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John Rolph (1793–1870) was a physician, lawyer, and political figure. He immigrated to Upper Canada in 1813 and practised law and medicine concurrently. In 1824, Rolph was elected to the Parliament of Upper Canada. He was elected as an alderman to Toronto's first city council but resigned after his council colleagues did not select him as the city's mayor. When the Upper Canada Rebellion began in 1837, Rolph did not join the rebels even though he agreed to support them. Instead, the Lieutenant Governor appointed him as his emissary to deliver the government's truce offer. After the rebellion, Rolph fled to the US and focused on his medical career. The Canadian government granted him amnesty and he returned to Canada in 1843, later creating a new medical institution in Toronto called the Rolph School. In 1851 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada, but resigned three years later. He retired in 1870 and died later that year. (Full article...)
Did you know ...
- ... that the Austin J. Tobin Plaza (pictured) was destroyed in the September 11 attacks, but one of the sculptures on it survived?
- ... that in 1884 Motibai Kapadia's father allowed her to study alongside men in India?
- ... that in the late 1940s the steam tug Brent removed war-related debris, including naval mines, from the River Thames?
- ... that Lorena Peril, who once cleaned toilets at a nursing home, beat out over 3,000 people to sing the national anthem for the San Francisco 49ers?
- ... that Mohammad Bhar, a Palestinian man with Down syndrome and autism, died following a dog attack in the Gaza Strip during the Israel–Hamas war?
- ... that Héctor Germán Oesterheld repurposed his initial plans for a sequel of the comic The Eternaut as a novel?
- ... that Helen Hornbeck Tanner was part of a major case supporting the Ojibwe before the Supreme Court of the United States while in her 80s?
- ... that the title of the documentary Wolfman's Got Nards is derived from a memorable line in the 1987 film The Monster Squad?
- ... that USA Boxing's head coach said that Olympian Jajaira Gonzalez's return to boxing was "like Lazarus coming back from the dead"?
In the news
![Typhoon Yagi over the South China Sea](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7c/Yagi_2024-09-05_0000Z.jpg/123px-Yagi_2024-09-05_0000Z.jpg)
- Typhoon Yagi (satellite image shown) leaves more than 200 people dead in China, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
- Michel Barnier is appointed prime minister of France by President Emmanuel Macron, leading to nationwide anti-government protests.
- An attempted jailbreak at Makala Central Prison in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, leaves 129 people dead.
- A Mil Mi-8 helicopter crashes in Kamchatka, Russia, killing all 22 people on board.
On this day
September 11: National Day of Catalonia
![United Airlines Flight 175 striking the World Trade Center's South Tower](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Explosion_following_the_plane_impact_into_the_South_Tower_%28WTC_2%29_-_B6019~11.jpg/169px-Explosion_following_the_plane_impact_into_the_South_Tower_%28WTC_2%29_-_B6019~11.jpg)
- 1297 – First War of Scottish Independence: Scottish forces under Andrew Moray and William Wallace defeated English troops at the Battle of Stirling Bridge on the River Forth.
- 1978 – British medical photographer Janet Parker became the last recorded person to die from smallpox, leading to a debate on whether the virus should be preserved.
- 1995 – Mir EO-19, the first expedition to the Russian space station Mir launched on an American Space Shuttle, returned to Earth after approximately 75 days in space.
- 2001 – al-Qaeda hijacked four passenger airliners to carry out a series of terrorist attacks (one pictured) against targets in New York City and the area of Washington, D.C., killing 2,977 people.
- Stephen Hagiochristophorites (d. 1185)
- Paul Nahaolelua (b. 1806)
- Mary Watson Whitney (b. 1847)
- Issy Smith (d. 1940)
Today's featured picture
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Widtsoe is a ghost town in Garfield County, Utah, United States. It is located in John's Valley, northeast of Bryce Canyon and along the Sevier River at the mouth of Sweetwater Creek. A small number of settlers arrived in the area in 1876 and it became a town around 1908 after farmer Jedediah Adair was followed by a more significant population. Initially known as Adairville, after Adair, the town later became Houston and Winder, before attaining its final name after John A. Widtsoe, the president of and an agricultural scientist at the University of Utah. The population declined significantly from 1920 following droughts, and the town emptied in 1936. Most buildings were demolished shortly afterwards. This photograph by Dorothea Lange shows Widtsoe's Emery Valley Mercantile Co. grocery store in 1936. Photograph credit: Dorothea Lange; restored by Yann Forget
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