Our Timeline.
1492 Christopher
Columbus
arrives in the Americas.
1515-19 Cortez's conquest of the Aztecs in Mexico.
1585 Sir Walter Raleigh
establishes the first colony at what is now Roanoke Island Virginia
with 100
colonists.
First white baby born there, Virginia Dare. They all eventually
return
to England.
1587 Raleigh sends a new
colony of 117 men, women and children to Roanoke Island.
1607 Jamestown colony
established.
1620 Pilgrims land at
Plymouth Rock.
1630 Population: 3000
colonists in Virginia; 300 at Plymouth.
Another 16000 colonist will arrive between 1630 and 1640.
1652 Massachusetts general
court rules that the territory of Maine lies within the boundaries of
the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1653
Nicholas Brossman born in what is now Germany. (my 7th great
grandfather)
1670
Hudson Bay Company founded.
1681
William Penn receives a charter for land on which he will found
Pennsylvania.
1692
Salem witch trials begin, 20 people executed.
1693
Frantz Brossman born in Germany. (my 6th great grandfather)
1700
Estimated population 275,000
1710
3000 German refuges from the Palatinate settle near Livingston Manor on
the Hudson River in New
York to produce naval stores. When the colony fails, the settlers
go first to the Mohawk Valley and
finally to eastern Pennsylvania.
1720
Estimated population of the colonies, 474,000.
1732
Birth of George Washington.
1739
Johannes Brossman born in Germany (my 5th great grandfather), Frantz
Brossman
and his family
arrive in Philadelphia PA in September.
1741
Vitrus Bering surveys the Alaskan coast for Russian Tzar Peter the Great
1744
Benjamin Franklin invents the Franklin stove, known as the "pot belly".
1749
Reading Pennsylvania founded.
1752
Berks County Pennsylvania founded.
1754-63 French and Indian
wars.
1775
Daniel Boone clears wilderness road into Kentucky and the Revolutionary
war begins.
1775
John Adam Brossman born in Berks County PA. (my 4th great
grandfather)
1776
Declaration of Independence
1783
Revolutionary war ends.
1789
George Washington elected president.
1794
Whiskey Rebellion.
1799
George Washington dies at Mount Vernon.
1800
Population about 5.3 million.
1803
Louisiana purchase.
1804
Adam L. Brossman born in Berks County PA. (my 3rd great
grandfather)
1805
Lewis and Clark expedition see Rocky Mountains for the first time.
1810
Population 7 million.
1826
First American railroad completed in Quincy Mass.
1830
Population about 12 million.
1830-33 Benjamin and Samuel Brossman move to Illinois.
1834
William B. Brossman born in Berks County PA. (my 2nd great
grandfather)
1836
The Alamo.
1842
The gold rush at Sutter's Mill in California.
1854
Benjamin Brossman/Bressman moves to Iowa, his family spreads to
Nebraska.
1860
Abraham Lincoln elected president.
1869
Robert Reifsnyder Brossman born in Berks County PA. (my great
grandfather)
1870
John D. Rockefeller founds Standard Oil.
1876
Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone.
1879
Edison invents the light bulb.
1888
First Kodak cameras sold.
1883
Brooklyn Bridge opens.
1888
Daniel David Brossman moves to Colorado, his family spreads to Wyoming,
Idaho and Washington.
1889
Johnstown Flood.
1891
William Josiah Brossman born in Berks County PA. (my grandfather)
1896
Klondike gold rush.
1908
Henry Ford introduces Model T.
1912
Titanic sinks.
1916
Pancho Villa raids New Mexico.
1916
James William Brossman Sr. born in Berks County PA. (my father)
1917-18 World War I
1927
Charles Lindberg flies the Spirit Of St. Louis from New York to Paris.
1929
The Great Depression begins.
1933
FDR becomes president.
1938
James William Brossman Jr. born in Berks County PA. (of course
this
is me)
1939
Hollywood releases the Wizard Of Oz in color.
1941-45 World War II
1950
Korean War begins.
1955
First McDonalds opens.
1957
Sputnik
1961
Craig Duray Brossman born in Berks County PA. (my first son)
1965
Vietnam war begins.
1969
Neil Armstrong walks on the moon.
1973
Vietnam war ends.
1974
Richard Nixon resigns the presidency.
1983
The CD is launched
1985
Christopher James Brossman born Erie PA. (my first Grandson)
1989
The Berlin wall falls
1991
The Gulf War happens and the USSR no longer exists.
1993
The World Trade Center in New York is bombed.
1993
Luke Alexander Brossman is born in Boulder Colorado. (my grandson)
2000
James W. Brossman Jr. moves to Durango Colorado. (me)
2005 Hayden Christopher Brossman
born in Pheonix AZ. (my first great grandson and the 12th
generation Brossman in America)