Marie Larsen (died 1953)

In 1808, on February 6th, the ship Topaz - which had sailed out of Boston, hunting seals - rediscovered Pitcairn Island. The mutineers from the HMS Bounty had gone there after the mutiny in April of 1789. Only one HMS Bounty mutineer was still alive, John Adams, who had changed his name to Alexander Smith.

In 1850, on July 10th, President Millard Fillmore - previously Vice-President to Zachary Taylor - became the 13th President of the United States. Taylor had become ill with a still unknown intestinal ailment on July 4th and died on July 9th as a result. He had been a little over a year into his term.

In 1860, on April 3rd, the Pony Express began its first delivery from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California. The trip took 10 days and the riders carried 49 letters, five telegrams, and newspapers for San Francisco and other cities along the way.

In 1946, on July 4th, the Philippines gained independence from the United States. In 1964, Independence Day in the Philippines was moved from July 4th to June 12th at the insistence of nationalists and historians.

In 1953, in the year of Marie Larsen's passing, on January 20th, Dwight D. Eisenhower became the 34th President of the United States. Formerly the 1st Supreme Allied Commander Europe in World War II, Eisenhower had never previously held a political office.