Most timelines include major political and economic events that shape history, or at least one version of history. In some respects, this timeline is no different. Also included, however, are significant events and discoveries in the fields of science, technology, religion, philosophy, art, and literature that affected the world Harold Frederic knew and wrote about in his journalism and fiction. In particular, the events and characters in The Damnation of Theron Ware are shaped by scientific, religious, literary, and philosophical developments in the latter half of the nineteenth century. It is my intent to identify some of the events that may have informed Frederic’s writing and, in the process, situate his writing within an historical and cultural context.

Entries begin with 1856, the year of Frederic’s birth, and end with 1899, the year after Frederic’s death when his last novel was published. Because Frederic spent most of the first 28 years of his life in New York and the last 14 years in and around London, I have included events both in and out of the United States. In addition, events are color-coded and classified as follows:

• Political • Economic • Scientific and Technical • Religious and Philosophical • Artistic • Literary • Other

Items directly involving Frederic are printed in black and are located in either the “United States” or “Outside the United States” columns depending on whether the event (1) occurred in the U.S. and pertained to a U.S. author or issue, or (2) occurred outside the U.S. and pertained to a non-U.S. author or issue.

Year	United States	Outside the United States
1856	• Harold Henry Frederick (he dropped the “k” from his name by 1878, possibly earlier) was born August 19 in Utica, New York (d. 1898).	• Sigmund Freud was born in Austria (d. 1939). • Neanderthal skull was found in Feldhofer Cave near Düsseldorf.
1857	• Irish Republican Brotherhood (the Fenians) was founded in New York.	• National Portrait Gallery was opened in London. • Victorian and Albert Museum was opened in London. • Transatlantic pipeline installation began (construction continued through 1866).
1858	• Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States (1901-1909), was born in New York (d. 1919). • Frederic’s father was killed in a railroad accident.	• The Blessed Virgin Mary was reputed to have appeared to Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879) at Lourdes, France.
1859		• Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin (1809-1882), was published. • German Emperor William II was born in Germany (d. 1941).
1860	• Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was elected 16th President of the United States (1861-1865). • Free Methodism was established.	• 424,000 people from Britain and 914,000 people from Ireland immigrated to the United States (between 1850-1860).
1861	• Civil War began on April 12. • United States’ population numbered 32 million.	• Royal Academy of Music was founded in London. • Great Britain’s population numbered 23 million.
1862	• Edith Wharton was born in New York (d. 1937).
1863	• “Emancipation Proclamation” became effective on January 1. • National Academy of Sciences was founded in Washington, D.C.	• London Underground Railroad construction began.
1864	• Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was re-elected President of the United States (1865). • Nathaniel Hawthorne died (b. 1804). • “In God We Trust” first appeared on U.S. coins.	• Pope Pius IX (1792-1878) issued Syllabus Errorum, which condemns Liberalism, Socialism, and Rationalism.
1865	• Confederate States of America formally surrendered at Appomattox on April 9. • Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14 (b. 1809). • Andrew Johnson (1808-1869) became 17th President of the United States (1865-1869). • Civil War ended on May 26. • Thirteenth Amendment to U.S. Constitution abolished slavery.	• Christian Revival Association was organized in London (renamed The Salvation Army in 1878).
1866	• American Evangelical Alliance was founded.	• London Stock Exchange experienced “Black Friday.”
1867	• Russia sold Alaska to the United States for $7,200,000. • Gold was discovered in Wyoming. • Father Edward McGlynn (1837-1900) of New York advocated an “American Ideal” in Catholicism.	• Fenian outrages occurred in Ireland and Manchester. • British North American Act established Dominion of Canada. • Pope Pius IX (1792-1878), on the 18th centenary of St. Peter and St. Paul, announced his intention to hold an ecumenical council.
1868	• Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) was elected 18th President of the United States (1869-1873).	• Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) became British Prime Minister (resigned same year). • William E. Gladstone (1809-1898) succeeded Benjamin Disraeli as British Prime Minister. • Revolution began in Spain. • Skeleton of Cro-Magnon man from Upper Paleolithic age (first homo sapiens in Europe, successor of Neanderthal man) was found in France.
1869	• The Innocents Abroad, by Mark Twain (1835-1910), was published.	• Parliamentary system was reintroduced in France. • Culture and Anarchy, by Matthew Arnold (1822-1888), was published.
1870		• First Vatican Council officially announced the dogma of papal infallibility.
