Historical Events
- Dec 3 Illinois becomes 21st state USA (Admission day)
- Dec 24 Christmas carol "Silent Night" composed by Franz Xaver Gruber is first sung at St Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf, Austria
- Dec 25 First known Christmas carol, "Silent Night, Holy Night" (Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht'), is sung in Austria
- Dec 25 Handel's "Messiah", premieres in the US in Boston, performed by The Handel & Haydn Society
Famous Birthdays
Mary Todd Lincoln (1818-1882)
Dec 13 American wife of Abraham Lincoln and US First Lady (1861-65), born in Lexington, Kentucky
- Dec 21 Amalia of Oldenburg, Queen of Greece, Bavarian born wife of King Otto of Greece, born in Oldenburg (d. 1875)
- Dec 21 Lewis H. Morgan, American ethnologist (Systems of Consanguinity), born in Aurora, New York (d. 1881)
- Dec 23 David Addison Weisiger, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1899)
- Dec 24 James Prescott Joule, English physicist (the law of conservation of energy), born in Salford, United Kingdom (d. 1889)
- Dec 30 James Cantey, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1874)
- Dec 31 Maria Gartmann, Dutch actress, born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1885)
20-29
30-39
40-49
50-59
80-89
Over 90