January 28 » The Carnegie Institution of Washington is founded in Washington, D.C. with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie.
April 18 » The 7.5 Mw Guatemala earthquake shakes Guatemala with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing between 800–2,000.
May 8 » In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000 people. Only a handful of residents survive the blast.
June 28 » The U.S. Congress passes the Spooner Act, authorizing President Theodore Roosevelt to acquire rights from Colombia for the Panama Canal.
August 9 » Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark are crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
August 22 » Cadillac Motor Company is founded.
Day of death May 15, 1959
The temperature on May 15, 1959 was between 9.0 °C and 18.4 °C and averaged 13.9 °C. There was 0.1 mm of rain during 0.3 hours. There was 11.0 hours of sunshine (70%). The partly clouded was. The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the north-northeast. Source: KNMI
February 3 » Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson are killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.
February 9 » The R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile, becomes operational at Plesetsk, USSR.
February 17 » Project Vanguard: Vanguard 2: The first weather satellite is launched to measure cloud-cover distribution.
July 29 » First United States Congress elections in Hawaii as a state of the Union.
August 31 » A parcel bomb sent by Ngô Đình Nhu, younger brother and chief adviser of South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm, fails to kill King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.
December 3 » The current flag of Singapore is adopted, six months after Singapore became self-governing within the British Empire.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Kim Scheffelaar, "Family tree Scheffelaar", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-scheffelaar/R192.php : accessed February 23, 2026), "Willem Emil Charles Hendriks (1902-1959)".
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