F.a. Stewart (born 1827)

In 1827, in the year that F.a. Stewart was born, Englishman John Walker invented the first friction match, which he named Lucifer. The match consisted of a wooden stick coated with sulphur and tipped with a mixture of sulphide of antimony, chlorate of potash, and gum. A box of 50 matches was one shilling and came with folded sandpaper to use to strike a match.

In 1897, on July 17th, the Klondike Gold Rush began when the first successful prospectors returned to Seattle after mining in the Yukon. They arrived on the ships Excelsior and Portland, bringing vast quantities of gold - over $32,000,000 in today's money - and everyone rushed to become rich in the Yukon.

In 1902, 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 1965, on March 8th, the first US combat troops arrived in Vietnam. The 3500 Marines joined 23,000 "advisors" already in South Vietnam. By the end of the year, 190,000 American soldiers were in the country.

In 1977, on January 20th, Jimmy Carter became the 39th President of the United States. Running against incumbent Gerald Ford, he won 50.1% of the popular vote to Ford's 48.0%. He was elected to only one term.