This is a work in progress
I wanted a way to view all the family members as they lived their lives against the background of history. It is easy to reduce our ancestors to dates and places and miss the big picture. I would eventually like to know what their lives were like, what music they listened to, what clothes they may have worn, what historic events they explained to their children, what their work lives were like, and what they did for fun.
For convenience sake, I have color coded the families to quickly view the individual lines:
I have begun with a few easily accessible dates from the family and a few historic timelines. I will be adding to both as the research progresses. As always, if you want to jump in feel free to use the comments form on the "Contact Me: page".
DOUDNA, HART GILLINGHAM, DRAKE
BROWN, CRAPSER ALLISON, VAUGHN
For convenience sake, I have color coded the families to quickly view the individual lines:
I have begun with a few easily accessible dates from the family and a few historic timelines. I will be adding to both as the research progresses. As always, if you want to jump in feel free to use the comments form on the "Contact Me: page".
DOUDNA, HART GILLINGHAM, DRAKE
BROWN, CRAPSER ALLISON, VAUGHN
History's timeline, where we fit in
1634 (Wisconsin wilderness)
In his quest for the Northwest Passage, French explorer Jean Nicolet arrives in the Green Bay area and makes contact with the Menominee tribe.
1659-1660 (Wisconsin wilderness)
French fur traders explore the region. Nicholas Perrot opens fur trade with Wisconsin Indians.
1669 (Wisconsin wilderness)
France sends Jesuit missionaries among the Menominee; they build a mission St. Francois Xavier at Green Bay. The missions will serve as centers for traders going to and from what is now Wisconsin.
1673 (Wisconsin wilderness)
The Jesuit priest Jacques Marquette and explorer and fur trader Louis Joliet explore the region
1679 (Wisconsin wilderness)
Frenchman Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Luth claims the region for France.
1681 (Bucks County, Pennsylvania Colony)
William Penn asks King Charles II of England for a tract of unexplored wilderness in the New World in lieu of the 16,000 pounds Charles owes the Penn Estate. Penn becomes the sole proprietor of the largest piece of land ever owned by a British Citizen. The territory becomes known as Pennsylvania, meaning "Penn's Woods,” though Penn had originally preferred the name "New Wales".
November, 1682 (Bucks County, Pennsylvania Colony)
Penn divides his land into three original counties: Bucks, Philadelphia, and Chester. Bucks County receives its name from Buckinghamshire, the county in England where Penn's family seat is located.
1701-1738 (Wisconsin wilderness)
Fox Indian wars rage as the Fox Indian tribes rise up against French authority in Wisconsin. The Menominee side with the French.
1712
Thomas Newcomen invents the atmospheric engine. The steam engine is arguably the most important development of the Industrial Revolution and will be extensively utilized in mining, manufacturing, agriculture and transportation. It also marks the early days of the Industrial Revolution which will ultimately transform the world.
1727 (Bucks County, Pennsylvania Colony)
The Durham Iron Company is formed, operating one of the earliest blast furnaces in Pennsylvania. The extraction of iron from ore, and the production of cast iron becomes Bucks County's first full-scale industry. Durham produces plates for stoves and various domestic implements, as well as pig iron--raw material for iron casting or conversion into wrought iron.
1737 (Bucks County, Pennsylvania, British Colony)
Agents for the sons of William Penn negotiate a questionable land transaction--"The Walking Purchase"--with the Lenape Indians. The purchase results in a huge swath of southeastern Pennsylvania being opened to European settlement. The Lenape believe that they have been cheated out of their most valuable remaining lands along the Delaware River.
1754 ((Bucks County, Pennsylvania, British Colony)
During the French Indian War, "The Walking Purchase" comes back to haunt Bucks County pioneers. The Lenape Indians, feeling that their land had been stolen by the British in the transaction, ally themselves with the French. During the War, the family of Edward Marshall (who had been a major party to the execution of the Walking Purchase Treaty) was attacked repeatedly. At their homestead in Tinicum Township, Marshall's wife and two children are killed in these reprisals.
1756-1763_(Wisconsin-British Control)
The French and Indian War is won by Great Britain. As a result, The Treaty of Paris 1763 cedes French territory east of the Mississippi, except New Orleans to England
1757, 2 January: James Stewart, born. (Allison family)
1760-1820 (Britain)
George III succeeds his grandfather George II to become one of the longest serving kings of England. Losing the American Revolution adds to the stress of his reign results in serious bouts of illness and in 1810, George became permanently deranged in 1810.
1762—1796 (Russia)
Catherine II becomes Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia. She rules over a period of Russian expansion and modernization.
1763 (Wisconsin-British Control)
The “Conspiracy of Pontiac” is a conflict that pits British rule against Ottawa chief Pontiac and a loose confederation of Native American tribes from the Great Lakes area. The tribes attempt to drive out British rule. Among the victims of the uprising are two Englishmen killed at Muscoda.
1774 _(Wisconsin- Provence of Quebec)
The Quebec Act makes Wisconsin a part of the Provence of Quebec.
July 1774 (Bucks County, PA-British Control)
A public meeting is held in Newtown, Bucks County, PA, in response to the Boston Tea Party. Most Bucks County citizens agree that the British Parliament made laws affecting the colonies without the colonies consent. Still, there is a strong conservative base in the government and Quakers are resistant to aggressive opposition to the English crown.
October 1774 (Philadelphia – British Control)
The Continental Congress produces the "Association of 1774", calling upon the colonies to unite in refusing imports, exports, or consuming British goods. It also authorized counties and localities to elect committees to ensure these provisions were carried out.
1775-1783 (American Colonies)
Revolutionary War.
June 1775 (Philadelphia – British Control)
Following the first shots of the Revolution at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, the Continental Army is formed. George Washington is elected commander-in-chief.
October 1775 (Bucks County, PA-British Control)
Augustine Willett of Bensalem Twp., Bucks County, become captain of one of the Pennsylvania Battalion companies. His company is sent off to take part in the American offensive against Canada. Later, Willett rises to the rank of Brigadier General of militia.
July 4, 1776 (Bucks County, PA-British Control)
The Continental Congress declares America's independence from Great Britain. Three of the signers of the Declaration of Independence have Bucks County, PA connections. Gregory Taylor had worked at Durham Ironworks and was Colonel of the Bucks County Associators; Robert Morris was a famed financier of the Revolution and owned land in Falls Township; and George Clymer was a prosperous merchant who lived in Morrisville.
December 25, 1776 (New Jersey)
Washington leads his army across the Delaware River on Christmas night, to make a surprise assault on the Hessian garrison at Trenton. The surprise is complete and helps revive the sagging fortunes of the American cause.
August, 1777 (Bucks County, PA-British Control)
Washington's army, a total of 11,000 men, encamps in Warwick Township, Bucks County. Making his headquarters at the home of Hannah Moland. Washington is joined there for the first time by the Marquis de Lafayette and the Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski, both of whom come to play important roles in the American cause.
1777, 12 October: Jesse Stewart, born. (Allison family)
May 1, 1778 (Bucks County, PA-British Control)
The Battle of Crooked Billet is named after a tavern in the village now known as Hatboro, this engagement was a British victory. Troops under American general John Lacey were taken by surprise and forced back deeper into Bucks County.
June 20, 1778 (Bucks County, PA-British Control)
Washington's army passes through Doylestown, a stop in his last march through Bucks County on his way to defend Philadelphia. Washington stays one night in Jonathan Fell's house, about a mile east of the center of town
1783 (Wisconsin, Northwest Territory)
The Treaty of Paris 1783, ends the Revolutionary War and British Rule in America.
1783 (United States)
The Treaty of Paris 1783, ends the Revolutionary War and British Rule in America.
1787 (Bucks County, Pennsylvania)
Pennsylvania votes to ratify the new Constitution. Bucks County residents: Geradus Wynkoop, John Chapman, Valentine Opp, and Samuel Foulke join with other Pennsylvanians to approve the document establishing the new American government.
1787 (Wisconsin, Northwest Territory)
Wisconsin has officially becomes part of the US Northwest Territory, but British fur traders effectively control the region until 1816.
August 22, 1787 (Bucks County, PA)
Bucks County resident, John Fitch, demonstrates the first full sized steamboat on the Delaware River. However, it is Robert Fulton, with his line of commercially successful steamboats on the Hudson River who eventually gains widespread recognition for the invention.
1787-1800 (Wisconsin, Northwest Territory)
Under The Ordinance of 1787, Wisconsin is made part of the Northwest Territory, but British fur traders effectively control the region until 1816.
July 14, 1789 (France)
Peasants storm the Bastille marks the beginning of the French Revolution.
June 20, 1791 (France)
King Louis XVI attempts to flee France, but is stopped at Varennes.
1791 (District of Columbia)
Land is ceded by Maryland for the nation’s new capitol. The area will be known as the District of Columbia.
August 10, 1792 (France)
A revolutionary crowd attacks the royal palace, overthrow the monarchy. France is declared a republic on September 22, 1792. The King is subsequently tried and executed.
1796 (United States)
Federalist John Adams is elected as the 2nd President of the United States
1799 (United States)
George Washington is elected the 1st President of the United States.
1799-1800 (Bucks County, PA)
"Fries' Rebellion" - Opposition to the assessment of a direct federal tax on individual citizens leads to a militant challenge to the authority of the new national government in northwestern Bucks County. Led by John Fries and others, the uprising is eventually put down by federal troops, and the trial and conviction of its ringleaders.
July 4, 1800-1809 (Wisconsin, Indiana Territory)
The Northwest Territory, an immense expanse of land was difficult to manage. Criminals, cheats and thieves were able to move freely in the vast territory. The judicial system of the area was also unwieldy. As a result it was determined to split the territory into two parts. The eastern section remains the Northwest Territory, the west becomes the Indiana Territory. Wisconsin becomes a part of the Indiana Territory.
1800 (District of Columbia)
Thomas Jefferson is elected 3rd President of the United States.
May 19, 1800 (Bucks County, PA)
Joseph and Robert Smith, brothers belonging to a Quaker family in Buckingham Township, invent and patent a plow with a cast iron, rather than wooden, moldboard. This tool helps to revolutionize farming.
1800, 17 October: Margaret Johnston, born in Ireland. (Gillingham family)
1800, 28 June: Elizabeth "Betsy" Stewart, born. (Allison family)
1803-1815 (Europe)
The Napoleonic Wars break out between England, France and Spain. On October 21, 1805, Admiral Lord Nelson and the Royal Navy are victorious over both the French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar.
1803 (District of Columbia)
Thomas Jefferson completes the Louisiana Purchase, the acquisition of 828,000 square acres costs $15 million francs and a cancellation of debts from France. The purchase works out to less than three cents an acre. The Louisiana Territory includes land from Louisiana to the Dakotas and Montana. The purchase doubles the size of the United States.
March 1, 1803 (Northwest Territory)
A section of the Northwest Territory is carved out and becomes the State of Ohio. What remains of the Northwest Territory is added to the Indiana Territory. On January 11, 1805, the Michigan Territory is separated from the Indiana Territory.
1804 (Bucks County, PA)
Asher Miner begins publishing the Pennsylvania Correspondent and Farmer's Advertiser in Doylestown. In 1824, it becomes the Bucks County Patriot, and in 1827, the Bucks County Intelligencer, the ancestor of today's Intelligencer newspaper.
1804 (Wisconsin, Indiana Territory)
Governor of the Indiana Territory, William Henry Harrison's treaty with Indians at St. Louis extinguishes Indian title to the lead regions of Wisconsin. Ultimately, Harrison’s tactics will transfer title to more than 51 million acres for less than a penny for two hundred acres. Harrison’s continued land-grabbing combined with British inciting Indians to harass and attack settlers results in uprisings throughout the territory. It will contribute to the cause of the Black Hawk War in Wisconsin.
