Johann Frank (1846 - 1917)

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

In 1846, in the year that Johann Frank was born, on November 4th, the Donner Party was stranded in the Sierra Nevada on its way to California. The ill-fated wagon train was snowed in and couldn't get out of the mountains for 3 months. Some went for help - on foot - but the majority of the 87 people in the wagon train were stuck in heavy snow, without food. Only 48 of the original settlers survived - some by cannibalism of the dead.

In 1855, Johann was only 9 years old when on March 3rd, Congress appropriated $30,000 to create the U.S. Camel Corps. The idea was to use camels as pack animals in the Southwest and 34 camels were bought. But the Army wasn't enthusiastic about the idea and after the Civil War the Camel Corps was entirely abandoned.

In 1888, he was 42 years old when Irishman John Robert Gregg published a pamphlet in the U.S., teaching his first version of shorthand - Gregg shorthand. When he improved on the first version and published it 5 years later, Gregg shorthand became popular.

In 1908, Johann was 62 years old when President Theodore Roosevelt held the White House Conservation Conference, which lead to the establishment of the National Conservation Commission. Preparing the first inventory of the United State's natural resources, the commission was divided into four parts: water, forests, lands, and minerals.

In 1917, in the year of Johann Frank's passing, in April, the U.S. entered World War I, declaring war against Germany. President Wilson had previously declared neutrality in the war - a position supported by the majority of Americans - but after Germany declared that they would sink all ships trading with Great Britain and sunk U.S. ships, public opinion began to change. Then the Lusitania was sunk, killing 1,201 - including 128 Americans - and more U.S. ships were sunk. The U.S. could stand aside no longer.