May 1), the first electrical telegram is sent by Samuel Morse (May 24), YMCA is founded in London (Jun 6), Charles Goodyear receives a patent for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber (Jun 15), the Mormon leader Joseph Smith and his brother are killed by a mob in Carthage, Illinois (Jun 27), Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx meet in Paris (Aug 28), Hungarian becomes the official language of Hungary (Nov 13), the safety match is invented – and all these fine people were born:

Your Ancestors

As a courtesy to our readers, Journeys of Life provides a service that might interest some of you. In addition to being able to list your own birth data here, you are allowed to add your ancestors as well. But as you present their name and birth data (as fully as possible), please tell us also their main profession or what they mainly were known for. Also you could give some of the historical background to shed some more light. After which they will be incorporated in the blog for you and the rest of the world to see.

Data for 1843

Pioneers on the Oregon Trail in 1843

The Thames Tunnel, the world’s first bored underwater tunnel, is opened in London (Mar 25), the first major wagon train headed for the American Northwest sets out with 1000 pioneers from Missouri (May 22), Brazil becomes the second country to issue postage stamps (Aug 1), the amusement park Tivoli Gardens opens in Copenhagen, Denmark (Aug 15), Ada Lovelace becomes in essence the world’s first computer programmer (Sep), the Economist is first published in London (Sep 2), the city of Shanghai opens for trade with foreigners (Nov 17), the world’s first Christmas cards are sent (Dec) – and all these fine people were born:

Data for 1842

An American medical student becomes the first person to administer an inhaled anesthetic to facilitate a surgical procedure (Jan), Mexican troops invade Texas, but soon head back – the first such invasion since the Texas Revolution (Mar 5), the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performs its first concert (Mar 28), a primary school system is established in Sweden (Jun 18), the Treaty of Nanking ends the First Opium War, and establishes Hong Kong as a British colony until 1997 (Aug 29), the New York Philharmonic performs its first concert (Dec 7) – and all these fine people were born:

Data for 1841

Replica of The Amistad (courtesy of Amistad America)

Britain occupies Hong Kong (Jan 24), the two colonies of The Canadas are merged into the United Province of Canada (Feb 11), the court case United States v. The Amistad is ruled in favor of the slaves from Sierra Leone (Mar 9),

One Day in the Life of

Have you read the novel One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn? I have, long time ago. It describes a single day in the life of an ordinary prisoner in a Gulag camp, and now, that book gives life to a new article series in this Journeys of Life: One Day in the Life of people from all walks of life.

If we live to be 80, we have lived around 29,200 days. We get to 10,000 days at the age of 27. So there are plenty of days for all kinds of things to happen. Something spectacular. Something life-changing. Or just a pretty ordinary day that still held something very memorable.

Helen Who?

This is the second piece in the series “First Names First” and it is all for pure entertainment! We present a chronological list of persons with their first name (or the name they mainly use) here, and your task is to pick one. Then follow the Wikipedia link to read about that person, and to see what if anything he or she could contribute your life with. Inspiration, passion, encouragement, empathy, etc. Spend a couple of minutes of your life with this. Lives lived have all a lot to tell us – let them!

This time it is all about Helen!

Data for 1829

Published 1829-1833 by Katsushika Hokusai

Andrew Jackson is sworn in as the 7th President of the United States (Mar 4), Greece receives autonomy from the Ottoman Empire (Mar 22), accordion is patented (May 23), the Metropolitan Police Service in London is established (Jun 19), the first bus service in London is begun (Jul 4), African-American abolitionist David Walker publishes his Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World (Sep 25), the first bobbies start patrolling London streets (Sep 23), the first modern hotel in the U.S. opens (Oct 16), Katsushika Hokusai paints his masterpiece The Great Wave off Kanagawa – and all these fine people were born:

Data for 1876

Marker stone on the battlefield of Little Bighorn,  courtesy of Mark A. Wilson

Alexander Graham Bell is granted a U.S. patent for the telephone, ahead of Elisha Gray (Mar 7), thousands of Plains Indians gather at the Little Bighorn River (spring), Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is published in London (June), the first train ride from New York to San Francisco takes some 84 hours (Jun 4), Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse defeat Custer’s forces at the Battle of the Little Bighorn (Jun 25-26), retaliated later at Powder River (Nov 25), Heinz Tomato Ketchup is introduced, Anheuser-Busch first markets Budweiser as a nationally sold beer, samurai are banned from carrying swords in Japan  – and all these fine people were born:

Streets of New York City

This is the second article in the series Streets & Squares. This time it is about New York City – the place that never sleeps.

