It's my 12th Blogiversary!

On  17 January 2013   I published my 1st post for this blog,  so  today is my  12th   blogiversary !

My genealogy research file contains ancestors from January 2003 onwards. Those are ancestors of my father's mother, so I must have started my research even earlier. My paternal ancestors, the Bos family in Cillaarshoek were the ancestors I started with.
My ancestors with the most children are Otto van Driel (1756-1832) and my male-line ancestor Cornelis Bos (1813-1888): both had 17 children with 2 wives. In the 17th century Arij Peijnsz. Hogerwaert and his wife Trijntje Willems had 16 children together.
The couple Gerrit Korver and Neeltje Bloet (±1640-1727) were married for over 66 years. When my ancestor Jan Pieterse Vasen died on 11-8-1702 in Ottoland, Holland, he was "around 100 years old and had been blind for 3 or 4 years".

My favourite blog posts of my own ancestors are:

1. Arie de Sterke (1796-1892) fought in Russia and at Waterloo
2. Thomas Brullee's Whaling Expeditions of 1687 and 1712
3. Bos is a common name in The Netherlands

Tips & Tricks

These are some tips and tricks for researching ancestors.

• Genealogy in The Netherlands
• Dutch Sources for Genealogy
• The Netherlands Links at Cindi's List
• Dutch Naming Traditions by Yvette
• How to Find Your Dutch Ancestor’s Occupation by Yvette
• Genealogy in Europe
• Passenger lists of the Holland-America Line
• Extracts of emigration cards of Dutch people in Australia 1946-1991
  
• Checklist for starting Research in the Country of Origin by Yvette
• Find East European Ancestors Online by Geoff
• Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives feature immigration records and maritime history
• Scottish BMD Exchange for researching Scottish ancestry
  
• Search for Napoleon's Soldiers
  
• Illustrations for Genealogy
• Add an image to your blog post
• The location of Blogger's Photo Albums
  
• Sources for images to illustrate your family tree by Yvette
• Improve your research
• Check for improbable dates
• Was your ancestor married more than once?
• Don't be afraid to question 3rd-party publications
  
• Tips for finding Brick-Wall Ancestors
• Additional Tips
• DNA and Inheritance explained by Marc 
• Find relevant genealogy results in Google by using key search commands by Marian 
• Mind the Chronology of a Population Register
• Searching for soldiers fighting for the Dutch Republic 1595-1795
  
• Marriage Impediments for Catholics
• Latin Abbreviations when doing Genealogy

Ancestors of Willem van der Linden (1843-1903) of Pella

As a young child Willem van der Linden arrived with his parents in the USA in 1847. He was born on 14 June 1843 in 's-Gravendeel, Holland, as a younger son of Jan van der Linden and Lijpje Moret. In Lake Prairie his youngest sister Maria Aaltje (1851-1918) was born.

De volksvriend, 12-11-1903

On 9 June 1867 Willem - also known as William - married Jenneke Kolenbrander (1848-1928). They spent their early married life on a farm to the south of Amsterdam. In 1877 Willem moved his family to Pella.
Jenneke gave birth to 9 children, but 3 sons died young. Their surviving children were named Johan, Marinus, Herman, Lizzie, Jennie and Minnie.

Willem van der Linden was Secretary of the Board of Education for a number of years. In later years he engaged in the banking business, and became President of the Security Bank of Pella. He still held that position at the time of his death on 9 November 1903, at about 11:50 a.m. Willem had been in poor health for several months. The funeral services were held on the 11th at 2 o'clock in the Second Reformed Church. His widow Jenneke was severely prostrated by his death.

