Johann Peter Friedrich Dicke moved to The Netherlands

Johann Peter Friedrich Dicke was born on 20 April 1796 in Wesel in Germany as son of Matthias Dicke and Catharina Kemper. Johann had an elder brother Wilhelm Herman Dicke, who was born in August 1783 in Wesel. Wilhelm - now Willem - married Petronella van Dockum (1780-1860) on 25 November 1812 in Rotterdam. They are the parents of Jacob Matthijs Dicke (1819-1888) and Peter Willem Dicke (1822-1886).

Marketplace in Wesel

In 1815 master carpenter Johann Peter Dicke joined the volunteer hunter detachment established in Wesel. He fully equipped himself at his own expense, and participated in a campaign against France.

Wesel, 30 mei 1823: 

“Dass den hiesige Johann Peter Dicke, geboren am 20. April 1796, bei den in 1815 hier errichteten freiwilligen Jäger-Detachement eingetreten ist, sich auf eigene Kosten vollständig ausgerüstet und den Feldzug gegen Frankreich mitgemacht hat, wird hiermit auf den Grund der rathäusslichen Akten attestiert.”

Matthias Dicke, the father of both Johann and Willem, died in Wesel on 29 October 1818.
By 1823, Johann Peter Friedrich Dicke was 27 years old, and living in Dordrecht, Holland. There, on 17 September 1823, Johann married 32-year-old Diderica Alida van Droogen. She was born in Gorinchem, Holland, but now living in Rotterdam. Her parents and grandparents had all died.

Dordrecht, 17 sept. 1823: 

- Johann Peter Friedrich Dicke, 27 jaar, geboren en onlangs gewoond hebbende te Wesel, thans wonende te Dordrecht, zoon van Matthias Dicke, overleden te Wesel op 29 okt. 1818, en Catharina Kemper, 63 jaar, trouwt met
- Diderica Alida van Drogen, 32 jaar, geboren te Gorinchem en wonende te Rotterdam, dochter van Jacobus van Drogen en Neeltje van den Berg, beiden overleden, en kleindochter van Albertus van Drogen en Dirkje Ladder en Leendert van den Berg en Alida Klein, allen overleden. 

Johann and Diderica had 2 daughters: Mathilda Catharina Dicke (1828-1850) and Diderika Johanna Dicke (1829-1882). In 1861 Diderika Johanna married Rudolph Römer who originated in Orsoy in Germany. They had four children who would later marry.

Longevity ~ Aaltje Brand (94) survived her siblings

Aaltje Brand was born in Enkhuizen, Holland, on 8 March 1832. Her parents are fisherman Bote Brand (1800-1888) and his first wife Geesje Fasol. Bote and his wife married on 1 April 1824 in Enkhuizen. They had more children, including Jan Brand (1830-1923) and Klaas Brand (1839-1933) who both reached the age of 93.
When Aaltje Brand was 15 years old, her mother Geesje Fasol died at the age of 50 on January 21, 1848, in Brielle, Holland. Her father, Bote Brand, remarried on July 31, 1852, in Brielle to Maritje Kramer (1813-1891) who originated from Enkhuizen, too. Bote Brand died in Brielle on April 30, 1888, at the respectable age of 87.

Enkhuizen as painted by C. Springer

At the age of just 20, on 25 March 1852, Aaltje Brand married 20-year-old sailor Jacob van der Schilt. Jacob was born on 9 September 1831 in Brielle as son of Jan van der Schild and his wife Amarensje van der Kraan.
The marriage of Aaltje and Jacob van der Schilt remained childless. For some years a niece lived with Aaltje and her husband. Her name is Aaltje Jacoba van Noord. She was born in Brielle on 22 May 1863 as daughter of steersman Pieter van Noord (1830-1907) and his wife Fijtje Brand (1827-1899), Aaltje's sister. In 1884 Aaltje Jacoba married Johannes Arnoldus Pols, and had issue. Aaltje Jacoba van Noord died in Dordrecht on 28 January 1946, aged 82.

At the age of 77, Jacob van der Schilt died on New Years Day 1909 in Brielle. His widow Aaltje Brand lived for another 18 years. She died in Dordrecht on 20 January 1927 around 11 AM. Aaltje Brand was 94 years and 10 months old.

Aaltje Brand died at the age of 94 on 30 January 1927 in Dordrecht 

Sources: WieWasWie.nl, StreekarchiefVP.nl, WestFriesArchief.nl.

