Sisters Pieternella and Peterke van Gammeren

The sisters Pieternella and Peterke van Gammeren were living in the 19th century in an area in Brabant, The Netherlands, with the villages Eethen, Genderen and Heesbeen. Their parents are Cornelis van Gammeren (1769-1845) and his wife Johanna Vos (1791-1869) who were married on 9 December 1814. Johanna is a daughter of Peter Vos and Petronella van Steenhoven.
The couple's eldest daughter was named Catharina after her paternal grandmother. On 5 March 1821 a daughter was born that was named Pieternella after her maternal grandmother. The next daughter was born on 6 July 1823, and named Peterke after her maternal grandfather. However, names like Pieternella, Petronella, Peterke, Pietertje, Pietje and Petra are basically different forms of the same name, a female version of the biblical male name Peter.

Eethen (left), Genderen (middle) and Heesbeen (right)

The first sibling to get married was Catharina van Gammeren (1819-1888) who was married on 27 May 1841. The groom was Gerrit Branderhorst, son of Dirk Branderhorst (1786-1864) and Aletta Antonetta Verdoorn (1786-1885), and a male-line descendant of my ancestor Gerrit Branderhorst (1680-±1749).
Catharina and Gerrit were to have several children, including Cornelis, Johanna, Aletta Antonetta and  Arie Lambert.

Pieternella van Gammeren, the second sibling, was married on 31 March 1843 to Jan Dirk van den Heuvel. He was born on 19 March 1817 in Genderen. His parents are Aletta Branderhorst (1793-1848) and her first husband Cornelis van de Heuvel. Aletta is also a descendant of my ancestor Gerrit Branderhorst.
Pieternella and Jan Dirk were to have 11 children, including Aletta Johanna, Johanna Cornelia, Cornelis, Cornelia Pieternella, Pietertje, Labina, Labinus and Jansje van den Heuvel (1859-1945).

Peterke van Gammeren, the third sibling, was married on 14 February 1845 to Hermen van der Beek. He was born in Waalwijk on 23 December 1816 as son on merchant Cornelis van der Beek and his wife Antonia Branderhorst (1790-1818). Hermen van der Beek died on 1 March 1855, aged 38. His widow was 31 years old, and childless.
Peterke was remarried on 27 March 1856 to 29-year-old Gerrit Branderhorst. He was born on 26 October 1826 as son of Johannis Branderhorst (1789-1865) and Hester Millenaar. Peterke's second father-in-law was a brother of her first mother-in-law. Those siblings Johannis and Antonia Branderhorst are also descendants of my ancestor Gerrit Branderhorst.
Peterke and Gerrit are the parents of Johanna Hester, Johannis Cornelis, Cornelis Johannis, Hester Margaretha, Willem Marius and Petertje Gerritje Branderhorst.

The disappearance of Cornelia Stolk

The Cornelia Stolk in this story was born in Rotterdam on February 23, 1800. She was the second child of Abraham Stolk (1779-1833) and his first wife Cornelia Koppen. She had 6 further siblings, but some of them died young.
At the age of 19, Cornelia Stok was married on May 19, 1819, in Rotterdam to Hendrik Zwartbol. He was the only surviving son of Cornelis Zwartbol and Anna van den Hoek. Hendrik born in Charlois (now part of Rotterdam) on February 8, 1798. His eyes were blue and his hair and eyebrows were brown.
The couple had two daughters, both born in Rotterdam: Johanna Cornelia on October 30, 1819, and Cornelia Hendrika on July 30, 1821. They grew up without a mother.
Relatives and acquaintances mentioned in a statement, drawn up in 1840, that Hendrik Swartbol and Cornelia Stolk had been living together for approximately five years, when Cornelia quietly left their marital home, and has not been seen since.

The eldest daughter, Johanna Cornelia, was heavily pregnant when she married Samuel Stead on September 9, 1840, in Rotterdam. Samuel Stead was a 40-year-old widower, born in Farnley in Great-Britain. Samuel had several children with his first wife Jannetje Verstraten (1804-38).
Just a month after their marriage, Johanna Cornelia gave birth to a daughter Cornelia Antonia Stead on October 12, 1840, in Rotterdam. Samuel Stead died in Rotterdam on December 1, 1841. They had been married for approximately 15 months. On April 14, 1843, in Rotterdam, while still unmarried, Johanna Cornelia Swartbol gave birth to a son named Johannes.