These are his ancestors:

2. Jan van der Linden was born on 26 April, and baptised on 12-5-1811 in Dubbeldam, Holland.  Jan died on 11-10-1895 in Pella, Iowa, USA, aged 84. Jan married in 's-Gravendeel, Holland, on 5-2-1834
3. Lijpje Moret was born on 30-5-1813 in ’s-Gravendeel. Lijpje died on 10-01-1895 in Pella, Iowa, USA, aged 81 jaar.
4. Willem van der Linden was born on the 5th, and baptised on 15-8-1773 in Dubbeldam. Willem  died, only 48 years old, in Dordrecht on 20-5-1822. Willem married in 's-Gravendeel on 27-8-1797
5. Maaike Kleinjan was born around 1775 in ’s-Gravendeel. Maaike died in Dordrecht op 24-12-1822 in Dordrecht.
6. Leendert Moret was born around 1784 in ’s-Gravendeel. Leendert died on 20-3-1865 in ’s-Gravendeel. Leendert married his second wife Aaltje Franse van der Giessen (±1788-1864) n 2-5-1825 in ’s-Gravendeel. Leendert married his first wife in 's-Gravendeel on 20-7-1810
7. Maria Snijders was born around 1787 in ’s-Gravendeel. Maria died there on 6-12-1823, aged 36.
8. Willem Hendriksz van der Linden was baptised on 14-4-1745 in Dubbeldam. Willem died in his 20s around 1773. Willem married on 30-4-1769 in Dubbeldam 
9. Sijtje (“Sijgie”) Adriaanzen Molendijk was baptised on 30-1-1746 in Dubbeldam. Sijgie married secondly on 6-8-1775 in Dubbeldam  Anthonie Bastiaansz in ’t Veld (1754-1811). Her death, at the young age of 33, was registered on 31-12-1779 in Dubbeldam.
10. Aart Kleinjan married  

    

    Willem van der Linden
    (1847-1903)

11. Adriaantje van Ham.
12. Cornelis Leenderts Moret was either born or baptised on 12-8-1754 in ’s-Gravendeel. Cornelis died there on 24-6-1820 around 20:00 at the age of 65. He married around 1780 
13. Elisabeth (“Lijpje”) van Rossum died on 25-11-1809 in ’s-Gravendeel. 
14. Teunis Snijders, was born around 1754. He died on 12-3-1825 in ’s-Gravendeel. He married
15. Geertruij Noteboom died on 19-12-1823 in ’s-Gravendeel.
16. Hendrik Jansz van der Linden was baptised on 13-11-1709 in Numansdorp with his twinbrother Jan who died the next month. Hendrik's death was registered on 4-10-1793 in Dubbeldam. Hendrik married there on 16-3-1743
17. Marijke (“Marijtje”) Willemsen Molendijk was baptised on 8-12-1709 in Dubbeldam.  Marijtje's death was registered on 12-12-1750 in Dubbeldam. 
18. Adriaan Cornelisz Molendijk was baptised on 8-4-1703 in Dubbeldam. Adriaan's death, at the age of 70, was registered on 15-11-1773 in Dubbeldam. Adriaan married there on 10-10-1734 
19. Luijcksje Willemsen Molendijk was born on 24-1-1712 in Dubbeldam. Luijcksje died there on 16-9-1793, and was buried on the 20th. 
20. Floris Dirksen Kleinjan was born around 1715 in ’s-Gravendeel. Floris's burial was registered on 16-9-1783 in ’s-Gravendeel. Floris married around 1775 his second wife Arjaantje Willems Molendijk (1714-1794). She was widow of Pieter de Zeeuw (±1715-1770) and sister of Luijcksje (nr. 19). Floris married his first wife around 1740 
21. Maaike Aarts van der Wulp was baptised on 25-4-1717 in Puttershoek. Maaike died around 1775.

Ancestor Score Completeness Statistics - 2025

Geneanet defines the Ancestor Score as 

“comparing the number of possible ancestors with 

the number of identified ancestors on a 10-generation report”. 

Inspired by the Ancestor Score - or “Completeness Statistics” - of other blogs, and GeneaNet's definition above, I generated my first one in February 2016. Since then I haven't just been able to linearly increase my known ancestors. Instead, I had to remove a whole line of wrong ancestors in 2018. Since then I've managed to add new ancestors - mostly thanks to publications by others about people who were living before 1700. Published transcriptions also helped to find additional ancestors.

Currently, I have identified 5700 different ancestors.

