On December 31, 1837, Democrat Amasa J. Parker, congressman from New York, sat down in his quarters in Mrs. Pittman’s boarding house in Washington, D.C., to write a letter to his wife, miles away at their Catskills home in Delhi, New York. Continue reading.

On December 31, 1881, Charles J. Guiteau, the assassin of President James Garfield, wrote a New Year’s greeting to his jailer. Continue reading.

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A bit of December 31st…

1744 - English astronomer James Bradley announces discovery of Earth’s nutation motion (wobble)

1904 - 1st New Years Eve celebration held in Times Square NYC

1907 - 1st time the ball drops at Times Square to signal the New Year

1911 - Marie Curie receives her 2nd Nobel Prize, this time in chemistry for her work with radioactivity

1935 - Charles Darrow patents board game Monopoly, goes on to be 1st millionaire game designer (pictured)  

1955 - the General Motors Corporation becomes the 1st US corporation to make over a billion dollars in a year

1967 - Evel Knievel fails in his attempt to jump Caesar’s Palace Fountain, Las Vegas, breaking his pelvis, femur, wrist, hip, and both ankles

1997 - Microsoft buys Hotmail email service for $400 million and relaunches it as MSN Hotmail

2010 - “The Walking Dead” premiers

A bit of December 30th history…

1835 - Georgia gold rush forces Cherokees to move across the Mississippi River (pictured)

1906 - The All India Muslim League is founded, later laid down the foundations of Pakistan

1924 - Astronomer Edwin Hubble formally announces existence of other galactic systems at the American Astronomical Society

1972 - US President Nixon halts bombing of North Vietnam and announces peace talks 

U.S. Minister to Mexico James Gadsden, and three envoys of the President of Mexico General Antonio López de Santa Anna Pérez de Lebrón, signed the Gadsden Purchase, or Gadsden Treaty, in Mexico City on December 30, 1853. Continue reading.

Turn-of-the-century progressive reformer John Peter Altgeld was born in Germany on December 30, 1847. Continue reading.

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Andrew Johnson, the seventeenth president of the United States, was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, on December 29, 1808. Continue reading.

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A bit of December 29th history…

1170 - English Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, is assassinated before the high altar of Canterbury Cathedral by 4 knights

1835 - Treaty of New Echota is signed between the US government and representatives of a minority Cherokee political faction to cede all lands of the Cherokees east of the Mississippi River to the US (pictured)

1851 - 1st American Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) opened

1852 - Emma Snodgrass arrested in Boston for wearing pants

1890 - US 7th Cavalry massacre 200+ captive Sioux at Wounded Knee, SD

1940 - Worst German air raid on London as over 10,000 bombs, including the 1st incendiary bombs, are dropped on the city as part of the blitz

1970 - Occupational Safety and Health Act signed into law by President Nixon

2016 - US President Obama retaliates against Russia for hacking American computer systems and trying to influence the 2016 presidential election by ejecting 35 Russian spies and imposing sanctions 

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born on December 28, 1856, in Staunton, Virginia. Continue reading.

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A bit of December 28th history…

1065 - Westminster Abbey in London consecrated (pictured)

1860 - Harriet Tubman arrives in NY on her last mission to free slaves, having evaded capture for 8 years on the Underground Railroad

1912 - 1st municipally owned streetcars take to the streets in San Francisco, CA as SF Municipal Railway starts operation

1948 - US announced a study to launch an Earth satellite

1973 - US President Nixon signs Endangered Species Act into law

1981 - 1st American test-tube baby is born

2012 - Putin signs into law a ban on US adoption of Russian children 

Radio City Music Hall opened to the public on December 27, 1932. Continue reading.

On December 27, 1900, Carry Nation brought her campaign against alcohol to Wichita, Kansas, when she smashed up the bar at the elegant Carey Hotel. Continue reading.

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A bit of December 27th history…

537 - Hagia Sophia inaugurated by Emperor Justinian I as Eastern Orthadox Cathedral

1512 - Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the conduct of settlers with regards to native indians in the New World

1831 - HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin on board departs England for a survey of South America, a voyage Darwin later said “determined my whole career”  (pictured)

1932 - Radio City Music Hall in US opens