One particularly famous Christmases in history was the one when Sir Isaac Newton was born in 1642. Isaac is one of the most famous scientists in history, and his birth and subsequent discoveries and...
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The WWI Christmas Day Truce: Famous Christmases in History #5
On Christmas Eve in 1914, troops on both sides of the war suddenly stopped fighting each other in a small town in Belgium. They sang Christmas carols to each other, then ventured from their fox holes...
The Fifteenth Amendment: The Constitutional Amendments
The Fifteenth Amendment to the US Constitution gave African American men, including those who had been former slaves, the right to vote. While the amendment seemed simple, the US Supreme Court has...
President Johnson Pardons the Confederate Troops: Famous Christmases in History #4
On Christmas Day in 1868, US President Andrew Johnson issued a general pardon to anyone who had fought for or supported the Confederacy in the Civil War, which had ended three years previously. This...
Common-Law Marriages: A Closer Look at Marriage Records #4
What do you do if you can’t find a marriage record, bond, or banns, no matter where you look? Fortunately, there are alternative ways to find a marriage date, or record that a marriage took place...
The Treaty of Ghent: Famous Christmases in History #3
The Treaty of Ghent is the treaty that ended the War of 1812. It was signed in the city of Ghent, Belgium, over Christmas of 1814. Americans and the British were both quite happy to put the war...
Marriage Banns: A Closer Look at Marriage Records #3
Marriage banns were the way marriages were legalized for centuries in most of the western world. There are records of the Roman Catholic church requiring them as early as eight hundred years ago in...
William the Conqueror in England: Famous Christmases in History #1
Was your ancestor present at an important or famous Christmas Day event in history? It is always fun to be able to connect your family to a famous event or person. One famous Christmas Day event was...
Lewis Morris: The Signers of the Declaration of Independence
Lewis Morris was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, as well as a career politician with a variety of offices he occupied during his career. Lewis also came from a political family with...
The Fourteenth Amendment: The Constitutional Amendments
The Fourteenth Amendment is the second of the three so-called Civil War (or Reconstruction) amendments. It is also one of the amendments most frequently cited in US case law. It was adamantly opposed...