March 23 » The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is established by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in Qadian, British India.
March 31 » The Eiffel Tower is officially opened.
April 22 » At noon, thousands rush to claim land in the Land Rush of 1889. Within hours the cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie are formed with populations of at least 10,000.
June 3 » The first long-distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, running 14 miles (23km) between a generator at Willamette Falls and downtown Portland, Oregon.
September 28 » The General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) defines the length of a meter.
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.
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 3 » Frances P. Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, become the first mother and son to serve simultaneously in the U.S. Congress.
January 5 » The play Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett receives its première in Paris.
April 27 » Operation Moolah offers $50,000 to any pilot who defected with a fully mission-capable Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 to South Korea. The first pilot was to receive $100,000.
July 26 » Cold War: Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution. The movement took the name of the date: 26th of July Movement
September 13 » Nikita Khrushchev is appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
October 1 » A Mutual Defense Treaty Between the United States and the Republic of Korea is concluded in Washington, D.C.
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 26, 2026), "Jacobus Johannes van Niekerk (1889-1953)".
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