1837

1837 was 34 years before the founding of the City of Birmingham and the 18th year of Alabama statehood.

Events

• Columbiana was incorporated.
• The Mount Pinson Post Office was established.

Government

• July 17: President of the state senate Hugh McVay succeeded Clement Comer Clay as governor upon Clay's appointment to the U.S. Senate.
• November 21: Arthur P. Bagby succeeded Hugh McVay as governor.
• Archibald Sloan succeeded Thomas Toomey as Shelby County Sheriff.
• William R. Smith became Mayor of Tuscaloosa.

Religion

• Joseph Byars became pastor of Ruhama Baptist Church.

Works

Buildings

• Shirley Place

Individuals

Robert Jemison, Jr

• The parents of Jabez Curry moved the family to Kelley Springs in Talladega County.
• Robert Jemison, Jr became a member of the Alabama General Assembly.
• Basil Manly succeeded Alva Woods as president of the University of Alabama.

Marriages

• December 5: Shandy Jones to Evalina Love.
• Plantation owner Mortimer Jordan to Amy Welton.
• Michael Tuomey to Sarah E. Handy.

Deaths

• September 16: Warren Truss, founder of Trussville
• September 18: Jonathan Clower, Revolutionary War veteran
• Elizabeth Bass, settler
• Boz Shepard, last chief of the Kewahatchie Tribe of the Creek Nation

Context

In 1837, the Second Seminole War continued. Michigan was admitted to the United States. Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist began publication in serial form. Chicago was incorporated. The Panic of 1837 caused a five-year depression. Houston was incorporated. Queen Victoria acceded to the throne of the United Kingdom.

Notable births in 1837 included evangelist Dwight L. Moody, astronomer Henry Draper, president Grover Cleveland, gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok, King Pedro V of Portugal, inventor Lewis Waterman, physicist Johannes Diderik van der Waals, and Admiral George Dewey. Notable deaths included architect John Soane, author Alexander Pushkin, painter John Constable, King William IV of the United Kingdom, philosopher Charles Fourier, and abolitionist Elijah Parish Lovejoy.

1830s

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