May 14, 1804 – September, 1806
Rogers and Clark Expedition or The Corps of Discovery begins near St. Louis on the Mississippi. The journey will cover 8,000 miles from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean in less than two and one half years, losing only one member of the party to illness. The purpose of the journey is to discover the Northwest Passage to the ocean. They are also encouraged by President Jefferson to explore and collect samples and information on everything from the flora and fauna to Indian activity, maps and more.
December 2, 1804 (France)
Napoleon is crowned Emperor of France. The story goes that he rejected the authority of the Pope, snatched the crown out of his hands and then Napoleon crowned himself.
1805 (Russia)
Czar Alexander I, grandson of Catherine the Great, is defeated by Napoleon at the battle of Austerlitz. The battle is considered to be one of the French emperor’s greatest victories.
1808, 8 July: Harvey Gillingham, born in Ohio. (Gillingham family)
1808 (District of Columbia)
James Madison becomes the 4th President of the United States.
December 1808 (Bucks County, PA)
Construction begins on the Bucks County "Poorhouse," on what is now known as South Easton and Almshouse Roads.
1809 (Bucks County, PA)
The first black church in the county is formed in a community called Washington Village, now part of Langhorne. It continues to be a church today-Bethlehem African Methodist Episcopal Church.
March 1, 1809-1818 (Wisconsin, Illinois Territory)
An act of Congress creates the Illinois Territory. The territory includes what is now Illinois, Wisconsin, the western portion of the Upper Peninsula, and a northeast section of Minnesota.
May 12, 1810 (Bucks County, PA)
Doylestown is selected as the location of the new County Seat. With the completion of a courthouse structure three years later, county government is transferred from Newtown to Doylestown.
August 7, 1813 (Bucks County, PA)
A meeting in Newtown calls for a company of men to be raised to battle the British in the War of 1812.
1813-December 24, 1814 (Illinois Territory)
White settlers face resistance and armed force as the War of 1812 plays out on the frontier. The British, who in spite of losing the Revolution, have maintained a presence in the western territory, move to take control of the Great Lakes and the Upper Mississippi. Indian tribes allied with the British in hopes of driving the American settlers out and restoring their lands. The result is massacres on both sides and hostilities that are still active even after the war ends with the Treaty of Ghent in 1814.
1814-1815 (Europe)
The Congress of Vienna is summoned by Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria in hopes of achieving stability to Europe after more than twenty years of war.
1814-1815 (Wisconsin - Illinois Territory)
Fort Shelby is built at Prairie du Chien. Captured by the English, the fort's name was changed to Fort McKay. The war concluded in 1815 and the fort is abandoned.
June 18, 1815 (Belgium)
The Duke of Wellington succeeds in overcoming Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.
1816 (District of Columbia)
James Monroe becomes 5th President of the United States.
1816 (Wisconsin, Illinois Territory)
The establishment of Fort Howard at Green Bay and the rebuilding of Fort Shelby at Prairie du Chien provides the security settlers need to open the region to settlement.
Astor's American Fur Company began operations in Wisconsin.
1818-1836 (Wisconsin, Michigan Territory)
The Wisconsin area becomes included in the Michigan Territory when the State of Illinois is formed. The territorial governor of Michigan creates the first two Wisconsin counties, Brown and Crawford.
1819 (Wisconsin, Michigan Territory)
The Treaty of Saginaw cedes nearly 6 million acres of Indian land to Michigan settlers. Native Indians are forced farther and farther West.
1820’s (Wisconsin Territory, Michigan Territory)
High prices for lead attract settlers to the mines of southern Wisconsin. The Michigan 1820 census lists residents of what is now Wisconsin.
1822 - (Wisconsin- Michigan Territory)
New York Indians (Oneida, Stockbridge, Munsee, and Brothertown tribes) are moved to Wisconsin.
First Mining leases in Southwestern Wisconsin are granted.
1823 (District of Columbia)
Monroe Doctrine is President Monroe's statement to the world powers that any colonization in the Americas would be viewed as aggression, requiring U.S. Intervention.
1824 (District of Columbia)
John Quincy Adams, son of the second US President, becomes the sixth President of the United States.
1825-1855 (Russia)
Tsar Nicholas I is Emperor of Russia. His heavy handed suppression of political dissent will later be credited as one of the causes of the assassination of his successor, Czar Alexander II, and the rise of the Bolshevik Party.
1825 (Wisconsin, Michigan Territory)
The Treaty of Prairie du Chien between the US government and Indian representatives establishes tribal boundaries.
1825, 16 October: Catherine "Katie" Telfair, born in Acra New York. (Brown family)
1827 (Wisconsin - Michigan Territory)
More hostilities rather than war, the Winnebago War breaks out when lead miners trespass on Winnebago lands in violation of the Treaty of Prairie du Chien. It is led by the Winnebago Prophet White Cloud and Chief Red Bird. Attacks kill settlers on the lower Wisconsin River and miners at the lead mines around Galena. Chief Red Bird surrenders after a show of military force. As a result of the war, the Ho-Chunk are forced to cede the lead mining region to the US government.
1827 (Bucks County, PA)
The Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal breaks ground for Bucks County's first canal water route. The waterway runs from Bristol to Easton. Work is finished and the canal opens in 1830.
1828 (District of Columbia)
Andrew Jackson is elected 7th President of the United States
1829-1851 World Wide
A cholera pandemic hits eastern Europe resulting in 100,000 deaths. Another 150,000 die when the illness spreads to Germany. It spreads to Egypt, United Kingdom, and France. In 1831 it has reached Ontario and Nova Scotia, and New York. It will find its way to the Pacific by 1834. It seems to spread through affected cities by way of rivers and river traffic. Irish immigrants are also blamed.
1830 (Wisconsin Territory)
Heavy settlement begins along the Lake Michigan shoreline at the sites of present-day Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha. The Michigan Territory 1830 Federal Census lists residents of what is now Wisconsin. Solomon Juneau, a fur trader, lays out what will be the eastern part of Milwaukee and becomes the village’s first president.
1832 (Wisconsin - Michigan Territory)
Sac and Fox Indians leave the Iowa Territory and return to their homeland in northern Illinois. Some 1,300 Illinois militia under General Henry Atkinson massacred Sauk Indian men, women and children who were followers of Black Hawk at the Bad Axe River in Wisconsin. Black Hawk himself finally surrendered three weeks later, bringing the Black Hawk War to an end. The end of the war ends any serious Indian threat to white settlement.
1833 (Wisconsin - Michigan Territory)
Land treaty with Indians cleared Southern Wisconsin land titles.
First newspaper, Green Bay Intelligencer, is established.
1833 (Bucks County, PA)
Bucks County's first section of railway, constructed by the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad Company is built between Morrisville and Bristol.
1834 (Wisconsin - Michigan Territory
Land offices are established at Green Bay and Mineral Point. The first public road is laid out.
1834, 23 April: Mary Ewing and Harvey Gillingham, married in Ohio.
February 23, 1836
The Battle of the Alamo, a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution, begins and will rage until March 6, 1936.
July 3, 1836-1848 (Wisconsin Territory)
Discovery of lead, and subsequent increase in population, results in the creation of the Territory of Wisconsin, which included lands west of the Mississippi River to the Missouri River. Much of the western portion was later transferred to the Iowa Territory, created on July 4, 1838. The act creating the Territory of Wisconsin is signed by President Andrew Jackson April 20. Belmont was made the territorial capital and Madison was chosen as the permanent capital.
1836 (District of Columbia)
Martin Van Buren becomes 8th President of the United States
1837 (England)
Victoria, the 18 year-old daughter of the Duke of Kent, becomes Queen of England.
1837 (Bucks County, PA)
The Bucks County Anti-Slavery Society holds its first meeting. Many members of the Society are Quakers.
1837 (Wisconsin Territory)
Madison is surveyed and platted. Building begins on the first capitol.
Land speculation and questionable banking procedures help to create the Panic of 1837, and the following six year depression.
1840 (Wisconsin Territory)
A flood of immigrants begins to arrive in Wisconsin from Germany and New York
1840 (District of Columbia)
William Henry Harrison is elected 9th President of the United States, dying of pneumonia a month later.
Vice President John Taylor becomes the 10th President of the United States
1840, 26 February: Jeremiah "Jerry" Crapser, born in New York. (Brown family)
1842, 6 May: Sophia Drake, born. (Gillingham family)
1842, 5 October: Eleanor Hart Doudna, born. (Doudna family)
1844 (District of Columbia)
James Polk becomes the 11th President of the United States.
1846-1849 (Worldwide)
In 1846, another cholera outbreak rages in Europe. It claims over 52,000 deaths in England and Wales alone. In1848, Europe is once again hit. It is considered the worst outbreak in the City of London’s history. In Ireland, Cholera kills many, weakened by the Iris Famine. Liverpool, where immigrants gather to emigrate to North America also suffers. Likewise, New York, a primary destination for debarkation of immigrants is hit.
From New York, it is believed to have spread throughout the Mississippi valley river system. Nearly 5,000 perish in St. Louis, while the disease claims 3,000 victims in New Orleans. In Mexico, 200,000 victims perish.
The disease spreads westward to California and Oregon.
It is believed more than 150,000 Americans died during the two pandemics between 1832 and 1849.
1846, 8 October: Jesse Stewart, died. (Allison family)
1847 Mexican-American War
Following the annexation of Texas, the United States and Mexico go to war. In the end, Mexico agrees to the Rio Grande as the boundary between Mexico and the United States. In addition, the United States also gains the territories of Alta California and Santa Fe Nuevo Mexico for the consideration $15 million.
April 1847 (Wisconsin Territory)
Census population set at 210, 546. The first statehood constitution rejected due to some highly controversial issues.
May 29, 1948 (District of Columbia)
President Polk signs the Wisconsin Statehood Bill into law and Wisconsin becomes the nation’s 30th state.
1948 (Wisconsin)
The State Legislature meets for the first time on June 5, 1948.
State University is incorporated.
Large scale German immigration to Wisconsin begins.
1849 (District of Columbia)
Zachary Taylor becomes the 12th President of the United States. He dies after 16 months in office.
Vice President Millard Fillmore becomes the 13th President of the United States.
1849 (Wisconsin)
First free, tax supported, graded school with high school established at Kenosha.
1850 (Bucks County PA)
Women's Medical College of Philadelphia is instituted with the help Bucks County residents Joseph and Thomas Longshore. Many Bucks County women graduate from this institution, including Hanna Longshore (Thomas' wife), Susan Parry of Buckingham, and Lettie A Smith of Newtown.
1851 (Wisconsin)
First state fair at Janesville. Approximately 13,000 to 18,000 attend what is believed to be the largest gathering in Wisconsin history. Featured are a 200 pound squash and a plowing competition. It was held on the bank of the Rock River.
August 21, 1851 (Kenosha WI)
John McCaffary tried and convicted of the murder of his wife, Bridgett, is hung. Over 2,000 people to gather to see the event as a spectacle. The hanging did not go well and McCaffary suffered a grisly death. A huge crowd gathers from the area to witness “the event.” The crowd experiences revulsion at the execution. The public opinion of the occurrence figures in the repeal of the death penalty in 1853.
1852 (District of Columbia)
Franklin Pierce becomes the 14th President of the United States.
1852-1856 (Bucks County, PA)
The North Pennsylvania Railroad is constructed, intending to link all of the coal-producing regions of northeastern Pennsylvania. The construction of the railroad is the last large-scale public improvement project in Bucks County to take place before the outbreak of the Civil War.
1853, 9 January: Margaret Johnston, died. (Gillingham family)
1853 (Wisconsin)
Capital punishment is abolished (Wisconsin is the third state to take this action).
