Nancy Sarah Mclaughlin (1788 - 1867)

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

In 1804, by the time she was 16 years old, on May 14th, Lewis and Clark started out from St. Louis, Missouri on an expedition to explore the West and to find a route to the Pacific Ocean. President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the trip shortly after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. He wanted the new territory mapped and wanted to establish an American presence in the West before Great Britain or other European powers could claim it.

In 1811, when she was 23 years old, on December 16th, the New Madrid earthquake - in the Mississippi Valley near the city of New Madrid, Missouri - temporarily reversed the course of the Mississippi River. The quake is estimated to have been 7.5 - 7.9. Other large earthquakes along the fault occurred on January 23rd and February 7th, 1812. These quakes were the largest ever recorded east of the Rockies.

In 1842, when she was 54 years old, on August 14th, General William J. Worth declared that the Florida War - also called the Second Seminole War - was over. It was the "the longest and most costly of the Indian conflicts of the United States", lasting from 1835 to 1842. By the end of the war, it was costing $93,300 per month - plus the pay of the regular soldiers. An agreement allowed the Seminole either to move west or to move to a reservation in southwest Florida.

In 1851, she was 63 years old when on March 27th, the first recorded visit of white men to Yosemite Valley occurred. The Mariposa Battalion, chasing Native Americans, went into the valley. One man, Dr. Lafayette Bunnell, wrote "the grandeur of the scene was but softened by the haze that hung over the valley -- light as gossamer -- and by the clouds which partially dimmed the higher cliffs and mountains. This obscurity of vision but increased the awe with which I beheld it, and as I looked, a peculiar exalted sensation seemed to fill my whole being, and I found my eyes in tears with emotion."

In 1867, in the year of Nancy Sarah Mclaughlin's passing, on February 17th, the first ship passed through the newly completed Suez Canal. The Canal allowed ships to travel more quickly - and a shorter distance - between the North Atlantic and northern Indian Oceans.