Timeline April 16 to 18

April 16
1786  Sir John Franklin, English rear admiral and explorer, was born.
1796  Molly Brant, sister of Mohawk chief Joseph Brant and mistress to Sir William Johnson, superintendent of Indian Affairs, died.
1867  Wilbur Wright, American inventor and aviation pioneer, was born.
1924  Henry Mancini, American composer, was born.
1935  Bobby Vinton, singer, was born.

April 17
1492  Christopher Columbus received a commission from Spain's King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to seek a westward ocean passage to Asia.
1521  Martin Luther went before the Diet of Worms to face charges stemming from his religious writings.
1524  Italian-born explorer Giovanni da Verrazano reached present-day New York harbor.
1840  The monument to General Isaac Brock at Queenston Heights was severely damaged by an explosion set off by Benjamin Lett, an Irish Canadian rebel.
1967  Roland Michener became Canada's 20th Governor General. Previous to this he was speaker of the House of Commons and High Commissioner to India.
1982  Queen Elizabeth signed into law Canada's new constitution in Ottawa.

April 18
1775  Paul Revere began his ride from Charlestown to Lexington, Mass., warning American colonists that the British were coming.
1906  A major earthquake struck San Francisco and set off raging fires. More than 3,000 people died.
1793  The first issue of the Upper Canada Gazette or American Oracle, the first newspaper in what is now Ontario, was published in Newark by Louis Roy.
1816  The settlement of Perth in the Rideau Lakes area was begun beside the Tay River.
1955  Physicist Albert Einstein died at age 76.
1999  Wayne Gretzky, the National Hockey League's all-time leading scorer, played his last professional game, at Madison Square Garden in New York.