Updated April 13, 2012, 2:28 pm
On April 14, 1865, President Lincoln was shot and mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth while attending the comedy “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. He died the next day.
On April 14, 1866, Anne Sullivan Macy, the American teacher who helped educate the blind, deaf and mute Helen Keller, was born. Following her death on Oct. 20, 1936, her obituary appeared in The Times.
Go to obituary » | Other birthdays »
On This Date
By The Associated Press
1775 The first American society for the abolition of slavery was organized by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush. 1828 The first edition of Noah Webster’s “American Dictionary of the English Language” was published. 1902 J.C. Penney opened his first store, in Kemmerer, Wyo. 1904 Actor John Gielgud was born in London. 1910 William Howard Taft became the first U.S. president to throw the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game at the Washington Senators’ home opener. 1912 The British liner Titanic collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic and began to sink. 1931 King Alfonso XIII of Spain went into exile and the Spanish Republic was proclaimed. 1939 “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck was published. 1956 Ampex Corp. demonstrated its first commercial videotape recorder. 2002 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez returned to office two days after being ousted and arrested by his country’s military. 2002 Tiger Woods became only the third golfer in history to win back-to-back Masters titles. 2007 Singer Don Ho died in Honolulu, Hawaii, at age 76. 2008 Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp., announced they were combining. 2010 The Eyjafjallajokul volcano in Iceland erupted, sending out an ash plume that led most northern European countries to close their airspace between April 15 and 20, grounding about 10 million travelers worldwide. 2010 A magnitude-7 earthquake in a remote Tibetan region of China killed some 2,700 people and injured more than 10,000. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar (“Ringer,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) turns 35 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini
Actress Abigail Breslin (“Little Miss Sunshine”) turns 16 years old today.
AP Photo/Dan Steinberg
1932 Loretta Lynn, Country singer, turns 80 1940 Julie Christie, Actress, turns 72 1941 Pete Rose, Baseball player, turns 71 1945 Ritchie Blackmore, Rock musician (Deep Purple), turns 67 1960 Brad Garrett, Actor (“Everybody Loves Raymond”), turns 52 1966 Greg Maddux, Baseball player, turns 46 1968 Anthony Michael Hall, Actor, turns 44 1973 Adrien Brody, Actor, turns 39
Historic Birthdays
Anne Sullivan Macy 4/14/1866 – 10/20/1936 American teacher of Helen Keller.Go to obituary »
64 Francois Duvalier 4/14/1907 – 4/21/1971
Haitian president (1957-1971)70 Juan Belmonte 4/14/1892 – 4/8/1962
Spanish bullfighter86 Arnold Toynbee 4/14/1889 – 10/22/1975
English historian; wrote 12-volume “Study of History”79 James Branch Cabell 4/14/1879 – 5/5/1958
American novelist; wrote “Jurgen”72 Adna R. Chaffee 4/14/1842 – 11/1/1914
American army officer; chief of staff (1904-06)65 Gerhard Rohlfs 4/14/1831 – 6/2/1896
German explorer; journeyed across deserts of North Africa73 Augustus Pitt-Rivers 4/14/1827 – 5/4/1900
English archaeologist called the “father of British archaeology”74 Horace Bushnell 4/14/1802 – 2/17/1876
American Congregational minister and controversial theologian66 Christiaan Huygens 4/14/1629 – 7/8/1695
Dutch mathematician, astronomer and physicist
