Moments in time

The History Channel

• On Aug. 28, 1774, Elizabeth Ann Bayley is born in New York City. She went on to found the first Catholic school and the first female apostolic community in the United States. She also was the first American-born saint beatified by the Roman Catholic Church.

• On Sept. 1, 1850, circus entrepreneur P.T. Barnum brings to the United States Jenny Lind, the greatest opera performer in the world in the mid-19th century. Lind — “The Swedish Nightingale” — was a sensation. Her tour is believed to have netted Barnum close to a half-million dollars, an astonishing sum in 1850.

• On...