June 29 » Alexander Macdonell and over five hundred Roman Catholic highlanders leave Scotland to settle in Glengarry County, Ontario.
August 11 » Captain Francis Light establishes the British colony of Penang in Malaysia.
September 11 » The beginning of the Annapolis Convention.
November 7 » The oldest musical organization in the United States is founded as the Stoughton Musical Society.
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 December 18, 1861
The temperature on December 18, 1861 was about 6.6 °C. There was 0.6 mm of rain. The air pressure was 1 kgf/m2 and came mainly from the west-northwest. The airpressure was 76 cm mercury. The atmospheric humidity was 92%. Source: KNMI
From February 23, 1860 till March 14, 1861 the Netherlands had a cabinet Van Hall - Van Heemstra with the prime ministers Mr. F.A. baron Van Hall (conservatief-liberaal) and Mr. S. baron Van Heemstra (liberaal).
From March 14, 1861 till January 31, 1862 the Netherlands had a cabinet Van Zuijlen van Nijevelt - Loudon with the prime ministers Mr. J.P.P. baron Van Zuijlen van Nijevelt (conservatief-liberaal) and Mr. J. Loudon (liberaal).
January 19 » American Civil War: Georgia joins South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama in declaring secession from the United States.
March 19 » The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.
April 20 » American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.
May 13 » The Great Comet of 1861 is discovered by John Tebbutt of Windsor, New South Wales, Australia.
July 25 » American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Crittenden–Johnson Resolution, stating that the war is being fought to preserve the Union and not to end slavery.
August 6 » Britain imposes the Lagos Treaty of Cession to suppress slavery in what is now Nigeria.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Hendrik Dreyer, "Dreyer Tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/dreyer-tree/I6463.php : accessed January 7, 2026), "Susanna Geertruida de Villiers d10 (1786-1861)".
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