April 25 » New York becomes the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates.
August 6 » Kiowa land in Oklahoma is opened for white settlement, effectively dissolving the contiguous reservation.
August 10 » The U.S. Steel recognition strike by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers begins.
September 6 » Leon Czolgosz, an unemployed anarchist, shoots and fatally wounds US President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.
September 17 » Second Boer War: Boers capture a squadron of the 17th Lancers at the Battle of Elands River.
October 24 » Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
Day of death February 24, 1963
The temperature on February 24, 1963 was between -14.1 °C and 1.1 °C and averaged -6.3 °C. There was 8.3 hours of sunshine (79%). The average windspeed was 2 Bft (weak wind) and was prevailing from the northeast. Source: KNMI
May 15 » Project Mercury: The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut Gordon Cooper on board. He becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space, and the last American to go into space alone.
June 17 » The United States Supreme Court rules 8–1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against requiring the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord's Prayer in public schools.
July 7 » Buddhist crisis: The police of Ngô Đình Nhu, brother and chief political adviser of President Ngo Dinh Diem, attacked a group of American journalists who were covering a protest.
July 22 » Crown Colony of Sarawak gains self-governance.
October 18 » Félicette, a black and white female Parisian stray cat becomes the first cat launched into space.
November 29 » U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson establishes the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Wesley Brown, "The Brown Tree", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/the-brown-tree/P7435.php : accessed January 17, 2026), "William "Billy" Thorne (± 1883-1963)".
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