Historical Events
- Dec 3 English Assyriologist George Smith reads his translation of The Great Flood from the "Epic of Gilgamesh" to the Society of Biblical Archaeology, with striking similarities to the later flood of Noah in "Genesis"
- Dec 5 Ship the Mary Celeste is discovered mysteriously abandoned by her crew in the Atlantic Ocean
- Dec 7 HMS Challenger sets sail on 3½ year world oceanographic cruise - first expedition to explore the deep sea successfully on a global scale [1]
- Dec 11 Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback takes office in Louisiana as the first African American US Governor
Phileas Fogg Makes it Eighty Days
Dec 21 Phileas Fogg completes his round the world trip in 80 days, in Jules Verne's "Around the World in Eighty Days"
- Dec 26 4th largest snowfall in NYC history (18")
Famous Birthdays
- Dec 5 Harry Nelson Pillsbury, American chess player, born in Somerville, Massachusetts (d. 1906)
- Dec 6 Mikulas Moyzes, Slovak composer, born in Zvolenská Slatina, Slovakia (d. 1944)
- Dec 7 Johan Huizinga, Dutch culture historian (Homo Ludens), born in Groningen, Netherlands (d. 1945)
- Dec 10 Johann Babtist Thaller, German composer, born in Röhrmoos, Germany (d. 1952)
- Dec 10 Ludwig Klages, German philosopher (study of graves), born in Hannover, Germany (d. 1956)
- Dec 16 Anton Ivanovich Denikin, Russian general (d. 1947)
- Dec 20 Lorenzo Perosi, Italian priest and sacred oratorio composer, born in Tortona, Kingdom of Italy (d. 1956)
- Dec 21 Albert Payson Terhune, American novelist (Lad, a Dog), born in Newark, New Jersey (d. 1942)
- Dec 21 Sidney Ainsworth, British silent film actor (Not in the News, The Rajah's Tunic), born in Manchester, England (d. 1922)
- Dec 22 Camille Guérin, French veterinarian and bacteriologist, born in Poitiers, France (d. 1961)
- Dec 26 Norman Angell, British politician/cowboy/journalist, Nobel laureate (1933), (d. 1967)
Pío Baroja (1872-1956)
Dec 28 Spanish Basque writer, author of over 100 novels (The Struggle for Life, Zalacain the Adventurer), born in San Sebastián, Basque Country
William Larned (1872-1926)
Dec 30 American tennis player (US Nationals 1901-02, 07-11), born in Summit, New Jersey
Famous Weddings
Brigham Young
Dec 8 American religious leader Brigham Young (71) weds his 55th and final wife, American poet Hannah Tapfield (68) in Salt Lake City, Utah
Famous Deaths
- Dec 11 Kamehameha V, Hawaiian king (1863-72), dies at 42
- Dec 12 Edwin Forrest, American actor and philanthropist, dies at 66
- Dec 12 Willem Anne Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, Dutch politician, dies at 72
- Dec 13 Helena Beeloo, a maid, murdered by Henry Jut at the Hague, Netherlands
- Dec 13 W T van der Kouwen-ten Cate, murdered by Henry Jut at the Hague, Netherlands
- Dec 21 Ambrose R. Wright, American Civil War General, dies at 46
- Dec 24 William John Macquorn Rankine, Scottish mechanical engineer and physicist, dies at 52
- Dec 28 James Van Ness, Mayor of San Francisco (1855-1856) (b. 1808)
- Dec 31 Aleksis Kivi, Finnish writer and poet (Kanervala), dies at 38
20-29
30-39
40-49
50-59
80-89
Over 90