Historical Events
Dickens In the US
Dec 2 In a New York City theater, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States
- Dec 4 Former Minnesota farmer Oliver Hudson Kelley founds the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry (better known today as the Grange)
- Dec 18 Around 49 victims of "Angola Horror" train wreck burn to death in Angola, New York
- Dec 27 Ontario & Quebec legislatures hold 1st meeting
- Dec 28 United States claims Midway Island, the first territory annexed outside Continental limits.
- Dec 29 1st telegraph ticker used by a brokerage house, Groesbeck & Co, New York
Famous Birthdays
- Dec 5 Antti Aarne, Finnish folklorist, born in Pori, Finland (d. 1925)
Józef Piłsudski (1867-1935)
Dec 5 Father of the Second Polish Republic who served as its Chief of State (1918-22), Marshall of Poland and later its de facto leader (1926-35), born in Zułów, Russian Empire
- Dec 13 Kristian Birkeland, Norwegian explorer and scientist (nominated 7 times for Nobel Prize), born in Oslo, Norway (d. 1917)
- Dec 16 Amy Carmichael, missionary in Dohnavur, India (d. 1951)
- Dec 18 Antoon van Welie, Dutch painter, born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1956)
- Dec 20 Pudge Heffelfinger, American College Football Hall of Fame guard (3 x All American, Yale; first professional player 1892) and coach (Cal, Lehigh, Minnesota), born in Minneapolis, Minnesota (d. 1954)
- Dec 21 John Winter Thompson, American organist, born in Michigan (d. 1951)
- Dec 22 František Xaver Šalda, Czechoslovakian literary critic, born in Liberec, Czech Republic (d. 1937)
- Dec 22 Joseph Maria Olbrich, Austrian architect (Wiener Sezession), born in Opava, Czech Republic (d. 1908)
- Dec 22 Wilhelm Groener, German soldier and politician, born in Ludwigsburg, Germany (d. 1939)
Madam C. J. Walker (1867-1919)
Dec 23 African American entrepreneur (First American self-made female millionaire, Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company), born in Delta, Louisiana
- Dec 24 Kantaro Suzuki, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan, born in Noda, Japan (d. 1948)
- Dec 24 Manuel de Oliveira Lima, Brazilian writer and diplomat, born in Pernambuco, Brazil (d. 1928)
- Dec 25 Alfred Kerr [Kempner], German-British writer, born in Breslau, Silesia (d. 1948)
- Dec 30 Simon Guggenheim, American businessman and philanthropist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1941)
Famous Deaths
- Dec 6 Giovanni Pacini, Italian opera composer (Saffo), and educator, dies at 71
- Dec 6 Jean Pierre Flourens, French physiologist, dies at 73
- Dec 7 Rudolf Viole, German pianist and composer, dies at 42
- Dec 10 Sakamoto Ryōma, Japanese samurai and anti-shogunate revolutionary, assassinated at 31
- Dec 19 Jean-Georges Kastner, French composer, dies at 57
- Dec 22 Jean-Victor Poncelet, French mathematician and engineer who was one of the founders of modern projective geometry, dies at 79
- Dec 22 Théodore Rousseau, French painter, dies at 55
