January 10 » The first great Texas oil gusher is discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas.
July 4 » William Howard Taft becomes American governor of the Philippines.
September 14 » U.S. President William McKinley dies after being mortally wounded on September 6 by anarchist Leon Czolgosz and is succeeded by Vice President Theodore Roosevelt.
September 17 » Second Boer War: A Boer column defeats a British force at the Battle of Blood River Poort.
November 27 » The U.S. Army War College is established.
December 10 » The first Nobel Prize ceremony is held in Stockholm on the fifth anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.
Christening day February 15, 1903
The temperature on February 15, 1903 was between -0.1 °C and 7.9 °C and averaged 4.9 °C. There was 0.9 hours of sunshine (9%). Source: KNMI
February 14 » The United States Department of Commerce and Labor is established (later split into the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor).
June 11 » A group of Serbian officers stormed the royal palace and assassinated King Alexander Obrenović and his wife, Queen Draga.
October 6 » The High Court of Australia sits for the first time.
October 31 » The Purdue Wreck, a railroad train collision in Indianapolis, kills 17 people, including 14 players of the Purdue University football team.
December 14 » The Wright brothers make their first attempt to fly with the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
December 30 » A fire at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago, Illinois kills at least 605.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Gert Esterhuizen, "Family tree Eric Esterhuizen", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-eric-esterhuizen/I15043.php : accessed March 13, 2026), "Gerhardus Petrus Nicolaas PRETORIUS (1901-)".
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