Timeline: Estel Alvin Steward: Gerber Family of Langnau

1909 - 1942 (32 years)

	Date	Event(s)
1	1909	1909: UK - Pianos reach maximum market penetration in UK households at one per ten people 1909: UK - 800 million postcards sold in England 1909: Japan - Prince Ito is Assassinated 1909: UK - Plastic Is Invented 1909: Arctic - Robert Peary Becomes the First to Reach the North Pole 1909: USA - William Taft president of the USA 1909-1913. 1909: UK - Instant coffee invented by G. Washington.
2	1910	1910: UK - Georges Claude discovered that electricity conducted through a tube of the rare inert gas, neon, gives a bright red glow and that other gases gave off other colors, e.g., argon gives blue, helium gives yellow and white, etc. 1910: UK - First live opera broadcast 1910: UK - Halley's Comet Makes an Appearance 1910: UK - The Tango Catches On 1910: South Africa - Formation of Union of South Africa 1910: UK - Death of Edward VII 1910: UK - Population of England/Wales 36,070, Scotland - 4,761, N. Ireland - 1,251 1910: UK - Contributory National Insurance Scheme introduced by David Lloyd George, provides medical care, maternity benefits and sick pay 1910: UK - Parliament Act reduces House of Lords' veto to delaying power; House of Commons begins to pay members a stipend 1910: UK - There are 146,000 female clerical workers in England, up from 22,000 in 1891, 7,000 in 1881, and 19 in 1851 1910: USA - Thomas Edison demonstrated the first talking motion picture. 1910: UK - Infant mortality now 110 per 1000 live births, declines steadily to 24.4 in 1956; emigration reaches about 464,000/year; divorces average 823/year, go to 3,619/year in 1920-1922, 7,955/year in 1939 (latter rise because willful desertion, cruelty and incurable insanity added to causes in 1937) 1910: UK - Strikes of seaman, dock and transport workers, general railway strike for higher wages during period to 1912 20 Jan 1910: UK - George V, ruler of England to 1936. House of Windsor (name adopted Jul 17, 1917): 2nd son of Edward VII, married Princess Mary of Teck.
3	1911	1911: China - The Chinese Revolution 1911: UK - Ernest Rutherford Discovers the Structure of an Atom 1911: UK - Greenwich Mean Time Adopted 1911: Peru - The Incan City of Machu Picchu Discovered 1911: Paris, France - Mona Lisa Is Stolen 1911: Antarctica - Roald Amundsen Reaches the South Pole 1911: USA - Standard Oil Company Broken Up 1911: USA - Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Catches on Fire 1911: USA - Charles Franklin Kettering invents the first automobile electrical ignition system
4	1912	1912: North Sea - The Sinking of the Titanic: 1,515 people lose their lives. 1912: UK - Parachutes Invented 1912: UK - Piltdown Man, the 'Missing Link,' Discovered but later revealed as a fraud 1912: SOS Accepted as Universal Distress Signal 1912: UK - Motorized movie cameras invented, and replaced hand-cranked cameras. 1912: UK - The first tank patented by Australian inventor De La Mole. 1912: USA - Clarence Crane created Life Savers candy
5	1913	1913: USA - Leo Baekeland invented a plastic laminate, known as Bakelite, and later as Formica 1913: Detroit, MI, USA - First assembly line introduced in Ford automobile factory 1913: New York, NY, USA - The Armory Show, an international display of some 1600 works of modern art, and one of the more important U.S. art exhibitions ever held, opens at the 69th-regiment armory. It arouses public curiosity, generates sensational news coverage, and helps change the direction of American art 1913: USA - Personal Income Tax introduced 1913: Washington, DC, USA - Woodrow Wilson president 1913-1921. 1913: UK - The crossword puzzle was invented by Arthur Wynne. 1913: USA - The Merck Chemical Company patented what is now known as ecstasy. 1913: USA - Mary Phelps Jacob invents the bra 1913: USA - Gideon Sundback invents the modern zipper.