October 1853-February1856 (Crimea Penninsula)
Crimean War, famed for “The Charge of the Light Brigade” and Florence Nightingale, is fought with Russian, British, French and Ottoman Turkish armies. Czar Nicholas had hoped to use the tensions of the time to take control of Constantinople and with it access to the Mediterranean. The conflict is perhaps best known for its poor leadership on both sides. The Treaty of Paris marks the end of the conflict in 1856 and as a result, Russia loses control over the Balkans.
1854 (India)
Indian Rebellion, often called the first War of Independence, leads to the abolishing of the East India Company and direct rule by the British government.
1854 (Ripon, Wisconsin)
Former members of the Whig party gather in Ripon and move to establish a new, abolitionist party.
The first class of the state university graduates.
Joshua Glover, fugitive slave, is arrested in Racine and the Wisconsin Supreme Court, declares The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 unconstitutional.
1855, 18 January: Elizabeth Carnes, died in Columbiana Cty, OH. (Gillingham family)
1855, 22 May: Agnes Ann Pippin, born in Tippecanoe County, IN. (Allison family)
1855, 26 July: William Drake, died in Ohio. (Gillingham family)
1856, 6 July: Frank Doudna, born. (Doudna family)
1856 (District of Columbia)
James Buchanan becomes the 15th President of the United States.
1857 (Wisconsin)
A railroad line is completed to Prairie du Chien.
1857, 30 November: Catherine "Katie" Telfair and Jeremiah "Jerry" Crapser, married. (Brown family)
1858 (Illinois)
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas compete with each other in seven Lincoln-Douglas debates as candidates for Senator of Illinois. One is held in Freeport, Quincy, and Alton Illinois and draws especially large crowds from neighboring states.
1858, 30 September: Lillian "Lillie" Belle Crapser, born. (Brown family)
Sept 30, 1859 (Wisconsin)
Abraham Lincoln addresses the Wisconsin State Fair crowd in Milwaukee, later he delivers a speech in Beloit, then known as a small frontier town. Janesville Republicans, after to listening to him, ask Lincoln to come and speak in Janesville the same night. He agrees. He spends two nights there at the Tallman home.
1859, 7 July: Margaret "Mary" Brown and John Brown, married. (Brown family)
November 6, 1860 (District of Columbia
Lincoln becomes the 16th President of the United States. He is assassinated in 1865.
Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes the 17th President of the United States.
1860, 3 July: Frank P. Brown, born. (Brown family)
March 3, 1861 (Russia)
Tsar’s Alexander II emancipation ends serfdom in Russia.
April 12, 1861 (South Carolina)
The Confederate Army opened fire on Fort Sumter.
1861-1865 (Wisconsin)
The Civil War begins. Governor called for volunteers for military service. Over 90,000 men from Wisconsin serve in the Union armed forces during the Civil War. It is estimated that 3,802 are killed in action or from wounds. However, deaths from other causes such as disease were about 8,500.
June 24, 1961 (Milwaukee, WI) A bank riot occurs in Milwaukee when mobs attack several banks. The riots involve action against the Mitchell Bank, the State Bank of Milwaukee and the Juneau Bank.
1862-1863 (Bucks County, PA)
The draft is instituted by the union. Some Bucks County residents go into drafted regiments like the 174th PA Infantry. Others resist or desert.
1862 (Prussia)
King Wilhelm I appoints Otto von Bismarck as Minister President of Prussia.
1863 (Bucks County, PA)
Frederick Douglas speaks at several locations in Bucks County to encourage local blacks to enlist in regiments organizing at Camp William Penn outside Philadelphia.
August 23, 1866 (Austro-Hungary)
The Peace of Prague of 1866 is signed, ending the Austro-Prussian War.
1865 (Russia)
Russian armies move to take control of territory in Central Asia.
April 9, 1865 (Appomattox Court House, Virginia)
General Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia surrender to General Grant in the McLean house in the village of Appomattox Court House.
1867 (Russia)
Uncertain as to whether Russia will be able to defend its territories in America from Britain or Canada, Czar Alexander II sells Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million.
1868 (District of Columbia)
General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the 18th President of the United States.
1869, 14 May: James Allison, died. (Allison)
1870 (Italy)
Giuseppe Garibaldi liberates the City of Rome. No longer ruled by the Papacy, Rome becomes the capital of the new unified Italy.
1870 (Bucks County, PA)
Industries begin to boom in Bucks County. The population grows as Textile and Iron industries bring more workers to the area.
February 10, 1873 (Spain)
The Abdication of Amadeo I, whose brief reign is troubled by rebellions in the north and the Cuban Independence movement, abdicates as ruler of Spain. This marks the formation of the First Spanish Republic.
1874 (England)
Queen Victoria declared Empress of India.
1875 (England)
Disraeli acquires control of Suez Canal from the hands of the Khedive of Egypt.
1876 (District of Columbia)
Rutherford B. Hayes becomes the 19th President of the United States.
October 21, 1879 (New Jersey)
Thomas Edison invents a commercially viable electric light.
1879, 26 November: Evangeline "Vangie" B. Gillingham, born in Gillingham, WI. (Gillingham family)
1880 (District of Columbia)
James A. Garfield becomes the 20th President of the United States. In September, he is assassinated and
Vice President Chester A. Arthur becomes the 21st President of the United States.
1880, 24 September: Lillian "Lillie" Belle Crapser and Frank P. Brown, married in Buena Vista Township, Richland County, WI. (Brown family)
March 13, 1881 (Russia)
Czar Alexander II is assassinated at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg.
1883, 14, May: Walter John Brown, born in Lone Rock WI (Brown family)
1883. 26 July: Ruby Vaughn Allison, born in Marshall Township, Richland Cty, WI. (Allison family)
1884 (District of Columbia)
Grover Cleveland becomes the 22nd President of the United States.
1884-1885 (Germany)
Berlin Conference also called the Congo Conference, results in the Partition of Africa and is the cause of most of the Africa's borders today. The conference marks the beginning of a new imperialism period and the rise of Germany as an imperial power.
1886 (England)
Gladstone's Irish Home-Rule Bill is defeated.
1886, 5 February: Elizabeth "Betsy" Stewart, died. (Allison)
1888 (District of Columbia)
Benjamin Harrison becomes the 23rd President of the United States.
1890 (Germany)
Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of Germany, is forced out of office due to continual conflicts with new King Wilhelm II.
1892 (District of Columbia)
Grover Cleveland is re-elected and becomes the 23rd President of the United States.
1893, 27 April: Catherine "Katie" Telfair, died in Buena Sextonville, WI. (Brown family)
August 1,1894-April 17, 1894 (China)
Japan conquers China in the first Sino-Japanese War, Japan emerges as a world power.
1894, 1 September: Thomas Hart Doudna, born in Gillingham, WI. (Doudna family)
1896 (District of Columbia)
William McKinley becomes the 24th President of the United States.
February 15, 1898 (Cuba)
The USS Maine is sunk in Havana Harbor leading to the start of the Spanish-American War.
1900 (China)
The Boxer Rebellion occurs, when an officially supported peasant uprising attempts to drive all foreigners from China.
1900 (District of Columbia)
Theodore Roosevelt becomes the 25th President of the United States.
1903 (Kitty Hawk, North Carolina)
Wilbur and Orville Wright achieved the first powered, sustained and controlled airplane flight.
February 8, 1904 (Russia)
The Russo-Japanese War begins when Japan launches a surprise naval attack decimating the Russian fleet in Port Arthur, a Russian naval base in China.
1904, 17 May: John Brown, died in Lone Rock, WI. (Brown family)
1904, 23 July: Evangeline B. Gillingham and Leon Hart Doudna, married in Gillingham WI. (Doudna and Gillingham families)
1905, 29 May: Eleanor Hart Doudna, born. (Doudna family)
October 26, 1905 (Norway)
Norway and Sweden secure independence after the dissolution of the Union between Sweden and Norway. Prince Carl of Denmark and Iceland becomes King Haakon VII of Norway and one of the few elected monarchs.
1907, 21 February: Dr. Calvin Doudna, born. (Doudna family)
1908, 29 July: Odessa Vaughn Brown is born in Marshall Township, Richland County, WI
1908 (District of Columbia)
William Howard Taft is elected the 26th President of the United States.
1910, 19 January: Helen "Pat" Kezia Brown is born in Marshall Township, Richland County, WI
1910, 4 April: George Marshall Doudna, born in Bloom City, WI. (Doudna family)
1912-1913 (Balkan Penninsula, South Eastern Europe)
The Balkan Wars were conflicts, which resulted in the loss of nearly all the European holdings of the Ottoman Empire and is called a "prelude to World War I."
1913 (District of Columbia)
Woodrow Wilson is elected the 27th President of the United States.
1913, 19 November: Alyce Amelia Brown is born in Marshall Township, Richland County, WI
1913, 24 October: Irvin "I J" James Doudna, born. (Doudna family)
1913, 19 November: Alyce Amelia Brown, born. (Brown family)
1914 (Japan)
Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last Shogun of Japan dies. He was instrumental in making the transition from the shogunate to restoration of the power to the emperor a peaceful one.
June 28, 1914 (Serbia)
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife are assassinated in Sarajevo. A month later, The Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.
July 31, 1914 (Russia)
Russia in accordance with their treaty with Serbia begins to mobilize her armed forces and is drawn into the conflict.
August 1-4, 1914 (Germany)
Germany declares war on Russia, France, and neutral Belgium.
August 6, 1914 (England)
As a result of the invasion of Germany into France, Britain, in accordance with her treaties, declares war on Germany and World War I begins.
August 15,1914 (Panama)
As the cargo ship SS Ancon, and American cargo and passenger ship passes through, the Panama Canal opens, connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
September 5-10, 1914 (France)
First Battle of the Marne stops the German movement through France.
1914, 25 November: Maurice Deaver, Sr., born. (Doudna family)
May 7, 1915 (Atlantic Ocean)
German U-boat sinks the Lusitania; over a thousand passengers including 128 Americans perish.
1915, 7 October: Barbara "Bobbie" Brown, born in Marshall Township, Richland County, WI. (Brown family)
1915, 28 October: Caroline Hart Doudna, born in Gillingham WI. (Doudna family)
1916 (Bucks County, PA)
Company G of Pennsylvania’s National Guard, headquartered in Bucks County, is among the units sent to El Paso, Texas to patrol the Rio Grande, while other troops are sent into Mexico in pursuit of the Mexican outlaw Poncho Villa.
February 21, 1916 (France)
The longest conflict of the war, The Battle of Verdun, begins. An estimated one million casualties will result before it ends.
April 19, 1916 (District of Columbia)
President Woodrow Wilson warns Germany to halt unrestricted submarine warfare policies.
November 7, 1916 (District of Columbia)
Woodrow Wilson is re-elected President. His campaign claims "He kept us out of war!"
December 7, 1916 (England)
David Lloyd George becomes Prime Minister of Britain.
December 31, 1916 (Russia)
Rasputin, self-proclaimed monk and confidant to the Czar Nicholas II's wife, is murdered.
1917-1918 (World Wide)
Two worldwide outbreaks of Spanish Influenza kill more people than died in World War I. In Bucks County, PA, the epidemic strikes over 9,500; nationwide, over 350,000 die from the virus.
Units of the 28th Division, which include Bucks County’s Co. G, are called up as America enters World War I; they fight across France at Chateau-Thierry and Montfauçon. In late September, 1918 they join in the Meuse-Argonne offensive, the final push that wins the war for the Allies.
March 15, 1917 (Russia)
Czar Nicholas II abdicates when the first of two revolutions sweep Russia. A provisional government is declared.
April 6, 1917 (District of Columbia)
President Wilson asks Congress for a declaration of war with Imperial Germany.
July 3, 1917 (France)
The first American troops, the American Expeditionary Force, lands in France.
