Here are answers to some of the questions you might have about this site. To find out about anything to do with adding your ancestors to this site, go here (link coming later) though. What do all these abbreviations stand for? B means that the given date is that of baptism, and the actual date of birth probably a couple of days earlier GD stands for Grand Duchy MP stands for Member of Parliament N after an occupation means that the person is a Nobel laureate **OG **stands for Olympic Gold medalist (and OS for silver, OB for bronze) P after an occupation stands for President PM stands for Prime Minister usp stands for President of the United States WC means that the person is a World Champion Continue reading

In the year 1846, many Mormons begin their migration from Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah (Jan 5), the Liberty Bell is cracked while being rung for George Washington’s birthday (Feb 26), the United States declares war on Mexico (May 13), the California Republic declares independence from Mexico (Jun 10), the saxophone is patented by Adolphe Sax (Jun 28), Neptune is first observed (Sep 23), the Great Famine continues in Ireland, leading to mass emigration, mainly to the United States - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_1454” align=“alignleft” width=“328”]1847 Colt Walker[/caption] In the year 1847, Samuel Colt sells his first revolver to the U.S. government (Jan 4), the American Medical Association is founded (May 7), the United States issues its first postage stamps (Jul 1), Mormon pioneers arrive in what will become Salt Lake City (Jul 24), the world’s oldest vegetarian society is formed in the United Kingdom (Sep 30), Siemens AG, starting out as a telegraph line manufacturer, is founded (Oct 12), chloroform is successfully used as an anesthetic in Edinburgh, Scotland (Nov 4-8), the first brew of Carlsberg beer is finished in Copenhagen (Nov 10), the Mexican-American War rages on, the Great Famine continues in Ireland - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1912, the Republic of China is established (Jan 1), RMS Titanic hits an iceberg (Apr 14), the Summer Olympics open in Stockholm, Sweden (May 5), Universal Pictures is founded in Los Angeles (Jun 8), the Meiji Era ends in Japan (Jul 30), Albania declares independence from the Ottoman Empire (Nov 28), the Nefertiti Bust is found in Amarna, Egypt (Dec 6) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1913, the future leaders of their respective countries, Joseph Stalin, Josip Broz Tito and Adolf Hitler all live in Vienna in January 1913 (Jan), Grand Central Terminal in New York City reopens as the world’s largest railroad station (Feb 1), Woodrow Wilson is sworn is as the 28th U.S. President (Mar 4), the release of a first full-length Indian feature film marks the beginning of the Indian film industry (May 5), stainless steel in invented in Sheffield, England (Aug 13), the Little Mermaid statue is finished in Copenhagen, Denmark (Aug 23) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1914, Charlie Chaplin makes his film debut in Making a Living (Feb 2), first international Criminal Police Congress begins in Monaco (Apr 14), assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria triggers the start of WWI (Jun 28), the Royal Naval Air Service - the forerunner of the RAF - is established in England (Jul 1), Babe Ruth makes his major league debut (Jul 11), Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia (Jul 28), and the first shots are fired the next day in Belgrade (Jul 29), the German Empire declares war on the Russian Empire (Aug 1) and France (Aug 3), the first electric traffic lights are installed in Cleveland, Ohio (Aug 5), the Panama Canal is inaugurated (Aug 15), the first everyday items made of stainless steel come into public circulation, the World War I - now involving countries from all continents - rages on - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1927, the first transatlantic telephone call is made (Jan 7), the first Volvo rolls off the production line in Gothenburg, Sweden (Apr 14), the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded (May 11), Charles Lindbergh sets off in his Spirit of St. Louis for the first solo nonstop transatlantic airplane flight from New York to Paris (May 20), the first fully electronic television system is achieved by Philo Farnsworth (Sep 7), carving of the sculptures at Mount Rushmore begins (Oct 4), the Holland Tunnel becomes the first tunnel to link Manhattan and New Jersey (Nov 12), the first Laurel and Hardy film is released (Dec 3) – and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1926, the airline Deutsche Luft Hansa is founded in Berlin (Jan 6), Franco becomes General of Spain (Feb 25), explorer Richard E. Byrd and his co-pilot claim to be the first to fly over the North Pole, but some experts have since been skeptical of the claim (May 9), a weather map is televised for the first time (Aug 18), the sudden death of Rudolph Valentino causes worldwide grief (Aug 23), A. Continue reading

In the year 1922, The first successful insulin treatment of diabetes is made (Jan 11), Mohandas Gandhi is sentenced for sedition in India (Mar 18), the Lincoln Memorial is dedicated in Washington D.C. (May 30), BBC is formed in London (Oct 18), Benito Mussolini becomes the Premier in Italy (Oct 30), the U.S.S.R. is formed (Dec 30) - and all these fine people were born: 1922-0101 1922-0115 Sylvia Lawler* (b Corben) geneticist - Bournemouth, England (1996/74) Continue reading

In the year 1921, suffrage for women is obtained in Sweden, and Chaplin’s The Kid is released in the United States (Jan 21), Marie Stopes opens the first birth control clinic in London, England (Mar 17), the Allies of WW1 reparations commission announce that Germany has to pay $33 trillion in annual installments of 2.5 billion (Apr 27), the Province of Northern Ireland is created within the United Kingdom (May 5), the Tulsa race massacre takes place (May 31), the death penalty is abolished in Sweden (Jun 30), insulin is discovered (Jul 27), The Sheik starring Rudolph Valentino premiers in L. Continue reading