6	1914	1914: UK - Battle of the Marne 1914: USA - Charlie Chaplin First Appeared as the Little Tramp 1914: UK - First Traffic Light 1914: Panama - Panama Canal Officially Opened 1914: Egypt - Britain proclaims protectorate over Egypt 1914: France - Stunning British casualty figures come from Loos -60,000; in on the Somme, 60,000 in one day; total for 5-month offensive - 400,000; Germans use poison gas at Ypres 1914: Ireland - Easter Monday Irish rebellion, Irish Volunteers (later Irish Republican Army) proclaim Irish Republic; German submarine lands Sir Roger Casement who is arrested, German ship with rifles intercepted off Irish coast, Casement executed; Sinn Fein and Ulster cannot agree on partition 1914: France - Passchendaele, British advance of 5 miles costs 400,000 casualties 1914: UK - Balfour Declaration promises Jews home in Palestine 1914: UK - First use of massed tanks (Battle of Cambrai) 1914: UK - King George V adopts Windsor as Royal Family's English surname in place of family's German name 1914: USA - Garrett A. Morgan invents the Morgan gas mask 4 Aug 1914: World War I begins and lasts until 1918, because Germany violates a treaty to respect neutrality of Belgium; Turkey enters war on Germany's side
7	1915	1915: Armenia - Armenian Genocide 1915: USA - D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation is Released 1915: UK - Lusitania Sunk by German U-Boat 1915: Ypres, France - Second Battle of Ypres 1915: New York, NY, USA - Eugene Sullivan and William Taylor co-invent Pyrex
8	1916	1916: UK - Navy employs animal trainer 'Captain' Joseph Woodward's music hall sea lions for U-boat sabotage. 1916: USA - Coca-Cola adopts a distinctive bottle which identifies the company internationally 1916: France - Battle of the Somme 1916: Verdun, France - Battle of Verdun 1916: Ireland - Easter Rising 1916: USA - First Self-Service Grocery Store Opens 1916: UK - Radio tuners invented that received different stations. 1916: UK - Stainless steel invented by Henry Brearly.
9	1917	1917: Russia - Bolshevik revolution installs a new government headed by V.I. Lennin 1917: New York, NY, USA - French artist Marcel Duchamp submits a porcelain urinal, signed 'R. Mutt' and titled Fountain, to the New York Independents Exhibition; it is rejected. 1917: UK - First Pulitzer Prizes Awarded 1917: Germany - Mata Hari Executed for Being a Spy Apr 1917: USA - The United States joined World War I on the side of the Triple Entente
10	1918	1918: UK - Influenza Epidemic 1918: Russia - Czar Nicholas II and his family are killed 1918: UK - Summer:Great Influenza Epidemic begins, reaches height end of year, new outbreak first quarter of 1919: England and Wales lose 150,000 (15,000 in London alone) 1918: UK - Final casualties for World War I - almost 1 million British Empire men killed, about 3 million maimed (744,000 killed are from UK) 1918: UK - Women over 30 given the vote (complete voting equality with men comes in 1928), all men over 21 (except peers, lunatics and felons) given vote 1918: UK - Consumer purchasing power now about 1/3 of what it was in 1914 1918: USA - Charles Jung invented fortune cookies. 1918: UK - Police strikes this year and the next 9 Nov 1918: Europe - Kaiser abdicates, peace signed two days later at Treaty of Versailles, ending World War I
11	1919	1919: UK - Eddington and Frank W. Dyson measured the bending of starlight by the gravitational pull of the sun, thus confirming Einstein's general theory of relativity 1919: USA - Prohibition Begins in the U.S. 1919: Ireland - Irish Republican Army begins terrorist campaign against police ('Black and Tans') and their families 1919: London, UK - First woman in House of Commons, Viscountess Astor 1919: Ireland - Alcock and Brown arrive after flying across the Atlantic 1919: UK - Strikes and riots in Glasgow for 40- hour week; National Industrial Conference convenes, trades union representatives resign in disgust 1919: Europe - Regular air service commences across the English Channel 1919: UK - Post-war boom collapses, unemployment problem, 1920 Act provides small payment under National Insurance Scheme 1919: UK - Most war-time rationing ends 1919: UK - One-week railway strike - Emergency Powers Act passed to give government war-time powers to deal with threats from 'Triple Alliance' of miners, railwaymen and dockers, re high prices, shortage of housing 1919: UK - The pop-up toaster invented by Charles Strite. 1919: UK - Short-wave radio invented. 1919: UK - The arc welder invented. 1919: UK - Runaway inflation; Coal Mines Act (1919) and Mining Industry Act (1920) create 7-hour day for miners plus minor reforms Jun 1919: UK - Sir Ernest Rutherford publishes account of splitting atom
