1839 in the United States

::Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter (W-Virginia) (starting December 16) - Congress: [25th](25th-united-states-congress) (until March 4), [26th](26th-united-states-congress) (starting March 4) #### State governments ::data[format=table] | Governors and lieutenant governors | |---| | | :: ## Events - February 11 – The University of Missouri is established in Columbia, Missouri, becoming the first public university west of the Mississippi River. - March 5 – Longwood University is founded in Farmville, Virginia. - March 7 – Baltimore City College, the third public high school in the United States, is established in Baltimore, Maryland. - March 23 – The *Boston Morning Post* first records the use of "OK". - August 8 – The Beta Theta Pi fraternity is founded in Oxford, Ohio. - October – Robert Cornelius takes the first photographic self portrait in the United States. - October 7 – Much of downtown Mobile, Alabama is destroyed by a wind-fueled fire. - October 15 – Episcopal High School, Alexandria, Virginia, is founded, the first in the state. - November 11 – The Virginia Military Institute is founded in Lexington, Virginia. - November 27 – In Boston, Massachusetts, the American Statistical Association is founded. ### Undated - The first U.S. state law permitting women to own property is passed in Jackson, Mississippi. ### Ongoing - Second Seminole War (1835–1842) ## Births - February 9 – Laura Redden Searing, deaf poet and journalist (died [1923](1923-in-the-united-states)) - March 9 – Phoebe Knapp, hymn writer (d. [1908](1908-in-the-united-states)) - April 7 – David Baird, Ireland-born U.S. Senator from New Jersey from 1918 to 1919 (died [1927](1927-in-the-united-states)) - July 8 – John D. Rockefeller, oil industry business magnate and philanthropist (died [1937](1937-in-the-united-states)) - August 1 – Middleton P. Barrow, U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1882 to 1883 (died [1903](1903-in-the-united-states)) - August 23 – George Clement Perkins, U.S. Senator from California from 1893 to 1915 (died [1923](1923-in-the-united-states)) - August 26 – Hernando Money, U.S. Senator from Mississippi from 1897 to 1911 (died [1912](1912-in-the-united-states)) - September 2 – Henry George, writer, politician and political economist (died [1897](1897-in-the-united-states)) - September 10 – Charles Sanders Peirce, philosopher, logician, scientist, and founder of pragmatism (died [1912](1912-in-the-united-states)) - September 13 – Thomas J. Mastin, Confederate captain and lawyer (d. [1861](1861-in-the-united-states)) - September 18 – William J. McConnell, U.S. Senator from Idaho from 1890 to 1891 (died [1925](1925-in-the-united-states)) - September 28 – Frances Willard, American educator, temperance reformer and women's suffragist (died [1898](1898-in-the-united-states)) - September 29 – James Kimbrough Jones, U.S. Senator from Arkansas from 1885 to 1903 (died [1908](1908-in-the-united-states)) - October 20 – Augustus Octavius Bacon, U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1895 to 1914 (died [1914](1914-in-the-united-states)) - November 4 – Thomas M. Patterson, Ireland-born U.S. Senator from Colorado from 1901 to 1907 (died [1916](1916-in-the-united-states)) - December 5 – George Armstrong Custer, U.S. Army Officer and Cavalry Commander from Ohio from 1861 to 1876 (died [1876](1876-in-the-united-states)) - December 12 – Caroline Ingalls (b. Caroline Lake Quiner), American pioneer, mother of author Laura Ingalls Wilder (died [1924](1924-in-the-united-states)) ## Deaths - January 14 – John Wesley Jarvis, portrait painter (born c.[1781 in Great Britain](1781-in-great-britain)) - February 26 – Sybil Ludington, heroine of the American Revolutionary War (born [1761](1761)) - April 1 – Benjamin Pierce, governor of New Hampshire from 1827 to 1828 and from 1829 to 1830, father of the 14th president of the United States, Franklin Pierce (born [1757](1757)) - April 2 – Hezekiah Niles, magazine publisher (born [1777](1777-in-the-united-states)) - April 5 – John Tipton, U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1832 to 1839 (born [1786](1786-in-the-united-states)) - April 22 – Samuel Smith, U.S. Senator from Maryland from 1822 to 1833 (born [1752](1752)) - May 11 – Thomas Cooper, political philosopher (born [1759](1759)) - June 10 – Nathaniel Hale Pryor, sergeant in the Lewis and Clark Expedition (born [1772](1772)) - July 16 – The Bowl (*Di'wali*), Cherokee chief, shot (born c.[1756](1756)) - August 22 – Benjamin Lundy, abolitionist (born [1789](1789-in-the-united-states)) - September 28 – William Dunlap, actor-manager, dramatist and painter (born [1766](1766-in-literature)) - December 4 – John Leamy, merchant (born [1757 in Ireland](1757-in-ireland)) ## References ## References 1. (1839-10-14). ["7 Oct 1839 - 500 Buildings & Homes Destroyed by Fire - Including home of Duke W. Goodman."](https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-semi-weekly-mississippi-free-trader/17019430/). *The Semi-Weekly Mississippi Free Trader*. 2. (21 May 1905). ["OLD SCHOOL FOR BOYS: Episcopal Institution in the Vicinity of Alexandria. FAMOUS THROUGH ITS ALUMNI Sends Forth Athletes of Wide Renown as Well as Graduates Distinguished in Professional and Business Life -- Bishops, Statesmen, Lawyers, and Physicians Are on the Long List."](https://www.proquest.com/docview/144548212). *[[The Washington Post]]*. 3. ["EHS: History"](http://www.episcopalhighschool.org/about/history.html). *Episcopal High School website*. ::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1839_in_the_United_States) and is available under the [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the [article history page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1839_in_the_United_States?action=history). ::