March 23 » The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is established by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in Qadian, British India.
May 2 » Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, signs the Treaty of Wuchale, giving Italy control over Eritrea.
June 6 » The Great Seattle Fire destroys all of downtown Seattle.
June 26 » Bangui is founded by Albert Dolisie and Alfred Uzac in what was then the upper reaches of the French Congo.
November 14 » Pioneering female journalist Nellie Bly (aka Elizabeth Cochrane) begins a successful attempt to travel around the world in less than 80 days. She completes the trip in 72 days.
November 23 » The first jukebox goes into operation at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco.
Day of death October 15, 1953
The temperature on October 15, 1953 was between 11.7 °C and 14.5 °C and averaged 13.0 °C. There was 0.1 mm of rain. The almost completely overcast was. The average windspeed was 2 Bft (weak wind) and was prevailing from the north. Source: KNMI
January 5 » The play Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett receives its première in Paris.
May 4 » Ernest Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.
July 26 » Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment repel a number of Chinese assaults against a key position known as The Hook during the Battle of the Samichon River, just hours before the Armistice Agreement is signed, ending the Korean War.
September 26 » Rationing of sugar in the United Kingdom ends
October 30 » President Eisenhower approves the top-secret document NSC 162/2 concerning the maintenance of a strong nuclear deterrent force against the Soviet Union.
November 23 » Pilot Felix Moncla and Lieutenant Robert Wilson disappear while in pursuit of a mysterious craft over Lake Superior.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Hendrik Dreyer, "Dreyer Tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/dreyer-tree/I8393.php : accessed January 23, 2026), "Jacobus Johannes van Niekerk (1889-1953)".
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