October 8

Today in History
• 1633 - Massachusetts Bay Colony forms its first government
• 1645 - First hospital in Montreal, Quebec founded
• 1769 - Captain James Cook lands in New Zealand at Poverty Bay
• 1775 - Officers decide to bar slaves and free blacks from the Continental Army
• 1821 - The government of General José de San Martín establishes the Peruvian Navy
• 1822 - First eruption of Galunggung in Java sends boiling sludge into valley
• 1840 - First Hawaiian constitution proclaimed
• 1871 - Forest fire destroys Peshtigo, Wisconsin, killing between 1,200 and 2,500 people


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• Alvin C. York Day
• Battle of Angamos
• Honduras: Discovery of America Day
• Indian Air Force Day
• International Blessings of The Fishing Fleet Day
• Simchat Torah
• White Sunday
• World Octopus Day

Birthdays
• 1515 - Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox
• 1720 - Jonathan Mayhew, American Congregational minister, born in Martha's Vineyard
• 1869 - J. Frank Duryea, inventor (Duryea Motor Wagon Company, first auto built in the US)
• 1879 - Chen Duxiu, revolutionary socialist, author, co-founded the Chinese Communist Party
• 1889 - Collett E. Woolman, American airline founder (Delta Air Service)
• 1890 - Eddie Rickenbacker, American aviator "Ace of Aces" (WWI)
• 1895 - Juan Perón, Argentine military officer and President of Argentina
• 1895 - Zog I, King of Albania (1928-39)