Jennie A Thompson (born 1838)

In 1838, in the year that Jennie A Thompson was born, on January 11th in New Jersey, Samuel Morse and two others first publicly demonstrated Morse's new invention - the telegraph. Patented by Morse in 1837, the electrical telegraph used a code developed by him and his assistant, Samuel Vail, and sent a message two miles. In 1844, Morse broadcast from Washington DC to Baltimore Maryland the message "What hath God wrought" and the telegraph took off.

In 1849, on April 22nd, Patrick Kennedy - great-grandfather of President John Kennedy - arrived in the United States. He was the 3rd born son of an Irish farmer and he knew that he wouldn't be given the chance to run the family farm. So he emigrated to Massachusetts and became a cooper. After only 10 years in the US, he died of cholera at age 35.

In 1882, on March 22nd, the Edmunds Act - passed by Congress - made polygamy a felony. The Act also banned "bigamous" relationships and "unlawful cohabitation", making it illegal for polygamists and those who simply lived together without marrying to vote, be on a jury, or hold a public office.

In 1903, the first World Series of American baseball was played between October 1st and 13th. The Boston Americans of the American League played the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League. Boston came back from a three game to one deficit, winning the final four games to capture the title - such a large comeback wouldn't be repeated by a team until 1925. (A total of eight games were played.)

In 1938, on June 25th (a Saturday) the Fair Labor Standards Act was signed into law by President Roosevelt (along with 120 other bills). The Act banned oppressive child labor, set the minimum hourly wage at 25 cents, and established the maximum workweek at 44 hours. It faced a lot of opposition and in fighting for it, Roosevelt said "Do not let any calamity-howling executive with an income of $1,000 a day, ...tell you...that a wage of $11 a week is going to have a disastrous effect on all American industry."