Historical Events
Franz Joseph I
Dec 2 Franz Joseph I proclaimed Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia at Olmütz after the abdication of his uncle Ferdinand I
California Gold Rush
Dec 5 US President James K. Polk triggers Gold Rush of 1849 by confirming a gold discovery in California
- Dec 25 New Haven Railroad opens
- Dec 25 William & Ellen Craft escape from slavery in Georgia, arriving in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; later move to Boston where they become abolitionists [1]
- Dec 26 1st gold seekers arrive in Panama en route to San Francisco
- Dec 26 The Phi Delta Theta fraternity is founded at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
- Dec 29 Gas lights 1st installed at White House (Polk's administration)
Famous Birthdays
- Dec 5 Edwin Blashfield, American painter who decorated the dome of Library of Congress, born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1936)
- Dec 9 Joel Chandler Harris, American writer (created Uncle Remus stories), born in Eatonton, Georgia (d. 1908)
- Dec 12 William Kissam Vanderbilt, American businessman, born in New Dorp, Staten Island, New York (d. 1920)
- Dec 17 Frederick Grant Gleason, American composer, born in Middletown, Connecticut (d. 1903)
- Dec 18 Karl Schröder II, German composer, born in Quedlinburg, Prussian Saxony (d. 1935)
- Dec 21 Edward Everett Rice, American pioneer producer and composer of musical theater, born in Brighton, Massachusetts (d. 1924)
- Dec 30 Mary Frances Allitsen, British composer, born in London, England (d. 1912)
Famous Deaths
- Dec 18 Bernard Bolzano, Bohemian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1781)
Emily Brontë (1818-1848)
Dec 19 English novelist (Wuthering Heights), dies of tuberculosis at 30
