What Happened in January 1859

Historical Events

  • Jan 5 1st steamboat the North Star sails up the northern Red River, America

Brahms' 1st Piano Concerto

Jan 22 Johannes Brahms' 1st piano concerto (in D minor) premieres in Hanover

  • Jan 23 Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii begins an eruption that lasts 300 days
  • Jan 24 Political union of Moldavia and Wallachia; Alexandru Ioan Cuza is elected as ruler
1859 History

Famous Birthdays

  • Jan 1 Michael J. Owens, American glassmaker and inventor (glass bottle-making machine), born in Mason County, West Virginia (d. 1923) [1]
  • Jan 5 DeWitt Bristol Brace, inventor (spectrophotometer), born in Wilson, New York (d. 1905)
  • Jan 6 Samuel Alexander, English philosopher (Moral Order & Progress), born in Sydney, Australia (d. 1938)

Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947)

Jan 9 American women's suffrage leader and founder (League of Women Voters), born in Ripon, Wisconsin

  • Jan 9 Frederik Pijper, Dutch vicar and church historian (The Monasteries) (d. 1926)
  • Jan 11 [Gerard] Jan Ligthart, Dutch educator (Nog bij mother, Ot & Sien) (d. 1916)
  • Jan 13 Karl Bleibtreu, German author (Revolution of Literature), born in Berlin (d. 1928)
  • Jan 13 Kostis Palamas, Greek poet (d. 1943)
  • Jan 15 Archibald Peake, Premier of South Australia, born in Chelsea, London (d. 1920)
  • Jan 19 Alice Eastwood, Canadian-American botanist (Handbook of Trees of California), born in Toronto, Ontario (d. 1953)
  • Jan 21 Antoni Wincenty Rutkowski, Polish composer and pianist, born in Warsaw, Russian Poland (d. 1886)
  • Jan 24 Alexander Alexandrovich Ilyinsky, Russian composer (The Fountain of Bakhchisaray), born in Tsarskoye Selo, Russia (d. 1920)

Wilhelm II (1859-1941)

Jan 27 German Emperor and King of Prussia (1888-1918), born in Berlin

  • Jan 30 Tony Mullane, Irish-American baseball player, born in Cork, Ireland (d. 1944)
Born in 1859

Famous Deaths

  • Jan 8 Antoine Schayes, Belgian historian and archaeologist, dies at 50
  • Jan 18 Alfred Vail, American inventor and early telegraph pioneer, dies at 51
  • Jan 20 Bettina von Arnim, German writer and composer of the Romantic era (This Book Belongs to the King), dies at 73
  • Jan 21 Henry Hallam, British lawyer and historian, dies at 81
  • Jan 27 Carl A. Agardh, Swedish botanist, bishop of Karlstad, dies at 74
  • Jan 28 F. J. Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1827-28), dies at 76
  • Jan 28 William H. Prescott, American historian, dies at 62
  • Jan 29 Seth Thomas, American manufacturer and pioneer in the mass production of clocks, dies at 73
  • Jan 29 William Cranch Bond, American astronomer (codiscovered Hyperion), dies at 69