January 13 » Émile Zola's J'accuse…! exposes the Dreyfus affair.
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.
March 16 » In Melbourne the representatives of five colonies adopted a constitution, which would become the basis of the Commonwealth of Australia.
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.
August 11 » Spanish–American War: American troops enter the city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.
August 28 » Caleb Bradham's beverage "Brad's Drink" is renamed "Pepsi-Cola".
Day of death December 23, 1956
The temperature on December 23, 1956 was between -2.7 °C and 3.8 °C and averaged 1.2 °C. There was 5.9 hours of sunshine (76%). The partly clouded was. The average windspeed was 2 Bft (weak wind) and was prevailing from the northeast. Source: KNMI
January 26 » Soviet Union cedes Porkkala back to Finland.
January 28 » Elvis Presley makes his first national television appearance.
April 26 » SSIdeal X, the world's first successful container ship, leaves Port Newark, New Jersey, for Houston, Texas.
November 2 » Suez Crisis: Israel occupies the Gaza Strip.
November 13 » The Supreme Court of the United States declares Alabama laws requiring segregated buses illegal, thus ending the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
December 4 » The Million Dollar Quartet (Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash) get together at Sun Studio for the first and last time.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: Hans Pruckmuller, "Family tree Van Willigen", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/van-willigen-stamboom/I1687.php : accessed January 17, 2026), "Lena Leenheer (1878-1956)".
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