12	1920	1920: India - Bubonic Plague strikes 1920: UK - League of Nations Established 1920: UK - Population of England/Wales - 37,887, Scotland - 4,882, N.Ireland - 1,258 1920: UK - Economic slump, 2,170,000 unemployed 1920: Palestine - Serious clashes between Jews and Arabs 1920: USA - US restricts immigration 1920: Ireland - Southern Irish parliament passes Government of Ireland Act, civil war effectively ends (until 1968) 1920: UK - Lloyd George sells honours in return for party contributions, partly responsible for downfall of Coalition government 1920: Egypt - Britain recognizes Egyptian independence 1920: UK - British Broadcasting Company (BBC) begins transmission of speech over air to public 1920: Italy - Benito Mussolini becomes fascist dictator 1920: UK - First football cup final at Wembley 1920: UK - Greyhound racing becomes popular 1920: UK - Radio and cinema begin growth (by 1929, 3,000 cinemas in Britain) 1920: UK - Convictions for drunkenness fall from 189,000 in 1913 to 53,000 in 1930 1920: France - Tuberculosis vaccine developed 1920: UK - The tommy gun patented by John T Thompson. 1920: USA - The Band-Aid invented by Earle Dickson 1920: Ireland - Irish Republican Army begins Civil War with raids on police barracks and income tax offices all over Ireland 1920: UK - Communist Party of Great Britain founded; affiliation with Labour Party rebuffed = schism between communism and socialism 1920: UK - Population of Great Britain has grown by 5 per cent, emigration overseas declines from 256,000 in 1923 (post-war peak) to 92,000 in 1930 and many return to offset those leaving; British population gravitates to south and away from depressed areas of South Wales and northern England, Greater London is now over 8 million Dec 1920: Ireland - New Government of Ireland Act proposes partition of Ireland into Ulster (north) and Irish Free State (south), each to have its own government
13	1921	1921: UK - Stage debut of John Gielgud 1921: Germany - Extreme Inflation sets in 1921: Ireland - Irish Free State Proclaimed 1921: Washington, DC, USA - Warren Harding president in 1921. He dies of an embolism in San Francisco. He had taken ill on 31 Jul 1921 1921: Washington, DC, USA - Calvin Coolidge president 1921-1929. Vice president under Warren Harding, he was sworn in as president the day after Harding dies. 1921: UK - The first robot is built. 1921: CA, USA - John Larson, a University of California medical student, invented the modern lie detector (polygraph), used by police since 1924.
14	1922	1922: London, UK - BBC launched as limited company 1922: Turkey - Kemal Atatürk Founds Modern Turkey 1922: Ireland - Michael Collins Killed in Ambush 1922: Rome Italy - Benito Mussolini Marches on Rome 1922: USA - The Reader's Digest is first published 1922: UK - Insulin invented by Sir Frederick Grant Banting 1922: USA - The first 3-D movie (spectacles with one red and one green lens) is released. Nov 1922: Thebes, Egypt - Tomb of Tun-ankh-amen discovered
15	1923	1923: USA - Electrolux produced the first electric refrigerator 1923: USA - Kodak introduces home movie equipment 1923: UK - Charleston Dance Becomes Popular 1923: Germany - Adolf Hitler Jailed After Failed Coup 1923: Ruhr, Germany - Ruhr Occupied by French and Belgian Forces 1923: USA - Teapot Dome Scandal 1923: USA - Garrett A. Morgan invents a traffic signal 1923: USA - Early television or iconoscope invented by Vladimir Kosma Zworykin. 1923: UK - John Harwood invented the self-winding watch. 1923: UK - Clarence Birdseye invents frozen food.
