The temperature on December 20, 1779 was about 9.0 °C. There was 66 mm of rainWind direction mainly west-southwest. Weather type: betrokken regen. Source: KNMI
February 14 » American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Kettle Creek is fought in Georgia.
February 14 » James Cook is killed by Native Hawaiians near Kealakekua on the Island of Hawaii.
June 1 » The court-martial for malfeasance of Benedict Arnold, a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, begins.
June 16 » Spain declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Great Siege of Gibraltar begins.
September 16 » American Revolutionary War: The Franco-American Siege of Savannah begins.
September 28 » American Revolution: Samuel Huntington is elected President of the Continental Congress, succeeding John Jay.
Day of marriage October 20, 1818
The temperature on October 20, 1818 was about 2.0 °C. Wind direction mainly east-southeast. Weather type: helder. Source: KNMI
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De Republiek der Verenigde Nederlanden werd in 1794-1795 door de Fransen veroverd onder leiding van bevelhebber Charles Pichegru (geholpen door de Nederlander Herman Willem Daendels); de verovering werd vergemakkelijkt door het dichtvriezen van de Waterlinie; Willem V moest op 18 januari 1795 uitwijken naar Engeland (en van daaruit in 1801 naar Duitsland); de patriotten namen de macht over van de aristocratische regenten en proclameerden de Bataafsche Republiek; op 16 mei 1795 werd het Haags Verdrag gesloten, waarmee ons land een vazalstaat werd van Frankrijk; in 3.1796 kwam er een Nationale Vergadering; in 1798 pleegde Daendels een staatsgreep, die de unitarissen aan de macht bracht; er kwam een nieuwe grondwet, die een Vertegenwoordigend Lichaam (met een Eerste en Tweede Kamer) instelde en als regering een Directoire; in 1799 sloeg Daendels bij Castricum een Brits-Russische invasie af; in 1801 kwam er een nieuwe grondwet; bij de Vrede van Amiens (1802) kreeg ons land van Engeland zijn koloniën terug (behalve Ceylon); na de grondwetswijziging van 1805 kwam er een raadpensionaris als eenhoofdig gezag, namelijk Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck (van 31 oktober 1761 tot 25 maart 1825).
February 5 » Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway.
April 4 » The United States Congress, affirming the Second Continental Congress, adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 at that time).
April 19 » French physicist Augustin Fresnel signs his preliminary "Note on the Theory of Diffraction" (deposited on the following day). The document ends with what we now call the Fresnel integrals.
July 29 » French physicist Augustin Fresnel submits his prizewinning "Memoir on the Diffraction of Light", precisely accounting for the limited extent to which light spreads into shadows, and thereby demolishing the oldest objection to the wave theory of light.
December 3 » Illinois becomes the 21st U.S. state.
December 13 » Cyril VI of Constantinople resigns from his position as Ecumenical Patriarch.
Day of death June 23, 1865
The temperature on June 23, 1865 was about 26.4 °C. The air pressure was 0.5 kgf/m2 and came mainly from the west-northwest. The airpressure was 77 cm mercury. The atmospheric humidity was 46%. Source: KNMI
In The Netherlands , there was from February 1, 1862 to February 10, 1866 the cabinet Thorbecke II, with Mr. J.R. Thorbecke (liberaal) as prime minister.
April 20 » Astronomer Angelo Secchi demonstrates the Secchi disk, which measures water clarity, aboard Pope Pius IX's yacht, the L'Immaculata Concezion.
May 9 » American Civil War: President Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation ending belligerent rights of the rebels and enjoining foreign nations to intern or expel Confederate ships.
August 12 » Joseph Lister, British surgeon and scientist, performs 1st antiseptic surgery.
November 18 » Mark Twain's short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" is published in the New York Saturday Press.
December 17 » First performance of the Unfinished Symphony by Franz Schubert.
December 18 » US Secretary of State William Seward proclaims the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, prohibiting slavery throughout the USA.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Charles Olson, "Olson's Tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/olsons-tree/P12751.php : accessed December 30, 2025), "William Wilkins (1779-1865)".
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