Written exclusively for the Boone County Journal by William Rudin, Retired School Teacher & History Buff

Jan. 3rd: 1977- Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs incorporate Apple Computer, Inc. and forever change the lives of people throughout the world!

Jan. 4th: 2007- Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is elected first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history. 1643- Sir Isaac Newton is born Woolsthorpe Manor, UK.

Jan. 5th: 1914- Henry Ford announces $5/day minimum wage for employees, up from $2.40/day. The standard workday for Ford employees was also shortened from 9 hours to 8 hours!

Jan. 6th: 1838- Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail first publicly demonstrate their telegraph machine in Morristown, NJ. 1975- Wheel of Fortune debuts on NBC. “Pat, I’d like to buy a vowel!”

Jan. 7th: 1955- Marian Anderson is the first African American to sing at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House. 2018- 15” of snow fell at Ain Sefra, Algeria, IN THE SAHARA DESERT!

Jan. 8th: 1790- President George Washington delivers first State of the Union message to Congress. Unfortunately, there’s no record of how many times his speech was interrupted by applause. 1935- Elvis Presley born in Tupelo, MS.

Jan. 9th: 1839- Louis Daguerre presents his daguerreotype photo process to the French Academy of Science. Say CHEESE! 1991- Major League Baseball officially bans Pete Rose from being elected to the Hall of Fame for betting on baseball.