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The Genealogy of Robert and Christina Barritt

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1859 - 1913 (54 years)

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Timeline

Edward DOOLITTLE (1859 - 1913)

	Date	Event(s)
1	1859	1859: UK - Charles Darwin's book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life asserts that all life had a common ancestor and that the origin of species was natural selection 1859: UK - Palmerston brings his second Liberal government to power. 1859: UK - Samuel Smiles' Self-Help published
2	1860	1860: UK - Joseph Wilson Swan invented the light bulb, an incandescent lamp using a carbon filament. 1860: UK - Gladstone's budget and the Anglo-French Cobden Treaty codifies and extends the principles of free trade
3	1861	1861: UK - Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis published his deduction that childbirth fever was transmitted on the hands of doctors during their examinations 1861: UK - Death of Prince Albert, Prince Consort 1861: Australia - Women first given vote 1861: USA - Abraham Lincoln president of the USA 1861-1865. 1861: USA - Elisha Otis patents elevator safety brakes, creating a safer elevator. 1861: USA - Linus Yale invents the Yale lock or cylinder lock. 1861: USA - American Civil War (to 1865)
4	1862	1862: France - Louis Pasteur published the germ theory: infection is caused by self-replicating microorganisms, and that attenuated viral cultures granted immunity. These beneficent antigens he named vaccines in honor of Edward Jenner and his vaccinia virus 1862: UK - Parliament passes the Limited Liability Act in order to provide vital stimulus to accumulation of capital in shares 1862: UK - Alexander Parkes invents the first man-made plastic, Parkesine. 1862: UK - Dr. Richard Gatling patents the machine gun.
5	1863	1863: UK - Edward, Prince of Wales, marries Princess Alexandra of Denmark. 1863: UK - The Salvation Army is founded 1863: UK - First underground railway opens in London
6	1864	1864: UK - Chimney-sweeper's Act, due in part to Charles Kinglsey's Water Babies 1864: UK - Great Battle of Berkhamstead Common saves common land, Epping Forest also saved 1864: UK - Reform Bill, working men given franchise 1864: Canada - First independent dominion in the British Empire under the Dominion of Canada Act 1864: UK - Judge declares trades unions illegal
7	1865	1865: Finland - Nokia corporation established as a forest industry enterprise by mining engineer Fredrik Idestam 1865: UK - Lister, using carbolic acid as antiseptic and sterilizing his instrument, proved the efficacy of antiseptic surgery 1865: UK - Death of Palmerston. Russell establishes his second Liberal government 1865: UK - Lewis Carroll publishes Alice's Adventure in Wonderland 1865: UK - Andrew Johnson president of the USA 1865-1869. Vice president under Abraham Lincoln, he was sworn in as president upon Lincoln's death. 14 Apr 1865: USA - Abraham Lincoln shot by John Wilkes Booth and dies the next day.
8	1866	1866: UK - Gregor Mendel, in Versuche 1866: UK - Alfred Nobel patented dynamite 1866: UK - Russell and Gladstone fail to have their moderate Reform Bill passed in parliament. Derby takes power in his third minority Conservative government 1866: UK - Englishman Robert Whitehead invents a torpedo. 1866: UK - J. Osterhoudt patents the tin can with a key opener.
9	1867	1867: UK - Derby and Benjamin Disraeli's Second Reform Bill doubles the franchise to two million. 1867: UK - Christopher Scholes invents the first practical and modern typewriter.
10	1868	1868: UK - Benjamin Disraeli succeeds Derby as Prime Minister. William Gladstone becomes Prime Minister for the first time 1868: UK - J P Knight invents traffic lights. 1868: USA - George Westinghouse invents air brakes. 1868: UK - Robert Mushet invents tungsten steel.
11	1869	1869: UK - George M. Beard distinguished neurasthenia, a nervous disease of men, from hysteria, a women's disease, as, in an earlier time, men's hypochondriasis had been distinguished from women's vapeurs. Subforms of neurasthenia came to be called phobias. 1869: Ireland - The Irish Church is disestablished. 1869: Egypt - The Suez Canal is opened 1869: UK - Women obtain municipal franchise 1869: USA - Ulysses Grant president of the USA 1869-1877.
