January 18 » An X-ray generating machine is exhibited for the first time by H. L. Smith.
March 1 » Henri Becquerel discovers radioactive decay.
May 18 » Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II results in the deaths of 1,389 people.
June 15 » The deadliest tsunami in Japan's history kills more than 22,000 people.
November 1 » A picture showing the bare breasts of a woman appears in National Geographic magazine for the first time.
December 30 » Canadian ice hockey player Ernie McLea scores the first hat-trick in Stanley Cup play, and the Cup-winning goal as the Montreal Victorias defeat the Winnipeg Victorias 6–5.
Christening day June 6, 1897
The temperature on June 6, 1897 was about 15.5 °C. The airpressure was 76 cm mercury. The atmospheric humidity was 63%. Source: KNMI
January 31 » Czechoslav Trade Union Association is founded in Prague.
June 16 » A treaty annexing the Republic of Hawaii to the United States is signed; the Republic would not be dissolved until a year later.
June 22 » British colonial officers Charles Walter Rand and Lt. Charles Egerton Ayerst are assassinated in Pune, Maharashtra, India by the Chapekar brothers and Mahadeo Vinayak Ranade, who are later caught and hanged.
August 31 » Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector.
September 12 » Tirah Campaign: In the Battle of Saragarhi, ten thousand Pashtun tribesmen suffer several hundred casualties while attacking 21 Sikh soldiers in British service.
November 1 » The first Library of Congress building opens its doors to the public; the library had previously been housed in the Congressional Reading Room in the U.S. Capitol.
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/I15257.php : accessed January 20, 2026), "Jan Hendrik PRETORIUS (1896-????)".
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