1871	• Frederic’s formal education ended in the eighth grade. • Frederic began working for various photographers (until 1875). • P. T. Barnum (1810-1891) opened his circus, “The Greatest Show on Earth,” in Brooklyn, New York. • Stephen Crane was born in New Jersey (d. 1900). • Theodore Dreiser was born in Indiana (d. 1945). • The Great Fire destroyed large portions of Chicago. • United States’ population numbered 39 million.	• William I (1797-1888), King of Prussia, was proclaimed German Emperor at Versailles. • The Descent of Man, by Charles Darwin (1809-1882), was published. • Great Britain’s population numbered 26 million. • Ireland’s population numbered 5.4 million. • Italian Law of Guarantees, allowing the Pope possession of the Vatican, was established. • First Congress of Old Catholics met in Munich.
1872	• Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) was re-elected President of the United States (1873-1877). • The Brooklyn Bridge was opened. • Horace Greeley, famous for his saying, “Go West, young man,” died (b. 1811).	• Civil War began in Spain. • Germany expelled the Jesuits.
1873	• Frederic moved to Boston (until 1874). • Financial panic occurred in New York in September.	• Republic was proclaimed in Spain. • Financial panic occurred in Vienna in May.
1874		• Winston Churchill (future British Prime Minister and author) was born in England (d. 1965). • Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) became British Prime Minister for the second time (until 1880).
1875	• Frederic began working as a proofreader for the Utica Herald and the Utica Daily Observer. • Frederic attended a Methodist camp meeting and wrote an essay about his experience. • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain (1835-1910), published.	• Public Health Act was passed in Britain. • London’s main sewage system was completed. • Le Protestantisme et le Catholicisme (Protestantism and Catholicism), by Emile Laveleye, was published. • Prussia abolished religious orders.
1876	• Frederic published his first story, “The Two Rochards,” in the Utica Daily Observer. • Frederic reviewed a number of novels by William Dean Howells (1837-1920) for the Utica Daily Observer. • Roderick Hudson, by Henry James (1843-1916), was published. • Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) invented the telephone.	• George Sand died (b. 1804).
1877	• Frederic married Grace Green Williams on October 10. (They had five children.) • Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893) was inaugurated as 19th President of the United States (1877-1881), after a disputed electoral vote. • Thomas Edison (1847-1931) invented the phonograph. • The American, by Henry James (1843-1916), was published.
1878		• Pope Pius IX died (b. 1792). • Cardinal Count Pecci was elected Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903). • Humbert I (1844-1900) was crowned King of Italy (until 1900).
1879	• “Daisy Miller,” by Henry James (1843-1916), was published.	• Anti-Jesuit Laws were introduced in France. • St. Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-1274) was proclaimed a Doctor of the Roman Catholic Church.
1880	• Frederic was named Editor of the Utica Daily Observer (a position held until August 1882). • James Garfield (1831-1881) was elected 20th President of the United States (1881). • Electricity lit the streets of New York for the first time.	• Transvaal declared itself independent of Britain. • Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) resigned as British Prime Minister. • William E. Gladstone (1809-1898) became British Prime Minister for the second time.
1881	• James Garfield was assassinated in September (b. 1831). • Chester Arthur (1830-1886) became 21st President of the United States (1881-1885). • Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James (1843-1916), was published.	• Vatican first opened its archives to scholars. • Freedom of press was established in France. • Benjamin Disraeli died (b. 1804).
1882	• Frederic was named Editor of the Albany Evening Journal (a position held until March 1884). • Frederic persuaded his newspaper to support Grover Cleveland for Governor of New York. • Ralph Waldo Emerson died (b. 1803). • United States banned Chinese emigration for 10 years.	• Fenians murdered Lord Frederick Cavendish and T. H. Burke in Phoenix Park, Dublin. • Charles Darwin died (b. 1809).
1883	• Northern Pacific Railroad line was completed. • First skyscraper was built in Chicago (10 stories).	• Souveniers d’enfance et de jeunesse (Recollections of My Youth), by Ernest Renan (1823-1892), was published.
1884	• Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) was elected 22nd President of the United States (1885-1889). • Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain (1835-1910), was published.	• Frederic moved to England to become London Correspondent for the New York Times (until his death in 1898). • Frederic covered the cholera epidemic in France and Italy.
1885	• Frederic began correspondence with William Dean Howells (1837-1920). • Ulysses S. Grant died (b. 1822). • Sinclair Lewis was born in Minnesota (d. 1951).
