1884 List of Legal Holidays in the United States

This list comes from Houghtaling's Handbook of Useful Information ©1884

Legal Holidays in the United States
FOURTH OF JULY—In all the States and Territories.
CHRISTMAS DAY—Dee. 25—in all the States and Territories.
THANKSGIVING DAY—(usually the last Thursday in Nov.) whenever appointed by the President of the United States, or Governors of the States—in all the States and Territories.
FAST DAYS—whenever appointed by the President of the United States, or by the Governors—in all the States.
NEW YEAR9S DAY—Jan. 1—in all States except Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Rhode Island and South Carolina.
WASHINGTON9S BIRTHDAY—Feb. 22—in all States except Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, and Texas.
GENERAL ELECTION DAY—(usually on Tuesday after the first Monday in November)—in California, Maine, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, South Carolina an l Wisconsin.
DECORATION DAY—May 80—in Colorado, Connecticut,Michigan, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, New .leruey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.
GOOD FRIDAY—Friday before Easter Sunday—in Florida, Louisiana, Minnesota and Pennsylvania. Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the full moon, which happens on or after March 21st. If full moon happens on Sunday, Easier Sunday is the Sundaj thereafter.
SHROVE TUESDAY—the Tuesday preceedIng the first day of Lent—in Louisiana, and the cities of Selma, Mobile and Montgomery, Alabama.
MEMORIAL DAY—April 26—in Georgia.
MARCH 2—Anniversary of the Independence of Texas, In Texas.
APRIL 21—Anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto, in Texas. JANUARY 8—Anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans,fought in 1815, in Louisiana.
FEBRUARY 12—Lincolu9s Birthday, in Louisiana.
MARCH 4—Firemen9s Anniversary, In Louisiana

Telephone Timeline for 19th Century

March 10, 1876 Alexander Graham Bell yelled those now famous words "Come here Mr. Watson, I want to see you!" We all accept that to be the first monumental moment of the invention that would change our lives for ever. Below are a few other dates surrounding the history of the telephone during the 19th century.

1877 July The Bell Telephone Company was formed by Gardiner Hubbard. Watson oversaw the production of the first telephones in The Charles Williams Shop. Bell left for England opting out of the day to day operations of the company.

By the end of 1877 three thousand telephones were in service.

mid 1878 10,000 phones in service. Hubbard named Theodore Vail as the new general manager of the Bell Company.

1878 manuel switchboard was invented.

1879 Telephone subscribers begin to have designated telephone numbers

1880 Long distance service was established

1880's first "metallic" circuits were installed. Changing from one wire to two wire to reduce the extreme static noise from one wire.

1885 The American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) is formed.

1891 Almon Strowger invented an "automatic" telephone allowing him to dial a number without waiting for an operator. The first one Strowger switch goes into operation in 1892

1899 Bell company had 800,000 phones in service.
Rural independent territories had 600,000

Sewing Machines

The first progress of sewing machines was done for factory work, there were several starts and failures in Europe and America. You can read an overview of the history at About.com

For the purpose of a practical sewing machine for the 19th century housewife we start with Hunt & Elias Howe in 1834.
1846 Elias Howe was issued the first American patent
Then comes Isaac Singer who built the first successful machine. It was this sewing machine that started showing up in homes across America.

Yes, there was a patent war between Singer and Howe and Howe one, making him a wealthy man. Of course, Singer continued his production and paid royalties to Howe.

For purposes of writing historical fiction note these facts.
1846 Howe introduces the first home use sewing machine.
1851 Singer introduced a sewing machine for home use. His was scaled down for home use.
1854 Singer received patent for home sewing machine. This machine had a rigid arm and held the fabric down.
1889 First practical electric sewing machine
By the end of the century Singer claimed 80% of the world market.

Another source for a time line is from Idea Finder.

Oil Discovery

Here is a brief outline sketch of the oil history in the 19th century.

1846 Kerosene as fuel was introduced by Canadian Abraham Gesner
1853 a Russian sea captain noted the oil along the shoreline of Cook Inlet, Alaska.
1854 the North American Gas Light Company was formed.
1859 NW Pennsylvania an important well is drilled for the soul purpose of finding oil.
1862 first commercial oil well in Canon City, Colorado.
1865 first oil pipeline was constructed.
1865 California's first productive well was drilled.
1866 First well in Texas drilled by Lyne T. Barret. wasn't exploited until 1888 when a crew of drillers from the PA came to lend a hand.
1872 Robert Augustus patents Vaseline from the unwanted goop of the PA wells.
1892 First well strike in Southern California was drilled by Edward L. Doheny indowntown LA
1896 some marginally successful wells were drilled in Corsicana, Texas.
1897 500 wells in LA, California
1897 oil discovered in Oklahoma
1898 Oil drilling begins in Alaska

Tin Can Timeline

In 1810 a British inventor invents the tin can. It's very thick at this time.

1813 the first canning factory is opened.
(early seals were made with lead, which we now knows led to lead poisoning.)

