June 2 » Bridget Bishop is the first person to be tried for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts; she was found guilty and later hanged.
June 7 » Port Royal, Jamaica, is hit by a catastrophic earthquake; in just three minutes, 1,600 people are killed and 3,000 are seriously injured.
June 10 » Salem witch trials: Bridget Bishop is hanged at Gallows Hill near Salem, Massachusetts, for "certaine Detestable Arts called Witchcraft and Sorceries".
August 19 » Salem witch trials: In Salem, Province of Massachusetts Bay, five people, one woman and four men, including a clergyman, are executed after being convicted of witchcraft.
September 22 » The last hanging of those convicted of witchcraft in the Salem witch trials; others are all eventually released.
October 12 » The Salem witch trials are ended by a letter from the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Province.
Day of burial November 2, 1778
The temperature on November 2, 1778 was about 9.0 °C. Wind direction mainly west-southwest. Weather type: zeer betrokken. Source: KNMI
January 18 » James Cook is the first known European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "Sandwich Islands".
February 14 » The United States flag is formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel for the first time, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte renders a nine gun salute to USSRanger, commanded by John Paul Jones.
June 18 » American Revolutionary War: British troops abandon Philadelphia.
July 10 » American Revolution: Louis XVI of France declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain.
August 29 » American Revolutionary War: British and American forces battle indecisively at the Battle of Rhode Island.
November 11 » Cherry Valley massacre: Loyalists and Seneca Indian forces attack a fort and village in eastern New York during the American Revolutionary War, killing more than forty civilians and soldiers.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: J. Ham, "Family tree Ham", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-ham/I31192.php : accessed January 14, 2026), "Dirk Thomassen van der Horst (1692-1778)".
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