16	1924	1924: UK - First Olympic Winter Games 1924: USSR - V.I. Lenin Dies 1924: UK - First Labour government headed by Ramsay MacDonald 1924: UK - The dynamic loudspeaker invented by Rice and Kellogg. 1924: UK - Notebooks with spiral bindings invented. Aug 1924: UK - Housing Act to produce 2.5 million houses by 1939 becomes law 4 Nov 1924: London, UK - Government falls due to purported link with Communists in Russia, known as Red Letter scare, Stanley Baldwin forms new government
17	1925	1925: UK - Flapper Dresses in Style 1925: Germany - Adolf Hitler Publishes Mein Kampf 1925: UK - Infants' Custody Act, women finally secure same rights as men with regard to custody of children
18	1926	1926: UK - General Strike paralyses transport, mining and many other areas of the economy 1926: Wolverhampton, UK - The first automatic traffic light was installed. It remained in service until 1968 1926: UK - A.A. Milne Publishes Winnie-the-Pooh 1926: UK - Houdini Dies After Being Punched 1926: USA - Robert Goddard Fires His First Liquid-Fuel Rocket 1926: A Woman Swims the English Channel 1926: UK - Imperial Conference sets stage for colonies and dominions to become Commonwealth of Nations
19	1927	1927: USA - The Jazz Singer - first film talking movie released 1927: London, UK - John Logie Baird demonstrates electro-mechanical television system 1927: USA - Babe Ruth Makes Home-Run Record 1927: Atlantic - Charles Lindbergh Flies Solo Across the Atlantic 1927: London, UK - Trade Disputes and Trade Union Act makes sympathetic striking illegal and prohibits political use of Union funds 1927: UK - JWA Morrison invents the first quartz crystal watch. 1927: USA - Philo Taylor Farnsworth invents a complete electronic TV system. 1927: USA - Technicolor invented. 1927: UK - Erik Rotheim patents an aerosol can. 1927: UK - Philip Drinker invents the iron lung. 4 Jun 1927: London, UK - Stanley Baldwin resigns, Ramsay MacDonald forms another Labour government, includes first female Cabinet Minister, Margaret Bondfield, Minister of Labour
20	1928	1928: Los Angeles, USA - First Mickey Mouse cartoon 1928: Oxford, UK - First Oxford English Dictionary Published 1928: UK - Kellogg-Briand Treaty Outlaws War 1928: London, UK - Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin. 1928: USA - Bubble gum invented by Walter E. Diemer. 1928: UK - Jacob Schick patented the electric shaver. 1928: UK - Long, critical illness of George V this year and the next
21	1929	1929: UK - Economic upturn this year and the next 1929: UK - First UK television broadcast 1929: UK - Frank Whittle, combining the concepts of rocket propulsion and gas turbines, invented jet propulsion. Independently, Hans von Ohain put together the same combination in 1933 1929: Antarctica - Byrd and Bennett Fly Over South Pole 1929: USA - First Academy Awards 1929: USA - New York Stock Market Crashes 1929: USA - St. Valentine's Day Massacre 1929: UK - Further serious clashes between Jews and Arabs in Palestine 1929: USA - Herbert Hoover president 1929-1933. 1929: USA - Paul Galvin invents the car radio. 1929: USA - Yo-Yo re-invented as an American fad. 1929: UK - Great Depression (to 1932), British segment hits worst in 1931, when unemployment surges quickly to more than 3.25 million in 1931, then more slowly to a high of 3.75 million in September 1932
22	1930	1930: UK - Gandhi's Salt March 1930: USA - Clyde Tombaugh discovers planet Pluto 1930: UK - Sliced Bread Available 1930: USSR - Stalin Begins Collectivizing Agriculture 1930: UK - Sir Oswald Mosely, former Conservative MP and now Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, resigns and forms New Party (Fascist) 1930: USA - Scotch tape patented by 3M engineer Richard G. Drew. 1930: Boston, MA, USA - The differential analyzer, an analog computer, is invented by Vannevar Bush at MIT
