January 28 » Sir Horace Walpole coins the word serendipity in a letter to a friend.
May 28 » French and Indian War: In the first engagement of the war, Virginia militia under the 22-year-old Lieutenant colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylvania.
July 3 » French and Indian War: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French forces.
Day of death December 22, 1785
The temperature on December 22, 1785 was about 0.0 °C. Wind direction mainly east by south. Weather type: zeer betrokken. Source: KNMI
January 7 » Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in a gas balloon.
January 20 » Invading Siamese forces attempt to exploit the political chaos in Vietnam, but are ambushed and annihilated at the Mekong river by the Tây Sơn in the Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút.
January 27 » The University of Georgia is founded, the first public university in the United States.
November 28 » The first Treaty of Hopewell is signed, by which the United States acknowledges Cherokee lands in what is now East Tennessee.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: W. van Soom, "Family tree Van Soom", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-van-soom/I44072.php : accessed February 25, 2026), "Catharina Jacobs (-1785)".
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