Dec 29, 1890. Anniversary of the massacre of more than 200 Native American men, women and children by the US Seventh Cavalry at Wounded Knee Creek, SD. Government efforts to suppress a ceremonial religious practice, the Ghost Dance (which called for a messiah who would restore the bison to the plains, make the white men disappear and bring back the old Native American way of life), had resulted in the death of Sitting Bull, Dec15, 1890, which further inflamed the disgruntled Native Americans and culminated in the slaughter at Wounded Knee, Dec 29.
Dec 29, 1851. The first US branch of the Young Mens ChristianAssociation was organized at Boston. It was modeled on an organization begun at London in 1844.
On 30 December 1862, the Union iron-clad ship USS Monitor sankat Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
Dec 31, 1781. The first modern bank in the US, the Bank of North America, was organized by Robert Morris and received its charter from the Confederation Congress. It began operations Jan 7, 1782, at Philadelphia, PA.
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Many communities in the US will host family-oriented, non-alcoholic celebrations greeting the New Year. The tradition first began in Boston, Massachusetts in 1976.
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The last evening of the year according to the Gregorian calendar – traditionally a night for merry-making.
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Influential photographer Alfred Stieglitz was born on 1 January 1864 at Hoboken, New Jersey.
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On 1 January 1901, the six colonies of Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Northern Territory were united into one nation.
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On the first day of each month, the genealogy community is urged to back up their genealogy data and all computer data.
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Jan 1, 1892. Ellis Island was opened on New Year’s Day in 1892. Over the years more than 20 million individuals were processed through the stations. The island was used as a point of deportation as well: in 1932 alone, 20,000 people were deported from Ellis Island. When the US entered WWII in 1941, Ellis Island became a Coast Guard station. It closed Nov 12, 1954, and was declared a national park in 1956. After years of disuse it was restored, and in 1990 it was reopened as a museum.
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Effective as of 1 January 1863, President Abraham Lincoln, by executive proclamation of 22 September 1862, declared that on this date “all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever, free.”
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On 1 January 1946, Kathleen Casey Wilkens was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is considered the first of almost 78 million Baby Boomers born between 1946 and 1964.
First day of the year according to the Gregorian calendar. Traditionally a day of new beginnings and setting out plans for the next year. January 1 has been observed as the beginning of the year in most English-speaking countries since the British Calendar Act of 1751, prior to which the New Year began Mar 25 (approximating the vernal equinox).
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Jan 2, 1920. Although Isaac Asimov was one of the world’s best-known writers of science fiction, his almost 500 books dealt with subjects as diverse as the Bible, works for preschoolers, college course work, mysteries, chemistry, biology, limericks, Shakespeare, Gilbert and Sullivan and modern history. During his prolific career he helped to elevate science fiction from pulp magazines to a more intellectual level. His works include the Foundation trilogy, The Robots of Dawn, Robots and Empire, Nemesis, Murder at the A.B.A. (in which he himself was a character), The Gods Themselves and I, Robot, in which he posited the famous Three Laws of Robotics. His The Clock We Live On is an accessible explanation of the origins of calendars.
Asimov was born near Smolensk, Russia, and died at New York, NY, Apr 6, 1992.
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On 2 January 1492, Spaniards took the city of Granada from the Moors, ending seven centuries of Muslim rule in Spain.
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Jan 3, 1956. Game show on which prizes were awarded to the contestant who evoked the most sympathy from the studio audience. The show began some 11 years earlier on the radio with Jack Bailey hosting. Five women were chosen from the audience to appear on stage. Each related her story of misfortune and explained what she needed to remedy the situation, and the audience would vote by applause. The lucky winner was then given the royal treatment— crown, scepter and red robe—plus a prize to help with her problem. This soon became the top-rated daytime show. In 1969 the show went into syndication with Dick Curtis as host, but it didn’t last long.
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Jan 3, 1959. Alaska, which had been purchased from Russia in 1867, became the 49th state. The area of Alaska is nearly one-fifth the size of the rest of the US.
Eight brightly colored drinking straws positioned against a white background, each of them in its own color put together to resemble a rainbow. The plastic tubes have an accordion-like living hinge, making their head flexible.
On 3 January 1888, A drinking straw made out of paraffin-covered paper was patented by Marvin Stone of Washington, DC. It replaced natural rye straws.
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Jan 3. At approximately 12:43 AM, EST, planet Earth will reach perihelion, that point in its orbit when it is closest to the sun (about 91,400,000 miles). Earth’s mean distance from the sun (mean radius of its orbit) is reached early in the months of April and October. Note that Earth is closest to the sun during the Northern Hemisphere winter. Read more at https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/perihelion-aphelion-solstice.html.
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Jan 3, 1892. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, author of The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings. Though best known for his fantasies, Tolkien was also a serious philologist. Born at Bloemfontein, South Africa, he died at Bournemouth, England, Sept 2, 1973.
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Jan 3, 1793. American teacher, minister, antislavery leader and (with Elizabeth Cady Stanton) one of the founders of the women’s rights movement in the US. Born at Nantucket, MA, she died near Philadelphia, PA, Nov 11, 1880.
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On 4 January 1896, Utah became the 45th state of the Union.
Jan 4, 1893. President Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation granting full amnesty and pardon to all persons who had since Nov 1, 1890, abstained from unlawful cohabitation in a polygamous marriage. This was intended in the main for a specific group of elderly Mormons who had continued in the practice of contracting serial marriages. Amnesty was based on the condition that those pardoned must obey the law in the future or be “vigorously prosecuted.” The practice of polygamy was a factor interfering with attainment of statehood for Utah.
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Jan 4, 1809. The inventor of a widely used touch system of reading and writing for blind people was born at Coupvray, France.
Permanently blinded at the age of three by a leather working awl in his father’s saddle-making shop, Braille developed a system of writing that used, ironically, an awl-like stylus to punch marks in paper that could be felt and interpreted by people who are blind. The system was largely ignored until after Braille died in poverty, suffering from tuberculosis, at Paris, Jan 6, 1852.
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illustration of music background in doodle style
Jan 4, 1936. Billboard magazine published the first list of bestselling pop records, covering the week that ended Dec 30, 1935. On the list were recordings by the Tommy Dorsey and the Ozzie Nelson orchestras.
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