Jan Witvliet (1846-78) and his son Jan Cornelis Witvliet (1872-99)

Jan Cornelis Witvliet was born in Middelharnis, Holland, on 26 March 1872. His parents are Neeltje van Tol and Jan Witvliet. Father Jan was born on 7 February 1846 in Middelharnis as son of Mattheus Witvliet (1821-1884) and his wife Jannetje de Bloeme (1823-1892).
Jan Cornelis had siblings named Mattheus, Adriaantje and Arend Witvliet. These children's father, Jan Witvliet, at the young age of 32, on 21 June 1878 in Rotterdam, when Jan Cornelis was 6 years old. Neeltje van Tol was a widow at the age of 32.

On 25 February 1880 in Rotterdam Neeltje van Tol remarried. The groom was 30-year-old Richard Ernst Sylvester Schneider. He was born on 31 December 1849 in Frankfurt an der Oder in Germany. His parents are Ernst Carl Schneider and Rozalie Emilie Friederike Messer. Thus, 7-year old Jan Cornelis Witvliet and his siblings had a stepfather.

As an adult, Jan Cornelis Witvliet was a stoker, tending the fire for the running of the steam engine of a ship. He married Antje Groenewoud on 27 December 1894 in Rotterdam. The bride was born on 14 December 1866 in Amsterdam as daughter of Johannes Wilhelmus Groenewoud and Lijsje Beth.

Jan Cornelis Witvliet and his wife Antje had a son Richard Ernst Silvester Witvliet, born on 29 March 1896 in Amsterdam. The baby was named after his father's stepfather. Another son, Johannes Wilhelmus Witvliet, was born in Rotterdam on 28 March 1898.

Dutch translation of the death certificate of Jan Cornelis Witvliet as registered on 7 July 1899 in Rotterdam

Jan Cornelis Witvliet died on 24 June 1899, between 12 and 1 o'clock in the morning, on the River Rhine near Mainz in Germany. His stepfather, Richard Ernst Silvester Schneider died, at the age of 53, on 22 November 1903 in Rotterdam. His widow, Antje Groenewoud, died in Amsterdam in August 1941, at the age of 74.
Her eldest son, Richard Ernst Silvester Witvliet, married Maria Margaretha Farber, and emigrated to South-Africa. They had a son named Boudewijn Egbert Richard Witvliet.

Sources: WieWasWie.nl, StadsArchief.Rotterdam.nl, Archief.Amsterdam website, Delpher.nl.

Surname Saturday ~ Brand

Amongst my ancestors I have two distinct families with the surname Brand. Those ancestors and their surname originate in the Alblasserwaard in South-Holland. Slices of land in the region of the village of Brandwijk were known as “Brande weren”, so their family name may refer to that specific area in the Alblasserwaard.

Pieter Klootwijk &
his wife Adriana Brand

One of my great-grandmothers, Adriana Brand (1880-1965), married Pieter Klootwijk (1875-1964) and was known to her grandchildren - including my father - as “Opoe Klootwijk”. Her male-line ancestors - including her father Genis Brand (1857-1930) - lived in Dubbeldam, South-Holland. They descend from 17th-cenutry ancestor Willem Dirksz Brand who originated in Bleskensgraaf in the Alblasserwaard, also in South-Holland.
Adriana Brand had the same name as her mother-in-law. The elder Adriana Brand (1845-1880) was the wife of Samuel Klootwijk (1835-1912) and mother of Pieter. This Adriana Brand originated in Wieldrecht, just south of Dubbeldam. She belonged to a family of millers. Her male-line ancestor Jacob Jillisse Brand (1743-1796) moved to Wieldrecht to become a miller. Jacob was baptised in Hardinxveld in South-Holland, but his father, Jillis Jacobsen Brand, was baptised in Bleskensgraaf on 1 December 1697.
Although members of both these two Brand families lived in Bleskensgraaf, the different first names in both families suggest that they were two distinct families. Approximately 6,400 Dutch people bear the surname Brand.

Worldwide, approximately 200,000 people bear the surname Brand. This family name has its highest density in Montserrat in the Caribbean, but is most prevalent in Germany with over 26,000 people named Brand. The USA and South-Africa, too, have more inhabitants named Brand than The Netherlands. The fifth place is for England, followed by Australia, Colombia, France, Switzerland and Brazil. 

Brand surname distribution map

Sources: Forebears.io, Familienamen.net, CBGFamilienamen.nl.