What Happened in 1839

Douglass Subscribes to The Liberator

Douglass continued traveling up to Massachusetts. There he joined various organizations in New Bedford, including a black church, and regularly... Read more

"Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque" Edgar Allan Poe's first volume of short stories is published

Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque is a collection of previously-published short stories by Edgar Allan Poe. It was published by the... Read more

Elizabeth Blackwell takes up career in teaching

After the death of her father, Blackwell took up a career in teaching in Kentucky. She did this to make money to pay for medical school. Blackwell... Read more

Charles Darwin was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London

Darwin considered Malthus's argument that human population increases more quickly than food production, leaving people competing for food and... Read more

Charles Darwin Married Emma Wedgwood

Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood at St. Peter's Church at Maer. The newlyweds returned to London rather hastily, making the guests quite upset.... Read more

Joseph Smith Jr. Settles In Nauvoo, Illinois

In 1839 Joseph Smith and his followers, the Mormons, settled in this area after they were forced out of Missouri by religious persecution. The... Read more

Edgar Allan Poe Becomes Assistant Editor of Burton's Gentleman's Magazine

July 1839 Magazine Editor Poe is hired as an editor at Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, a job he holds until June 1840. Read more

The Battle of Ghuznee

The Battle of Ghuznee took place in city of Ghazni in central Afghanistan on July 23, 1839 during the First Anglo-Afghan War. By the 1830s the... Read more

The Indian Cyclone of 1839

On November 25, 1839 a huge cyclone hit Coringa, India with a 40ft storm surge and killed 300,000 people. The entire city was destroyed by this... Read more