Style) – The Romanov and architect of the Great Northern War Peter I, is proclaimed the first Emperor of All the Russias. This replaces the 174-year-long Tsardom of Russia with the Russian Empire (it collapses in 1917). December 22 – Philip V of Spain signs a Royal Decree in Lerma, transforming the Seminary of Saint Rose of Lima in Caracas into the Universidad Real y Pontificia de Caracas. Date unknown José de Azlor y Virto de Vera, Marquis of San Miguel de Aguayo and governor of Spanish Texas, establishes the fort of Presidio La Bahía at its original location, on the ruins of the failed French Fort Saint Louis. Regular mail service between London and New England is established. A suggestion box is developed under the eighth shōgun of Japan, Yoshimune Tokugawa. Births January 10 – Johann Philipp Baratier, German scholar (d. 1740) January 11 – Anna Magdalena Godiche, Danish book printer and publisher (d. 1781) January 17 – Countess Palatine Elisabeth Auguste of Sulzbach, politically active Electress of Bavaria (d. 1794) February 3 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Prussian general (d. 1773) February 8 – Catharina Elisabet Grubb, Finnish industrialist (d. 1788) February 21 – John McKinly, American physician, President of Delaware (d. 1796) March 8 – Elizabeth Pierrepont, Duchess of Kingston-upon-Hull, English noble (d. 1788) March 9 – Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken (d. 1774) March 19 – Tobias Smollett, Scottish physician and author (d. 1771) April 11 – David Zeisberger, Moravian missionary (d. 1808) April 14 – John Hanson, President of the Continental Congress of America (d. 1783) April 15 – Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, English military leader (d. 1765) April 19 – Roger Sherman, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence (d. 1793) June 19 – Johann de Kalb, Bavarian-French military officer who served as a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War (d. 1780) July 9 – Johann Nikolaus Götz, German poet (d. 1781) July 14 – John Douglas, Scottish Anglican bishop and man of letters (d. 1807) August 4 – Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, English politician (d. 1803) August 31 – George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol, British statesman (d. 1775) September 10 – Peyton Randolph, 1st and 3rd President of the Continental Congress (d. 1775) September 14 – Eliphalet Dyer, American statesman and judge (d. 1807) October 19 – Joseph de Guignes, French orientalist