Robert Windsor (1845 - 1886)

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

In 1845, in the year that Robert Windsor was born, on September 9th, a potato blight began in Ireland, leading to the Great Famine - also called the Great Hunger and the Irish Potato Famine. About one-third of the population of Ireland had been dependent on the potato and the failure of potato crops led to a million people dying and the emigration of another million people.

In 1854, by the time he was just 9 years old, on February 28th, the GOP - the Republican Party - was founded in Ripon, Wisconsin by "modernizers", anti-slavery proponents, ex-Whigs, and ex-"Free-Soilers" - who opposed the expansion of slavery. The first Republican President of the United States was Abraham Lincoln.

In 1867, when he was 22 years old, on March 1st, Nebraska became the 37th state in the United States. Due to the Homestead Act, settlers had flooded into the area and the first wave of settlers was so large that Nebraska was immediately able to apply for statehood.

In 1872, by the time he was 27 years old, on May 22nd, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Amnesty Act of 1872. The Act restored full civil rights to secessionists, including about 150,000 former slaves who had fought in the Confederate Army. About 500 former Confederate sympathizers were not allowed their full civil rights.

In 1886, in the year of Robert Windsor's passing, on October 28th, President Grover Cleveland officially dedicated the Statue of Liberty. A gift from France, the base for the statue had been built using donations from the American public. The unplanned but enthusiastic celebration after the dedication led to the first ticker tape parade.