Pick a year, any year. If you love history, there will be events to research and write about. So let’s pick a year any year … 1860 and enter the Way Back Machine. Every item on this list with a little research could be a blog post with messages for today. These are just the headlines.
White settlers massacred a band of Wiyot Indians at the village of Tuluwat on Indian Island near Eureka, Ca.
The US Pony Express mail system began between St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, Ca.
Navaho Indians attacked Fort Defiance.
James Barrie, author of Peter Pan was born in Kirriemuir, Scotland.
Republican convention selected Abraham Lincoln as their presidential candidate.
Lizzie Borden famous 1892 murder suspect, was born.
Joseph Carey Merrick, “Elephant Man,” was born.
Queen Liliuokalani of Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) arrived for a visit in NYC.
Annie Oakley (d.1926), sharp-shooter and entertainer, was born in Darke County, Ohio, as Phoebe Anne Oakley Mozee (Mosey).
Jane Addams was born. She is known for her work as a social reformer, pacifist, and founder of Hull House in Chicago in 1889, and as the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (1931).
Former Illinois congressman Abraham Lincoln was elected 16th president. He defeated three other candidates for the U.S. presidency. He won the US presidential elections with a majority of the electoral votes in a 4-way race. Following his election South Carolina seceded from the Union followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. Hannibal Hamlin was his vice-president.
South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union.
George Eliot, aka Mary Ann Evans, wrote her novel “The Mill on the Floss.”
The Woodlawn Vase was created by Tiffany & Co. as a trophy for the Woodlawn Racing Assoc. in Louisville, Ky. It was buried during the Civil War and by 1917 was associated with the Preakness the second jewel in the Triple Crown.
In Britain Queen Victoria decreed that men who chose to remain unmarried would not be welcome in Her Majesty’s Rifle Corp. She held that “normal married life improves a man’s marksmanship.”
Lewis Carroll took photographs of Alice Lidell, his inspiration for Alice In Wonderland.
This was only a sample of the possible stories in just one year, all of which had repercussions on history.
