I've been playing again.... here is a historical timeline that might help us figure out what was happening in the world during the different periods of time... feel free to copy and insert your own family events. I would encourage you to insert your own family info. Linda 1492 Columbus sailed to North America. 1539-1541 Hernando de Soto starts his expedition to explore the interior of North America (what is now the southeastern US) penetrating as far west as Oklahoma and discovering the Mississippi River. 1565 St. Augustine, first permanent European colony within the present U.S. boundaries, was established by Spain. 1607 Jamestown, Virginia founded. 1620 A group of "Separatists" left Plymouth, England on Sept 16th aboard the ship The Mayflower. 1670 South Carolina settled by English planters from the island of Barbados. 16 Dec 1773 Boston Tea Party 4 July 1776 British colonies issue the Declaration of Independence 1783 Revolutionary War ends. 1787 U. S. Constitution signed. 1789 George Washington becomes the first President of the United States. 1791 Bill of Rights ratified. 1797 John Adams, 2nd President of the United States. John Adams, a shaper of the revolution, saved his Nation from war with France. 1799 The French Revolution ends. 1800 US Capital moved to Washington D.C. 1801 Thomas Jefferson becomes the 3rd President. "We hold these truths to be self-evident,--that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." 1803 US negotiates Louisiana Purchase from France for $15 million thus doubling its domain, increasing its territory by 827,000 square miles, from the Mississippi River to the Rockies and from the Gulf of Mexico to British North America. 1804 Orleans Territory and Louisiana Territory 1805 New Madrid Territory 1807 Robert Fulton makes the first successful steamboat trip on Clermont between New York City and Albany top speed 5 miles per hour. 1809 James Madison, 4th President, "Father of the Constitution," led the inconclusive War of 1812. 1812 War of 1812. Fought between US and Britain over freedom of the seas for US vessels. 1812 Cape Girardeau Territory formed 30 April 1812 Louisiana becomes the 18th State. 1813 MO Territory formed 8 Jan 1814 Battle of New Orleans 1815 Lawrence County (in MO Territory) formed. 1817 James Monroe, 5th President, declared the Americas no longer subject to European colonization. 1818 Wayne County (in MO Territory) formed. 1819 Arkansas Territory formed. 1819 Missouri applys for statehood. 14 Dec 1819 Alabama became the 22nd State. Aug. 1821 Missouri became a state. 1825 John Quincy Adams, the only son of a President to serve as President himself. 1829 Andrew Jackson, first frontier President, came to office with great popular support. Known as "Old Hickory". 1830 First Steam railroad to carry passengers and freight was the Baltimore & Ohio. 1831 First telegraph invented. 1833 Ripley County, MO formed. 1834 Charles Babbage invents "analytical engine" forerunner of computers. McCormick patents the reaper. 1835 Randolph County (in AR Territory) formed 20 Dec 1835 Mexican War Begins 1836 Arkansas becomes a State. 1836 The Battle of the Alamo. 1837 Martin Van Buren, President, was the first Chief Executive born under the United States flag. 1839 Charles Goodyear of Connecticut developed "rubber" . 1841 William Henry Harrison, Ninth President and dies in office. John Tyler becomes the next President. At the end of John Tyler's administration, the United States annexed Texas. 1841 Shannon County, MO created from Ripley County, MO 1845 James K. Polk, President, extended the Nation's boundaries to the shores of the Pacific. 1845 Oregon County, MO is formed from Ripley County, MO. 29 Dec 1845 Texas becomes the 28th State. 1846 Failure of potato crop causes famine in Ireland. 5 Dec 1848 Gold discovered in California. 1849 Zachary Taylor, President, spent July 4, 1850, eating cherries and milk at a ceremony at the Washington Monument. He got sick from the heat and died five days later, the second president to die in office. 1850 Millard Fillmore, President, conciliatory politics helped postpone the Civil War. 1853 Franklin Pierce, President, guerrilla raids in Kansas heralded the approach of civil war. 1857 James Buchannan, President 1859 First commercial oil well began pumping in Pennsylvania 1860 - 1861 Ranked among the most remarkable feats to come out of the 1860 American West, the Pony Express was in service from April 1860 to November 1861. It provided the fastest mail delivery between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. 1861 Abraham Lincoln becomes President. On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy. Lincoln never let the world forget that the Civil War involved an even larger issue. This he stated most movingly in dedicating the military cemetery at Gettysburg: "that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." 