1917, 30 September: John Franklin Brown, born in Gillingham, WI. (Brown family)
November 7, 1917 (Russia)
The second of two revolutions sweep Russia. Kerensky's provisional government is overthrown by the Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin.
April 22, 1918 (Europe)
Baron von Richthofen, "The Red Baron" is shot down and dies in a dog-fight.
July 16-17, 1918 (Russia)
Former Czar, Nicholas II, his family, and members of his entourage are killed by the Bolsheviks.
November 9, 1918 (Germany)
Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates.
November 10, 1918 (Germany)
A German republic is formed.
November 11, 1918 (France)
Germany and the Allies sign an Armistice ending World War I.
1919, 28 September: Omer Allison Brown, born in Gillingham, WI. (Brown family)
1920 -1922 (India)
The Non-Cooperation Movement is led by Mahatma Gandhi in India in protest of oppressive British rule.
January 16, 1920 (Paris)
The first session of the Council of the League of Nations is held in Paris.
January 19, 1920 (District of Columbia)
The U.S. Senate votes against membership in the League of Nations, in spite of President Woodrow Wilson’s extensive efforts to join.
1920, 13 April: Frank P. Brown, died. (Brown family)
1920, 7 June: Mary Lou Doudna, born in Gillingham, WI. (Doudna family)
August 26, 1920 (District of Columbia)
The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, giving the right to vote to women, is ratified.
November, 1920 (District of Columbia)
Warren G. Harding is elected the 28th President of the United States.
1921, 9 September: Earl James "Jim" Brown, born in Gillingham, WI. (Brown family)
March 18, 1922 (India)
Mahatma Gandhi is arrested, tried on charges of sedition, and sentenced to six years imprisonment. At "The Great Trial", Gandhi delivers a "masterful indictment of British Rule.”
November, 1922 (District of Columbia)
Calvin Coolidge is elected the 30th President of the United States.
1924 (Russia)
After the death of Lenin, Joseph Stalin outmaneuvers the competition to win the power struggle of the Communist Party and become Dictator of a brutal regime of terror, forced labor camps, and secret police.
1924, 9 February: Walter Paul Brown, born in Gillingham, WI. (Brown family)
1924, 20 February: William Omer Allison, died. (Allison family)
January 2, 1925 (Italy)
Benito Mussolini assumes dictatorial control of Italy following his Black Shirts' March on Rome.
1925, 26 December: Rollen "Rollie" Dale Brown, born in Gillingham, WI. (Brown family)
November, 1928 (District of Columbia)
Herbert Hoover is elected the 31st President of the United States.
1929, 31 January: Ruby Glee Brown, born in Gillingham, WI. (Brown family)
October 24, 1929 (New York)
The stock market crash on "Black Thursday," marks the beginning of the world wide "Great Depression" that will last until World War II.
1929, 21 December: Lillian "Lillie" Belle, died. (Brown family)
1930-1940 (Bucks County, PA)
Bucks County establishes its reputation as a center for the arts as novelists, actors, playwrights, musicians, poets, and other cultural artists are drawn to the area for beauty, inexpensive land and historic landmarks. The area around New Hope is especially popular.
April 5,1930 (India)
Gandhi and followers break the "Salt Laws" that gave the salt monopoly to the British. This protest results in thousands of arrests and the start of the Civil Disobedience movement in India.
February 1931 (United States)
Food riots begin to break out in parts of the United States.
December 1931 (New York)
New York's Bank of the United States collapses.
1932 (Wisconsin)
Wisconsin becomes the first state to pass an unemployment compensation act.
November, 1932 (District of Columbia)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected the 32nd President of the United States in a landslide.
March 1933 (District of Columbia)
Almost immediately after his inauguration, FDR announces a four-day bank holiday, quickly followed by the passing of the Emergency Banking Act of 1933. As a result, three fourths of the closed the closed banks are able to be back in business by the end of the month.
This Act was the beginning of the New Deal, a series of domestic programs designed to put America back on the road to economic recovery.
1933 (Bucks County, PA)
In Bucks County, PA, nine federal relief projects are established. People are put to work at a new water works in Sellersville, an addition to the high school in Bristol, and the reconstruction of William Penn’s manor house at Pennsbury Manor.
March 12, 1933 (United States)
FDR begins to give the "Fireside Chats" on the radio.
1933, 10 April: Agnes Ann Pippin Allison, died. (Allison family)
April 1933 (United States)
The Civilian Conservation Corps is established. The goal of the organization is to provide employment. The "volunteer army" will swell to 500,000 by 1935.
January 30, 1933 (Germany)
Adolf Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany .
May 3, 1938 (Italy)
Hitler meets with Mussolini leading to the “Pact of Steel.”
September 30, 1938 (England)
Neville Chamberlain claims he has secured "Peace For Our Time."
September, 1939 (Poland)
Germany invades Poland in a blitzkrieg (lightening war). This begins the European theater of World War II as France and Britain meet the action by declaring war on Germany.
1939-1940 (Europe)
Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France are overrun by Germany and Russia
1940, 21 March: Mary Hart Deaver, born. (Doudna family)
May 1940 (England)
Winston Churchill becomes the British Prime Minister.
December 7, 1941 (Hawaii)
"A day that will live in infamy. "The Japanese attack the United States fleet secured at Pearl Harbor.
For Americans, World War II begins. Bucks County, PA loses two of its own in the assault.
1942, 21 September: Lillian Agnes Brown and George Marshall Doudna, married in Kehoka, MO. (Brown and Doudna families)
June 11, 1943 (District of Columbia)
Eisenhower is named supreme commander of Operation Overlord—the Allied invasion.
June 6, 1944 (France)
Allied Forces accomplish the D-Day Normandy Invasion.
1944, 15 June: Walter Paul Brown is killed at the Battle of Saipan, WWII
August 1944 (France)
Paris is liberated and Charles de Gaulle is given a hero's welcome.
February 4, 1945 (Crimean Peninsula)
Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin meet at the Yalta Conference to discuss post World War II boundaries. The conference results in a Germany split into Communist and non-Communist portions.
April 12, 1945 (Warm Springs, Georgia)
President Franklin Roosevelt dies in office from a cerebral hemorrhage.
Vice President Harry S. Truman becomes the 33rd President of the United States.
April 28, 1945 (Italy)
Mussolini is executed by an Italian resistance firing squad.
May 1945 (France)
World War II ends in the European theatre.
August, 1945(Japan)
Atomic bombs are dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
September, 1945
Peace becomes official when the Japanese Instrument of Surrender is signed on the USS Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay.
January, 1947 (Eastern Europe)
Communists seize power as Romania, Poland, and Hungary join Albania and Bulgaria in falling to Communist control. Czechoslovakia joins them in 1948. The “Iron Curtain” falls across Europe as boundaries of these “satellite states” will be unchanged until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
August 15, 1947 (India)
India gains its independence from Britain and Jawaharlal Nehru is named its first prime minister.
August 14,1947 (India)
Pakistan is created as an independent nation for Muslims from the Northwest provinces of British India.
August 15,1947 (India)
India achieves freedom from Britain.
January 30, 1948 (India)
Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated as he ascends to the podium at his prayer meeting.
April 3, 1948 (District of Columbia)
President Truman signs the act that will be known as The Marshall Plan and will help to rebuild war torn Europe.
May 14, 1948 (Israel)
The announcement of the Jewish State of Israel is made in Tel-Aviv.
June 1948 (Germany)
The Berlin Airlift begins (ends May 19 1949).
June 28, 1948 (Yugoslavia)
Tito is officially removed from the Cominform by Stalin. This action was meant to bring Tito and Yugoslavia back into line, but instead results in a more united and separate Yugoslavia.
1949 (China)
Chinese civil war leads to a Mainland China lead by Mao Tse-Tung, and the "People’s Republic of China" led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, based on the island of Formosa.
April 4, 1949 (District of Columbia)
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is established.
September, 1949 (Russia)
The Soviet Union tests their first Atomic bomb-the arms race begins.
June 25, 1950 (Korea)
North Korean forces cross the 38th parallel, invading South Korea. The United States along with United Nations forces fight a “police action” against North Korean. The Korean War will continue until peace is declared July 27, 1953.
1951, 3 June: Walter "Walt" Brown, died in Richland Center, WI. (Brown family)
February 6, 1952 (England)
Elizabeth is proclaimed Queen of England upon the death of her father, King George VI. Her coronation occurs on June 2, 1953.
November, 1952 (District of Columbia)
“Ike” Eisenhower is elected 34th President of the United States.
November, 1956
The Soviet Army crushes the Hungarian Revolution
1956, 19 December: Rollen "Rollie" Brown,died. (Brown family)
July 3, 1957 (Russia)
Nikita Khrushchev gains control of the USSR in a takeover power grab.
October 1957 (Russia)
The USSR successfully launches the first man made satellite into space.
February 1959, (Cuba)
Revolutionary troops led by Fidel Castro overthrow the Cuban government.
November, 1960 (District of Columbia)
John F. Kennedy is elected 35th President of the United States.
April 1961(Cuba)
The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba fails.
August 13, 1961 (Germany)
In the dead of night, the Berlin Wall is erected separating East Berlin from West Berlin.
October 22, 1962 (Cuba)
The Cuban Missile Crisis pits the governments of the USSR and US in a showdown over missile bases in Cuba for 13 days. President Kennedy demands that existing missiles be removed and further announces a naval “quarantine” of Cuba to block shipments from the USSR. After a dramatic confrontation, the missiles are removed and an agreement is reached.
August 5, 1963
After more than eight years of negotiations, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union signed the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
1963, August 22: Ruby Vaughn Allison Brown, died in Richland Center, WI. (Brown family)
August 28, 1963 (District of Columbia)
Over 250,000 demonstrators participate in the March on Washington in support of Civil Rights.
November 22, 1963 (Texas)
JFK is assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. The nation is in mourning when his accused assassin is murdered while in police custody by Jack Ruby on November 24, 1963.
Vice President Lyndon Johnson becomes 36th President of the United States.
August 7, 1964 (District of Columbia)
U.S. Congress approves Gulf of Tonkin resolution affirming “All necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States…to prevent further aggression…”
August , 1966 (China)
The Chinese Cultural Revolution escalates allowing Mao to attack current party leadership and reassert his authority. Before it winds down in 1976 with Mao’s death, Students form paramilitary groups called the Red Guards and attack and harass members of China’s elderly and intellectual population.
June 1967 (Middle East)
The Six-Day War takes place between Israel and all of its neighboring countries: When it is over, Israel expands its territories to include The Gaza Strip and Sinai, West Bank and Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights
November, 1968 (District of Columbia)
Richard Nixon is elected 37th President of the United States.
July 20, 1969 (The Moon)
“The Eagle has landed…” The Apollo II Mission lands the first humans on the Moon. The world watches as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon.
May 4, 1970 (Ohio)
Kent State college students are shot to death by Oho National Guardsmen during an anti-war protest on the campus.
February17-28, 1972 (China)
President Richard Nixon visits the People’s Republic of China.
June 17, 1972 (District of Columbia)
The Watergate break-in occurs, ultimately resulting in the resignation of Richard Nixon as president.
January 23, 1973 (Viet Nam)
The official end of the Vietnam War.
1973, 26 July: George Marshall Doudna, died in Madison Wisconsin. (Doudna family)
April 9,1974 (District of Columbia)
President Richard Nixon resigns from office.
Vice President Gerald Ford becomes the 38th President of the United States.
1975, 12 March: Omer Brown, died in Grand Forks, ND. (Brown family)
November, 1976 (District of Columbia)
Jimmy Carter is elected 39th President of the United States.
November, 1980 (District of Columbia)
Ronald Reagan is elected 40th President of the United States.
November, 1988(District of Columbia)
George H.W. Bush is elected 41st President of the United States.
