Half of the fun of tracing our pedigree is to correlate our ancestors with the important history of their time. Following is a brief outline of major historic events mostly in England and America.
1066--The Norman Conquest of England. 1233--Start of The Inquisition. 1315-1317--The Great Famine. 1347--First visitation of the Black Death. Killed 25 million; one-third of Europe's people. 1379--Second visitation of the Black Death. 1431--Joan of Arc burned at the stake. 1492--Columbus discovers the Americas. 1524--Rumors of island called California reach Cortes in Mexico City. 1542--Cabrillo discovers San Diego Bay. 1602--Vizcaino explores California coast. 1607--English Settlement of Jamestown, Virginia. 1620--Pilgrims land on Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts. 1642--Start of English Civil War. 1648--End of English Civil War. 1688--England's Glorious Revolution. 1689--British Bill of Rights. 1692--The Salem witch trials. 20 innocents are killed. 1699--Williamsburg, Virginia is founded. 1707--Formation of Great Britain from England, Wales, and Scotland. 1733--Colony of Georgia is founded in Savannah by English General Oglethorpe. 1743--Thomas Jefferson is born in Sackwell, Virginia. 1769--Serra begins colonization of Alta California, establishes first mission at San Diego. 1776--Declaration of American Independence, and start of Revolutionary War (War of Independence). 1781--Los Angeles founded. 1783--Revolutionary War (War of Independence) is won by Americans. 1787--United States Constitutional Convention. 1791--The Bill of Rights is added to the U.S. Constitution, as its first 10 amendments. 1810--Mexico revolts against Spain. 1822--California becomes part of Mexican empire. 1826--Thomas Jefferson dies at age 83; on July 4, exactly 50 years after the Declaration of Independence. 1833--Slavery is abolished in Canada. 1833--The Roman Catholic Church is evicted from Mexico. 1834--British Parliament orders abolition of slavery in all British colonies, by August 1, 1834. 1846--U.S.-Mexican War begins. 1847--Mexicans surrender to Americans. 1848--Gold discovered at Sutter’s Mill. California is ceded to the United States. 1849--Gold Rush begins. California's State Constitution is adopted. 1850--California admitted to Union. 1852--Harriet Beecher Stowe's book Uncle Tom's Cabin is published. 1860--Pony Express brings mail to California. 1861--First transcontinental telegraph line opens. 1861--U.S. Civil War starts. 1862--President Lincoln signs Homestead Act. 1865--U.S. Civil War ends. President Lincoln is assassinated. 1869--Transcontinental railroad completed. 1906--Earthquake and fire devastate San Francisco. 1913--Owens Valley Aqueduct opens. 1917--World War I begins. 1919--World War I ends. 1927--Hitler completes his book, "Mein Kampf." 1929--Stock market collapses and the Great Depression begins. 1937--Golden Gate Bridge completed. 1941--World War II begins. 1945--Yalta Conference--Cold War Begins. 1945--United States used first atomic bomb in war. 1945--World War II ends. 1949--NATO ratified. 1950--Joe McCarthy begins Communist witch hunts. 1950--Korean War begins. 1953--Rosenberg executions. 1953--Korean War ends. 1954--CIA helps overthrow unfriendly regimes in Iran and Guatemala. 1954--Vietnam split at 17th parallel. 1957--Sputnik launched into orbit. 1959--Cuba taken over by Fidel Castro. 1960--John F. Kennedy elected President. 1961--Bay of Pigs invasion. 1961--Construction of Berlin Wall begins. 1962--U.S. involvement in Vietnam increased. 1962--Cuban Missile Crisis. 1963--President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas. 1964--Gulf of Tonkin incident. 1965--U.S. Marines sent to Dominican Republic to fight Communism. 1965--Dispatching of 150,000 U.S. troops to Vietnam. 1968--North Korea captures U.S.S. Pueblo. 1969--Apollo 11 lands on the moon. 1970--President Nixon extends Vietnam War to Cambodia. 1973--Cease fire in Vietnam between North Vietnam and United States. 1973--United States helps overthrow Chilean government. 1973--Egypt and Syria attack Israel. Egypt requests Soviet aid. 1974--President Nixon resigns as a result of the Watergate scandal. 1975--North Vietnam defeats South Vietnam. 1979--Shah of Iran overthrown. Iranian Hostage Crisis. 1985--Mikhail Gorbachev ascends to power in Soviet Union. 1989--Berlin Wall falls. 1989--Communist governments fall in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Rumania. 1990--Germany reunited. 1991--End of Soviet Union. Cold War Ends. 1991--Desert Storm (Persian Gulf War) with Iraq begins 17 Jan and ends 28 Feb. 2001--World Trade Center Twin Towers destroyed by terrorists on September 11. 2001--U.S. invades Afghanistan in October. 2003--U.S. invades Iraq in Second Gulf War.
