January 16 » Virginia enacts the Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson.
June 29 » Alexander Macdonell and over five hundred Roman Catholic highlanders leave Scotland to settle in Glengarry County, Ontario.
August 7 » The first federal Indian Reservation is created by the United States.
August 8 » Mont Blanc on the French-Italian border is climbed for the first time by Jacques Balmat and Dr. Michel-Gabriel Paccard.
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).
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).
March 3 » Alexander II of Russia signs the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing serfs.
April 17 » The state of Virginia's secession convention votes to secede from the United States, later becoming the eighth state to join the Confederate States of America.
April 19 » American Civil War: Baltimore riot of 1861: A pro-Secession mob in Baltimore attacks United States Army troops marching through the city.
May 13 » The Great Comet of 1861 is discovered by John Tebbutt of Windsor, New South Wales, Australia.
June 17 » American Civil War: Battle of Vienna, Virginia.
December 26 » American Civil War: The Trent Affair: Confederate diplomatic envoys James Murray Mason and John Slidell are freed by the United States government, thus heading off a possible war between the United States and the United Kingdom.
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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