February 22 » President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.
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.
July 8 » The first issue of The Wall Street Journal is published.
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 15 » Brazil is declared a republic by Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca as Emperor Pedro II is deposed in a military coup.
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
March 3 » A De Havilland Comet (Canadian Pacific Air Lines) crashes in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 11.
May 25 » The first public television station in the United States officially begins broadcasting as KUHT from the campus of the University of Houston.
June 26 » Lavrentiy Beria, head of MVD, is arrested by Nikita Khrushchev and other members of the Politburo.
August 10 » First Indochina War: The French Union withdraws its forces from Operation Camargue against the Viet Minh in central Vietnam.
August 17 » Addiction: First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous takes place, in Southern California.
December 24 » Tangiwai disaster: In New Zealand's North Island, at Tangiwai, a railway bridge is damaged by a lahar and collapses beneath a passenger train, killing 151 people.
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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