1989, 30 January: Ruby Glee Brown Whaley, died in Richland Center, WI. (Brown family
November 9, 1989 (Germany)
The Berlin Wall is torn down almost as fast as it was erected in 1961. Its destruction is celebrated around the world.
November, 1992 (District of Columbia)
Bill Clinton is elected 42nd President of the United States.
1994, 15 December: Lillian Agnes Brown Doudna, died in Madison,WI. (Doudna family)
November, 2000 (District of Columbia)
George W. Bush is elected 43rd President of the United States.
November , 2008 (District of Columbia)
Barack Obama is elected 44th President of the United States.
In his quest for the Northwest Passage, French explorer Jean Nicolet arrives in the Green Bay area and makes contact with the Menominee tribe.
1659-1660 (Wisconsin wilderness)
French fur traders explore the region. Nicholas Perrot opens fur trade with Wisconsin Indians.
1669 (Wisconsin wilderness)
France sends Jesuit missionaries among the Menominee; they build a mission St. Francois Xavier at Green Bay. The missions will serve as centers for traders going to and from what is now Wisconsin.
1673 (Wisconsin wilderness)
The Jesuit priest Jacques Marquette and explorer and fur trader Louis Joliet explore the region
1679 (Wisconsin wilderness)
Frenchman Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Luth claims the region for France.
1681 (Bucks County, Pennsylvania Colony)
William Penn asks King Charles II of England for a tract of unexplored wilderness in the New World in lieu of the 16,000 pounds Charles owes the Penn Estate. Penn becomes the sole proprietor of the largest piece of land ever owned by a British Citizen. The territory becomes known as Pennsylvania, meaning "Penn's Woods,” though Penn had originally preferred the name "New Wales".
November, 1682 (Bucks County, Pennsylvania Colony)
Penn divides his land into three original counties: Bucks, Philadelphia, and Chester. Bucks County receives its name from Buckinghamshire, the county in England where Penn's family seat is located.
1701-1738 (Wisconsin wilderness)
Fox Indian wars rage as the Fox Indian tribes rise up against French authority in Wisconsin. The Menominee side with the French.
1712
Thomas Newcomen invents the atmospheric engine. The steam engine is arguably the most important development of the Industrial Revolution and will be extensively utilized in mining, manufacturing, agriculture and transportation. It also marks the early days of the Industrial Revolution which will ultimately transform the world.
1727 (Bucks County, Pennsylvania Colony)
The Durham Iron Company is formed, operating one of the earliest blast furnaces in Pennsylvania. The extraction of iron from ore, and the production of cast iron becomes Bucks County's first full-scale industry. Durham produces plates for stoves and various domestic implements, as well as pig iron--raw material for iron casting or conversion into wrought iron.
1737 (Bucks County, Pennsylvania, British Colony)
Agents for the sons of William Penn negotiate a questionable land transaction--"The Walking Purchase"--with the Lenape Indians. The purchase results in a huge swath of southeastern Pennsylvania being opened to European settlement. The Lenape believe that they have been cheated out of their most valuable remaining lands along the Delaware River.
1754 ((Bucks County, Pennsylvania, British Colony)
During the French Indian War, "The Walking Purchase" comes back to haunt Bucks County pioneers. The Lenape Indians, feeling that their land had been stolen by the British in the transaction, ally themselves with the French. During the War, the family of Edward Marshall (who had been a major party to the execution of the Walking Purchase Treaty) was attacked repeatedly. At their homestead in Tinicum Township, Marshall's wife and two children are killed in these reprisals.
1756-1763_(Wisconsin-British Control)
The French and Indian War is won by Great Britain. As a result, The Treaty of Paris 1763 cedes French territory east of the Mississippi, except New Orleans to England
1757, 2 January: James Stewart, born. (Allison family)
1760-1820 (Britain)
George III succeeds his grandfather George II to become one of the longest serving kings of England. Losing the American Revolution adds to the stress of his reign results in serious bouts of illness and in 1810, George became permanently deranged in 1810.
1762—1796 (Russia)
Catherine II becomes Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia. She rules over a period of Russian expansion and modernization.
1763 (Wisconsin-British Control)
The “Conspiracy of Pontiac” is a conflict that pits British rule against Ottawa chief Pontiac and a loose confederation of Native American tribes from the Great Lakes area. The tribes attempt to drive out British rule. Among the victims of the uprising are two Englishmen killed at Muscoda.
1774 _(Wisconsin- Provence of Quebec)
The Quebec Act makes Wisconsin a part of the Provence of Quebec.
July 1774 (Bucks County, PA-British Control)
A public meeting is held in Newtown, Bucks County, PA, in response to the Boston Tea Party. Most Bucks County citizens agree that the British Parliament made laws affecting the colonies without the colonies consent. Still, there is a strong conservative base in the government and Quakers are resistant to aggressive opposition to the English crown.
October 1774 (Philadelphia – British Control)
The Continental Congress produces the "Association of 1774", calling upon the colonies to unite in refusing imports, exports, or consuming British goods. It also authorized counties and localities to elect committees to ensure these provisions were carried out.
1775-1783 (American Colonies)
Revolutionary War.
June 1775 (Philadelphia – British Control)
Following the first shots of the Revolution at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, the Continental Army is formed. George Washington is elected commander-in-chief.
October 1775 (Bucks County, PA-British Control)
Augustine Willett of Bensalem Twp., Bucks County, become captain of one of the Pennsylvania Battalion companies. His company is sent off to take part in the American offensive against Canada. Later, Willett rises to the rank of Brigadier General of militia.
July 4, 1776 (Bucks County, PA-British Control)
The Continental Congress declares America's independence from Great Britain. Three of the signers of the Declaration of Independence have Bucks County, PA connections. Gregory Taylor had worked at Durham Ironworks and was Colonel of the Bucks County Associators; Robert Morris was a famed financier of the Revolution and owned land in Falls Township; and George Clymer was a prosperous merchant who lived in Morrisville.
December 25, 1776 (New Jersey)
Washington leads his army across the Delaware River on Christmas night, to make a surprise assault on the Hessian garrison at Trenton. The surprise is complete and helps revive the sagging fortunes of the American cause.
August, 1777 (Bucks County, PA-British Control)
Washington's army, a total of 11,000 men, encamps in Warwick Township, Bucks County. Making his headquarters at the home of Hannah Moland. Washington is joined there for the first time by the Marquis de Lafayette and the Polish nobleman Casimir Pulaski, both of whom come to play important roles in the American cause.
1777, 12 October: Jesse Stewart, born. (Allison family)
May 1, 1778 (Bucks County, PA-British Control)
The Battle of Crooked Billet is named after a tavern in the village now known as Hatboro, this engagement was a British victory. Troops under American general John Lacey were taken by surprise and forced back deeper into Bucks County.
June 20, 1778 (Bucks County, PA-British Control)
Washington's army passes through Doylestown, a stop in his last march through Bucks County on his way to defend Philadelphia. Washington stays one night in Jonathan Fell's house, about a mile east of the center of town
1783 (Wisconsin, Northwest Territory)
The Treaty of Paris 1783, ends the Revolutionary War and British Rule in America.
1783 (United States)
The Treaty of Paris 1783, ends the Revolutionary War and British Rule in America.
1787 (Bucks County, Pennsylvania)
Pennsylvania votes to ratify the new Constitution. Bucks County residents: Geradus Wynkoop, John Chapman, Valentine Opp, and Samuel Foulke join with other Pennsylvanians to approve the document establishing the new American government.
1787 (Wisconsin, Northwest Territory)
Wisconsin has officially becomes part of the US Northwest Territory, but British fur traders effectively control the region until 1816.
August 22, 1787 (Bucks County, PA)
Bucks County resident, John Fitch, demonstrates the first full sized steamboat on the Delaware River. However, it is Robert Fulton, with his line of commercially successful steamboats on the Hudson River who eventually gains widespread recognition for the invention.
1787-1800 (Wisconsin, Northwest Territory)
Under The Ordinance of 1787, Wisconsin is made part of the Northwest Territory, but British fur traders effectively control the region until 1816.
July 14, 1789 (France)
Peasants storm the Bastille marks the beginning of the French Revolution.
June 20, 1791 (France)
King Louis XVI attempts to flee France, but is stopped at Varennes.
1791 (District of Columbia)
Land is ceded by Maryland for the nation’s new capitol. The area will be known as the District of Columbia.
August 10, 1792 (France)
A revolutionary crowd attacks the royal palace, overthrow the monarchy. France is declared a republic on September 22, 1792. The King is subsequently tried and executed.
1796 (United States)
Federalist John Adams is elected as the 2nd President of the United States
1799 (United States)
George Washington is elected the 1st President of the United States.
1799-1800 (Bucks County, PA)
"Fries' Rebellion" - Opposition to the assessment of a direct federal tax on individual citizens leads to a militant challenge to the authority of the new national government in northwestern Bucks County. Led by John Fries and others, the uprising is eventually put down by federal troops, and the trial and conviction of its ringleaders.
July 4, 1800-1809 (Wisconsin, Indiana Territory)
The Northwest Territory, an immense expanse of land was difficult to manage. Criminals, cheats and thieves were able to move freely in the vast territory. The judicial system of the area was also unwieldy. As a result it was determined to split the territory into two parts. The eastern section remains the Northwest Territory, the west becomes the Indiana Territory. Wisconsin becomes a part of the Indiana Territory.
1800 (District of Columbia)
Thomas Jefferson is elected 3rd President of the United States.
May 19, 1800 (Bucks County, PA)
Joseph and Robert Smith, brothers belonging to a Quaker family in Buckingham Township, invent and patent a plow with a cast iron, rather than wooden, moldboard. This tool helps to revolutionize farming.
1800, 17 October: Margaret Johnston, born in Ireland. (Gillingham family)
1800, 28 June: Elizabeth "Betsy" Stewart, born. (Allison family)
1803-1815 (Europe)
The Napoleonic Wars break out between England, France and Spain. On October 21, 1805, Admiral Lord Nelson and the Royal Navy are victorious over both the French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar.
1803 (District of Columbia)
Thomas Jefferson completes the Louisiana Purchase, the acquisition of 828,000 square acres costs $15 million francs and a cancellation of debts from France. The purchase works out to less than three cents an acre. The Louisiana Territory includes land from Louisiana to the Dakotas and Montana. The purchase doubles the size of the United States.
March 1, 1803 (Northwest Territory)
A section of the Northwest Territory is carved out and becomes the State of Ohio. What remains of the Northwest Territory is added to the Indiana Territory. On January 11, 1805, the Michigan Territory is separated from the Indiana Territory.
1804 (Bucks County, PA)
Asher Miner begins publishing the Pennsylvania Correspondent and Farmer's Advertiser in Doylestown. In 1824, it becomes the Bucks County Patriot, and in 1827, the Bucks County Intelligencer, the ancestor of today's Intelligencer newspaper.
1804 (Wisconsin, Indiana Territory)
Governor of the Indiana Territory, William Henry Harrison's treaty with Indians at St. Louis extinguishes Indian title to the lead regions of Wisconsin. Ultimately, Harrison’s tactics will transfer title to more than 51 million acres for less than a penny for two hundred acres. Harrison’s continued land-grabbing combined with British inciting Indians to harass and attack settlers results in uprisings throughout the territory. It will contribute to the cause of the Black Hawk War in Wisconsin.
May 14, 1804 – September, 1806
Rogers and Clark Expedition or The Corps of Discovery begins near St. Louis on the Mississippi. The journey will cover 8,000 miles from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean in less than two and one half years, losing only one member of the party to illness. The purpose of the journey is to discover the Northwest Passage to the ocean. They are also encouraged by President Jefferson to explore and collect samples and information on everything from the flora and fauna to Indian activity, maps and more.
December 2, 1804 (France)
Napoleon is crowned Emperor of France. The story goes that he rejected the authority of the Pope, snatched the crown out of his hands and then Napoleon crowned himself.
