Maria Picella (1879 - 1919)

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

In 1879, in the year that Maria Picella was born, on November 10th, Bell Telephone and Western Union reached an agreement. Bell Telephone would keep out of the telegraphy business and Western Union would stay out of the telephone business - leading to success for both.

In 1888, by the time she was only 9 years old, 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 1896, when she was 17 years old, on May 18th, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. By a vote of 7 to 1, the Court upheld state racial segregation laws, introducing the idea of "separate but equal" facilities for races.

In 1901, at the age of 22 years old, Maria was alive when Edward VII succeeded Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria of England had become Queen in 1837 and reigned until her death in 1901. Her 63 year reign was the longest in history prior to Elizabeth II who recently broke her record. The time during which she led the country was known as the Victorian era and she presided over great changes in the United Kingdom, including the expansion of the British Empire and the Industrial Revolution.

In 1919, in the year of Maria Picella's passing, in Norfolk Virginia, the first rotary dial telephones were introduced by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), making it easier to make a call without an operator.