Mary Murray (born 1823)

In 1823, in the year that Mary Murray was born, on February 20th, British explorer James Weddell's expedition to Antarctica traveled 532 miles south of the Antarctic Circle - the southernmost position any ship had reached before. It would be more than 80 years before anyone sailed farther. The region of the Southern Ocean that he explored was later named the Weddell Sea.

In 1830, on August 31st, Edwin Beard Budding was granted a patent for the invention of the lawn mower. Budding invented the lawn mower to cut the grass on sports grounds and extensive gardens - it was intended to be a superior alternative to the scythe. His mower was 19 inches wide with a frame made of wrought iron and looked much like a modern push mower.

In 1883, on February 28th, in Boston MA, the first vaudeville theater was opened by Benjamin Franklin Keith.

In 1892, on August 4th, the father and stepmother of Lizzie Borden were found murdered. Lizzie was accused of the crime and on June 20th of the next year, she was acquitted of murder by a jury. But she was never acquitted in the public mind.

In 1901, 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.