1805 (Russia)
Czar Alexander I, grandson of Catherine the Great, is defeated by Napoleon at the battle of Austerlitz. The battle is considered to be one of the French emperor’s greatest victories.
1808, 8 July: Harvey Gillingham, born in Ohio. (Gillingham family)
1808 (District of Columbia)
James Madison becomes the 4th President of the United States.
December 1808 (Bucks County, PA)
Construction begins on the Bucks County "Poorhouse," on what is now known as South Easton and Almshouse Roads.
1809 (Bucks County, PA)
The first black church in the county is formed in a community called Washington Village, now part of Langhorne. It continues to be a church today-Bethlehem African Methodist Episcopal Church.
March 1, 1809-1818 (Wisconsin, Illinois Territory)
An act of Congress creates the Illinois Territory. The territory includes what is now Illinois, Wisconsin, the western portion of the Upper Peninsula, and a northeast section of Minnesota.
May 12, 1810 (Bucks County, PA)
Doylestown is selected as the location of the new County Seat. With the completion of a courthouse structure three years later, county government is transferred from Newtown to Doylestown.
August 7, 1813 (Bucks County, PA)
A meeting in Newtown calls for a company of men to be raised to battle the British in the War of 1812.
1813-December 24, 1814 (Illinois Territory)
White settlers face resistance and armed force as the War of 1812 plays out on the frontier. The British, who in spite of losing the Revolution, have maintained a presence in the western territory, move to take control of the Great Lakes and the Upper Mississippi. Indian tribes allied with the British in hopes of driving the American settlers out and restoring their lands. The result is massacres on both sides and hostilities that are still active even after the war ends with the Treaty of Ghent in 1814.
1814-1815 (Europe)
The Congress of Vienna is summoned by Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria in hopes of achieving stability to Europe after more than twenty years of war.
1814-1815 (Wisconsin - Illinois Territory)
Fort Shelby is built at Prairie du Chien. Captured by the English, the fort's name was changed to Fort McKay. The war concluded in 1815 and the fort is abandoned.
June 18, 1815 (Belgium)
The Duke of Wellington succeeds in overcoming Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.
1816 (District of Columbia)
James Monroe becomes 5th President of the United States.
1816 (Wisconsin, Illinois Territory)
The establishment of Fort Howard at Green Bay and the rebuilding of Fort Shelby at Prairie du Chien provides the security settlers need to open the region to settlement.
Astor's American Fur Company began operations in Wisconsin.
1818-1836 (Wisconsin, Michigan Territory)
The Wisconsin area becomes included in the Michigan Territory when the State of Illinois is formed. The territorial governor of Michigan creates the first two Wisconsin counties, Brown and Crawford.
1819 (Wisconsin, Michigan Territory)
The Treaty of Saginaw cedes nearly 6 million acres of Indian land to Michigan settlers. Native Indians are forced farther and farther West.
1820’s (Wisconsin Territory, Michigan Territory)
High prices for lead attract settlers to the mines of southern Wisconsin. The Michigan 1820 census lists residents of what is now Wisconsin.
1822 - (Wisconsin- Michigan Territory)
New York Indians (Oneida, Stockbridge, Munsee, and Brothertown tribes) are moved to Wisconsin.
First Mining leases in Southwestern Wisconsin are granted.
1823 (District of Columbia)
Monroe Doctrine is President Monroe's statement to the world powers that any colonization in the Americas would be viewed as aggression, requiring U.S. Intervention.
1824 (District of Columbia)
John Quincy Adams, son of the second US President, becomes the sixth President of the United States.
1825-1855 (Russia)
Tsar Nicholas I is Emperor of Russia. His heavy handed suppression of political dissent will later be credited as one of the causes of the assassination of his successor, Czar Alexander II, and the rise of the Bolshevik Party.
1825 (Wisconsin, Michigan Territory)
The Treaty of Prairie du Chien between the US government and Indian representatives establishes tribal boundaries.
1825, 16 October: Catherine "Katie" Telfair, born in Acra New York. (Brown family)
1827 (Wisconsin - Michigan Territory)
More hostilities rather than war, the Winnebago War breaks out when lead miners trespass on Winnebago lands in violation of the Treaty of Prairie du Chien. It is led by the Winnebago Prophet White Cloud and Chief Red Bird. Attacks kill settlers on the lower Wisconsin River and miners at the lead mines around Galena. Chief Red Bird surrenders after a show of military force. As a result of the war, the Ho-Chunk are forced to cede the lead mining region to the US government.
1827 (Bucks County, PA)
The Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal breaks ground for Bucks County's first canal water route. The waterway runs from Bristol to Easton. Work is finished and the canal opens in 1830.
1828 (District of Columbia)
Andrew Jackson is elected 7th President of the United States
1829-1851 World Wide
A cholera pandemic hits eastern Europe resulting in 100,000 deaths. Another 150,000 die when the illness spreads to Germany. It spreads to Egypt, United Kingdom, and France. In 1831 it has reached Ontario and Nova Scotia, and New York. It will find its way to the Pacific by 1834. It seems to spread through affected cities by way of rivers and river traffic. Irish immigrants are also blamed.
1830 (Wisconsin Territory)
Heavy settlement begins along the Lake Michigan shoreline at the sites of present-day Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha. The Michigan Territory 1830 Federal Census lists residents of what is now Wisconsin. Solomon Juneau, a fur trader, lays out what will be the eastern part of Milwaukee and becomes the village’s first president.
1832 (Wisconsin - Michigan Territory)
Sac and Fox Indians leave the Iowa Territory and return to their homeland in northern Illinois. Some 1,300 Illinois militia under General Henry Atkinson massacred Sauk Indian men, women and children who were followers of Black Hawk at the Bad Axe River in Wisconsin. Black Hawk himself finally surrendered three weeks later, bringing the Black Hawk War to an end. The end of the war ends any serious Indian threat to white settlement.
1833 (Wisconsin - Michigan Territory)
Land treaty with Indians cleared Southern Wisconsin land titles.
First newspaper, Green Bay Intelligencer, is established.
1833 (Bucks County, PA)
Bucks County's first section of railway, constructed by the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad Company is built between Morrisville and Bristol.
1834 (Wisconsin - Michigan Territory
Land offices are established at Green Bay and Mineral Point. The first public road is laid out.
1834, 23 April: Mary Ewing and Harvey Gillingham, married in Ohio.
February 23, 1836
The Battle of the Alamo, a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution, begins and will rage until March 6, 1936.
July 3, 1836-1848 (Wisconsin Territory)
Discovery of lead, and subsequent increase in population, results in the creation of the Territory of Wisconsin, which included lands west of the Mississippi River to the Missouri River. Much of the western portion was later transferred to the Iowa Territory, created on July 4, 1838. The act creating the Territory of Wisconsin is signed by President Andrew Jackson April 20. Belmont was made the territorial capital and Madison was chosen as the permanent capital.
1836 (District of Columbia)
Martin Van Buren becomes 8th President of the United States
1837 (England)
Victoria, the 18 year-old daughter of the Duke of Kent, becomes Queen of England.
1837 (Bucks County, PA)
The Bucks County Anti-Slavery Society holds its first meeting. Many members of the Society are Quakers.
1837 (Wisconsin Territory)
Madison is surveyed and platted. Building begins on the first capitol.
Land speculation and questionable banking procedures help to create the Panic of 1837, and the following six year depression.
1840 (Wisconsin Territory)
A flood of immigrants begins to arrive in Wisconsin from Germany and New York
1840 (District of Columbia)
William Henry Harrison is elected 9th President of the United States, dying of pneumonia a month later.
Vice President John Taylor becomes the 10th President of the United States
1840, 26 February: Jeremiah "Jerry" Crapser, born in New York. (Brown family)
1842, 6 May: Sophia Drake, born. (Gillingham family)
1842, 5 October: Eleanor Hart Doudna, born. (Doudna family)
1844 (District of Columbia)
James Polk becomes the 11th President of the United States.
1846-1849 (Worldwide)
In 1846, another cholera outbreak rages in Europe. It claims over 52,000 deaths in England and Wales alone. In1848, Europe is once again hit. It is considered the worst outbreak in the City of London’s history. In Ireland, Cholera kills many, weakened by the Iris Famine. Liverpool, where immigrants gather to emigrate to North America also suffers. Likewise, New York, a primary destination for debarkation of immigrants is hit.
From New York, it is believed to have spread throughout the Mississippi valley river system. Nearly 5,000 perish in St. Louis, while the disease claims 3,000 victims in New Orleans. In Mexico, 200,000 victims perish.
The disease spreads westward to California and Oregon.
It is believed more than 150,000 Americans died during the two pandemics between 1832 and 1849.
1846, 8 October: Jesse Stewart, died. (Allison family)
1847 Mexican-American War
Following the annexation of Texas, the United States and Mexico go to war. In the end, Mexico agrees to the Rio Grande as the boundary between Mexico and the United States. In addition, the United States also gains the territories of Alta California and Santa Fe Nuevo Mexico for the consideration $15 million.
April 1847 (Wisconsin Territory)
Census population set at 210, 546. The first statehood constitution rejected due to some highly controversial issues.
May 29, 1948 (District of Columbia)
President Polk signs the Wisconsin Statehood Bill into law and Wisconsin becomes the nation’s 30th state.
1948 (Wisconsin)
The State Legislature meets for the first time on June 5, 1948.
State University is incorporated.
Large scale German immigration to Wisconsin begins.
1849 (District of Columbia)
Zachary Taylor becomes the 12th President of the United States. He dies after 16 months in office.
Vice President Millard Fillmore becomes the 13th President of the United States.
1849 (Wisconsin)
First free, tax supported, graded school with high school established at Kenosha.
1850 (Bucks County PA)
Women's Medical College of Philadelphia is instituted with the help Bucks County residents Joseph and Thomas Longshore. Many Bucks County women graduate from this institution, including Hanna Longshore (Thomas' wife), Susan Parry of Buckingham, and Lettie A Smith of Newtown.
1851 (Wisconsin)
First state fair at Janesville. Approximately 13,000 to 18,000 attend what is believed to be the largest gathering in Wisconsin history. Featured are a 200 pound squash and a plowing competition. It was held on the bank of the Rock River.
August 21, 1851 (Kenosha WI)
John McCaffary tried and convicted of the murder of his wife, Bridgett, is hung. Over 2,000 people to gather to see the event as a spectacle. The hanging did not go well and McCaffary suffered a grisly death. A huge crowd gathers from the area to witness “the event.” The crowd experiences revulsion at the execution. The public opinion of the occurrence figures in the repeal of the death penalty in 1853.
1852 (District of Columbia)
Franklin Pierce becomes the 14th President of the United States.
1852-1856 (Bucks County, PA)
The North Pennsylvania Railroad is constructed, intending to link all of the coal-producing regions of northeastern Pennsylvania. The construction of the railroad is the last large-scale public improvement project in Bucks County to take place before the outbreak of the Civil War.
1853, 9 January: Margaret Johnston, died. (Gillingham family)
1853 (Wisconsin)
Capital punishment is abolished (Wisconsin is the third state to take this action).
October 1853-February1856 (Crimea Penninsula)
Crimean War, famed for “The Charge of the Light Brigade” and Florence Nightingale, is fought with Russian, British, French and Ottoman Turkish armies. Czar Nicholas had hoped to use the tensions of the time to take control of Constantinople and with it access to the Mediterranean. The conflict is perhaps best known for its poor leadership on both sides. The Treaty of Paris marks the end of the conflict in 1856 and as a result, Russia loses control over the Balkans.
1854 (India)
Indian Rebellion, often called the first War of Independence, leads to the abolishing of the East India Company and direct rule by the British government.
1854 (Ripon, Wisconsin)
Former members of the Whig party gather in Ripon and move to establish a new, abolitionist party.
