February 15 » The battleship USSMaine explodes and sinks in Havana harbor in Cuba, killing 274. This event leads the United States to declare war on Spain.
June 21 » The United States captures Guam from Spain. The few warning shots fired by the U.S. naval vessels are misinterpreted as salutes by the Spanish garrison, which was unaware that the two nations were at war.
July 4 » En route from New York to Le Havre, the SS La Bourgogne collides with another ship and sinks off the coast of Sable Island, with the loss of 549 lives.
July 8 » The death of crime boss Soapy Smith, killed in the Shootout on Juneau Wharf, releases Skagway, Alaska from his iron grip.
August 12 » The Hawaiian flag is lowered from ʻIolani Palace in an elaborate annexation ceremony and replaced with the flag of the United States to signify the transfer of sovereignty from the Republic of Hawaii to the United States.
December 3 » The Duquesne Country and Athletic Club defeated an all-star collection of early football players 16–0, in what is considered to be the very first all-star game for professional American football.
Day of death February 23, 1953
The temperature on February 23, 1953 was between 6.4 °C and 8.4 °C and averaged 7.3 °C. The almost completely overcast was. The average windspeed was 4 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the west-southwest. Source: KNMI
April 24 » Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
June 8 » The United States Supreme Court rules in District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co. that restaurants in Washington, D.C., cannot refuse to serve black patrons.
July 7 » Ernesto "Che" Guevara sets out on a trip through Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador.
August 12 » The first testing of a real thermonuclear weapon (not test devices): The Soviet atomic bomb project continues with the detonation of "RDS-6s" (Joe 4), the first Soviet thermonuclear bomb.
August 19 » Cold War: The CIA and MI6 help to overthrow the government of Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran and reinstate the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
September 7 » Nikita Khrushchev is elected first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
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/I0761.php : accessed January 21, 2026), "Johannes Paulus van der (Johannes Paulus) Wolk (1877-1953)".
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