In the year 1944, the R.A.F. drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin (Jan 20), Casablanca wins the Best Picture award at the Academy Awards (Mar 2), **Operation Overlord, code named D-Day begins **(Jun 6), Germany launches V1-bomb attack on England (Jun 13), the deportation of Hungarian Jews to concentration camps begins (Jun 29), Soviet troops begin operations to occupy the Baltic countries (Jul 10), the world’s first undersea oil pipeline is laid between England and France (Aug 12), London is hit by a V2 rocket for the first time (Sep 8) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1948, Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated in New Delhi (Jan 30), the Soviet Union begins to jam the Voice of America broadcasts (Feb 1), the Hells Angels is founded in California (Mar 17), the scientific theory on the Big Bang is published (Apr 1), ABC begins its broadcasting (Apr 19), Israel declares itself independent (May 14), the Berlin Blockade begins (Jun 24) and two days later the Western allies answer with the Berlin airlift that lasts for 15 months (Jun 26), the southern half of Korea is established as South Korea (Aug 15), R-1 missile on test becomes the first Soviet launch to enter space (Oct 10), the UN General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Dec 10) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_830” align=“alignleft” width=“320”]Flag of the United Nations since 1947[/caption] In the year 1945, the Soviets occupy Warzaw (Jan 17), the Soviet Army liberates Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps (Jan 27), the Yalta Conference begins (Feb 4), Korea is divided into two separate parts, which leads later to the Korean War (Sep 8), Gandhi and Nehru demand that all British troops leave India (Sep 20), the United Nations is founded (Oct 24), Charles de Gaulle is elected president of France (Nov 16) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1943, the Allied forces meet at Casablanca (Jan 14), Pentagon is dedicated in Arlington (Jan 15), Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince is published (Mar), the Jefferson Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. (Apr 13), the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins (Apr 19), Allied planes bomb Rome (Jul 19), Denmark is occupied (Aug 29), Italy changes sides (Oct 13), alleged date of the Philadelphia Experiment (Oct 28), gypsies will face the same fate as Jews, according to Himmler (Nov 15), RAF planes bomb Berlin (Nov 18), Lebanon gains independence from France (Nov 22), WW2 and the Holocaust go on - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1947, the Swedish Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf is killed in a plane crash (Jan 26), the communists take power in Poland (Jan 31), the Paris Peace Treaty is signed (Feb 10), the Voice of America begins to transmit radio broadcasts into Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union (Feb 17), ISO is founded (Feb 23), the German state Prussia is officially abolished (Feb 25), IMF begins to operate (Mar 1), the Truman Doctrine is first announced, in effect beginning the Cold War (Mar 12), Miracle on the 34th Street premiers (May 2), the first SAAB automobile is produced (Jun 22), CIA is founded (Sep 18), the U. Continue reading

In the year 1960, the first television anime debuts on NHK (Jan 15), in Greensboro, North Carolina, four black students begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter, triggering many similar incidents (Feb 1), first stars appear on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (Feb 9), the United States launches the first weather satellite (Apr 1), Adolf Eichmann is captured in Buenos Aires, and taken to Israel (May 11), OPEC is founded (Sep 14), the first successful kidney transplant is performed in Edinburgh (Oct 30), The Flintstones premiers in the United States (Sep 30),_ Coronation Street premiers in the U. Continue reading

In the year 1924, Lenin dies, and Stalin, at age 42, immediately begins to clear way for his leadership (Jan 21), the computing company CTR is renamed IBM (Feb 14), Hitler is sentenced to 5 years in jail, but serves only 8 months (Apr 1), Daimler’s and Benz’s companies merge into Mercedes-Benz (May 11), Indian Citizenship Act becomes a law in the U.S. (Jun 2), in New York City, the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is held (Nov 27), Edwin Hubble announces that Andromeda is not a nebula, but actually another galaxy, and that the Milky Way is only one of many such galaxies in the universe (Dec 30), American Indian Wars come to an end after 302 years - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1928, the first east-west transatlantic flight takes place, from Ireland to Canada (Apr 12), the first regular schedule of television programming begins in Schenectady, New York (May 7), The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia commences operations (May 15), British inventor John Logie Baird demonstrates the world’s first color television transmission (Jul 3), Richard E. Byrd leaves New York for the Arctic (Sep 1), Alexander Fleming discovers what later becomes known as penicillin (Sep 28), Joseph Stalin launches the first five-year-plan (Oct 1), Mickey Mouse appears in Steamboat Willie, the first animated sound film (Nov 18), Maurice Ravel’s Boléro premiers at the Paris Opéra (Nov 22), Eliot Ness begins to lead the prohibition unit in Chicago - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

In the year 1956, Finnish troops re-occupy Porkkala after Soviet troops vacate its military base (Jan 25), Elvis Presley enters the United States music charts for the first time, with Heartbreak Hotel (Feb 22), videotape is first demonstrated at a convention in Chicago by Ampex (Apr 14), Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco (Apr 19), the submarine Transatlantic telephone cable opens (Sep 25), Red Army troops invade Hungary (Oct 26), the first hard disk drive (5MB) is born at IBM (Oct 29) - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading

[caption id=“attachment_3450” align=“alignleft” width=“253”]Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, Holland[/caption] In the year 1942, Henry Ford patents a plastic automobile, which is 30% lighter than a regular car (Jan 13), the first American forces arrive in Europe (Jan 26), Disney’s Bambi is released in theaters everywhere (Apr 13), Hitler is granted power of life and death over every German citizen (Apr 26), Anne Frank makes the first entry in her new diary (Jun 12), the Battle of Stalingrad begins (Aug 23), several concentration and extermination camps are opened, the WW 2 rages on - and all these fine people were born: Continue reading