The first class of the state university graduates.
Joshua Glover, fugitive slave, is arrested in Racine and the Wisconsin Supreme Court, declares The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 unconstitutional.
1855, 18 January: Elizabeth Carnes, died in Columbiana Cty, OH. (Gillingham family)
1855, 22 May: Agnes Ann Pippin, born in Tippecanoe County, IN. (Allison family)
1855, 26 July: William Drake, died in Ohio. (Gillingham family)
1856, 6 July: Frank Doudna, born. (Doudna family)
1856 (District of Columbia)
James Buchanan becomes the 15th President of the United States.
1857 (Wisconsin)
A railroad line is completed to Prairie du Chien.
1857, 30 November: Catherine "Katie" Telfair and Jeremiah "Jerry" Crapser, married. (Brown family)
1858 (Illinois)
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas compete with each other in seven Lincoln-Douglas debates as candidates for Senator of Illinois. One is held in Freeport, Quincy, and Alton Illinois and draws especially large crowds from neighboring states.
1858, 30 September: Lillian "Lillie" Belle Crapser, born. (Brown family)
Sept 30, 1859 (Wisconsin)
Abraham Lincoln addresses the Wisconsin State Fair crowd in Milwaukee, later he delivers a speech in Beloit, then known as a small frontier town. Janesville Republicans, after to listening to him, ask Lincoln to come and speak in Janesville the same night. He agrees. He spends two nights there at the Tallman home.
1859, 7 July: Margaret "Mary" Brown and John Brown, married. (Brown family)
November 6, 1860 (District of Columbia
Lincoln becomes the 16th President of the United States. He is assassinated in 1865.
Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes the 17th President of the United States.
1860, 3 July: Frank P. Brown, born. (Brown family)
March 3, 1861 (Russia)
Tsar’s Alexander II emancipation ends serfdom in Russia.
April 12, 1861 (South Carolina)
The Confederate Army opened fire on Fort Sumter.
1861-1865 (Wisconsin)
The Civil War begins. Governor called for volunteers for military service. Over 90,000 men from Wisconsin serve in the Union armed forces during the Civil War. It is estimated that 3,802 are killed in action or from wounds. However, deaths from other causes such as disease were about 8,500.
June 24, 1961 (Milwaukee, WI) A bank riot occurs in Milwaukee when mobs attack several banks. The riots involve action against the Mitchell Bank, the State Bank of Milwaukee and the Juneau Bank.
1862-1863 (Bucks County, PA)
The draft is instituted by the union. Some Bucks County residents go into drafted regiments like the 174th PA Infantry. Others resist or desert.
1862 (Prussia)
King Wilhelm I appoints Otto von Bismarck as Minister President of Prussia.
1863 (Bucks County, PA)
Frederick Douglas speaks at several locations in Bucks County to encourage local blacks to enlist in regiments organizing at Camp William Penn outside Philadelphia.
August 23, 1866 (Austro-Hungary)
The Peace of Prague of 1866 is signed, ending the Austro-Prussian War.
1865 (Russia)
Russian armies move to take control of territory in Central Asia.
April 9, 1865 (Appomattox Court House, Virginia)
General Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia surrender to General Grant in the McLean house in the village of Appomattox Court House.
1867 (Russia)
Uncertain as to whether Russia will be able to defend its territories in America from Britain or Canada, Czar Alexander II sells Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million.
1868 (District of Columbia)
General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the 18th President of the United States.
1869, 14 May: James Allison, died. (Allison)
1870 (Italy)
Giuseppe Garibaldi liberates the City of Rome. No longer ruled by the Papacy, Rome becomes the capital of the new unified Italy.
1870 (Bucks County, PA)
Industries begin to boom in Bucks County. The population grows as Textile and Iron industries bring more workers to the area.
February 10, 1873 (Spain)
The Abdication of Amadeo I, whose brief reign is troubled by rebellions in the north and the Cuban Independence movement, abdicates as ruler of Spain. This marks the formation of the First Spanish Republic.
1874 (England)
Queen Victoria declared Empress of India.
1875 (England)
Disraeli acquires control of Suez Canal from the hands of the Khedive of Egypt.
1876 (District of Columbia)
Rutherford B. Hayes becomes the 19th President of the United States.
October 21, 1879 (New Jersey)
Thomas Edison invents a commercially viable electric light.
1879, 26 November: Evangeline "Vangie" B. Gillingham, born in Gillingham, WI. (Gillingham family)
1880 (District of Columbia)
James A. Garfield becomes the 20th President of the United States. In September, he is assassinated and
Vice President Chester A. Arthur becomes the 21st President of the United States.
1880, 24 September: Lillian "Lillie" Belle Crapser and Frank P. Brown, married in Buena Vista Township, Richland County, WI. (Brown family)
March 13, 1881 (Russia)
Czar Alexander II is assassinated at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg.
1883, 14, May: Walter John Brown, born in Lone Rock WI (Brown family)
1883. 26 July: Ruby Vaughn Allison, born in Marshall Township, Richland Cty, WI. (Allison family)
1884 (District of Columbia)
Grover Cleveland becomes the 22nd President of the United States.
1884-1885 (Germany)
Berlin Conference also called the Congo Conference, results in the Partition of Africa and is the cause of most of the Africa's borders today. The conference marks the beginning of a new imperialism period and the rise of Germany as an imperial power.
1886 (England)
Gladstone's Irish Home-Rule Bill is defeated.
1886, 5 February: Elizabeth "Betsy" Stewart, died. (Allison)
1888 (District of Columbia)
Benjamin Harrison becomes the 23rd President of the United States.
1890 (Germany)
Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of Germany, is forced out of office due to continual conflicts with new King Wilhelm II.
1892 (District of Columbia)
Grover Cleveland is re-elected and becomes the 23rd President of the United States.
1893, 27 April: Catherine "Katie" Telfair, died in Buena Sextonville, WI. (Brown family)
August 1,1894-April 17, 1894 (China)
Japan conquers China in the first Sino-Japanese War, Japan emerges as a world power.
1894, 1 September: Thomas Hart Doudna, born in Gillingham, WI. (Doudna family)
1896 (District of Columbia)
William McKinley becomes the 24th President of the United States.
February 15, 1898 (Cuba)
The USS Maine is sunk in Havana Harbor leading to the start of the Spanish-American War.
1900 (China)
The Boxer Rebellion occurs, when an officially supported peasant uprising attempts to drive all foreigners from China.
1900 (District of Columbia)
Theodore Roosevelt becomes the 25th President of the United States.
1903 (Kitty Hawk, North Carolina)
Wilbur and Orville Wright achieved the first powered, sustained and controlled airplane flight.
February 8, 1904 (Russia)
The Russo-Japanese War begins when Japan launches a surprise naval attack decimating the Russian fleet in Port Arthur, a Russian naval base in China.
1904, 17 May: John Brown, died in Lone Rock, WI. (Brown family)
1904, 23 July: Evangeline B. Gillingham and Leon Hart Doudna, married in Gillingham WI. (Doudna and Gillingham families)
1905, 29 May: Eleanor Hart Doudna, born. (Doudna family)
October 26, 1905 (Norway)
Norway and Sweden secure independence after the dissolution of the Union between Sweden and Norway. Prince Carl of Denmark and Iceland becomes King Haakon VII of Norway and one of the few elected monarchs.
1907, 21 February: Dr. Calvin Doudna, born. (Doudna family)
1908, 29 July: Odessa Vaughn Brown is born in Marshall Township, Richland County, WI
1908 (District of Columbia)
William Howard Taft is elected the 26th President of the United States.
1910, 19 January: Helen "Pat" Kezia Brown is born in Marshall Township, Richland County, WI
1910, 4 April: George Marshall Doudna, born in Bloom City, WI. (Doudna family)
1912-1913 (Balkan Penninsula, South Eastern Europe)
The Balkan Wars were conflicts, which resulted in the loss of nearly all the European holdings of the Ottoman Empire and is called a "prelude to World War I."
1913 (District of Columbia)
Woodrow Wilson is elected the 27th President of the United States.
1913, 19 November: Alyce Amelia Brown is born in Marshall Township, Richland County, WI
1913, 24 October: Irvin "I J" James Doudna, born. (Doudna family)
1913, 19 November: Alyce Amelia Brown, born. (Brown family)
1914 (Japan)
Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last Shogun of Japan dies. He was instrumental in making the transition from the shogunate to restoration of the power to the emperor a peaceful one.
June 28, 1914 (Serbia)
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife are assassinated in Sarajevo. A month later, The Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.
July 31, 1914 (Russia)
Russia in accordance with their treaty with Serbia begins to mobilize her armed forces and is drawn into the conflict.
August 1-4, 1914 (Germany)
Germany declares war on Russia, France, and neutral Belgium.
August 6, 1914 (England)
As a result of the invasion of Germany into France, Britain, in accordance with her treaties, declares war on Germany and World War I begins.
August 15,1914 (Panama)
As the cargo ship SS Ancon, and American cargo and passenger ship passes through, the Panama Canal opens, connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
September 5-10, 1914 (France)
First Battle of the Marne stops the German movement through France.
1914, 25 November: Maurice Deaver, Sr., born. (Doudna family)
May 7, 1915 (Atlantic Ocean)
German U-boat sinks the Lusitania; over a thousand passengers including 128 Americans perish.
1915, 7 October: Barbara "Bobbie" Brown, born in Marshall Township, Richland County, WI. (Brown family)
1915, 28 October: Caroline Hart Doudna, born in Gillingham WI. (Doudna family)
1916 (Bucks County, PA)
Company G of Pennsylvania’s National Guard, headquartered in Bucks County, is among the units sent to El Paso, Texas to patrol the Rio Grande, while other troops are sent into Mexico in pursuit of the Mexican outlaw Poncho Villa.
February 21, 1916 (France)
The longest conflict of the war, The Battle of Verdun, begins. An estimated one million casualties will result before it ends.
April 19, 1916 (District of Columbia)
President Woodrow Wilson warns Germany to halt unrestricted submarine warfare policies.
November 7, 1916 (District of Columbia)
Woodrow Wilson is re-elected President. His campaign claims "He kept us out of war!"
December 7, 1916 (England)
David Lloyd George becomes Prime Minister of Britain.
December 31, 1916 (Russia)
Rasputin, self-proclaimed monk and confidant to the Czar Nicholas II's wife, is murdered.
1917-1918 (World Wide)
Two worldwide outbreaks of Spanish Influenza kill more people than died in World War I. In Bucks County, PA, the epidemic strikes over 9,500; nationwide, over 350,000 die from the virus.
Units of the 28th Division, which include Bucks County’s Co. G, are called up as America enters World War I; they fight across France at Chateau-Thierry and Montfauçon. In late September, 1918 they join in the Meuse-Argonne offensive, the final push that wins the war for the Allies.
March 15, 1917 (Russia)
Czar Nicholas II abdicates when the first of two revolutions sweep Russia. A provisional government is declared.
April 6, 1917 (District of Columbia)
President Wilson asks Congress for a declaration of war with Imperial Germany.
July 3, 1917 (France)
The first American troops, the American Expeditionary Force, lands in France.
1917, 30 September: John Franklin Brown, born in Gillingham, WI. (Brown family)
November 7, 1917 (Russia)
The second of two revolutions sweep Russia. Kerensky's provisional government is overthrown by the Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin.
April 22, 1918 (Europe)
Baron von Richthofen, "The Red Baron" is shot down and dies in a dog-fight.
July 16-17, 1918 (Russia)
Former Czar, Nicholas II, his family, and members of his entourage are killed by the Bolsheviks.
November 9, 1918 (Germany)
Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates.
November 10, 1918 (Germany)
A German republic is formed.
November 11, 1918 (France)
Germany and the Allies sign an Armistice ending World War I.