1886	• Installation of hydroelectric facilities began at Niagara Falls. • The Bostonians, by Henry James (1843-1916), was published.	• Bonaparte and Orléans families were banished from France. • British Prime Minister William E. Gladstone (1809-1898) introduced bill for Home Rule in Ireland. • Das Kapital, by Karl Marx (1818-1883), was published in English.
1887	• Frederic reviewed Princess Casamassima, by Henry James (1843-1916). • Father McGlynn (1837-1900) was excommunicated.	• Frederic’s Seth’s Brother’s Wife was published. • Queen Victoria (1819-1901) celebrated her Golden Jubilee.
1888	• Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901) was elected 23rd President of the United States (1889-1893).	• German Emperor William I died in March; Frederick III, who succeeded William I, died in June. • William II (1859-1941), the “Kaiser,” succeeded Frederick III (gave up throne when Germany was defeated in 1918). • Matthew Arnold died (b. 1822). • “Jack the Ripper” murdered five women in London.
1889	• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, by Mark Twain (1835-1910), was published. • Catholic University was opened in Washington, D.C.	• London Dock Strike occurred. • British South Africa Company, headed by Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902), was granted a royal charter.
1890	• The Principles of Psychology, by William James (1842-1910), was published.	• Frederic’s In the Valley was published. • Frederic’s The Lawton Girl was published. • The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), was published.
1891	• American Protective Association (APA) was established to promote anti-Catholicism (through 1897).	• Frederic established a second household with mistress Kate Lyon. (They had three children.) • Frederic’s The Young Emperor William II of Germany; A Study in Character Development on a Throne, a non-fiction work, was published. • First submarine telephone cable connected London with Paris.
1892	• Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) was elected 24th President of the United States (1893-1897) for a second non-consecutive term.	• Frederic’s The Return of the O’Mahony was published. • Frederic’s The New Exodus; A Study of Israel in Russia, a non-fiction work, was published. • William E. Gladstone (1809-1898) became British Prime Minister for the third time. • Ernest Renan died (b. 1823).
1893	• Henry Ford (1863-1947) built his first car. • Father McGlynn (1837-1900) reconciled with the Catholic Church.	• Frederic’s The Copperhead was published. • Franco-Russian alliance was signed. • Second Irish Home Rule Bill was passed by Commons but rejected by Lords. • “Art Nouveau” appeared in Europe.
1894	• Father McGlynn (1837-1900) was assigned to St. Mary’s parish in upstate New York.	• Frederic’s The Copperhead and Other Stories of the North During the American War was published. • Frederic’s Marsena and Other Stories of Wartime was published. • Nicholas II (1868-1918) became Czar (until the revolution in 1917).
1895		• London School of Economics and Political Science was founded. • Oscar Wilde unsuccessfully sued the Marquis of Queensberry for libel.
1896	• Frederic’s The Damnation of Theron Ware was published. • Frederic reviewed The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane (1871-1900). • William McKinley (1843-1901) was elected 25th President of the United States (1897-1901).	• Frederic’s The Damnation of Theron Ware was published in England under the title Illumination. • Frederic’s March Hares was published. • Frederic’s Mrs. Albert Grundy; Observations in Philistia was published. • Frederic’s Marsena was published. • Marchese Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937) patented the wireless telegraph. • Czar Nicholas II visited Paris and London. • Klondike gold rush began.
1897	• Frederic met Stephen Crane (1871-1900). (They became close friends.)	• Frederic’s In the Sixties (a collection of stories) was published. • Severe famine devastated India. • Queen Victoria (1819-1901) celebrated her Diamond Jubilee.
1898	• United States declared war on Spain over Cuba. • Spain ceded Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States for $20 million.	• Frederic died on October 19 at the age of 42 after an extended illness. • Lyon was charged and acquitted for manslaughter in the negligent death of Frederic. • Frederic’s Gloria Mundi was published posthumously (a condensed version of this novel was published in 1913 under the title Pomp and Vanities). • Frederic’s “The Deserter” and Other Stories; A Book of Two Wars was published. • William E. Gladstone died (b. 1809).
1899	• Horatio Alger died (b. 1832).	• Frederic’s The Market-Place was published posthumously. • Frederic’s wife, Grace, died of cancer on March 17. • Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903) issued Testem Benevolentiae, which condemns “Americanism.”