February 14

Today in History
• 842 - Charles II and Louis the German sign The Oaths of Strasbourg
• 1014 - Pope Benedict VIII crowns Henry II Holy Roman Emperor
• 1130 - Jewish Cardinal Pietro Pierleone elected as anti-pope Anacletus II
• 1630 - Dutch fleet of 69 ships reaches Pernambuco Brazil
• 1803 - Moses Coates received a patent for the apple parer
• 1859 - Oregon became the 33rd member of the Union
• 1876 - Alexander Graham Bell filed an application for a patent for the telephone
• 1899 - The U.S. Congress approved voting machines for use in federal elections


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• League of Women Voters Day
• Lui-Ngai-Ni
• National Donor Day
• National Pet Theft Awareness Day
• Organ Donor Day
• Rafik Hariri Memorial Day
• Statehood Day in Arizona
• Valentine's Day

Birthdays
• 1462 - Edzard I Cirksena, the Great, earl of East-Friesia, 1494-1528
• 1487 - Henry II of Bavaria, Bishop of Utrecht
• 1515 - Frederick III, the Pious, Elector Palatine of the Rhine
• 1680 - John Sidney, 6th Earl of Leicester, English privy councillor
• 1760 - Richard Allen, 1st African American ordained by Methodist-Episcopal church
• 1800 - Emory Washburn, 22nd Governor of Massachusetts (1854-55)
• 1806 - Lajos, Count Batthyany, 1st Prime Minister of Hungary
• 1818 - Frederick Douglass, African-American abolitionist