February 23 » Émile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing J'Accuse…!, a letter accusing the French government of antisemitism and wrongfully imprisoning Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
April 20 » U.S. President William McKinley signed a joint resolution to Congress for declaration of war against Spain, beginning the Spanish–American War.
July 4 » En route from New York to Le Havre, the SS La Bourgogne collides with another ship and sinks off the coast of Sable Island, with the loss of 549 lives.
August 12 » The Hawaiian flag is lowered from ʻIolani Palace in an elaborate annexation ceremony and replaced with the flag of the United States to signify the transfer of sovereignty from the Republic of Hawaii to the United States.
September 10 » Empress Elisabeth of Austria is assassinated by Luigi Lucheni.
September 18 » The Fashoda Incident triggers the last war scare between Britain and France.
Day of death August 17, 1954
The temperature on August 17, 1954 was between 8.7 °C and 20.7 °C and averaged 15.3 °C. There was 0.1 mm of rain. There was 9.3 hours of sunshine (64%). The partly clouded was. The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the south. Source: KNMI
May 17 » The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, outlawing racial segregation in public schools.
June 18 » Carlos Castillo Armas leads an invasion force across the Guatemalan border, setting in motion the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état.
August 24 » Getúlio Vargas, president of Brazil, commits suicide and is succeeded by João Café Filho.
October 11 » In accord with the 1954 Geneva Conference, French troops complete their withdrawal from North Vietnam.
October 15 » Hurricane Hazel devastates the eastern seaboard of North America, killing 95 and causing massive floods as far north as Toronto.
December 4 » The first Burger King is opened in Miami, Florida.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Randy James Hammock, "RanHam Tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/ranham-tree/P517.php : accessed September 29, 2026), "Ethel Fay Hammock (1898-1954)".
Copy warning
Genealogical publications are copyright protected. Although data is often retrieved from public archives, the searching, interpreting, collecting, selecting and sorting of the data results in a unique product. Copyright protected work may not simply be copied or republished.
Please stick to the following rules
Request permission to copy data or at least inform the author, chances are that the author gives permission, often the contact also leads to more exchange of data.
Do not use this data until you have checked it, preferably at the source (the archives).
State from whom you have copied the data and ideally also his/her original source.