June 20

Today in History
• 1632 - Britain grants 2nd Lord Baltimore rights to Chesapeake Bay area
• 1633 - Charter for Maryland is given to Lord Cecil Baltimore
• 1782 - Congress approves Great Seal of U.S. and eagle as it's symbol
• 1793 - Eli Whitney patents his cotton gin
• 1840 - Samuel Morse patents his telegraph
• 1863 - 1st bank chartered in US (National Bank of Davenport Iowa)
• 1863 - West Virginia admitted as 35th US state of the Union
• 1867 - US President Andrew Johnson announces the Alaska Purchase


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• Bald Eagle Appreciation Day
• Martyrs' Day in Eritrea
• National Flag Day in Argentina
• National Ice Cream Soda Day
• National West Virginia Day
• Rath Yatra
• World Productivity Day
• World Refugee Day

Birthdays
• 1389 - John Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Bedford, prince, general (Hundred Years' War)
• 1566 - Sigismund III, King of Poland/Sweden
• 1634 - Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy (1638-75)
• 1647 - Johann Georg III, Elector of Saxony (1680-91)
• 1737 - Tokugawa Ieharu, tenth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan
• 1770 - Moses Waddel, American educator, minister and bestselling author
• 1872 - George Carpenter, 5th General of The Salvation Army
• 1916 - Jean-Jacques Bertrand, 21st Premier of Quebec (1968-70)