Year 1839 Fun Facts, Trivia, and History

This quick read presents a mix of fun facts, trivia, and history events from the year 1839. Discover the year’s top news stories, most influential people, historic firsts, noteworthy inventions, famous birthdays and deaths, retail prices, and much more.

Take a journey through history in just minutes.

1. President of the United States: Martin Van Buren (D-New York)
2. Vice President: Richard M. Johnson (D-Kentucky)
3. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Roger B. Taney (Maryland)
4. Speaker of the House of Representatives: James K. Polk (D-Tennessee)—Until March 4, when he stepped down to run for governor of Tennessee.
5. Speaker of the House of Representatives: Robert M. T. Hunter (W-Virginia)—Beginning on December 16
6. The 25th U.S. Congress was in session until March 4. On that date, the 26th U.S. Congress convened, and both chambers had a Democratic majority.
7. Inflation rate: 0.00%
8. $100.00 in 1839 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $3,580.86 today. The U.S. dollar had “an average inflation rate of 1.93% per year” between 1839 and 2026, “producing a cumulative price increase of 3,480.86%.” In other words, a U.S. dollar today buys about 2.793% of what it could purchase back in 1839.
9. It’s worth noting that the U.S. dollar has lost 97% of its value since 1839.
10. $1.00 in 1839 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $35.81 today.
11. $10.00 in 1839 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $358.09 today.
12. As mentioned above, $100.00 in 1839 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $3,580.86 today.
13. Finally, $1,000.00 in 1839 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $35,808.60 today.
14. Consumer price index (CPI): 9.300
15. American companies founded in 1839 included Berkshire Hathaway (originally, an Omaha, Nebraska-based textile manufacturer); Provident Bank of New Jersey (the third largest bank headquartered in New Jersey); and the West Street Foundry (a marine steam engine manufacturer based in Brooklyn, New York).
16. American railroads established during 1839 were the Bellefonte and Snowshoe Railroad, Boston and Maine Railroad, and the New Castle and Wilmington Railroad.
17. In 1839, there were 26 U.S. states. In order of admission to the Union, they were Delaware (1787), Pennsylvania (1787), New Jersey (1787), Georgia (1788), Connecticut (1788), Massachusetts (1788), Maryland (1788), South Carolina (1788), New Hampshire (1788), Virginia (1788), New York (1788), North Carolina (1789), Rhode Island (1790), Vermont (1791), Kentucky (1792), Tennessee (1796), Ohio (1803), Louisiana (1837), Indiana (1816), Mississippi (1817), Illinois (1818), Alabama (1819), Maine (1820), Missouri (1821), Arkansas (1836), and Michigan (1837).
18. On January 2, French photographer Louis Daguerre took the first photograph of the moon.
19. On January 29, British scientist Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood at St. Peter's Church in Maer, Staffordshire.
20. On March 23, the Boston Morning Post introduced the term “O.K.” as an abbreviation for the slang “oll korrect,” and “eventually making it a staple in American speech.”
21. In April, American author Washington Irving began contributing to The Knickerbocker, a New York City-based monthly magazine. He published 30 literary works in the magazine through March 1841, including The Creole Village, where he “famously” coined the phrase "the almighty dollar.”
22. On June 24, Gustavus Franklin Swift was born in West Sandwich, Massachusetts. He founded the meatpacking firm Swift & Company and promoted the railway refrigerator car for shipping meat.
23. July 2: During the early morning hours, enslaved Africans aboard the Cuban schooner Amistad revolted against their captors, killing two crew members and taking control of the ship, “which was en route to a life of slavery on a sugar plantation in Puerto Principe, Cuba.”
24. In September, the Theatre Royal at Covent Garden hosted the first London production of Love's Labour's Lost since Shakespeare's time, featuring Madame Vestris as Rosaline.
25. On September 9, British scientist and astronomer John Herschel took the first glass plate photograph.
26. On September 19, George Cadbury was born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. In 1861, he took over his father's struggling chocolate business “and built it into a major chocolate manufacturer.”
27. On October 3, Maya explorers John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood departed from New York on their first expedition to the Yucatan.
28. On October 16, machine inspector Joseph Saxton took America’s first daguerreotype photograph from the second-story window of the U.S. Mint, located at the corner of Chestnut and Juniper Streets in Center City Philadelphia. The square image featured “the Pennsylvania State Arsenal and the cupola of [Philadelphia’s] Central High School.”
29. On November 11, the Virginia Military Institute was founded in Lexington, Virginia.
30. On November 17, Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi’s first opera, Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio, debuted in Milan.
31. On December 18, John William Draper took America’s first photograph of a woman's face. His “willing and patient subject was his sister, Dorothy Catherine Draper.”
32. In 1839, American author Lettice Bryan published the cookbook Kentucky Housewife.
33. Key fiction works published in 1839 were Catherine Gore’s The Cabinet Minister, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, Edgar Allan Poe’s William Wilson, Sarah Burney’s The Romance of Private Life: The Renunciation and The Hermitage, and W. Harrison Ainsworth’s Jack Sheppard.
34. Scottish novelist and children’s author Catherine Sinclair published Holiday House: A Book for the Young.
35. Key nonfiction works for the year included Mrs. William Ellis’ The Women of England: Their Social Duties and Domestic Habits.
36. Famous people born in 1839 were Emma Miller (civil rights leader), John D. Rockefeller (entrepreneur), and Paul Cezanne (painter).
37. Notable people who died in 1839 included John Batman (explorer) and Zerah Colburn (mathematician).
38. In 1839 as well, the words “Achilles’ Heel,” “bedrock,” “boardwalk,” “bobby,” “bottlebrush,” “Connecticuter,” “fatty liver,” “firefighter,” “full-timer,” “funnyman,” “iced tea,” “law-and-order,” “malt whiskey,” “merchant marine,” “must-have,” “OK,” “PhD,” “photograph,” “photography,” “purebred,” “quarter note,” “Saint Bernard,” “showboat,” “streetcar,” “tight knit,” “trademark,” “tuberculosis,” “Victorian,” and “woodworking” all appeared in print for the first time.
39. 18 eggs: Around 18 cents
40. Fresh beef: About five cents a pound
41. Horse and wagon to go into town: 50 cents
42. Nine pounds and 12 ounces of cheese: Around 82 cents
43. One bushel of apples: About 37½ cents
44. One bushel of potatoes: 50 cents
45. One bushel of turnips: 25 cents
46. One pound of butter: 20 cents
47. One pound of salted pork: Around 12½ cents
48. One pound of veal: Six cents
49. One ton of coal for home heating: About $1.00
50. Oxen and cart to haul wood: About 50 cents for one day
51. Three days of work mowing: $2.25
52. Two pounds of ham: Around 25 cents
53. Two pounds of honey: About 25 cents
54. Two pounds of sugar: Around 30 cents
55. Washboard: 37 cents

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1839_in_the_United_States
2. https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1839
3. https://www.history.com/a-year-in-history/1839
4. https://www.foodreference.com/html/html/food-timeline-1836.html
5. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015035798035&seq=23
6. https://www.officialdata.org/us/inflation/1839
7. https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1839
8. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/deceased/1839.html
9. https://www.famousbirthdays.com/year/1839.html
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1839_in_literature

Disclaimer: In writing and editing this article, Gregory DeVictor has made every effort to ensure historical accuracy and not to mislead his audience. In addition, the contents of this article, including text, graphics, and captions, are for general informational purposes only.

© 2026 Gregory DeVictor