12	1870	1870: UK - Primary education becomes compulsory in Britain through the Forster-Ripon English Elementary Education Act (but poor children still roam streets after school). The Act means labourers, spouses and children of succeeding generations can read and write; women permitted to sit on school boards 1870: UK - Parliament passes the Women's Property Act, extending the rights of married women, and the Irish Land Act 1870: UK - First British postcard devised by Anthony Trollope 1870: USA - Wheeler introduces toilet paper roll 1870: Inauguration of London to Calcutta telegraph line, first electronic link between Europe and India 1870: UK - Volume of Britain's external trade equals France, Germany and Italy combined, 3-4 times greater than US; agricultural wages reach height not surpassed for many years 1870: UK - Religious tests abolished for academic posts, patronage abolished for all public offices, competitive exams introduced for Civil Service 1870: Europe - Prussia defeats France in the Franco Prussian War.
13	1871	1871: UK - Trade Unions are legalized
14	1872	1872: UK - Secret voting is introduced for elections 1872: UK - Parliament passes the Scottish Education Act 1872: USA - A.M. Ward issues the first mail-order catalog. 1872: UK - J.S. Risdon patents the metal windmill. 1872: UK - Period to 1896 sees three economic slumps and two recoveries, said to be due to imported foodstuffs from US depressing Britain's agricultural business 1872: USA - Levi Strauss discovered rugged trousers for miners made out of sturdy brown canvas. Once this resource was exhausted, he turned to denim, which he dyed blue to become what is known now as blue jeans
15	1873	1873: UK - William Gladstone's government resigns after the defeat of their Irish Universities Bill. Benjamin Disraeli declines to take up office instead 1873: UK - Parmalee invents automatic fire sprinklers 1873: UK - Joseph Glidden invents barbed wire. 1873: UK - The Great Depression lasts until 1896
16	1874	1874: UK - Benjamin Disraeli becomes Conservative Prime Minister for the second time 1874: USA - American, C. Goodyear, Jr. invents the shoe welt stitcher.
17	1875	1875: UK - Benjamin Disraeli purchases a controlling interest for Britain in the Suez Canal. 1875: UK - Parliament passes R.A. Cross's Conservative social reforms 1875: UK - Collapse of British agriculture due to cheap grain from US, wheat acreage falls by nearly a million acres
18	1876	1876: USA - Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. 1876: Germany - Nikolas August Otto designed the first four-stroke piston engine 1876: UK - Queen Victoria becomes Empress of India. 1876: Bulgaria - The massacre of Christians in Turkish Bulgaria leads to anti-Turkish campaigns in Britain, led by William Gladstone 1876: UK - Melville Bissell patents the carpet sweeper.
19	1877	1877: South Africa - Confederation of British and Boer states established 1877: USA - Rutherford Hayes president of the USA 1877-1881. 1877: USA - Thomas Edison invents the cylinder phonograph or tin foil phonograph. 1877: UK - Eadweard Muybridge invents the first moving pictures.
20	1878	1878: Berlin, Germany - The Congress of Berlin is held. Benjamin Disraeli announces peace with honour
21	1879	1879: South Africa - The Zulu War is fought. The British are defeated at Isandhlwana, but are victorious at Ulundi 1879: Midlothian, Scotland - Gladstone's Midlothian campaign denounces imperialism in South Africa and Afghanistan 1879: Afghanistan - Second Afghan War gives Britain control
22	1880	1880: UK - William Gladstone establishes his second Liberal government 1880: South Africa - The first Anglo-Boer War begins 1880: UK - British forests now decimated except for bits of the New Forest and the Forest of Dean. 1880: UK - Number of agricultural labourers reduced by about 100,000 in last 10 years 1880: UK - Englishman John Milne invents the modern seismograph. 1880: UK - The British Perforated Paper Company invents a form of toilet paper.
23	1881	1881: London, UK - Savoy Theatre introduces electric lighting 1881: London, UK - Parliament passes the Irish Land Act and the Coercion Act 1881: USA - Death of Billy the Kid 1881: USA - James Garfield president of the USA 1881. Garfield was wounded by an assassin's bullet on 3 Jul 1881 and dies 19 Sep 1881. 1881: UK - David Houston patents the roll film for cameras. 1881: USA - Alexander Graham Bell invents the first crude metal detector. 1881: UK - Edward Leveaux patents the automatic player piano. 19 Sep 1881: USA - Chester A. Arthur president of the USA 1881-1885. Vice president under James Garfield, he is sworn in as president upon the death of Garfield.
24	1882	1882: Europe - A triple alliance is established between Germany, Austria and Italy 1882: USA - Standard Oil controls 95% of oil refining capacity 1882: UK - Stillwell invents brown paper bag 1882: Egypt - Revolt leading to British occupation
25	1884	1884: Vienna, Austria - Sigmund Freud published a paper in which he found cocaine, an alkaloid in coca, effective against fatigue and neurasthenia. 1884: UK - Hilaire de Chardonnet invented the first artificial textile, which was made from cellulose. It was later named rayon 1884: UK - Parliament passes the third Reform Act which further extends the franchise 1884: UK - Fabian Society forms, rejects Marxian theory, embraces Ricardian theory (socialist) 1884: One-third of world's shipping is British, including 4/5 of world's steamships 1884: Burma - Britain annexes Upper Burma 1884: Africa - Britain and Germany partition East Africa 1884: UK - Excess of births over deaths in England is 13.3, in Germany 10.8, and France 1.4. 1884: USA - James Ritty invents the first working, mechanical cash register. 1884: UK - Charles Parson patents the steam turbine. 1884: USA - Lewis Edson Waterman invents the first practical fountain pen. 1884: USA - George Eastman patents paper-strip photographic film.
26	1885	1885: Mesopotamia - Death of General Gordon at Khartoum. 1885: USA - Grover Cleveland president of the USA 1885-1889. 1885: Germany - Karl Benz invents the first practical automobile to be powered by an internal combustion engine. 1885: USA - Harim Maxim invents a machine gun. 1885: Germany - Gottlieb Daimler invents the first gas-engined motorcycle.
27	1886	1886: UK - Gladstone's third Liberal government fails to pass its first Irish Home Rule Bill through the House of Commons. Gladstone resigns as Prime Minister. Split in the Liberal Party. Salisbury establishes his second Conservative-Liberal-Unionist government. 1886: UK - The Royal Niger Company is chartered 1886: South Africa - Gold is discovered in the Transvaal 1886: New York, NY, USA - Statue of Liberty erected in New York Harbour 1886: UK - Local Government Act establishes County Councils as administrative organs of country life, replace Justices of Peace who are preserved as magistrates, creates London County Council (does not cover City); women are included with men in electorate of newly- established County Councils 1886: UK - British South Africa Company, formed by Yorkshireman Cecil Rhodes, colonization of Rhodesia begins 1886: UK - Great Dock Strike of London dockers, led by John Burns and Tom Mann 1886: USA - John Pemberton invents Coca Cola. 1886: USA - Josephine Cochrane invents the dishwasher. 1886: UK - 3,992,880 migrants leave UK for US, 2,235,671 leave UK for British North America during period to 1927
28	1887	1887: Germany - Emile Berliner patents the gramophone 1887: UK - Queen Victoria celebrates her Golden Jubilee 1887: UK - The Independent Labour Party is founded 1887: UK - The British East Africa Company is chartered 1887: UK - Telegraph companies control 107,000 miles of submarine cable 1887: USA - There are estimated to be 5,400 cash registers in US (increases to 16,900 in 1890) 1887: Germany - Heinrich Hertz discovers radio waves. 1887: UK - F.E. Muller and Adolph Fick invent the first wearable contact lenses.
29	1888	1888: UK - Celluloid photographic film introduced 1888: UK - The County Councils' Act establishes representative county based authorities 1888: USA - Kodak box camera 1888: UK - Coin-operated public telephone invented 1888: UK - John Boyd Dunlop patents a commercially successful pneumatic tyre. 1888: USA - Nikola Tesla invents the AC motor and transformer. 1888: USA - Marvin Stone patents the spiral winding process to manufacture the first paper drinking straws.
30	1889	1889: UK - The British South Africa Company is chartered 1889: Paris, France - The Eiffel Tower, designed by French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, is completed for the Paris Exposition. 1889: UK - First Official Secrets Act in UK 1889: USA - Benjamin Harrison president of the USA 1889-1893. 1889: UK - Sir James Dewar and Sir Frederick Abel co-invent Cordite - a type of smokeless gunpowder. 1889: UK - Joshua Pusey invents the matchbook.
31	1890	1890: UK - Starting this decade, women's clothing becomes less voluminous, lawn tennis takes place of croquet as means of meeting opposite sex, bicycle becomes fashionable
32	1891	1891: UK - University of Wales founded; Act permits women to enter medical or other faculty on same terms as men 1891: USA - Jesse W. Reno invents the escalator. 1891: UK - Agricultural depression to 1899 as cheaper frozen meat from Australia, New Zealand and South America floods into Britain, cheaper grain comes in from North America
33	1892	1892: France - Leon Bouly invents cinematographic film camera 1892: UK - William Gladstone forms his fourth Liberal government 1892: UK - Sir James Dewar invents the Dewar flask or vacuum flask. 1892: Germany - Rudolf Diesel invents the diesel-fueled internal combustion engine.
34	1893	1893: USA - Whitcomb L. Judson invented the zip to help a friend with a stiff back who could not bend over to do up his shoes 1893: UK - Second Irish Home Rule Bill fails to pass the House of Lords 1893: New Zealand - First nation to grant women the right to vote 1893: France - Car number plates introduced 1893: USA - Grover Cleveland president of the USA 1893-1897.
35	1894	1894: UK - Rosebery takes power with his minority Liberal government
36	1895	1895: UK - Oscar Wilde jailed for homosexuality 1895: UK - Guglielmo Marconi sent longwave wireless telegraphic, or radio, signals over a distance of more than a mile 1895: UK - Salisbury forms his third Unionist ministry 1895: USA - Kellogg's Corn Flakes go on sale 1895: France - Lumiere Brothers invent a portable motion-picture camera, film processing unit and projector called the Cinematographe. The Lumiere Brothers using their Cinematographe are the first to present a projected motion picture to an audience of more that one person.
37	1896	1896: Vienna, Austria - Sigmund Freud suggested analyzing childhood conflicts in the study of neuroses. He also devised a psychoanalytic technique called free association which allows emotionally-charged, repressed material to be consciously recognized 1896: Sudan - British conquest of the Sudan begins 1896: USA - Lightner Witmer establishes at the University of Pennsylvania a clinic of psychology, the first psychological clinic in America and perhaps in the world 1896: UK - Items considered luxuries in 1837 are now common comforts; food, clothing, bedding, furniture, are all far more abundant; gas and oil lighting being replaced by electricity; seaside holidays no longer rare 1896: UK - Howard publishes Garden Cities of Tomorrow, forerunner of modern city planning 1896: York, UK - Seebohm Rowntree (of chocolate fame) studies poor, determines poverty due to inadequate wages, not shiftlessness 1896: USA - American, H. O'Sullivan invents the rubber heel.
38	1897	1897: UK - Queen Victoria celebrates her Diamond Jubilee 1897: USA - Telephone penetration in US is 7 per 1,000 people 1897: USA - William McKinley president of the USA 1897-1901. William McKinley dies in Buffalo, NY, 1901.
39	1898	1898: UK - Christopher Latham Sholes patented the typewriter. His QWERTY keyboard is still with us today. 1898: Sudan - British rule over Sudan fully established 1898: USA - Campbell's soups first appear with red and white labels, colors suggested by Cornell University's football uniforms. 1898: USA - Spanish-American War: United States vs Spain 1898. 1898: UK - Edwin Prescott patents the roller coaster.
40	1899	1899: Germany - German Naval expansion begins 1899: South Africa - Boer War begins and lasts three years, sparked when Englishman dies in Boer police custody. Scandalous British concentration camps cause many deaths of woman and children 1899: Australia - Unification of Australia as Commonwealth 1899: UK - Judges again declare trade unions illegal 1899: UK - J.S. Thurman patents the motor-driven vacuum cleaner. 1899: UK - I.R. Johnson patents the bicycle frame. 1899: UK - Education is now compulsory to age 12. 1 in 8 receives education after age 14
41	1900	1900: UK - Salisbury wins the Khaki election. The Labour Representation Committee is formed 1900: UK - Max Planck proposes quantum theory 1900: UK - There are reckoned to be 6,000 accountants in England 1900: China - Boxer Rebellion 1900: Italy - King Assassinated 1900: USA - Kodak Introduces $1 Brownie Cameras 1900: Vienna, Austria - Sigmund Freud Publishes The Interpretation of Dreams 1900: UK - Birmingham University founded 1900: Germany - The zeppelin invented by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. 1900: USA - Charles Seeberger redesigned Jesse Reno's escalator and invented the modern escalator.
42	1901	1901: USA - Willis H. Carrier invented the industrial air conditioner 1901: UK - Vacuum Cleaner invented by Hubert Cecil Booth 1901: Atlantic - Guglielmo Marconi sends wireless message from Cornwall to Newfoundland, a distance of over 2,000 miles 1901: Stockholm, Sweden - First Nobel Prizes Awarded 1901: USA - Theodore Roosevelt president of the USA 1901-1909. Vice president under William McKinley, he is sworn in as president upon death of McKinley. 1901: USA - King Camp Gillette invents the double-edged safety razor. 1901: UK - Edward VII, ruler of England to 1910. House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha: Eldest son of Queen Victoria, married Alexandra, Princess of Denmark. 22 Jan 1901: UK - Death of Queen Victoria, aged 81, over 63 years as Queen
43	1902	1902: UK - Invention of the Teddy Bear 1902: South Africa - Boer War Ends 1902: UK - Education Act provides for secondary education 1902: France - French physicist George Claude invents neon light.
44	1903	1903: USA - Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright achieved flight in a manned, gasoline power-driven, heavier-than-air flying machine at Kitty Hawk. 1903: UK - First Silent Movie, The Great Train Robbery 1903: India - Plague strikes 1903: Ireland - Irish land purchase bill, Wyndham's Act, permits Irish to buy land from landlords with 1903: UK - Liverpool University, Sheffield University and Leeds University founded 1903: UK - Balfour's Licensing Act reduces number of houses selling alcohol 1903: UK - Trade depression - unemployment results; Act sets up local committees to find employment, voluntary contributions give small stipend to unemployed 1903: UK - Act of Parliament secures highly privileged immunity for trades unions; Labour Party formed 1903: UK - Free school meals for poor children, Children's Act deals with cruelty to children, prohibits imprisonment of children under 14 1903: UK - 72 British ships have Marconi's radio, 1912 - 450, 1914 - 879 1903: UK - Beginning of Old Age Pension scheme 1903: UK - Trade depression - unemployment results; William Beveridge publishes Unemployment, a Problem of Industry, which prompts creation of Labour Exchanges 1903: Europe - Louis Bleriot flies across the English Channel 1903: UK - Edward Binney and Harold Smith co-invent crayons. 1903: UK - Bottle-making machinery invented by Michael J. Owens. 1903: UK - Mary Anderson invents windshield wipers. 1903: USA - William Coolidge invents ductile tungsten used in lightbulbs.
45	1904	1904: UK - First telephone answering machine 1904: UK - Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Benjamin Bunny is published 1904: Panama - Ground Broken on the Panama Canal 1904: New York, NY, USA - New York City Subway Opens 1904: Russia - Russo-Japanese War Begins 1904: Russia - Trans-Siberian Railway Completed 1904: UK - Teabags invented by Thomas Suillivan. 1904: UK - Benjamin Holt invents a tractor.
46	1905	1905: Berne, Switzerland - Albert Einstein evolved the Special Theory of relativity. 1905: UK - Aliens Act in Britain tries to control immigration 1905: Russia - Bloody Sunday - Russian Revolution of 1905 1905: Vienna, Austria - Sigmund Freud Publishes His Theory of Sexuality
47	1906	1906: Finland - First European Country to Give Women the Right to Vote 1906: San Francisco, USA - San Francisco Earthquake 1906: USA - Upton Sinclair Writes The Jungle 1906: USA - William Kellogg invents Cornflakes.
48	1907	1907: UK - Electric washing machine - The Thor - goes on sale 1907: Netherlands - Ten Rules of War Established at the Second Hague Peace Conference 1907: Spain - Picasso Introduces Cubism 1907: UK - Typhoid Mary Captured for the First Time 1907: France - Colour photography invented by Auguste Lumiere and Louis Lumiere. 1907: UK - The very first piloted helicopter was invented by Paul Cornu.
49	1908	1908: USA - Henry Ford created the Model T automobile 1908: UK - Electric iron and toaster patented 1908: UK - Earthquake in Italy Kills 150,000 1908: China - Three Year-Old Pu Yi Becomes Emperor of China 1908: Turkey - Revolt in the Ottoman Empire 1908: USA - The gyrocompass invented by Elmer A. Sperry. 1908: USA - Cellophane invented by Jacques E. Brandenberger. 1908: UK - J W Geiger and W M 1908: UK - Fritz Haber invents the Haber Process for making artificial nitrates.
50	1909	1909: UK - Pianos reach maximum market penetration in UK households at one per ten people 1909: UK - 800 million postcards sold in England 1909: Japan - Prince Ito is Assassinated 1909: UK - Plastic Is Invented 1909: Arctic - Robert Peary Becomes the First to Reach the North Pole 1909: USA - William Taft president of the USA 1909-1913. 1909: UK - Instant coffee invented by G. Washington.
51	1910	1910: UK - Georges Claude discovered that electricity conducted through a tube of the rare inert gas, neon, gives a bright red glow and that other gases gave off other colors, e.g., argon gives blue, helium gives yellow and white, etc. 1910: UK - First live opera broadcast 1910: UK - Halley's Comet Makes an Appearance 1910: UK - The Tango Catches On 1910: South Africa - Formation of Union of South Africa 1910: UK - Death of Edward VII 1910: UK - Population of England/Wales 36,070, Scotland - 4,761, N. Ireland - 1,251 1910: UK - Contributory National Insurance Scheme introduced by David Lloyd George, provides medical care, maternity benefits and sick pay 1910: UK - Parliament Act reduces House of Lords' veto to delaying power; House of Commons begins to pay members a stipend 1910: UK - There are 146,000 female clerical workers in England, up from 22,000 in 1891, 7,000 in 1881, and 19 in 1851 1910: USA - Thomas Edison demonstrated the first talking motion picture. 1910: UK - Infant mortality now 110 per 1000 live births, declines steadily to 24.4 in 1956; emigration reaches about 464,000/year; divorces average 823/year, go to 3,619/year in 1920-1922, 7,955/year in 1939 (latter rise because willful desertion, cruelty and incurable insanity added to causes in 1937) 1910: UK - Strikes of seaman, dock and transport workers, general railway strike for higher wages during period to 1912 20 Jan 1910: UK - George V, ruler of England to 1936. House of Windsor (name adopted Jul 17, 1917): 2nd son of Edward VII, married Princess Mary of Teck.
52	1911	1911: China - The Chinese Revolution 1911: UK - Ernest Rutherford Discovers the Structure of an Atom 1911: UK - Greenwich Mean Time Adopted 1911: Peru - The Incan City of Machu Picchu Discovered 1911: Paris, France - Mona Lisa Is Stolen 1911: Antarctica - Roald Amundsen Reaches the South Pole 1911: USA - Standard Oil Company Broken Up 1911: USA - Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Catches on Fire 1911: USA - Charles Franklin Kettering invents the first automobile electrical ignition system
53	1912	1912: North Sea - The Sinking of the Titanic: 1,515 people lose their lives. 1912: UK - Parachutes Invented 1912: UK - Piltdown Man, the 'Missing Link,' Discovered but later revealed as a fraud 1912: SOS Accepted as Universal Distress Signal 1912: UK - Motorized movie cameras invented, and replaced hand-cranked cameras. 1912: UK - The first tank patented by Australian inventor De La Mole. 1912: USA - Clarence Crane created Life Savers candy
54	1913	1913: USA - Leo Baekeland invented a plastic laminate, known as Bakelite, and later as Formica 1913: Detroit, MI, USA - First assembly line introduced in Ford automobile factory 1913: New York, NY, USA - The Armory Show, an international display of some 1600 works of modern art, and one of the more important U.S. art exhibitions ever held, opens at the 69th-regiment armory. It arouses public curiosity, generates sensational news coverage, and helps change the direction of American art 1913: USA - Personal Income Tax introduced 1913: Washington, DC, USA - Woodrow Wilson president 1913-1921. 1913: UK - The crossword puzzle was invented by Arthur Wynne. 1913: USA - The Merck Chemical Company patented what is now known as ecstasy. 1913: USA - Mary Phelps Jacob invents the bra 1913: USA - Gideon Sundback invents the modern zipper.