1861-1865 CIVIL WAR 15 April 1865 Abraham Lincoln assassinated. 1865 Andrew Johnson becomes President. He faced impeachment for steadfastly opposing Radicals in Congress. 1869 Ulysses S. Grant, Eighteenth President 1869-1877, 10 May 1869 "Golden Spike" links transcontinental rail service across US 25 June 1876 Custer loses at Battle of the Little Big Horn 1876 Alexander Graham Bell demonstrates telephone. 1877 Rutherford B. Hayes, Nineteenth President 1877-1881.In 1879, the first telephone was installed in the White House. At first it was hardly used, because there weren't many other phones in Washington to call. 1879 Founding of the first "Five & Dime" store. Founded by Frank Woolworth in Utica NY and then moved to Lancaster PA the same year. Thomas Edison patents the "modern" light bulb, safe, long-lasting and inexpensive. 1881 James A. Garfield, Twentieth President 1881. Died of an assassins bullet. Doctors tried to find the bullet with a metal detector invented by Alexander Graham Bell. But the device failed because Garfield was placed on a bed with metal springs, and no one thought to move him. He died on September 19, 1881. 1881 Chester A. Arthur, Twenty-First President 1881-1885. 1885 Grover Cleveland, 22nd President 1885-1889.Grover Cleveland was the only president to be married in the White House to Frances Folsom in 1886--and the first to have a child born in the White House, in 1893. 1889 Benjamin Harrison, Twenty-Third President 1889-1893. 1893 Businesses and banks failed and by 1894 almost 20 percent of the work force was jobless - without the benefit of unemployment compensation. The depression would last 4 years. 1893 Grover Cleveland, 24th President, 1893-1897. Grover Cleveland was the only President elected to two nonconsecutive terms. 1897 William McKinley, Twenty-Fifth President 1897-1901. His second term, which had begun auspiciously, came to a tragic end in September 1901. He was standing in a receiving line at the Buffalo Pan-American Exposition when a deranged anarchist shot him twice. He died eight days later. 1898 Spanish American War 1901 Theodore Roosevelt, Twenty-Sixth President 1901-1909. Some of Theodore Roosevelt's most effective achievements were in conservation. He added enormously to the national forests in the West, reserved lands for public use, and fostered great irrigation projects. 1903 Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, fly first powered, controlled, heavier-than-air plane at Kitty Hawk NC. Henry Ford sells first Model "A" for $850.00 1907 Plastic is invented by Leo Baekeland of Belgian. 1909 William Howard Taft, Twenty-Seventh President 1909-1913. William Taft gave the White House its first set of "wheels." He had the stables converted into a garage for four cars, all ordered in 1909. 1912 The Titanic sinks on her maiden voyage from England to New York City. 1913 Woodrow Wilson, Twenty-Eighth President 1913-1921. A flock of sheep grazed during Woodrow Wilson's term. Their wool was sold to raise money for the Red Cross during World War I. 6 April 1917 US enters WW I 1921 Warren G. Harding, Twenty-Ninth President 1921-1923. 1923 Calvin Coolidge, Thirtieth President 1923-1929. 1929 Herbert Hoover, Thirty-First President 1929-1933. 1929 Great Depression begins. 1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt, Thirty-Second President 1933-1945. Led the Nation through the Great Depression and World War II. 7 Dec 1941 US enters WW II after Pearl Harbor is bombed by the Japanese. 1945 Harry S Truman, Thirty-Third President 1945-1953. For Harry S Truman, war and cold war posed challenges unprecedented in history. 1953 Dwight D. Eisenhower, Thirty-Fourth President 1953-1961.President Eisenhower, an avid golfer, had a putting green installed on the White House lawn. He also banished squirrels from the grounds because they were ruining the green. 1961 John F. Kennedy, Thirty-Fifth President 1961-1963.On November 22, 1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullets as his motorcade wound through Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was the youngest man elected President; he was the youngest to die. 1963 Lyndon B. Johnson, Thirty-Sixth President 1963-1969. 1968 Robert Kennedy, brother to the former president, was shot while campaigning for the Presidency. 1968 Martin Luther King was shot in Memphis, TN. 1969 Man walks on the Moon. 1969 Richard M. Nixon, Thirty-Seventh President 1969-1974.The Watergate scandal forced Richard M. Nixon to resign the Presidency. 1974 Gerald R. Ford, Thirty-Eighth President 1974-1977. 1977 Jimmy Carter, Thirty-Ninth President 1977-1981.Jimmy Carter championed human rights throughout the world. 1981 Ronald Reagan, Fortieth President 1981-1989. 1989 George Bush, Forty-First President 1989-1993. 1993 William J. Clinton, Forty-Second President 1993-2000; elected to 2 terms. 2000 George W. Bush, son of the former president, takes office of the Presidency.