March 2 » United States Steel Corporation is founded as a result of a merger between Carnegie Steel Company and Federal Steel Company which became the first corporation in the world with a market capital over $1 billion.
May 9 » Australia opens its first national parliament in Melbourne.
July 24 » O. Henry is released from prison in Columbus, Ohio, after serving three years for embezzlement from a bank.
August 6 » Kiowa land in Oklahoma is opened for white settlement, effectively dissolving the contiguous reservation.
August 14 » The first claimed powered flight, by Gustave Whitehead in his Number 21.
September 17 » Second Boer War: A Boer column defeats a British force at the Battle of Blood River Poort.
Day of death December 28, 1957
The temperature on December 28, 1957 was between 3.1 °C and 7.9 °C and averaged 6.0 °C. There was 2.7 mm of rain during 3.8 hours. The partly or heavily clouded was. The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the west-southwest. Source: KNMI
January 1 » Lèse majesté in Thailand was strengthened to include "insult" and changed to a crime against national security, after Thai criminal code of 1956 went into effect.
April 5 » In India, Communists win the first elections in united Kerala and E. M. S. Namboodiripad is sworn in as the first Chief Minister.
April 10 » The Suez Canal is reopened for all shipping after being closed for three months.
April 11 » United Kingdom agrees to Singaporean self-rule.
August 5 » American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage "baby-boomers" by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network.
December 20 » The initial production version of the Boeing 707 makes its first flight.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Chris Merricks, "Merricks Tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/merricks-tree/I242298535422.php : accessed February 2, 2026), "Martin Dirk van der Werf (± 1875-1957)".
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