23	1931	1931: UK - Housing Act passes, provides subsidies for slum clearance 1931: USA - Al Capone Imprisoned for Income Tax Evasion 1931: UK - Auguste Piccard Reaches Stratosphere 1931: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Christ Monument Built on Hilltop 1931: New York, NY, USA - Empire State Building Completed 1931: USA - First official US National Anthem 1931: UK - Census shows British professional workers now number .75 million (8 per cent); up from 80,000 in 1921 Census: population: England/Wales - 39,952, Scotland - 4,842, N. Ireland - 1,243 1931: USA - Harold Edgerton invented stop-action photography. 1931: Germany - Germans Max Knott and Ernst Ruska co-invent the electron microscope. 24 Aug 1931: UK - Resignation of Labour government accepted by King, asks Ramsay MacDonald to form National Government (Coalition) to deal with economic crisis 21 Oct 1931: UK - General Election, vote for National Government overwhelming, more votes for Conservatives, Liberal party in disarray
24	1932	1932: UK - Agricultural Marketing Act passed, regulates quality of produce 1932: USA - Air Conditioning Invented 1932: Amelia Earhardt First Woman to Fly Solo Across the Atlantic 1932: Cambridge, UK - Scientists Split the Atom 1932: USA - Zippo Lighters Introduced 1932: Ireland - De Valera succeeds Cosgrave as Prime Minister of Irish Free State, ousts British Governor-General, abolishes senate, alters law re citizenship to distinguish Irish nationality from British, but still claims Commonwealth membership 1932: USA - Polaroid photography invented by Edwin Herbert Land. 1932: UK - Unemployment falls from 3 million to below 2 million in July 1935; production rises, but imports steady, exports decline; new industries booming - chemicals, rayon, cars, radio, cost of living falls Sep 1932: UK - 6-7 million living on 'dole', worse in Tyne and Tees and Welsh valleys
25	1933	1933: UK - First Mars bar 1933: USA - Singing telegrams introduced 1933: Germany - Adolf Hitler Becomes Chancellor of Germany 1933: Germany - First Nazi Concentration Camp Established 1933: Loch Ness, Scotland - Loch Ness Monster First Spotted 1933: USA - Prohibition Ends 1933: Wiley Post Flies Around the World in 8.5 Days 1933: UK - Special Areas Act passes, designed to encourage workers to move to more prosperous Midlands or expanding light industries of South, not very effective 1933: USA - Franklin Roosevelt president 1933-1945, Launches New Deal. 1933: USA - Frequency modulation (FM radio) invented by Edwin Howard Armstrong. 1933: UK - Stereo records invented. Feb 1933: Oxford, UK - Oxford Union Society passes its famous motion This House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country. Peace societies become popular
26	1934	1934: UK - Communist and Fascist disorders, especially in London's East End, cause Incitement to Disaffection (1934) and Public Order Acts (1936), extending police powers, suppressing wearing of political uniforms and limiting holding of provocative processions 1934: Munich, Germany - Konrad Zuse built a series of computers, Z1 through Z4, utilizing binary arithmetic and stored programs. Along the way he invented the first programming language and began to analyze methods by which a computer could play chess 1934: USA - The first comic books appear on newsstands 1934: USA - Bonnie and Clyde Killed by Police 1934: USA - Cheeseburger Created 1934: USA - The Dust Bowl 1934: China - Mao Zedong Begins the Long March 1934: UK - Parker Brothers Sells the Game Monopoly 1934: UK - Charles Darrow claims he invented the game Monopoly 1934: UK - Joseph Begun invents the first tape recorder for broadcasting - first magnetic recording.
27	1935	1935: USA - First successful three-color roll film available to amateur photographers as Kodachrome, for slides, this year, and as Kodacolor (for prints) in 1942. 1935: UK - First Kit Kat sold 1935: USA - Alcoholics Anonymous Founded 1935: Germany - Anti-Jewish Nuremberg Laws issued 1935: UK - John Maynard Keynes Suggests New Economic Theory 1935: USA - Wallace Carothers and DuPont Labs invent nylon 1935: USA - The first canned beer made.
