January 11 » The first American life insurance company, the Corporation for Relief of Poor and Distressed Presbyterian Ministers and of the Poor and Distressed Widows and Children of the Presbyterian Ministers (now part of Unum Group), is incorporated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
January 15 » The British Museum opens to the public.
August 1 » Seven Years' War: The Battle of Minden, an allied Anglo-German army victory over the French. In Britain this was one of a number of events that constituted the Annus Mirabilis of 1759 and is celebrated as Minden Day by certain British Army regiments.
August 19 » Battle of Lagos Naval battle during the Seven Years' War between Great Britain and France.
September 13 » Battle of the Plains of Abraham: the British defeat the French near Quebec City in the Seven Years' War, known in the United States as the French and Indian War.
December 31 » Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness.
Day of marriage June 13, 1786
The temperature on June 13, 1786 was about 14.0 °C. Wind direction mainly northeast. Weather type: omtrent helder. Source: KNMI
January 16 » Virginia enacts the Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson.
May 1 » In Vienna, Austria, Mozart's opera The Marriage of Figaro is performed for the first time.
June 10 » A landslide dam on the Dadu River created by an earthquake ten days earlier collapses, killing 100,000 in the Sichuan province of China.
September 11 » The beginning of the Annapolis Convention.
November 30 » The Grand Duchy of Tuscany, under Pietro Leopoldo I, becomes the first modern state to abolish the death penalty (later commemorated as Cities for Life Day).
December 4 » Mission Santa Barbara is dedicated (on the feast day of Saint Barbara).
Day of death January 2, 1789
The temperature on January 2, 1789 was about -6.0 °C. Wind direction mainly east. Weather type: omtrent helder. Source: KNMI
April 1 » In New York City, the United States House of Representatives achieves its first quorum and elects Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania as its first Speaker.
April 7 » Selim III became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.
June 17 » In France, the Third Estate declares itself the National Assembly.
July 27 » The first U.S. federal government agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs, is established (it will be later renamed Department of State).
September 15 » The United States "Department of Foreign Affairs", established by law in July, is renamed the Department of State and given a variety of domestic duties.
September 29 » The 1st United States Congress adjourns.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Christophe, "Arbre Chatelain", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/arbre-chatelain/I5373.php : accessed January 1, 2026), "Catherine PILON (1759-1789)".
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