Today in history–February 12

1719: One of the world’s oldest insurance companies, the Onderlinge van 1719, is founded at Haarlem, Netherlands.

1733: The first settlers from the H.M.S. Anne go ashore to found the 13th of the original American colonies, which they name for King George II.

1809: Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin are born on opposite sides of the Atlantic and at opposite ends of the social spectrum.

1825: The Creek Indians cede the last of their ancestral lands in Georgia to the U.S. government and begin their trek west.

1870: The Utah Territory grants women the right to vote.

1879: The first artificial ice rink in the U.S. opens at Madison Square Garden in New York.

1946: The United Kingdom scuttles the last of 121 captured German U-boats.  When it later discovers that the U-boats contain a great deal of valuable stuff, it has to pay someone to bring them back up again.

1973: The vanguard of a revolution that never arrives, Ohio becomes the first state to put road signs in kilometers on its highways.

2004: Mattel Toys announces that after 43 years of dating, Barbie and Ken have decided to split, saying that they need to “spend some quality time apart.”