28	1936	1936: UK - Edward VIII, ruler of England 1936. House of Windsor (name adopted Jul 17, 1917): Eldest son of George V. 1936: UK - BBC starts regular TV broadcasts 1936: USA - Dale Carnegie Publishes How to Win Friends and Influence People 1936: Germany - Nazi Olympics in Berlin 1936: Spain - Spanish Civil War Begins. Germany and Italy help rebels against government, Soviet Union aids government, as do International Brigade with volunteers from European countries and US during period to 1939 1936: UK - Arabs attack Jews and British troops and police, riots, strikes, outbursts of great violence, Jews attack Arabs and British, disorder continues through beginning of World War II 1936: USA - Bell Labs invents the voice recognition machine. 1936: USA - Samuel Colt patents the Colt revolver. 1936: Germany - Hitler and Mussolini make Rome-Berlin Axis agreement to conduct aggression together, followed by German agreement with Japan which Italy signs later 20 Jan 1936: UK - Death of King George V 12 May 1936: UK - George VI, ruler of England 1936-1952. House of Windsor (name adopted Jul 17, 1917): 2nd son of George V, Duke of York; married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. 16 Nov 1936: UK - Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin learns Edward VIII wants to marry twice-divorced Mrs.Simpson and will abdicate if necessary, public storm breaks on 2- 3 December, King abdicates on 5 December, announces 10 December, Abdication Act rushes through 11 December; Duke of York (father of Queen Elizabeth II) becomes George VI
29	1937	1937: Guernica, Spain - German planes, aiding insurgents in the Spanish Civil War, bomb the historic Basque town of Guernica in Northern Spain, killing women and children and inflaming world opinion against facism. 1937: USA - Hindenburg airship crash - broadcast coast to coast in US 1937: UK - Aviator Amelia Earhart Vanishes 1937: San Francisco, CA, USA - Golden Gate Bridge Opened 1937: USA - Chester F. Carlson invents the photocopier. May 1937: Ireland - Irish Free State becomes republic of Eire, Northern Ireland remains part of United Kingdom 27 May 1937: UK - Joseph Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister Jul 1937: China - Japan suddenly attacks China, by end of year Japanese have captured Shanghai and Nanking
30	1938	1938: UK - UK's first weekly radio comedy series, Band Wagon 1938: USA - Broadcast of The War of the Worlds Causes Panic 1938: UK - Neville Chamberlain Announces Peace in Our Time 1938: UK - Extinct Fish Found 1938: Germany - Kristallnacht - The Night of Broken Glass 1938: UK - The ballpoint pen invented by Ladislo Biro. 1938: UK - Roy J. Plunkett invented tetrafluoroethylene polymers (Teflon) 1938: USA - Nescafe or freeze-dried coffee invented. 12 Mar 1938: Austria - Hitler annexes Austria; Neville Chamberlain decides not to help Czechoslovakia or French, who have treaty obligations to Czechs, Hitler tells Chamberlain if he can have Czechoslovakia he will not annex other countries, Chamberlain falls for it
31	1939	1939: UK - First Commercial Flight Over the Atlantic 1939: Europe - German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact Signed 1939: UK - Refugees on the St. Louis Refused Entry Everywhere 1939: Europe - World War II begins. Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan vs. Major Allied Powers: Great Britain, France, and Russia. 1939-1945. 1939: USA - Igor Sikorsky invents the first successful helicopter. Sep 1939: UK - UK declares war on Germany
32	1940	1940: London, UK - London Blitz 1940: USA - Disney's Fantasia 1940: UK - Battle of Britain 1940: USSR - Leon Trotsky Assassinated 1940: USA - Nylon Stockings on the Market 1940: France - Stone Age Cave Paintings Found 1940: USA - Peter Goldmark invents modern colour television system. 1940: UK - Karl Pabst invents the jeep.
33	1941	1941: USA - Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor 1941: USA - Manhattan Project Begins 1941: USA - Mount Rushmore Completed 1941: UK - Nazi Rudolf Hess Flies to Britain on a Peace Mission 1941: Leningrad, USSR - Siege of Leningrad
34	1942	1942: USA - Battle of Midway 1942: Stalingrad, USSR - Battle of Stalingrad 1942: USA - Japanese-Americans Held in Camps 1942: UK - Nazis Raze Town in Retaliation for Reinhard Heydrich's Death 1942: USA - T-shirt Introduced 1942: USA - John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry built an electronic digital computer.

Gerber Family of Switzerland

Estel Alvin Steward

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