March 18

Today in History
• 0731 - St. Gregory III begins his reign as Catholic Pope
• 1123 - 1st Latern Council (9th ecumenical council) opens in Rome
• 1229 - German emperor Frederick II crowns himself king of Jerusalem
• 1532 - English parliament bans payments by English church to Rome
• 1541 - Hernan de Soto observes 1st recorded flood in America (Mississippi River)
• 1673 - Lord Berkley sells his half of New Jersey to the Quakers
• 1813 - David Melville, Newport, Rhode Island, patents apparatus for making coal gas
• 1847 - 1st Dutch public telegram


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• Global Recycling Day
• Goddess Of Fertility Day
• Maple Syrup Saturday
• National Anthem and Flag Day in Aruba
• National Corn Dog Day
• National Quilting Day
• National Supreme Sacrifice Day
• Save the Florida Panther Day

Birthdays
• 1380 - Liduina van Schiedam, Dutch "Christ's bride"/saint
• 1395 - John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter, leader during the Hundred Years' War
• 1609 - rederick III, King of Denmark and Norway, 1648-70
• 1765 - David H Chasse, Dutch baron/general, fought Napoleon at Waterloo
• 1782 - John Caldwell Calhoun, South Carolina, Andrew Jackson's Vice President
• 1837 - Grover Cleveland, born in New Jersey, 22nd/24th President
• 1843 - Jules HPFX Vandenpeereboom, premier of Belgium, 1899
• 1869 - Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minister