January 30 » The Forty-seven rōnin, under the command of Ōishi Kuranosuke, avenge the death of their master, by killing Kira Yoshinaka.
February 4 » In Edo (now Tokyo), all but one of the Forty-seven Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master's death.
May 27 » Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg.
July 31 » Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers.
December 7 » The Great Storm of 1703, the greatest windstorm ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain, makes landfall. Winds gust up to 120mph, and 9,000 people die.
December 27 » Portugal and England sign the Methuen Treaty which gives preference to Portuguese imported wines into England.
Day of death October 2, 1776
The temperature on October 2, 1776 was about 12.0 °C. Wind direction mainly north-northeast. Weather type: omtrent helder. Source: KNMI
March 3 » American Revolutionary War: The first amphibious landing of the United States Marine Corps begins the Battle of Nassau.
June 12 » The Virginia Declaration of Rights is adopted.
September 7 » According to American colonial reports, Ezra Lee makes the world's first submarine attack in the Turtle, attempting to attach a time bomb to the hull of HMS Eagle in New York Harbor (no British records of this attack exist).
November 29 » American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Fort Cumberland, Nova Scotia, comes to an end with the arrival of British reinforcements.
December 5 » Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest academic honor society in the U.S., holds its first meeting at the College of William & Mary.
December 26 » American Revolutionary War: In the Battle of Trenton, the Continental Army attacks and successfully defeats a garrison of Hessian forces.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Hans Pruckmuller, "Family tree Van Willigen", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/van-willigen-stamboom/I4943.php : accessed March 12, 2026), "Nicolaas van Hoorn (1703-1776)".
Copy warning
Genealogical publications are copyright protected. Although data is often retrieved from public archives, the searching, interpreting, collecting, selecting and sorting of the data results in a unique product. Copyright protected work may not simply be copied or republished.
Please stick to the following rules
Request permission to copy data or at least inform the author, chances are that the author gives permission, often the contact also leads to more exchange of data.
Do not use this data until you have checked it, preferably at the source (the archives).
State from whom you have copied the data and ideally also his/her original source.