Special notes:
The Black Death, 1347-1350--One of the worst natural disasters in history. In 1347 A.D., a great plague swept over Europe, ravaged cities causing widespread hysteria and death. One third of the population of Europe died. "The impact upon the future of England was greater than upon any other European country." (Cartwright, 1991) The primary culprits in transmitting this disease were oriental rat fleas carried on the back of black rats.
The English Civil War, 1642-1648--The war between the Crown (Cavaliers) and Parliament (Roundheads: closely cropped hair) was caused by an uprising of Irish Catholics after the massacre of Ulster in 1641, and the arrest of John Pym (one of the king's parliamentary opponents). Decisive factors in the war were the intervention of Scotland in 1643 and the new Parliamentary army under Oliver Cromwell. After Cromwell's victory charges of treason were brought against king Charles I. The trial was followed by the execution of the king and the abolition of the monarchy.
Glorious Revolution, 1688--The Stuart king James II (1685-88) attempted a Catholic restoration which brought a severe resistance from the Anglican Church. The unexpected birth of an heir to the throne brought about the threat of a permanent Catholic dynasty for England.
In 1688 Whig and Tories summoned William of Orange, James II's son-in-law, from Holland. In panic James II fled to France. William III was declared King of England, which he ruled, not by hereditary rights, but by the grace of Parliament.
England came to be governed by a Parliament organized into competing parties. In passing the Bill of Rights Parliament assumed the authority to define by what right any future king might constitutionally act. To secure the personal liberty and property John Locke provided the theoretical justification for the division of powers of the state into legislative and executive branches.
British Bill of Rights, 1689--In British history, one of the fundamental instruments of constitutional law. It registered in statutory form the outcome of the long 17th-century struggle between the Stuart kings and the English Parliament. Its principles were accepted by William III and Mary II in the Declaration of Rights as a condition for ascending the throne after the revolution in which James II was dethroned (1688). The Bill of Rights stated that certain acts of James II were illegal and henceforth prohibited; that Englishmen possessed certain inviolable civil and political rights; that James had forfeited the throne by abdication and that William and Mary were lawful sovereigns; that the succession should pass to the heirs of Mary, then to Princess Anne (later queen) and her heirs; and that no Roman Catholic could ever be sovereign of England. By its provisions and implications it gave political supremacy to Parliament and was supplemented (1701) by the Act of Settlement.
Salem Witch Trials of 1692--There is a current rewriting of history which says that this country was founded by Christians, and that our country was a Christian nation from its inception. A careful review of our history shows the fallacy of this assertion. Jamestown, our first English settlement (1607), was a corporate venture, having no religious overtones or aspirations. Plymouth Rock was established about 13 years later by Puritans; a cult headed by Cotton Mather. History shows they they do not deserve the title of Christian. The Puritans fled England to escape religious persecution, but they immediately implemented their own brand of religious intolerance in the new country. They executed many Quakers, and many others of faiths different than theirs. They set aside the rule of English law--to which they had sworn--in order to do so. Their scorn for due process reached its zenith when they executed "witches." The Salem Witch Trials are not just a history of a religion run amok, it is the history of a people who willfully rejected the laws of jurisprudence that governed them--in order to practice their brand of religious intolerance--to kill those who did not conform to their religious standards. They are not an example of Christianity we should strive to emulate. (God must have gagged.) They are an example of religious zealots, a cult. This is not the foundation we should strive to return to. It is honorable to desire a return to more Christian times, but we shoud be sure we know what we are trying to return to.
Great Britain, 1707--England and Scotland had been ruled by the same kings for more than 100 years. But the two kingdoms quarreled often. In 1707 Parliament passed the Act of Union, joining Scotland to England and Wales. The new kingdom was called Great Britain. The Scots were allowed to keep their legal system, but gave up their Parliament. In return, they received 45 seats in the English House of Commons and could elect 16 lords to the English House of Lords.