1919, 28 September: Omer Allison Brown, born in Gillingham, WI. (Brown family)
1920 -1922 (India)
The Non-Cooperation Movement is led by Mahatma Gandhi in India in protest of oppressive British rule.
January 16, 1920 (Paris)
The first session of the Council of the League of Nations is held in Paris.
January 19, 1920 (District of Columbia)
The U.S. Senate votes against membership in the League of Nations, in spite of President Woodrow Wilson’s extensive efforts to join.
1920, 13 April: Frank P. Brown, died. (Brown family)
1920, 7 June: Mary Lou Doudna, born in Gillingham, WI. (Doudna family)
August 26, 1920 (District of Columbia)
The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, giving the right to vote to women, is ratified.
November, 1920 (District of Columbia)
Warren G. Harding is elected the 28th President of the United States.
1921, 9 September: Earl James "Jim" Brown, born in Gillingham, WI. (Brown family)
March 18, 1922 (India)
Mahatma Gandhi is arrested, tried on charges of sedition, and sentenced to six years imprisonment. At "The Great Trial", Gandhi delivers a "masterful indictment of British Rule.”
November, 1922 (District of Columbia)
Calvin Coolidge is elected the 30th President of the United States.
1924 (Russia)
After the death of Lenin, Joseph Stalin outmaneuvers the competition to win the power struggle of the Communist Party and become Dictator of a brutal regime of terror, forced labor camps, and secret police.
1924, 9 February: Walter Paul Brown, born in Gillingham, WI. (Brown family)
1924, 20 February: William Omer Allison, died. (Allison family)
January 2, 1925 (Italy)
Benito Mussolini assumes dictatorial control of Italy following his Black Shirts' March on Rome.
1925, 26 December: Rollen "Rollie" Dale Brown, born in Gillingham, WI. (Brown family)
November, 1928 (District of Columbia)
Herbert Hoover is elected the 31st President of the United States.
1929, 31 January: Ruby Glee Brown, born in Gillingham, WI. (Brown family)
October 24, 1929 (New York)
The stock market crash on "Black Thursday," marks the beginning of the world wide "Great Depression" that will last until World War II.
1929, 21 December: Lillian "Lillie" Belle, died. (Brown family)
1930-1940 (Bucks County, PA)
Bucks County establishes its reputation as a center for the arts as novelists, actors, playwrights, musicians, poets, and other cultural artists are drawn to the area for beauty, inexpensive land and historic landmarks. The area around New Hope is especially popular.
April 5,1930 (India)
Gandhi and followers break the "Salt Laws" that gave the salt monopoly to the British. This protest results in thousands of arrests and the start of the Civil Disobedience movement in India.
February 1931 (United States)
Food riots begin to break out in parts of the United States.
December 1931 (New York)
New York's Bank of the United States collapses.
1932 (Wisconsin)
Wisconsin becomes the first state to pass an unemployment compensation act.
November, 1932 (District of Columbia)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected the 32nd President of the United States in a landslide.
March 1933 (District of Columbia)
Almost immediately after his inauguration, FDR announces a four-day bank holiday, quickly followed by the passing of the Emergency Banking Act of 1933. As a result, three fourths of the closed the closed banks are able to be back in business by the end of the month.
This Act was the beginning of the New Deal, a series of domestic programs designed to put America back on the road to economic recovery.
1933 (Bucks County, PA)
In Bucks County, PA, nine federal relief projects are established. People are put to work at a new water works in Sellersville, an addition to the high school in Bristol, and the reconstruction of William Penn’s manor house at Pennsbury Manor.
March 12, 1933 (United States)
FDR begins to give the "Fireside Chats" on the radio.
1933, 10 April: Agnes Ann Pippin Allison, died. (Allison family)
April 1933 (United States)
The Civilian Conservation Corps is established. The goal of the organization is to provide employment. The "volunteer army" will swell to 500,000 by 1935.
January 30, 1933 (Germany)
Adolf Hitler is named Chancellor of Germany .
May 3, 1938 (Italy)
Hitler meets with Mussolini leading to the “Pact of Steel.”
September 30, 1938 (England)
Neville Chamberlain claims he has secured "Peace For Our Time."
September, 1939 (Poland)
Germany invades Poland in a blitzkrieg (lightening war). This begins the European theater of World War II as France and Britain meet the action by declaring war on Germany.
1939-1940 (Europe)
Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France are overrun by Germany and Russia
1940, 21 March: Mary Hart Deaver, born. (Doudna family)
May 1940 (England)
Winston Churchill becomes the British Prime Minister.
December 7, 1941 (Hawaii)
"A day that will live in infamy. "The Japanese attack the United States fleet secured at Pearl Harbor.
For Americans, World War II begins. Bucks County, PA loses two of its own in the assault.
1942, 21 September: Lillian Agnes Brown and George Marshall Doudna, married in Kehoka, MO. (Brown and Doudna families)
June 11, 1943 (District of Columbia)
Eisenhower is named supreme commander of Operation Overlord—the Allied invasion.
June 6, 1944 (France)
Allied Forces accomplish the D-Day Normandy Invasion.
1944, 15 June: Walter Paul Brown is killed at the Battle of Saipan, WWII
August 1944 (France)
Paris is liberated and Charles de Gaulle is given a hero's welcome.
February 4, 1945 (Crimean Peninsula)
Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin meet at the Yalta Conference to discuss post World War II boundaries. The conference results in a Germany split into Communist and non-Communist portions.
April 12, 1945 (Warm Springs, Georgia)
President Franklin Roosevelt dies in office from a cerebral hemorrhage.
Vice President Harry S. Truman becomes the 33rd President of the United States.
April 28, 1945 (Italy)
Mussolini is executed by an Italian resistance firing squad.
May 1945 (France)
World War II ends in the European theatre.
August, 1945(Japan)
Atomic bombs are dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
September, 1945
Peace becomes official when the Japanese Instrument of Surrender is signed on the USS Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay.
January, 1947 (Eastern Europe)
Communists seize power as Romania, Poland, and Hungary join Albania and Bulgaria in falling to Communist control. Czechoslovakia joins them in 1948. The “Iron Curtain” falls across Europe as boundaries of these “satellite states” will be unchanged until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
August 15, 1947 (India)
India gains its independence from Britain and Jawaharlal Nehru is named its first prime minister.
August 14,1947 (India)
Pakistan is created as an independent nation for Muslims from the Northwest provinces of British India.
August 15,1947 (India)
India achieves freedom from Britain.
January 30, 1948 (India)
Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated as he ascends to the podium at his prayer meeting.
April 3, 1948 (District of Columbia)
President Truman signs the act that will be known as The Marshall Plan and will help to rebuild war torn Europe.
May 14, 1948 (Israel)
The announcement of the Jewish State of Israel is made in Tel-Aviv.
June 1948 (Germany)
The Berlin Airlift begins (ends May 19 1949).
June 28, 1948 (Yugoslavia)
Tito is officially removed from the Cominform by Stalin. This action was meant to bring Tito and Yugoslavia back into line, but instead results in a more united and separate Yugoslavia.
1949 (China)
Chinese civil war leads to a Mainland China lead by Mao Tse-Tung, and the "People’s Republic of China" led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, based on the island of Formosa.
April 4, 1949 (District of Columbia)
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is established.
September, 1949 (Russia)
The Soviet Union tests their first Atomic bomb-the arms race begins.
June 25, 1950 (Korea)
North Korean forces cross the 38th parallel, invading South Korea. The United States along with United Nations forces fight a “police action” against North Korean. The Korean War will continue until peace is declared July 27, 1953.
1951, 3 June: Walter "Walt" Brown, died in Richland Center, WI. (Brown family)
February 6, 1952 (England)
Elizabeth is proclaimed Queen of England upon the death of her father, King George VI. Her coronation occurs on June 2, 1953.
November, 1952 (District of Columbia)
“Ike” Eisenhower is elected 34th President of the United States.
November, 1956
The Soviet Army crushes the Hungarian Revolution
1956, 19 December: Rollen "Rollie" Brown,died. (Brown family)
July 3, 1957 (Russia)
Nikita Khrushchev gains control of the USSR in a takeover power grab.
October 1957 (Russia)
The USSR successfully launches the first man made satellite into space.
February 1959, (Cuba)
Revolutionary troops led by Fidel Castro overthrow the Cuban government.
November, 1960 (District of Columbia)
John F. Kennedy is elected 35th President of the United States.
April 1961(Cuba)
The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba fails.
August 13, 1961 (Germany)
In the dead of night, the Berlin Wall is erected separating East Berlin from West Berlin.
October 22, 1962 (Cuba)
The Cuban Missile Crisis pits the governments of the USSR and US in a showdown over missile bases in Cuba for 13 days. President Kennedy demands that existing missiles be removed and further announces a naval “quarantine” of Cuba to block shipments from the USSR. After a dramatic confrontation, the missiles are removed and an agreement is reached.
August 5, 1963
After more than eight years of negotiations, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union signed the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
1963, August 22: Ruby Vaughn Allison Brown, died in Richland Center, WI. (Brown family)
August 28, 1963 (District of Columbia)
Over 250,000 demonstrators participate in the March on Washington in support of Civil Rights.
November 22, 1963 (Texas)
JFK is assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. The nation is in mourning when his accused assassin is murdered while in police custody by Jack Ruby on November 24, 1963.
Vice President Lyndon Johnson becomes 36th President of the United States.
August 7, 1964 (District of Columbia)
U.S. Congress approves Gulf of Tonkin resolution affirming “All necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States…to prevent further aggression…”
August , 1966 (China)
The Chinese Cultural Revolution escalates allowing Mao to attack current party leadership and reassert his authority. Before it winds down in 1976 with Mao’s death, Students form paramilitary groups called the Red Guards and attack and harass members of China’s elderly and intellectual population.
June 1967 (Middle East)
The Six-Day War takes place between Israel and all of its neighboring countries: When it is over, Israel expands its territories to include The Gaza Strip and Sinai, West Bank and Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights
November, 1968 (District of Columbia)
Richard Nixon is elected 37th President of the United States.
July 20, 1969 (The Moon)
“The Eagle has landed…” The Apollo II Mission lands the first humans on the Moon. The world watches as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon.
May 4, 1970 (Ohio)
Kent State college students are shot to death by Oho National Guardsmen during an anti-war protest on the campus.
February17-28, 1972 (China)
President Richard Nixon visits the People’s Republic of China.
June 17, 1972 (District of Columbia)
The Watergate break-in occurs, ultimately resulting in the resignation of Richard Nixon as president.
January 23, 1973 (Viet Nam)
The official end of the Vietnam War.
1973, 26 July: George Marshall Doudna, died in Madison Wisconsin. (Doudna family)
April 9,1974 (District of Columbia)
President Richard Nixon resigns from office.
Vice President Gerald Ford becomes the 38th President of the United States.
1975, 12 March: Omer Brown, died in Grand Forks, ND. (Brown family)
November, 1976 (District of Columbia)
Jimmy Carter is elected 39th President of the United States.
November, 1980 (District of Columbia)
Ronald Reagan is elected 40th President of the United States.
November, 1988(District of Columbia)
George H.W. Bush is elected 41st President of the United States.
1989, 30 January: Ruby Glee Brown Whaley, died in Richland Center, WI. (Brown family
November 9, 1989 (Germany)
The Berlin Wall is torn down almost as fast as it was erected in 1961. Its destruction is celebrated around the world.
November, 1992 (District of Columbia)
Bill Clinton is elected 42nd President of the United States.
1994, 15 December: Lillian Agnes Brown Doudna, died in Madison,WI. (Doudna family)
November, 2000 (District of Columbia)
George W. Bush is elected 43rd President of the United States.
November , 2008 (District of Columbia)
Barack Obama is elected 44th President of the United States.