Longevity ~ Willem Koomans reached the age of 99

Willem Koomans was born on May 8, 1818, in Rotterdam, Holland. His father was Huibert Koomans (1789-1856), who was a son of Nicolaas Koomans and the second of Nicolaas' four wives, Maaijke Maris (1765-1802). Willem's mother, Adriana Petronella Spanjaart (1784-1875), was to reach the age of 91.

After his graduation in Rotterdam, Willem Koomans worked as a doctor in Fijnaart, Brabant, The Netherlands. Next he moved to Leiderdorp, then to Abcoude, both in Holland. He stopped exercising his profession at the age of 71.
Willem Koomans married twice. His first wife was Aagje Fontijn (†1849) who originated in Mijdrecht. They had a daughter Adriana Petronella who traveled to Indonesia.
Willem's second wife was Alida Jannetta Vermeer from Amsterdam whom he married in 1851. They had additional children before she died in Abcoude in the Spring of 1890. 

In May 1916 Willem Koomans (98) had been a physician for 75 years. By then he was known as "De Oude Koomans" ("The Old Koomans"). Willem Koomans died on August 10, 1917, in Abcoude-Baambrugge, aged 99 years and 3 months.

De Grondwet, 5-12-1916

Algemeen Handelsblad, 11-8-1917

For more information on this Koomans family see genealogical magazine "De Nederlandse Leeuw", 1936.
Sources: Delpher Newspapers, WestBrabantsArchief.nl, WieWasWie.nl.

5th Blogiversary - Interesting Blog Posts

On January 17, 2013, I published my 1st post for this blog, so today is my 5th blogiversary !

In those years January 2014 and November 2017 ware the months with the most posts (4). 
The most common surnames among my known ancestors are Van Driel, Oerlemans, Spruijt, Brand and Bos. On this blog the most common surnames in my posts are Bos and De Jong, the surnames of my parents. My ancestors with the most children are Cornelis Bos (1813-1888) and Otto van Driel (1756-1832); both had 17 children with 2 wives. In the 17th century Arij Peijnsz. Hogerwaert and his wife Trijntje Willems had 16 children together. 
Ancestors Gerrit Korver and Neeltjen 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".

To celebrate this 5-year milestone, I've compiled - in addition to the statistics above - a list featuring interesting genealogy posts from this and other blogs.

Tips & Tricks

• Dutch Genealogy Research Tips
• Sources for images to illustrate your Dutch family tree
• Dutch Naming Traditions
• How to Find Your Dutch Ancestor’s Occupation
• The Netherlands Links at Cindi's List
• Check for improbable dates
• Add an image to your blog post
• Find relevant genealogy results in Google by using key search commands
• Tips for finding Brick-Wall Ancestors
• Mind the Chronology of a Population Register
• Blogging Tips for Newbies and Veterans
• Checklist for starting Research in the Country of Origin

Black Sheep

• Tonnis Willinck was shot near Winterwijk around 1593  
• In 1668 Antoine Gaboury was found guilty of attempted rape
• Elisabeth Maria Comans was locked up in 1785 in Dordrecht
• Joannes Abeel, "an alleged lunatic" in 18th-century Albany
• Scottish Asylum Archives and more on Scottish ‘Lunatics’
• John Dove (†1878), Jacob Shelton's murderer
• Philip Wyatt (†1892) and his 3 Elizabeths
• John Carter (†1893) was hanged for murdering his 3rd wife Rhoda Titcombe
• Historical U.S. Prison Records Online
• Prisons, Prisoners & Outlaws (Cindi's List)
• Dutch Prison Records

Madness Monday - Elisabeth Maria Comans was locked up in 1785

Markus Harting (1715-93), husband of Maria Godefrida Comans*, had his sister-in-law, the widowed Elisabeth Maria Bogaart-Comans, locked up for 6 years in the 2nd class of the lunatic asylum in Dordrecht, South Holland.
Markus Harting paid ƒ130 for her upkeep, an additional ƒ10 for bed linen, and agreed to pay additional bills. Elisabeth Maria was taken in on November 10, 1785. She was finally able to leave the asylum on November 4, 1791.

On September 17, 1732, in the St. Lambertus Church in Wouw, Brabant, The Netherlands, Govert Quintijn Comans was married to Willemina Pieternella Kien. Govert Quintijn was born in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, and he was a soldier. Elisabeth Maria Comans was the couple's eldest child; she was born on March 29, 1733, in Bergen op Zoom. She was married to Johannes Bogaart on June 28, 1755, in Leiden, Holland.