Composition and Bandwidth of various Generations
Gen	Composition												Bandwidth **
	Men	Wom.	Total	% 2025	% 2024	% 2023	% 2022	% 2021	% 2020	% 2019	% 2018*	% 2016	From	Until
G 3	2	2	4	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	1892	1906
G 4	4	4	8	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	1850	1880
G 5	8	8	16	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	1804	1857
G 6	16	16	32	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	1756	1832
G 7	30	30	60	93,8	93.8	93.8	93.8	93.8	93.8	93.8	93.8	93.8	1724	1802
G 8	59	59	118	92.2	92.2	92.2	92.2	92.2	92.2	92.2	92.2	90.6	1680	1777
G 9	114	113	227	88.7	88.7	88.7	88.7	88.7	88.7	88.7	88.3	86.7	1645	1749
G 10	208	202	410	80.1	79.9	79.9	79.9	79.7	79.7	79.5	78.7	76.4	1600	1722
G 11	344	318	662	64.7	64.5	64.5	64.4	62.4	61.8	61.2	60.8	57.0	1560	1695
G 12	454	394	848	41.4	41.4	41.0	41.0	39.0	38.4	37.6	37.3	33.8	1510	1666
G 13	491	373	864	21.1	21.0	20.8	20.6	19.0	18.7	18.1	17.9	15.7	1505	1645
G 14	451	313	764	9.3	9.3	9.2	9.0	7.6	7.3	7.0	7.1	6.1	1440	1625
G 15	346	225	571	3.5	3.4	3.3	3.2	2.5	2.3	2.0	2.0	1.6	1440	1580
G 16	216	128	344	1.1	1.0	1.0	1.0	0.7	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.5	1395	1540
G 17	120	64	184	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1	1365	1510
G 18	77	41	118	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.0	1335	1470

     *) The years 2016, 2019 and 2020 feature an ancestor score of February, 2018 has an August score, 2021 and 2022 have a January score.

   **) The Bandwidth of a generation is determined by the earliest and latest known birth or baptism date within that generation.

   ***) I have many ancestors in places like Sint Anthoniepolder, 's-Gravendeel, Wieldrecht and Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, where pre-1800 baptism records are (mostly) missing.

Further Reading: Geneanet's Ancestor Score Definition, Equivalent Complete Generations, Identical Ancestors Point, Coefficient Of Relationship, Gender Ration, Completeness Index.

Longevity ~ Arie Bras (1865-1959) of Almkerk in the USA

Arie Bras was born on 11 July 1865 in Almkerk, Brabant, The Netherlands. His parents are Arie Bras (1822-1901) and Wilhelmina Kamerman (1826-1892). His grandfather Leendert Bras (1793-1862) was a labourer, miller and innkeeper in Almkerk. Leendert's wife, Sijke van Drunen (1797-1874), is a direct-line descendant of my ancestor Michiel Hendrikse van Drunen, who lived around 1700 in Giessen in Brabant.
Arie Bras had many siblings, but several of them died young. Arie's elder brother Teunis Bras died on 11 February 1884, aged 24. Their siblings Sijke, Willemina and Leendert reached adulthood, too.

On 9 May 1890 in Almkerk, Arie Bras married Helena van der Heijden. She was born in Dussen in Brabant on 23 October 1868 as a younger daughter of Jan van der Heijden and his wife Cornelia Verhoeven. Arie's daughter Cornelia Bras was born on 9 February 1891 in Almkerk. She may have died young.
Arie Bras and Helena van der Heijden had further children in the USA: Cornelia Wilhelmina (1892-1873), Tunis (1895-1989), Wilhelmena Gertrude (1896-1980), Harry (1900-1974), John (1901-1993) and Helena (1908-1994). Arie's eldest son was born in South Holland, Cook County, Illinois, on 25 January 1895, and he seems to have named him Tunis after his elder brother who had died at the age of 24.

Arie's wife, Helena, died at the age of 75 on 28 March 1944 in Ganeer Township, Kankakee County, Illinois. Her widower Arie Bras died there on 19 June 1959 at the age of 93. He had survived his wife by 15 years. Arie was buried at the Kankakee Memorial Gardens. Arie's son Tunis Bras was born on 25 January 1895 in South Holland, Cook County, Illinois. He was 94 years old when he died on 28 July 1989 in Sibley, Osceola County, Iowa.