What Happened in January 1785

Historical Events

Mozart's "Dissonance Quartet"

Jan 14 Mozart completes his String Quartet No. 19 in C ("Dissonance quartet"), the last of six quartet set dedicated to Joseph Haydn (Op. 10/6, K. 465)

Classical Musician and Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Jan 19 First manned balloon flight in Ireland
Jan 20 Samuel Ellis advertises to sell Oyster Island (Ellis Island), no takers
Jan 27 1st US state university chartered in Athens, Georgia

Governor of Massachusetts Resigns

Jan 29 In a surprising announcement, John Hancock resigns as Governor of Massachusetts, allegedly due to his failing health

Statesman and Founding Father John Hancock

Events in 1785

Famous Birthdays

Jacob Grimm (1785-1863)

Jan 4 German philologist, folklorist and editor of "Grimm's Fairy Tales", born in Hanau, Hesse-Cassel, Holy Roman Empire

Jan 23 Carl Adolph Agardh, Swedish botanist & bishop of Karlstad, born in Båstad, Sweden (d. 1859)

Born in 1785

Famous Deaths

Jan 3 Baldassare Galuppi, Venetian composer (opera buffa), dies at 68

Haym Salomon (1740-1785)

Jan 6 Polish-born American broker who helped finance the American Revolution, dies in Philadelphia at 44

Jan 10 Henry William Stiegel, German-American early glassmaker (built American Flint Glassworks at Manheim which had rapid rise and fall), dies at 55
Jan 19 Jonathan Toup, English classical scholar and critic (b. 1713)
Jan 23 Matthew Stewart, Scottish mathematician (b. 1717)