John Henry Ryan (1899 - 1917)

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

In 1899, in the year that John Henry Ryan was born, on February 4th, the Philippine–American War began. The Philippines objected to the Treaty of Paris, signed in 1898, that transferred possession of the Philippines from Spain to the U.S. Filipinos began a fight for independence and fighting between U.S. forces and those of the Philippine Republic broke out. On June 2nd, the Philippines officially declared war on the United States.

In 1900, John was just 1 year old when the unemployment rate in the U.S. was 5.0% and the cost of a first-class stamp was $0.02. 31% of all workers were employed in the public service sector, 19% of women were employed (1 percent of all lawyers and 6 percent of physicians were women), 6% of the workforce were children, and 14% of the workforce was "non-white."

In 1901, he was merely 2 years old when John Pierpont "J. P." Morgan created U.S. Steel. J.P. Morgan was an American banker and financier who dominated U.S. business at this time. He had previously overseen the creation of General Electric, as well as International Harvester and AT&T. He has been referred to as America's greatest banker. U.S. Steel was the first billion dollar company in the world, worth $1.4 billion in 1901.

In 1917, in the year of John Henry Ryan's passing, Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari was convicted and executed as a German spy. Since Mata Hari, born Margaretha Geertruida "Margreet" MacLeod, was a citizen of the Netherlands (which remained neutral in World War 1), she could travel freely in Europe. Her travels (and her romantic entanglements) raised suspicion and she was arrested by the French and found guilty. There is still controversy about her guilt although her name has become synonymous with a seductive female spy.