1847

1847 was 24 years before the founding of the City of Birmingham and the 28th year of Alabama statehood.

Events

• July 29: The Cumberland School of Law was founded at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee.
• December 16: Reuben Chapman became Governor of Alabama.

Business

• Jefferson County's first newspaper, the Jones Valley Times, ceased publication.

Works

• The third Jefferson County Courthouse was completed in Elyton.

Individuals

• August 12: Peter Anderson reclaimed the office of Jefferson County Sheriff for a third time.
• Jabez Curry first served in the Alabama State Legislature.
• John D. Phelan was elected circuit judge for the first circuit and moved to Marion.
• Michael Tuomey arrived in Tuscaloosa.

Births

• January 17: Flemming Saltsman, carpenter, gunsmith and grocer
• January 20: William Pettiford, minister
• March 13: Frank White, attorney and U.S. Senator
• July 30: George Kelley, hardware dealer
• August 17: William Morris, Avondale founder and Mayor of Birmingham
• November 28: Lizzie Jane Linn
• Theophilus Jowers, foundryman and reputed ghost

Deaths

• Mary Lindsay, pioneer

Context

In 1847, the Mexican-American War and Great Irish Famine continued. Samuel Colt sold his first revolver pistol to the U.S government. The American Medical Association was founded. The first official U.S. postage stamps were issued. Brigham Young and a group of Mormon pioneers arrived at Salt Lake Valley. Charlotte Brontë published Jane Eyre under the pen name of Currer Bell while her sisters, Emily and Anne, published Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey, respectively, in one volume under the pen names of Ellis Bell and Acton Bell.

Notable births in 1847 included inventor Thomas Edison, inventor Alexander Graham Bell, publisher Joseph Pulitzer, pathologist Paul Langerhans, and outlaw Jesse James. Notable deaths included paleontologist Mary Anning and composer Felix Mendelssohn.

1840s

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