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27 Feb 2023

Rebecca Kerkenring is the mother of Alida Kok, wife of Johan Hendrik Scheffers of Tecklenburg

Johan Hendrik Scheffers was born in Tecklenburg. His death certificate mentions parents, but the 'mother' mentioned was actually his mother-in-law*, so we don't have a clue about who his German parents were. 

Alida Kok and Johan Hendrik Scheffers were married in 1775 in Rotterdam

Johan Hendrik was living in the Vierwindestraat in Rotterdam when he married Alida Kok on 7 November 1775 in Rotterdam. She was baptised on 7 May 1747 in Rotterdam as daughter of Tieleman Kock and Rebecca Kerkenring who were married on 22 May 1741 in Rotterdam. The witness at Alida's baptism was an earlier Alijda Kock. She also witnessed the baptism of Alida's younger sister Teuna on 26 December 1751 in Rotterdam. Teuna and Alida had an elder sister named Reijmpje and brothers David, Jan, Jacob and Gerrit.
Alida's mother Rebekka Kerkenring was baptised on 31 August 1719 in Rotterdam as daughter of David Kerckering (†1729) and Reijmpje Stierman (1685-1733) with witnesses Jan Stolck and his wife Rebecka de Swart.
As a widower Tieleman Kok filed for marriage with the widow Cornelia Kient on 14 June 1768 in Cool (now part of Rotterdam).

Alida Kok and Johan Hendrik Scheffers are the parents of

  1. Johannes was baptised on 13 February 1776 in Rotterdam with witness Alida Cornelia Walravens. He may have died young, and may have been buried on 4 May 1776 in Rotterdam.
  2. Johannes was baptised on 6 July 1777 in the Zuiderkerk church in Rotterdam with witness Alida Cornelia Walravens.
  3. Alida was baptised on 4 June 1780 in the Zuiderkerk church in Rotterdam with witness Teuna Kock. Alida Scheffer married Nicolaas Pannekoek on 18 December 1811 in Rotterdam. Alida Scheffer died on 29 June 1852 in Rotterdam at the age of 72.

Hendrik Scheffers, husband of Alida Kok, died on 27 March 1816 in Rotterdam. Alida Kok, widow of Hendrik Scheffers, died on 17 February 1828 in Rotterdam, aged "81 years, 9 months and 12 days", but she was actually one year younger.

*Several websites on the Internet wrongly present his mother-in-law as his mother.
Source: StadsArchief.Rotterdam.nl.

20 Feb 2023

Cornelis Pieter Hultgren married the same wife twice

Cornelis Pieter Hultgren was born on May 20, 1885, in Amsterdam as Cornelis Pieter van Gigh, illegitimate son of Kaatje van Gigh (1857-1911), daughter of Marcus van Gigh (1810-1883) and his wife Sara Cohen (1821-1896).
Kaatje van Gigh was hospitalised from December 6, 1894 until March 11, 1895. One child is mentioned in the register.

On March 30, 1904, in Rotterdam Kaatje van Gigh (46) married Sven Adolf Hultgren (47). At their wedding they acknowledged to be the parents of Kaatje's 18-year-old son Cornelis Pieter, although it is unlikely that Sven Adolf really was the boy’s natural father.
Sven Adolf Hultgren was born on August 18, 1856, in Karlshamm in Southern Sweden. His parents are Gustaf Adolf Hultgren and Helena Jonsson. Sven Adolf was a seafaring man, and at some point he disappeared from the lives of Kaatje and her son Cornelis Pieter.
Kaatje van Gigh was nursed in an insane asylum in Leyden in 1906 from December 10 until December 18. Kaatje was again admitted to the insane asylum in Leyden in 1908 from June 25 to July 6. Kaatje van Gigh died on August 5, 1911, in Poortugaal, Holland.

Newspaper snippet
Nederlandsche Staatscourant, 8-6-1929

In Schoten, Holland, on July 12, 1911, Cornelis Pieter Hultgren had married Vrouwtje Dapper. Vrouwtje was born on August 4, 1886, in Bovenkarspel, Holland. Her parents are Martje Evenhuis (1843-1905) and her husband Jacob Dapper (1849-1915).
After 5 years of marriage, Cornelis Pieter Hultgren and Vrouwtje Dapper had a daughter Cornelia Petronella Hultgren, born on November 27, 1916, in Amsterdam.

After nearly 18 years of marriage, the couple was divorced on July 8, 1929, in Haarlem.
The next year, on October 15, 1930, in Haarlem, Cornelis Pieter Hultgren and Vrouwtje Dapper were remarried. This second marriage ended in divorce – after 12 years of additional marriage - on December 19, 1952.

Cornelis Pieter Hultgren and Vrouwtje Dapper were remarried on October 15, 1930, in Haarlem

Sources: WieWasWie.nlDelpher.nlStadsarchief.Rotterdam.nlNoord-HollandsArchief.nlArchief.Amsterdam website.

14 Feb 2023

20 Years of Genealogy - How it started, how it's going

Early 2022, Paul Chiddicks wrote a blog post named "How it started, How it’s going". He made a reference to a supposed blog post by Kelly Wheaton supposedly called "What Got You Started in Genealogy?", but that post has either been removed, or is not publicly accessible - either in Europe or anywhere. According to Paul, however, it was about how “we” became interested in genealogy, and how “our” genealogical research is going.

