Catherine Finlay (1839 - 1918)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Catherine's lifetime.

In 1839, in the year that Catherine Finlay was born, on January 2nd, the first photo of the Moon was taken by Louis Daguerre, known as the "father of photography". The following June, he applied for and got a patent for his camera - to which France acquired the rights in exchange for a lifetime pension for Louis and his co-inventor's nephew. The camera was available to the public by September. It cost 400 francs (about $50 US then, almost $1270 today) and weighed 120 pounds.

In 1842, when she was only 3 years old, Sir Richard Owen, an English paleontologist, created the name "Dinosauria", which meant "Terrible Reptile" or "Fearfully Great Reptile". It has since been Anglicized to "dinosaur".

In 1874, when she was 35 years old, on September 14th, the Battle of Liberty Place occurred in New Orleans - the capital of Louisiana. Some members of the previous Confederate Army assembled for the purpose of "driving the usurpers from power" and the Republican Governor - William P. Kellogg - was physically driven from his office. The former Confederates temporarily replaced him with (the former) Democratic Governor John McEnery. Federal forces arrived, put down the insurrection, and five days later the legally elected government was restored.

In 1902, Catherine was 63 years old when the Bureau of the Census was established. This was the government department that was a boon to family historians - it, even now, is responsible for taking the census and provides demographic information and analyses about the population of the United States.

In 1918, in the year of Catherine Finlay's passing, following European countries, Daylight Saving Time went into effect in the United States in March. It was an effort to conserve fuel needed to produce electric power. This was a war effort and proved unpopular so in most areas of the United States, Daylight Saving Time ended after World War I. It returned during World War II.