Hendrik Swartbol was working as a third class sailor in the navy, stationed on a ship named "Euridice", located in the port of Flushing, when he died on August 29, 1843. To be able to settle the inheritance of their parents, an ad was placed in 1851 on behalf of the daughters, trying to locate their mother.

Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant (newspaper), 20-12-1851

Lijntje Boer (Puttershoek 1812 - Chicago 1891) married 3 times

Lijntje Boer originated in Puttershoek in Holland, married 3 times and died, aged 79, in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA. This is the story of her life.

Lijntje Boer was born on 7 March 1812 in Puttershoek, Holland. She is the 5th - but eldest (possibly only) surviving - child of Arie Boer (1774-1847) and Hilletje van de Graaf (1782-1849). Lijntje's grandparents are Arie Boertje (1725-1782), Pietertje van Roon (±1734-1778), Johannes van de Graaf (±1754-1830) and Lijntje Blankenaar (1757-1824). They were all living in Puttershoek.

On 29 September 1826 in Puttershoek, Lijntje Boer, aged 24, was married to Kleijs van Kleef. Kleijs was baptised on 5 April 1804 in Dordrecht. His parents are Arij van Kleef (1754-1833) and Maria Valster. Kleijs' elder siblings were baptised in Puttershoek. Lijntje and Kleijs had 4 daughters, but 2 of them died young. Kleij van Kleef died in Puttershoek on 1 May 1844, aged 40. Lijntje's father, Arie Boer, died on 12 January 1847 in Puttershoek, aged 72. Lijntje's mother, Hilletje van de Graaf died there on 25 May 1849, aged 67.

On 30 October 1850 in Puttershoek Lijntje Boer, aged 38, was married to Arij van Driel. Arij was born on 20 January 1817 in Strijen als the eldest surviving son of Gerrit van Driel (1748-1847). Arij's mother is his father's second wife Adriaantje Schaap (1785-1851). Lijntje and Arij had 2 daughters who died young and 2 sons who survived to adulthood.
In 1859 Lijntje's eldest daughter Hilligje van Kleef married Willem de Best (25). In 1865 Lijntje's second daughter Maria van Kleef married Aalbert den Boer (27). They became parents of a daughter Lijntje den Boer on 28 April 1867 in Strijen.

In 1866 Arij van Driel en Lijntje Boer decided to emigrate to the USA and they took their sons Gerrit (14) and Arie (12) with them. Arie died, aged 49, just before arriving in America. As their ship was going down the St. Lawrence River, it stopped at the Île d'Orléans to allow the Van Driel family to bury Arie there. Lijntje and her 2 sons arrived in New York on May 11, 1866.

Married Cousins - Barend (1823-1905) & Aartje (1821-1862) Verkerk

On 7 June 1850 in Ammerstol, Holland, two cousins, Barend Verkerk and Aartje Verkerk, were married. Besides being cousins, they were both illegitimate children, too. Both their mothers had died before they were married, so they had to show their death certificates to be allowed to marry. And that's how I know who their mothers were.

Barend and Aartje Verkerk had 5 children:

1. Geertje (1851-1934) married (1) Leendert van de Werken, and (2) Hugo Walraad.
2. Jan (1853-1872).
3. Pieter (1857-1960) married Arigje de Vries, and died at the age of 103.
4. Gerrit Verkerk (1859-1943) married Aagje Aaldijk (1861-1931), daughter of Klaas Aaldijk (1826-1897) and Neeltje Boers (1829-1903). Aagje is a paternal descendant of my ancestor Adrianus Aaldijk (182-1873).
5. Barend Verkerk (1861-1896) married Arigje Kooij (1866-1913) and they are the parents of Gerrigje Verkerk who travelled to Australia.

Barend Verkerk was born on 28 June 1823 in Ammerstol as an illegitimate son of 30-year-old Geertje Verkerk (1793-1842), while she was in-between 2 marriages. Geertje's 1st marriage with Jakobus de Bruijn (1780-1818) had been childless. She was 2ndly married on 5 December 1824 in Ammerstol to Jan de Jong (1779-1836). With Jan, Geertje had 4 more children: Adriana, Neeltje (twice) and Aart de Jong. 
Barend Verkerk was a little man with a height of around 121 cm. His face and chin were rounded, and his mouth was small. His eyes were blue, his eyebrows were blond, and his head was bald. Because Barend was so small, he did not have to do military service.