For those of you who have visited the city, it is no news that its five boroughs, especially Manhattan, are filled with numbered avenues and streets, i.e. with no credit to any historical persons. But there are a few addresses with names too, and here are a few of them. These may be streets, squares, parks, bridges etc. This article may expand somewhat later on, and check here if you want to see Wikipedia’s long list of New York City’s eponymous (named-after-someone) streets.

Data for 1883

Life Magazine is founded in Los Angeles (Jan 4), the first vaudeville theater is opened in Boston, MA (Feb 28), oxygen is liquefied for the first time (Apr 5), after 13 years of construction, the Brooklyn Bridge is opened to traffic (May 24), the world’s first rodeo is held in Pecos, Texas (Jul 4), Krakatoa in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) erupts, killing thousands (Aug 26), the Orient Express begins to run (Oct 4), U.S. and Canadian railroads institute 5 standard continental time zones (Nov 18) – and all these fine people were born:

NHL Goaltenders

Martin Brodeur in 2006

For all you hockey fans out there, here is a list of all the goaltenders who have reached 300+ wins in the NHL! True to the site genre, the list below is chronological. Active goalies are marked with *** and behind each goalie you see the nationality, match wins and matches played. The ranking is shown in brackets.

Data for 1560

Tulip fields in the Netherlands

In the year 1560, Denmark buys the Estonian island of Saaremaa (Apr 15), Oda Nobunaga defeats Imagawa Yoshimoto in the Battle of Okehazama (Jun 12), the Treaty of Edinburgh is signed, and thus ends the Auld Alliance between France and Scotland (Jul 9), the Roman Church is

Data for 1500

In the year 1500, the last year of the 15th century, Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral officially discovers Brazil, and claims the land for the Kingdom of Portugal (Apr 22), Portuguese navigator Diogo Dias discovers Madagascar (Aug 10), France and Spain agree to divide the Kingdom of Naples between them in the Treaty of Granada (Nov 11), Europe’s population is estimated at 56.7 million people – and all these fine people were born:

Data for 1884

The eight-hour workday is proclaimed in the United States, and is henceforth observed as May Day or Labor Day elsewhere in the world as well (May 1), the espresso machine is patented (May 16), the invention of local anesthesia is made public in a medical congress in Heidelberg, Germany (Sep 15), Timisoara becomes the first European town to be illuminated by electric light (Nov 2), the Washington Monument is completed, becoming for a while the tallest structure in the world (Dec 6), Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published in London (Dec 10) – and all these fine people were born:

Luise Ziezt (1865-1922)

Perhaps not the most well-known name, but still, Luise Ziezt begins this new series of Remarkable Women. She was born in the spring of 1865 in Bargteheide, Prussia, German Empire. She started working at an early age as her dad had a home weaving business where she too had to put in hours. She later studied to become a kindergarten teacher, got married in Hamburg in 1890, and became politically active there. She was a good speaker, and easily agitated others to join the common cause, i.e. to improve the workers’ conditions – and especially those of women.

Remarkable Women

In this particular series of articles we present women who have had an impact on the world. Women who can stand as role models to us modern women no matter when they themselves were born. Because in their own time, they were ahead of their time. Or they simply rose above their gender.

Data for 1834

York in Upper Canada is incorporated as Toronto (Mar 6), Cyrus McCormick is granted a patent for his mechanical reaper (Jun 21), the Spanish Inquisition, which began in the 15th century, is suppressed by royal degree (Jul 15), slavery is abolished in the British Empire (Aug 1), Athens becomes the capital of Greece, Thomas Davenport creates one of the first electric cars by installing his DC electrical motor in a small model car  – and all these fine people were born:

Data for 1759

The British Museum in the 21st Century

The first American life insurance company is incorporated in Philadelphia (Jan 11), the British Museum opens at Montagu House in London, after 6 years of development (Jan 15), a big fire breaks out at Södermalm in Stockholm, Sweden (Jul 19), a brewery is leased by Arthur Guinness in St. James’s Gate in Dublin, for the brewing of Guinness (Dec 31) – and all these fine people were born: