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1839 in the United States
Last updated
March 13, 2025
Contents
Incumbents
Federal government
Governors
Lieutenant governors
Events
Undated
Ongoing
Births
Deaths
See also
External links
←
1838
1837
1836
1839
in
the United States
→
1840
1841
1842
Decades:
1810s
1820s
1830s
1840s
1850s
See also:
History of the United States (1789–1849)
Timeline of United States history (1820–1859)
List of years in the United States
1839 in the United States
1839 in U.S. states
States
Alabama
Arkansas
Connecticut
Delaware
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Mississippi
Missouri
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Tennessee
Vermont
Virginia
Washington, D.C.
List of years in the United States by state or territory
v
t
e
David H. Burr's 1839 map of the United States (Geographicus Antique Maps)
Events from the year
1839 in the United States
.
Incumbents
Federal government
President
:
Martin Van Buren
(
D
-
New York
)
Vice President
:
Richard M. Johnson
(
D
-
Kentucky
)
Chief Justice
:
Roger B. Taney
(
Maryland
)
Speaker of the House of Representatives
:
James K. Polk
(
D
-
Tennessee
) (until March 4)
Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter
(
W
-
Virginia
) (starting December 16)
Congress
:
25th
(until March 4),
26th
(starting March 4)
Governors
and
lieutenant governors
Governors
Governor of Alabama
:
Arthur P. Bagby
(
Democratic
)
Governor of Arkansas
:
James Sevier Conway
(
Democratic
)
Governor of Connecticut
:
William W. Ellsworth
(
Whig
)
Governor of Delaware
:
Cornelius P. Comegys
(
Whig
)
Governor of Georgia
:
George R. Gilmer
(
Whig
) (until November 6),
Charles J. McDonald
(
Democratic
) (starting November 6)
Governor of Illinois
:
Thomas Carlin
(
Democratic
)
Governor of Indiana
:
David Wallace
(
Whig
)
Governor of Kentucky
:
James Clark
(
Whig
) (until August 27),
Charles A. Wickliffe
(
Whig
) (starting August 27)
Governor of Louisiana
:
Edward Douglass White Sr.
(
Whig
) (until February 4),
André B. Roman
(
Whig
) (starting February 4)
Governor of Maine
:
Edward Kent
(
Whig
) (until January 2),
John Fairfield
(
Democratic
) (starting January 2)
Governor of Maryland
:
Thomas W. Veazey
(
Whig
) (until January 7),
William Grason
(
Democratic
) (starting January 7)
Governor of Massachusetts
:
Edward Everett
(
Whig
)
Governor of Michigan
:
Stevens T. Mason
(
Democratic
)
Governor of Mississippi
:
Alexander G. McNutt
(
Democratic
)
Governor of Missouri
:
Lilburn W. Boggs
(
Democratic
)
Governor of New Hampshire
:
Isaac Hill
(
Democratic
) (until June 5),
John Page
(
Democratic
) (starting June 5)
Governor of New Jersey
:
William Pennington
(
Whig
)
Governor of New York
:
William H. Seward
(
Whig
) (starting January 1)
Governor of North Carolina
:
Edward Bishop Dudley
(
Whig
)
Governor of Ohio
:
Wilson Shannon
(
Democratic
)
Governor of Pennsylvania
:
Joseph Ritner
(
Anti-Masonic
) (until January 15),
David R. Porter
(
Democratic
) (starting January 15)
Governor of Rhode Island
:
William Sprague III
(
Democratic
) (until May 2),
Samuel Ward King
(
Rhode Island
) (starting May 2)
Governor of South Carolina
:
Patrick Noble
(
Democratic
)
Governor of Tennessee
:
Newton Cannon
(
Whig
) (until October 14),
James K. Polk
(
Democratic
) (starting October 14)
Governor of Vermont
:
Silas H. Jennison
(
Whig
)
Governor of Virginia
:
David Campbell
(
Democratic
)
Lieutenant governors
Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut
:
Charles Hawley
(
Whig
)
Lieutenant Governor of Illinois
:
Stinson Anderson
(
Democratic
)
Lieutenant Governor of Indiana
:
David Hillis
(
Whig
)
Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky
:
Charles A. Wickliffe
(
Democratic-Republican
) (until August 27), vacant (starting August 27)
Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
:
George Hull
(political party unknown)
Lieutenant Governor of Missouri
:
Franklin Cannon
(
Democratic
)
Lieutenant Governor of New York
:
Luther Bradish
(
Democratic
) (starting January 1)
Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island
: Joseph Childs (political party unknown) (until May 2), vacant (starting May 2)
Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina
:
Barnabas Kelet Henagan
(
Democratic
)
Lieutenant Governor of Vermont
:
David M. Camp
(
Whig
)
Events
February 11
–
The
University of Missouri
is established in
Columbia, Missouri
, becoming the first public university west of the
Mississippi River
.
March 5
–
Longwood University
is founded in
Farmville
,
Virginia
.
March 7
–
Baltimore City College
, the third public high school in the United States, is established in
Baltimore
,
Maryland
.
