May 26 » Dracula, a Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, is published.
July 11 » Salomon August Andrée leaves Spitsbergen to attempt to reach the North Pole by balloon. He later crashes and dies.
August 31 » Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector.
September 1 » The Tremont Street Subway in Boston opens, becoming the first underground rapid transit system in North America.
September 11 » After months of pursuit, generals of Menelik II of Ethiopia capture Gaki Sherocho, the last king of Kaffa, bringing an end to that ancient kingdom.
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.
Day of marriage January 17, 1917
The temperature on January 17, 1917 was between -0.6 °C and 0.7 °C and averaged 0.4 °C. There was 3.8 mm of rain. The average windspeed was 4 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the north. Source: KNMI
In The Netherlands , there was from August 29, 1913 to September 9, 1918 the cabinet Cort van der Linden, with Mr. P.W.A. Cort van der Linden (liberaal) as prime minister.
April 16 » Vladimir Lenin returns to Petrograd, Russia, from exile in Switzerland.
June 13 » World War I: The deadliest German air raid on London of the war is carried out by Gotha G.IV bombers and results in 162 deaths, including 46 children, and 432 injuries.
June 26 » World War I: The American Expeditionary Forces begin to arrive in France. They will first enter combat four months later.
November 28 » The Estonian Provincial Assembly declares itself the sovereign power of Estonia.
December 6 » Finland declares independence from Soviet Russia.
December 6 » World War I: USSJacob Jones is the first American destroyer to be sunk by enemy action when it is torpedoed by German submarine SMU-53.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Leo Witkamp, "Family tree Witkamp", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-witkamp/I0442.php : accessed February 28, 2026), "Theodorus Jacobus Van der (Theodorus Jacobus) Laan (1897-????)".
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