* Markus Harting and his wife were parents of Amarentia Wilhelmina Harting (1756-1801). This "Ammetje" Harting was married on 18-7-1779 in The Hague to Jan Pieter (1751-1836), Count of Suchtelen, and a militair engineer:

Sources: "Register van geconfineerden in het Stads Krankzinnig en Beterhuis binnen Dordregt voor wie kostgeld wordt betaald 1761-1804 door E. van Dooremalen", www.dordrechtmonumenteel.nl/, http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/, De Navorscher, 1891.

Leendert Arend Jan Bos (1918-43) and the Burma Railway

Leendert Arend Jan Bos was born on October 21, 1918, in Klaaswaal in Holland. Klaaswaal is located in the area where my Bos ancestors have lived through the ages, but Bos is a common name in The Netherlands, and I have no clue who his parents were. Leendert could be either a distant relative, or no relation at all. His mother's surname was Dirkje and she lived at the Oud Kromstrijensedijk in Klaaswaal.

Japanese internment card 

During the war, when he was in his 20s, Leendert was an airplane mechanic in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL). On March 9, 1942, Leendert was captured by the Japanese. He was interned in a Java Pow Camp on August 15, 1942. In 1943 Leendert was forced to work on the Burma Railway. Begun in October 1942 and completed on 16 October 1943, the Burma Railway stretched 415 kilometres between Nong Pladuk in Thailand and Thanbyuzayat in Burma (now Myanmar). It was built by order of Japan during World War II to support its forces in the Burma campaign. 
  

The terrain the railway crossed made its construction very difficult. Hellfire Pass in the Tenasserim Hills was a particularly difficult section of the line to build due to it being the largest rock cutting on the railway, coupled with its general remoteness and the lack of proper construction tools during building. The most famous portion of the railway is Bridge 277, 'the bridge over the River Kwai', which was built over a stretch of river.

About 180,000 Asian labourers and 60,000 Allied prisoners of war (POWs) worked on the Burma Railway. Of these, around 90,000 Asian labourers and 16,000 Allied POWs died as a direct result of the project. The dead POWs included 6,318 British personnel, 2,815 Australians, 2,490 Dutch, about 356 Americans and a smaller number of Canadians and New Zealanders.

One of them was Leendert Arend Jan Bos. He fell ill on March 21, 1943, and died on June 19, 1943, around 15:00 in a hospital in the Thai POW Camp at Tha Makham Village in Kanchanaburi County in Thailand. He had suffered from beri-beri due to a vitamin B1 shortage. Leendert Bos is buried on the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery. 

Nieuwsblad voor de Hoeksche Waard en IJselmonde, 9-10-1945

See also: GaHetNa.nl, The Building of Hellfire Pass, erelijst.nl, 4en5mei.nl, Delpher.nl, NationaalArchief.nl.

Cornelis Oerlemans (1755-1779) perished in Asia ~ Mariner Monday

On January 6, 1779, 24-year-old Cornelis Oerlemans boarded the ship “Zeeploeg” as accountant for the administration of goods, wages and food for the Dutch East India Company (V.O.C.). The ship had been build in 1777 at the company’s yard in Amsterdam. Its skipper was Jan Stil. A long-distance voyage was hard on the health of a sailing ship’s crew. During the first 2-3 months of the voyage newcomers aboard usually developed scurvy due to a lack of vitamin C.
After a voyage of 3½ months at sea, the ship and crew arrived at the Cape of Good Hoop in South-Africa on April 24, 1779. They resumed their voyage at May 6, arriving at Batavia (nowadays Jakarta) in Indonesia on June 30, 1779.
Cornelis Oerlemans remained in Asia where he died within 6 months on December 21, 1779. Four days earlier the ship “Zeeploeg” had been wrecked and the whole crew drowned.

Cornelis Oerlemans was baptized on April 20, 1755, in Sprang, Brabant, The Netherlands, as the eldest child of Govert Oerlemans (1719-1791) and his first wife, IJda de Grandt (1730-1778). Cornelis had 2 younger sisters, Clasina Elizabeth Oerlemans (1759-1817) and Bernardina Cornelia Oerlemans (1762-1833). His father, Govert Oerlemans, was remarried in 1786 in Sprang to Engelina Vos. As a widow she was remarried in 1792 to Johannes Josephus de Wilde and had a daughter Helena Elisabeth de Wilde (1797-1867).

On November 24, 1795, Cornelis’ salary was finally paid to his heirs: his stepmother and his two sisters.
< Bronnen: salha.nl, bhic.nl, F. de Jonge: Oerlemans, A.C.M. Gouverneur: Sprang huwelijken 1611-1811.