My interest in genealogy started with my interest in royals in history, and how they were all related. It wasn't until many years later, that I found out that it was also possible to find my own, humble ancestors who worked the land on an isle named Hoeksche Waard, located south of the city of Rotterdam and west of the city of Dordrecht.
I don't know exactly when I started researching my own ancestors, but the oldest changes in my genealogy file date from January 2003, while the oldest pictures date from February 2003. The oldest post on this blog dates from January 2013. So by now it's 20 years of finding ancestors, and 10 years of blogging about it.

In the early years I got a lot of help. My distant Bos ancestors in the villages of Puttershoek and Numansdorp had already been researched by someone at the local Museum Hoeksche Waard. All I had to do was was fitting in our branche that had moved to Cillaarshoek around 1803. The most distinct features of our Bos family turned out to be the recurrence of the unusual first name Cent over the centuries, and the fact that they'd been living on the same isle since at least 1600.
Luckily my mother's 4 eldest siblings had been named after their grandparents, and I also got help over the Internet with finding them, too. My maternal grandfather's family had been living in a part of Holland that was incorporated into Brabant around 1810. In 1867 my great-grandfather in Capelle, Brabant, was convicted "for playing with and for money on the Public Street". One of his cousins was convicted for drunkenness.
Many of my ancestors in the maternal line had been living in the city of Dordrecht. One of my more interesting ancestors, Arie de Sterke (1796-1892), was also living there. In the archives of Dordrecht I've actually once had the original 17th-century book with baptism records of Zwijndrecht in my hands!

So far I’ve found the most ancestors, 852, in the 13th generation, followed by 842 ancestors in the 12th generation. In the 7th generation I’m missing the first 2 ancestors due to inbreeding among my ancestors: Genis Brand (1857-1930) married his first cousin Jannigje van Houweling (1857-1936). I've always wondered of the large nose and ears of my father, his mother and his grandmother - a daughter of Genis and Jannigje - could have been a result of this cousin marriage.
I may descend from Charlemagne, likely through Gijbert Gijbertsz van Langerak, who lived around 1400, or possibly through triple ancestor Eltke Tonis Joosten (ca1570-1624) who married (1) Huijbert Baeijens Verhaegen and (2) Jan Wouters Mandemaecker.
One of my favourite websites is Delpher.nl, where you can search Dutch historical newspapers and magazines. The website GeneaKnowHow.net features links to genealogical sources in The Netherlands and Belgium. The website of the Dutch national archives, NationaalArchief.nl, has a lot of interesting info, too, but it's sometimes difficult to find.

In recent years it has become harder to find any new ancestors, so I've also been researching ancestors of people related to me, like my cousins Ruth van Valen, Nettie Looij, and Dick Koomans. Recently, I've also started researching my partner's ancestors who lived in the eastern parts of The Netherlands. In those areas the usage of surnames seems to have started later than in Holland, where most of my own ancestors lived, and they have other types of sources, too. Therefore, I became a member of some additional genealogical societies that publish genealogical journals, and transcripts of sources in other Dutch areas than Holland.

Genealogy is an addictive hobby!

6 Feb 2023

Roelof Groenwold of Stavanger, Norway, married in Rotterdam, Holland

Roelof Groenwold was born around 1734 in Stavanger in Norway. He was first married on 29 Novmeber 1761 to Aaltje Aalberg. Aaltje was baptised in the Lutheran church in Rotterdam on 25 April 1745 with witnesses Andries Laurens Brandt and Maria Clawijn. Aaltje's mother is Johanna Kraaijwinkel (1707-1775) who was born in Gennep, Limburg, The Netherlands. Aaltje's father is Roelof Aalberg who originated in Göteborg in Sweden.
Aaltje was 5 times pregnant, and had 4 surviving children, when she was buried on 11 December 1771 in Rotterdam.

As a widower, Roelof Groenwold remarried on 5 May 1774 in Rotterdam. His bride was Anna Catharina Geertruij Westhoff, who originated in Gennep, like his first mother-in-law. Anna gave birth to 4 children, but her youngest daughter died after just a couple of weeks.

Roelof Groenwold was a skipper. With his ship “De Vrouw Carolina Johanna” Roelof Groenwold left for Smirna (İzmir in Turkey) in August 1786. In november 1786 he had arrived in Livorno. At the end of 1787 Roelof Groenwold is mentioned in a newspaper as having arrived in Smirna. In the afternoon of 30 June 1788 Roelof sailed from Hellevoetsluis, Holland, through "Het Hitsertsche Gat". In september he put his ship “De Vrouw Carolina Johanna” up for sale. The schip had a length of 31 meters, and a width of 9 meters. It was anchored in the Leuvehaven in Rotterdam.

Rotterdamse Courant, 18-9-1788

Roelof's son Laurentius Christian became a sailor like his father. At the age of just 16, on 17-6-1791, he boarded the ship for Indonesia. Sailing back from Batavia to the Cape the schip named “Gouverneur Falck” was wrecked on 18-2-1792, and all those on board were drowned, including Laurens Christian.