Today in History

From wikipedia.org:

Events
1793 - New York City’s first daily newspaper, the American Minerva, is established by Noah Webster
1824 - Battle of Ayacucho - Peru defeats Spain
1835 - The Army of the Republic of Texas captures San Antonio
1851 - First YMCA in North America established in Montreal, Quebec
1872 - P. B. S. Pinchback becomes the first serving African American governor of a U.S. state
1888 - Herman Hollerith installs his computing device at the United States War Department
1990 - Lech Wałęsa becomes the first directly elected president of Poland

Births
1608 - John Milton, English poet, writer (d. 1674)
1848 - Joel Chandler Harris, author (d. 1908)
1878 - Grand Duke Michael Romanov, Russian royalty (d. 1918)
1886 - Clarence Birdseye, frozen food pioneer (d. 1956)
1906 - Grace Murray Hopper, computer pioneer (d. 1992)
1909 - Douglas Fairbanks Jr., actor (d. 2000)
1915 - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, opera singer
1916 - Kirk Douglas, actor and film producer
1942 - Dick Butkus, American football player
1952 - Michael Dorn, actor (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine)
1957 - Donny Osmond, entertainer
1967 - Joshua Bell, violinist

Deaths
1996 - Mary Leakey, archeologist, anthropologist

Holidays & observances
Scandinavia (specifically Sweden): Anna's Day. Recognizes everyone named Anna, and marks the day to start the rotting process of the lutfisk consumed on Christmas Eve