Today in History for Jan. 30, 2015

General Nathaniel Banks

Jan. 30, 1776 - The Continental Congress directed that no apprentices be enlisted for military service without the written consent of their master or mistress.

Jan. 30, 1780 - Alabama's third governor, Israel Pickens, was born in North Carolina. The former U.S. Congressman moved to St. Stephens, in the Mississippi Territory, in the spring of 1817 to take a job as a register of the land office for Washington County. Wasting no time in establishing himself in his new home, Pickens purchased almost 3,500 acres in southwest Alabama in less than a year and became the first president of the Tombigbee Bank of St. Stephens. He served as Alabama's governor from 1821 to 1825.

Jan. 30, 1781 - Maryland became the 13th and final state to ratify the Articles of Confederation, almost three years after the official deadline given by Congress of March 10, 1778.

Jan. 30, 1816 - Union General Nathaniel Banks was born in Waltham, Mass.

Jan. 30, 1835 – In the first assassination attempt against a President of the United States, Richard Lawrence attempted to shoot president Andrew Jackson, but failed and was subdued by a crowd, including several congressmen.

Jan. 30, 1847 – Edgar Allan Poe’s wife, Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe, passed away from tuberculosis at the age of 24 in Fordham, Bronx, N.Y.

Jan. 30, 1847 - Larvae and snow fell together in the Eifel Mountains in Germany.

Jan. 30, 1860 – Reuben F. Kolb of Kolb’s Battery married Callie Cargile (also referred to as Mary Caledonia Cargile), the daughter of Thomas and Louisa Ann Cargile also of Eufaula, Ala. The couple would have three children: Reuben F. Kolb Jr., William H. Kolb, and Emily F. Kolb.

Jan. 30, 1861 – During the Civil War, the Federal revenue schooner, Lewis Cass, was captured by Alabama State Troops in Mobile Bay, Ala.

Jan. 30, 1862 - The U.S. Navy's first ironclad warship, the "Monitor", was launched into New York's East River. The vessel was commissioned on Feb. 25.

Jan. 30, 1882 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born in Hyde Park, N.Y. He served as the thirty-second president of the United States from 1933-1945. He was the first president to serve more than two terms.

Jan. 30, 1885 – W.B. Green Sr. died at Burnt Corn, Ala. at the age of 89. A veteran of the Seminole War of 1836, he moved to Monroe County in 1838.

Jan. 30, 1908 – The Conecuh Record reported that the Baptist Church of Evergreen, Ala. planned to hold opening services in its “new building.” Construction of the building began 2-1/2 years before this event and had just reached completion.

Jan. 30, 1933 – Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.

Jan. 30, 1949 – Escaped Russian minister, the Rev. Robert Tarzier, Field Secretary of the Russian Bible Society in Washington, D.C. spoke at the Evergreen Baptist Church. “Tarzier escaped from the Soviet secret police a little over four years ago. At that time, he was pastor of one of the largest Baptist churches – the well known church in Riga, Latavia.”

Jan. 30, 1950 – Ollie Finklea retired at the age of 70 from his duties as Buena Vista, Ala.’s postmaster, a position he assumed after his father’s retirement on June 3, 1910.

Jan. 30, 1950 – Lola B. Harwell, a fifth and sixth-grade teacher at Georgiana Elementary School, died unexpectedly on this morning in her classroom, where she had just returned from a movie that was shown to her students. Harwell had been a teacher since September 1906 and had never once been absent or tardy since taking her first job at Ebeneza in Butler County. She also taught in Conecuh County and was principal at Avant in Butler County before going to Georgiana.

Jan. 30, 1950 – For the second straight year, the strawberry season in Castleberry, Ala. began several weeks ahead of schedule as several growers on this day brought in crates of strawberries. Lonnie Beasley of Hamden Ridge arrived in Castleberry with the first crate of the 1950 crop, and those berries were sold to local buyer, R.T. Holland. Normally, the strawberry season ran from March 15 to April 1.

Jan. 30, 1951 – Army Cpl. Oland H. Kirkland of Escambia County, Ala. was killed in action in Korea.

Jan. 30, 1956 - With the Montgomery Bus Boycott about to enter its third month, segregationists bombed the home of boycott spokesman Martin Luther King Jr. The home sustained moderate damage, but no one was injured. The young minister addressed the large crowd that gathered after the blast, declaring, "I want it to be known the length and breadth of this land that if I am stopped this movement will not stop."

Jan. 30, 1965 – Isaiah Mims, 31, of Owassa was killed instantly when his car was hit by an L&N train on this afternoon at the main railroad crossing at Owassa, Ala. State Trooper Pitchford investigated the accident and said that Mims “evidently heard the train approaching too late to bring his 1957 Ford to a stop and skidded to rest on the tracks in the path of the oncoming train.”

Jan. 30, 1966 - Alabama experienced its coldest ever recorded temperature of -27°F at New Market in Madison County. The average low temperature during January for nearby Huntsville is around 29°.

Jan. 30, 1968 - The Tet Offensive began as Communist forces launched surprise attacks against South Vietnamese provincial capitals.

Jan. 30, 1974 - Christian Bale was born in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales. He would go on to portray Bruce Wayne and the Batman in the movies “Batman Begins” (2005), “The Dark Knight” (2008) and “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012).

Jan. 30, 1977 – Local weather reporter Earl Windham reported 1.01 inches of snow in Evergreen, Ala.

Jan. 30, 1992 – Winton M. Blount III of Montgomery was the keynote speaker at the Evergreen-Conecuh County Chamber of Commerce’s annual membership banquet at the Quality Inn in Evergreen, Ala.

Jan. 30, 1994 - Natalie Cole sang the U.S. national anthem at Super Bowl XXVIII. The Dallas Cowboys won, 30-13, over the Buffalo Bills.

Jan. 30, 1996 - Comet Hyakutake was discovered and was dubbed “The Great Comet of 1996” due to its close passage.

Jan. 30, 2000 - The New York Mets announced that Garth Brooks would begin training with the team on Feb. 20.

Jan. 30, 2000 - John Rocker of the Atlanta Braves was suspended from major league baseball for disparaging foreigners, homosexuals and minorities in an interview published by Sports Illustrated.

Jan. 30, 2009 – Former Alabama governor Guy Hunt passed away from lung cancer.