Eliza Ellen (Orndorff) Linaburg (1838 - 1881)

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

In 1838, in the year that Eliza Ellen (Orndorff) Linaburg was born, on May 26th, the Native American Cherokee Nation was forced to march the Trail of Tears - relocating them to west of the Mississippi. When gold was discovered in Georgia in 1828, settlers wanted the Cherokee land. 16,543 natives were forced to march - it is estimated that 2,000 to 6,000 died along the way.

In 1844, Eliza was merely 6 years old when on July 3rd, the last known pair of great auk were killed in Iceland. A flightless bird, the average auk was about 33 inches tall and weighed about 11 pounds with a black back and white belly. They were most often found along the coast of Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Canada Great Britain, Ireland - and sometimes as far south as Spain.

In 1854, Eliza was 16 years old when on February 28th, the GOP - the Republican Party - was founded in Ripon, Wisconsin by "modernizers", anti-slavery proponents, ex-Whigs, and ex-"Free-Soilers" - who opposed the expansion of slavery. The first Republican President of the United States was Abraham Lincoln.

In 1861, she was 23 years old when on August 5th, in order to help pay for the Civil War, the Federal government instituted the first income tax in the United States. The Revenue Act of 1861 was rescinded in 1862 but from 1861 through 1862, a flat tax was charged - 3% - on all income over $800, which included only 3% of households. In 1862, a broader tax was enacted.

In 1881, in the year of Eliza Ellen (Orndorff) Linaburg's passing, on November 19th, a meteorite landed a few miles southwest of Odessa, Ukraine. According to one report: "About 7 o'clock one morning a bright and serpentine tail of fire was seen passing over the town by the inhabitants of Odessa, and M. Prendel, editor of one of the Odessa papers, surmising that the phenomenon betokened a fall of meteorites, offered a reward to any person who would bring him one. Three days afterward a gentleman of Grossliebental brought him one which had been found by a peasant who was nearly frightened out of his senses at its fall. It fell beside him while at work in his field and buried itself .55 meters (almost 2 ft) into the ground." The recovered piece was about 17.5 lbs.