Cornelius Willemus Holmes (1859 - 1922)

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

In 1859, in the year that Cornelius Willemus Holmes was born, on April 25th, the Suez Canal Company began construction of the Suez Canal. It took 10 years to complete the canal.

In 1869, at the age of only 10 years old, Cornelius was alive when on December 10th, the Wyoming territorial legislature gave women the right to vote. It was the first time in the world that women were able to vote legally without restrictions.

In 1873, when he was merely 14 years old, on March 3rd, the U.S. Congress enacted the Comstock Law. The law made it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" material through the U.S. mail. This included erotica, contraceptives, sex toys, abortifacients, information about these items, and "personal letters alluding to any sexual content or information".

In 1913, he was 54 years old when ratified in February the 16th Amendment, establishing a Federal income tax, became law. Previously, customs duties (tariffs) and excise taxes were the primary sources of federal revenue. With the passage of the 16th Amendment, incomes of couples exceeding $4,000, as well as those of single persons earning $3,000 or more, were subject to a 1% Federal tax (that would be about $98,000 and $74,000 now). Rates rose to 7% for incomes over half a million dollars. Less than 1% of the population was subject to income tax.

In 1922, in the year of Cornelius Willemus Holmes's passing, on James Joyce's 40th birthday, his book Ulysses was published in France. The book covers the experiences of an Irishman in Dublin on an ordinary day, 16 June 1904. Now considered a classic, it was controversial at the time. Due to some sexual content, the book was banned in the U.S. during the 1920's and the U.S. Post Office destroyed 500 copies of the novel.