According to a story told by his father (in his book), Martin was two years old and was sitting at the dinner table. Littleberry was not there to say the blessing before dinner. So Martin leaned his little head over his plate and said "Lawza-massy, Lawza-massy [Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy]. Amen." then began eating.

Historical
1844: Haiti - Dominican War of Independence from Haiti
1844: Iran - Persian Prophet the Bab announces his revelation on May 23, founding Babism, he announced to the world of the coming of "He whom God shall make manifest", he is considered the forerunner of Baha u llah, the founder of the Baha I Faith
1844: United States - First publicly funded telegraph line in the world, It is between Baltimore and Washington and sends demonstration message on May 24, ushering in the age of the telegraph, this message read "What hath God wrought?" (Bible, Numbers 23:23)
1844: United States - Millerite (followers of the teachings of William Miller) movement awaits the Second Advent of Jesus Christ on October 22, the non-appearance of Christ becomes known as the Great Disappointment
1845-1846: Pakistan - First Anglo-Sikh War in Punjab (Pakistan) between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company
1845-1849: Ireland - The Irish Potato Famine led to the Irish diaspora
1845-1872: New Zealand - The New Zealand Land Wars
1845: Tonga - Unification of the Kingdom of Tonga under Ta-ufa?a-hau (King George Tupou I)
1846-1847: United States - Mormon migration to Utah
1846-1848: United States, Mexico - The Mexican-American War leads to cession by Mexico of much of the modern-day Southwestern United States
1847-1901: Mexico - The Caste War of Yucatan
1848-1849: Pakistan - Second Anglo-Sikh War in Punjab (Pakistan) between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company, this war basically ends the Sikh Empire
1848-1858: United States - California Gold Rush
1848: Europe - Revolutions of 1848 in Europe as some type of revolution occurred in most all European countries (except England and the Netherlands), the revolutions were quickly put down as they were mostly unorganized peasants
1848: Russia - The Communist Manifesto published
1848: United States - Seneca Falls Convention is the first rights for women convention in the United States and leads to the battle for suffrage and legal rights for women
1850: Europe - The Little Ice Age ends around this time
1851-1852: South America - The Platine War (also known as the War against Oribe and Rosas) fought between the Argentine Confederation and an alliance consisting of the Empire of Brazil, Uruguay and the Argentine provinces of Entre Rios and Corrientes, the war was part of a long-running contest between Argentina and Brazil for Influence over Uruguay and Paraguay, and hegemony over the regions bordering the Rio de la Plata (River Plate), the conflict took place in Uruguay, on the Rio de la Plata and in the northeast of Argen
1851-1864: China - The Taiping Rebellion in China is the bloodiest conflict of the century
1851-60s: Australia - Victorian gold rush in Australia
1851: England - The Great Exhibition in London was the first International Expo or Worlds Fair
1853-1856: Ukraine, France, England, Turkey, Russia - Crimean War between France, the United Kingdom, the Ottoman Empire and Russia
1854: Japan - The Convention of Kanagawa formally ends policy of Isolation by Japan
1855: England - Henry Bessemer Invents a process that enables steel to be mass produced from molten pig Iron
1856: Romania - First oil refinery in Romania
1857-1858: India - Indian Rebellion of 1857 (also known as First War of Independence for India, the Great Rebellion, the Indian Mutiny, the Revolt of 1857, the Uprising of 1857, the Sepoy Rebellion and the Sepoy Mutiny), It began as a mutiny of native soldiers (sepoys) employed by the British East India Company's army
1859: England - Charles Darwin publishes "The Origin of Species", It is a work of scientific literature considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology, Its full title is "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life", It presents a body of evidence that the diversity of life arose by common descent through a branching pattern of evolution and Includes evidence Darwin gathered on the Beagle expedition in the 1830s and his subsequent findings
1861-1865: United States - American Civil War between the Union and seceding Confederacy
1861-1867: France, Mexico - French Intervention in Mexico and the creation of the Second Mexican Empire, ruled by Maximilian I of Mexico and his consort Carlota of Mexico
1861: Russia - Russia abolishes serfdom
1862-1877: China - Muslim Rebellion in northwest China