■On July 9, 1777, New York elects Brigadier Gen. George Clinton as the first governor of the independent state of New York. Clinton would go on to become New York’s longest-serving governor, as well as the longest-serving governor in the U.S., holding the post until 1795. ■On July 7, 1852, according to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories, Dr. John H. Watson is born. Coincidentally, the Sherlock Holmes author died on this day in England at the age of 71. ■On July 4, 1911, record temperatures are set in the northeastern U.S. with the arrival of a deadly heat wave that would go ...