March 23
–
The
Boston Morning Post
first records the use of "OK".
August 3
–
Arthur P. Bagby
is
reelected
the tenth
governor of Alabama
defeating
Arthur F. Hopkins
.
August 8
–
The
Beta Theta Pi
fraternity is founded in
Oxford, Ohio
.
September 9
–
In the Great Fire of
Mobile, Alabama
hundreds of buildings are burned.
October
–
Robert Cornelius
takes the first photographic self portrait in the United States.
November 11
–
The
Virginia Military Institute
is founded in Lexington,
Virginia
.
November 27
–
In
Boston, Massachusetts
, the
American Statistical Association
is founded.
Undated
The first U.S. state law permitting women to own property is passed in
Jackson, Mississippi
.
Episcopal High School, Alexandria, Virginia
, is founded, the first in the state.
Ongoing
Second Seminole War
(1835–1842)
Births
February 9
–
Laura Redden Searing
, deaf poet and journalist (died
1923
)
March 9
–
Phoebe Knapp
, hymn writer (d.
1908
)
April 7
–
David Baird
, Ireland-born U.S. Senator from New Jersey from 1918 to 1919 (died
1927
)
July 8
–
John D. Rockefeller
, oil industry business magnate and philanthropist (died
1937
)
August 1
–
Middleton P. Barrow
, U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1882 to 1883 (died
1903
)
August 23
–
George Clement Perkins
, U.S. Senator from California from 1893 to 1915 (died
1923
)
August 26
–
Hernando Money
, U.S. Senator from Mississippi from 1897 to 1911 (died
1912
)
September 2
–
Henry George
, writer, politician and political economist (died
1897
)
September 10
–
Charles Sanders Peirce
, philosopher, logician, scientist, and founder of pragmatism (died
1912
)
September 13
–
Thomas J. Mastin
, Confederate captain and lawyer (d.
1861
)
September 18
–
William J. McConnell
, U.S. Senator from Idaho from 1890 to 1891 (died
1925
)
September 28
–
Frances Willard
, American educator, temperance reformer and women's suffragist (died
1898
)
September 29
–
James Kimbrough Jones
, U.S. Senator from Arkansas from 1885 to 1903 (died
1908
)
October 20
–
Augustus Octavius Bacon
, U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1895 to 1914 (died
1914
)
November 4
–
Thomas M. Patterson
, Ireland-born U.S. Senator from Colorado from 1901 to 1907 (died
1916
)
December 5
–
George Armstrong Custer
, U.S. Army Officer and Cavalry Commander from Ohio from 1861 to 1876 (died
1876
)
December 12
–
Caroline Ingalls
(b. Caroline Lake Quiner), American pioneer, mother of author
Laura Ingalls Wilder
(died
1924
)
Deaths
January 14
–
John Wesley Jarvis
, portrait painter (born c.
1781 in Great Britain
)
February 26
–
Sybil Ludington
, heroine of the
American Revolutionary War
(born
1761
)
April 1
–
Benjamin Pierce
, governor of
New Hampshire
from 1827 to 1828 and from 1829 to 1830, father of the 14th
president of the United States
,
Franklin Pierce
(born
1757
)
April 2
–
Hezekiah Niles
, magazine publisher (born
1777
)
April 5
–
John Tipton
, U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1832 to 1839 (born
1786
)
April 22
–
Samuel Smith
, U.S. Senator from Maryland from 1822 to 1833 (born
1752
)
May 11
–
Thomas Cooper
, political philosopher (born
1759
)
June 10
–
Nathaniel Hale Pryor
, sergeant in the
Lewis and Clark Expedition
(born
1772
)
July 16
–
The Bowl
(
Di'wali
), Cherokee chief, shot (born c.
1756
)
August 22
–
Benjamin Lundy
, abolitionist (born
1789
)
September 28
–
William Dunlap
, actor-manager, dramatist and painter (born
1766
)
December 4
–
John Leamy
, merchant (born
1757 in Ireland
)
See also
Timeline of United States history (1820–1859)
External links
Media related to
1839 in the United States
at Wikimedia Commons
v
t
e
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By U.S. state/territory
States
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Washington D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Territories
American Samoa
Guam
Northern Mariana Islands
Puerto Rico
U.S. Virgin Islands
v
t
e
Timeline of United States history
Year
Before 1760
1760–1789
1790–1819
1820–1859
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1900–1929
1930–1949
1950–1969
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General
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Colonial America
Conservatism
Constitution drafting and ratification
Counterculture in the 1960s
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2020
2021
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Terrorist attacks
September 11
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Voting
Western Frontier
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Timeline of the War of 1812
Prelude to Civil War
Spanish–American War
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before 1900
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Inventions
before 1890
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1991–present
Railroads
Space Race
Years in the United States
History of the United States
Outline
v
t
e
1839 in North America
Sovereign states
Costa Rica
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Mexico
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Panama
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Texas
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United States
Dependencies
, colonies
and other territories
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