January 2 » American statesman and diplomat John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
February 6 » The Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international arbitration court at The Hague, is created when the Senate of the Netherlands ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.
February 28 » The Second Boer War: The 118-day "Siege of Ladysmith" is lifted.
March 24 » Mayor of New York City Robert Anderson Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.
May 17 » The children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, is first published in the United States. The first copy is given to the author's sister.
November 7 » Second Boer War: Battle of Leliefontein, a battle during which the Royal Canadian Dragoons win three Victoria Crosses.
Day of death February 23, 1985
The temperature on February 23, 1985 was between -0.9 °C and 4.0 °C and averaged 2.0 °C. There was 0.4 mm of rain during 2.0 hours. The almost completely overcast was. The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the southwest. Source: KNMI
In The Netherlands , there was from Thursday, November 4, 1982 to Monday, July 14, 1986 the cabinet Lubbers I, with Drs. R.F.M. Lubbers (CDA) as prime minister.
January 7 » Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launches Sakigake, Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the United States or the Soviet Union.
February 5 » Ugo Vetere, then the mayor of Rome, and Chedli Klibi, then the mayor of Carthage meet in Tunis to sign a treaty of friendship officially ending the Third Punic War which lasted 2,131 years.
February 28 » The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers in the highest loss of life for the RUC on a single day.
June 17 » Space Shuttle program: STS-51-G mission: Space Shuttle Discovery launches carrying Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as a payload specialist.
November 19 » Police in Baling, Malaysia, lay siege to houses occupied by an Islamic sect of about 400 people led by Ibrahim Mahmud.
November 21 » United States Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard is arrested for spying after being caught giving Israel classified information on Arab nations. He is subsequently sentenced to life in prison.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Harry Westerman, "Family tree Westerman", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-westerman/X635.php : accessed January 21, 2026), "Grietje Scheepstra (1900-1985)".
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.