1822 William Underwood founded a canning company in Boston. You've probably seen the Underwood logo when you've purchased Deviled Ham. It wasn't until 1836 (another date I found was 1839) that he shifted from glass to steel cans coated with tin.

1846 a machine to make tin cans is invented. It produces sixty tin cans per hour. Prior to that the production of tin cans was 6 per hour.

1858 first can opener invented by Ezra Warner

1860 Baltimore canner Isaac Soloman added calcium chloride to the boiling water to sterilization and reduced the time from 5 to 6 hours to 30 minutes.

1861-1864 US military uses tin can during the Civil War

1866 patent for the tin can with a key opener is invented.

1870 an easier to use can opener is invented by William Lyman

1897 research found by Underwood's grandson and biologist from MIT that spores were contained in the meats canned and would cause the "swells" in the cans. They found that heat at 250 degrees for 10 minutes killed the spores. The process wasn't patented but worked.

Enameled Cast Iron Tub

In 1883 the first cast iron clawfoot bath tub was introduced. The process of enameling the cast iron tub was developed to provide a smooth, easy to clean surface for the tub.

By 1890 production of enameled sinks were being advertised.

By 1896 a company named Lodge sold enameled covered cast iron pots. This same company today still produces many cast iron products.

The above dates are a historical marker of some of the events revolving around the process of enameling cast iron. The process actually dates back to 1850, with regard to commercial uses of enameling iron. Prior to that it was used in art and enameling porcelain dates hundreds of years before that.

American Wars during the 19th Century

From Houghtalings Handbook ©1887

American Wars
Barbary War 1803
Tecumseh War 1804
War of 1812 1812
Algerine War 1815
First Seminole War 1817
Second Seminole War 1835
Mexican War 1846
The Southern Rebellion 1861

Michigan Territory

In 1805 Michigan Territory was incorporated. At this time the people were primarily involved with the fur trade. Until 1812 the Indians were a vital part of the economy after the war of 1812 and over the next 30 years the Federal government started to take over the Indian lands and remove them from the area.

It is also important to note in this area that French were the first majority of European settlers, then the English.

The war of 1812 also changed the economics of the region, fur was no longer as valuable, lands were being developed for farm.

Here's an excerpt from Memoirs of Lenawee County, Michigan from the point of view of a six year old in 1835 retold as a grown man...
"It was very interesting to hear him tell of his childhood, when the Indians visited his home (there having been a trading station on the farm before his father purchased it); how the children, being afraid, clung to their mother; of the graves of an Indian chief and a papoose; of hunting deer and wild turkey, and of being lost in the woods on the farm while going after the cows. These stories are very dear to the children and also the grandchildren, ..."

What I find interesting in these little tidbits as a writer is what kind of game they hunted. What stuck out as such a vivid memory to a child and the "woods" on the farm. I think today we mostly picture the wide open fields for farmland. I know, I sometimes forget there was more on the farm then simply acres of farmland, especially during the 19th century.

Census

In researching family genealogies I've discovered the valuable uses of censuses. But in the 19th century there were very new. The first census in the U.S. was in 1790.

2nd 1800 It counted Men under 10, M10 & Under 16, M 16 & under 26, M 26 & Under 45, M 45 & up as well as the same for Females. It also listed the Names of Heads of families
3rd 1810
4th 1820
5th 1830
6th 1840
7th 1850 This census marked a change they attempted to count every member of the household including women, children & slaves.
8th 1860 This census counted American Indians
9th 1870
10th 1880 This census allowed women to be enumerators.
11th 1890 Announced that the frontier region of the U.S. no longer existed. So, it was no longer needed to track westward migration. This census was also notable for the use of the tabulating machine, reducing the time to tabulate the census from 7 years to 2.5.

Events from 1802

Hi all,

Over the years I've gathered info on events in various years of the 19th century. Most of these can be found on various websites. Here's my list of events for the year 1802.

