Historical Events
North Star
Dec 3 Frederick Douglass publishes first issue of his newspaper "North Star"
Jefferson Davis to Senate
Dec 5 Jefferson Davis is appointed to fill vacant US Senate seat for Mississippi
Famous Birthdays
- Dec 1 Agathe Backer Grøndahl, Norwegian pianist, composer, and teacher, born in Holmestrand, Norway (d. 1907)
- Dec 2 Deacon White, American Baseball Hall of Fame catcher (NL batting champion, RBI leader 1877; Boston Red Stockings), born in Caton, New York (d. 1939)
- Dec 7 Solomon Schechter, Moldavian-American Talmudic scholar and rabbi, born in Focşani, Moldavia (d. 1915)
- Dec 9 George Grossmith, British actor, comedian and writer (The Diary of a Nobody, A Society Clown), born in London, England (d. 1912)
- Dec 16 Augusta Holmes, Irish-French pianist and composer, born in Paris, France (d. 1903)
- Dec 17 Émile Faguet, French writer and critic (d. 1916)
- Dec 30 John Peter Altgeld, German-American politician (Governor of Illinois, 1893-97), known for pardoning of Haymarket anarchists, born in Selters, Duchy of Nassau (now Germany) (d. 1902)
Famous Weddings
Mackenzie Bowell
Dec 23 Prime Minister of Canada Mackenzie Bowell (24) weds Harriet Moore
Famous Deaths
- Dec 11 Moritz von Strachwitz, German poet, dies at 25
- Dec 12 James Kent, American legal scholar (Columbia), dies at 84
- Dec 17 Marie-Louise of Austria, Duchess of Parma and second wife of Napoleon, dies at 56
- Dec 29 William Crotch, British child prodigy organist, composer (Palestine Oratorio), and educator (Royal Academy), dies at 72
