Elias Disney born in Ontario, Canada

Elias Disney was born to Irish immigrants in Ontario and moved to Kansas with his father to farm in 1884. He married Flora Call and on December 5, 1901 she gave birth to their fourth son, Walter Elias Disney. "Walt" Disney would become one of the most famous Americans of the twentieth century. (By John Osborne)
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Steamboat Princess explodes and sinks on the lower Mississippi with heavy loss of life

The Mississippi steamboat Princess had just left Baton Rouge headed downstream to New Orleans when its boilers blew up and the vessel sank. The Princess was fully loaded at the time since the legislative session had just ended in Baton Rouge and many others were making their way to New Orleans for the Mardi Gras celebrations. Nearby steamboats and other craft picked up survivors but up to seventy passengers were killed, drowned, or later died of their injuries. (By John Osborne)
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President Buchanan vetoes bill donating public lands to support state colleges

The Congress had passed a bill "donating public lands to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanical arts." President James Buchanan questioned the constitutionality of the effort as well as the effect of such a transfer of public land on future development within the states and delivered a veto message on this day. An act of this type would be passed and signed into law during the next administration. (By John Osborne)
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William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1840

Scanned by
New York Public Library
Notes
Cropped, sized, and prepared for use here by John Osborne, Dickinson College, November 16, 2008.
Image type
engraving
Use in Day View?
No
Courtesy of
Humanities and Social Science Library, New York Public Library
Permission to use?
Yes
Original caption
William and Mary College at Williamsburg, Va.
Source citation
I.N. Phelps Stokes Collection of American Historical Prints, New York Public Library
Source note
Artist: Thomas Charles Millington Original image at NYPLDigitalGallery

The Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad is formally opened in Missouri

The Missouri legislature had chartered the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad Company in 1847 and provided initial state funding through a bond issue in February 1851. Further heavier financing came from investors in Boston and the endeavor received another crucial boost when Congress authorized a land grant to the company in June 1852. When it opened on February, 22, 1859, the 207-mile railroad linked Hannibal to the western part of the state at St. Joseph and was the first railroad completed in the state of Missouri before the Civil War. (By John Osborne)
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The American Sunday School Union holds its third national convention in Philadelphia

The American Sunday School Union, founded on May 24, 1824, had held its first national convention in New York City in October, 1832. This Philadelphia gathering of Sunday School teachers from all over the country was the second held in that city, the group having met there in May, 1833. (By John Osborne)
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Washington society hosts a ball in honor of Lord Napier, the retiring British Ambassador

Lord and Lady Napier, the retiring British ambassador and his wife, were the guests of honor at a large public ball in the ballroom at Willard's Hotel in Washington, DC. A sign of the general American satisfaction with the service of the popular Napier, the ball was one of the events of the season with an official invitation coveted amongst the elite of the Capital. (By John Osborne)
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