Jan 05 John Murray names Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Australia.
January 25 Napoleon elected president of Italian (Cisalpine) Republic
January 26 Congress passes an act calling for a U.S. Capitol library that later becomes the Library of Congress.
January 29 John Beckley of Virginia appointed 1st Librarian of Congress
February 2 1st leopard exhibited in U.S., Boston (admission 25 cents )
February 8 Simon Willard patents banjo clock
Feb 10 In London England Alexander Mackenzie 1764-1820 knighted for achievements in the North West, and for being first to cross the North American continent by land.
March 16 Law signed to establish U.S. Miltary Academy (West Point, New York)
3/16 The U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., was established on
this date in 1802 by an act of Congress.
March 16 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers established (2nd time)
March 25 France, Netherlands, Spain and England signs Peace of Amiens
March 27 Treaty of Amiens-French Revolutionary War ends
Mar 28th - Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers discovers 2 Pallas, the second asteroid known to man.
April 8/9 French Protestant church becomes state-supported and -controlled
Apr 15th - William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy see a "long belt" of daffodils, inspiring the former to pen I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.
April 26 – A general amnesty signed by Napoleon Bonaparte allows all but about 1,000 of the most notorious émigrés of the French Revolution to return to France, as part of a reconciliary gesture to make peace with the various factions of the Ancien Regime that ultimately consolidates his own rule.
May 3 Washington D.C. incorporates as a city
May 19 French Order of Legion d'Honneur forms
May 20 – By the Law of 20 May 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstates slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition in the French Revolution.
June 2 – Indigenous Australian Pemulwuy, a leader of the resistance to European settlement of Australia, is shot dead by Henry Hacking.
Jun 4th - Grieving over the death of his wife, Marie Clotilde of France, King Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia abdicates his throne in favor of his brother, Victor Emmanuel.
June 8 – Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L'Ouverture is seized by French troops and sent to Fort de Joux for prison.
Jun 9th - US Academy at West Point founded
June 15 Toussaint L'Ouverture leaves Haiti, prisoner on French ship Heros
July – Eleuthère Irénée du Pont founds E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, the modern DuPont Company.
July 4 U.S. Military Academy officially opens at West Point, New York
5 July to 28 August – A general election in the United Kingdom brings victory for the Tories, led by Henry Addington.
July 7 1st comic book "The Wasp," is published
August 2 Napoleon declared "Counsel for Life"
August 7 Napoleon orders re-instatement of slavery on St. Domingue (Haiti)
August 25 Toussaint L'Ouverture imprisoned in Fort de Joux, Jura, France
September 3 – William Wordsworth publishes the poem Westminster Bridge.
Sep 11th - France annexes the Italian region of Piedmont a part of the French First Republic.
October – The French army enters Switzerland.
October 2 – War ends between Sweden and Tripoli. The United States also negotiates peace, but war continues over the size of compensation.
October 10 1st non indian settlement in Oklahoma
December 2 English sell Suriname to Dutch

Candles

I'm just scratching the surface here, I know there is more to do with the various lighting needs of the 19th century but here are a few facts.

1820 a French chemist named Michel Eugene Chevreul discovered how to extract stearic acid from animal fatty acids. Which lent to the development of stearin wax. It's a hard wax, durable and burned cleanly.

1834 Jospeh Morgan invented a machine that produced molded candles by using a cylinder with a movable piston to eject candles as they solidified. This meant that candles became an easily affordable commodity for the masses.

1850 parafin was was introduced. It was odorless and burned cleanly. The disadvantage was a low melting point. They soon added stearin wax giving it a higher melting point.

1879 the lightbulb started to come into use and gradually reduced the need for candles.

Memorable Events from the 19th Century

Memorable Events in History
From Houghtaling’s Handbook 1879
(I’m just recording events in the 1800’s)
AD
Peace treaty with France 1800
Fulton’s Steamboat starts 1807
Queen Victoria born 1819
Cholera in England 1831
Carlist War in Spain 1833
Accession of Queen Vic-
Toria June 20th 1837
Queen Victoria Crowned 1838
Marriage of Victoria 1840
Tower of London burnt 1841
Sir John Franklin sailed 1845
New Mexico purchased 1853
John Brown executed 1859
American Civil War 1861
Harper’s Ferry burnt 1861
Mason and Slidell seized 1861
Slavery abolished 1863
Lord Palmerston died 1865
Cattle Plague in England 1865
President Lincoln assass. 1865
U.S. Civil War ended 1865
Gen. Lee surrendered 1865
Abyssinian War 1868
Last public execution in
England 1868
Franco-Prussian War 1870
Third French Republic 1870
Paris capitulated to the
Prussians 1871
Hoosac Tunnel opened 1873
Garfield shot, July 2 1881
Longfellow died, Mar. 24 1882
Guiteau hanged, June 30 1882

Matches, Strikables & Flexibles

While working on a historical novel, I believe it was "Raining Fire" set in 1833, I started to write that the hero took out a match to light the fire. I paused wondering if a match had been invented by then. Well, they had but they hadn't made there way to a woodsman in America. Here's a brief account of the history of a match during the 1800's.

In 1827, John Walker, English chemist and apothecary, discovered that if he coated the end of a stick with certain chemicals and let them dry, he could start a fire by striking the stick anywhere. These were the first friction matches. He called them strikables.
In 1830, the French chemist, Charles Sauria, created a match made with white phosphorous. White phosphorous is poisonous.
In 1855, safety matches were patented by Johan Edvard Lundstrom of Sweden. Lundstrom put red phosphorus on the sandpaper outside the box and the other ingredients on the match head.
In 1889, Joshua Pusey invented the matchbook, he called his matchbook matches "Flexibles".

And just to fill out a bit the remainder of the history I'm including a couple events in the 1900's.
In 1910, the Diamond Match Company patented the first nonpoisonous match in the U.S.
January 28, 1911 United States President William H. Taft publicly asked Diamond Match to release their patent for the good of mankind. They did then congress placed a high tax on matches made with white phosphorous.

1860 Tidbits Calendar Events

Below you'll find 3 charts. First is the Jewish Calendar for 1860, the second is the movable holidays for the Christian Church and the last is a chart for the seasons.
Jewish Calendar

Movable Christian Holidays

Seasons