Genealogie Bos

This is my English-language Genealogy & Ancestry Blog.
(Mijn Nederlandstalige blog is genealogiebos.blogspot.nl).

11 Mar 2025

Longevity ~ Leendert Monster (1827-1918) in Pella

Leendert Monster was born on 24 June 1827 in Strijen, Holland, as a younger son of Jacob Monster (1785-1873) and his second wife Neeltje Noorlander (1789-1859). She is a daughter of Eldert Noorlander (1753-1794) and his wife Leentje Jabaaij (1761-1822). Leendert's paternal grandfather, Pieter Monster, originated in Sint-Anthoniepolder, Holland, and moved to Strijen, where he died on 29 December 1819, aged 77½.

At the age of 22, Leendert Monster married 26-year-old Lena Kamp on 27 March 1850 in Westmaas. Lena was born on 7 February 1824 in Westmaas. Her parents are Willem Willems Kampen and Grietje Brusse. Lena had first married Cornelis van der Hoek on 26 April 1847 in Westmaas. They had a daughter Grietje and a postumous son Cornelis jr. who both died at the age of 1. Cornelis sr. was born on 15 November 1824 and died on 18 May 1849, both in Westmaas. Ten months after his death, Lena had a new husband.
On 11 August 1850, 4½ months after her second marriage, Lena Kamp gave birth to another daughter named Grietje. A son Jacob died after 6 months in 1852. A second son named Jacob, born on 24 February 1853 in Westmaas, survived infancy.
Shortly after the birth of their son Willem on 14 May 1854 in Westmaas, the family left for the USA where they arrived later that year. The next year Leendert's elder brother Eldert Monster, a widower, arrived in the USA with his sons Jacob (10) and Anthonie (7).

Pella, Iowa

In Pella, Iowa, Leendert and Lena had additional children: Abraham Monster (1859-1839), Maggie Akkerman-Monster (1860-1946) and Mary Duinink-Monster (1869-1951). Abraham married Allie van den Baart in 1883 and had a son William Monster (1889-1970). Leendert's elder son Jacob Monster (1853-1899) married Adriana Klijn in 1876, and had several children, including a son Arie Monster (1890-1982).

Lena Kamp died at the age of 76 on 8 March 1900 in Pella, Iowa. Her husband, Leendert Monster, survived her for nearly 18 years. At the end of his live, Leendert lived with his daughter Maggie Monster and her husband John Akkerman (1856-1927). Leendert Monster died in Pella on 2 March 1918, aged 90 years and 8 months.

Het Oosten (Hollandsch Nieuwsblad voor algemeen belang), 22-3-1918

Sources: WieWasWie.nl, FindAGrave.com, Delpher.nl, FamilySearch.org. See also: Terlouw.voorouders.net, ErfskipTerpdoarpen.nl.

28 Feb 2025

Vroegindeweij Vicars

Wouter Vroegindeweij was vicar in Reeuwijk, Holland. He was engaged to be married to Adriana Vis on 14 June 1935 in Middelharnis. Their son Jan was born in Reeuwijk on 27 January 1937.

Nieuwe Utrechtsche Courant, 14-6-1935

Wouter Vroegindeweij was vicar in Bleiswijk, Holland, when he had his son Jan confirmed as a vicar in Goudswaard, Holland, on 17 February 1963. Jan was appointed as vicar in Harskamp on 15 October 1967, and in Katwijk aan Zee, Holland, on 16 April 1672. Jan married Alida C. Voskuil.

Wouter Vroegindeweij was born in Middelharnis, Holland, on 3 May 1904. His parents are Jan Vroegindeweij and Jannetje Verhagen. Wouter died on 6 July 1980 at the age 76. He was buried on the 11th in Bilthoven, Utrecht. His widow Adriana Vis, aged 89, died on 30 June 1992 in Moerkapelle, Holland, and was buried on the 6th in Bilthoven.

Jan Vroegindeweij was born in Middelharnis on 22 December 1873 as son of Leendert Vroegindeweij and Adriaantje Pas. Jan married Jannetje Verhage on 24 August 1900 in Middelharnis. Their eldest son, Leendert, was born on 10 January 1901 in Middelharnis. Like his brother Jan, Leendert also became a    vicar. Leendert studied in Utrecht before he was successively vicar in Wilnis, Waddinxveen, Papendrecht and Gameren. Leendert married Maria Jannetje Gerritje Voskamp on 10 April 1940 in Rijswijk. He died in August 1969 in Delft, aged 68.

Trouw (newspaper), 4-10-1955

Leendert Vroegindeweij married Adriaantje Pas on 8 April 1864 in Middelharnis. Leendert was born in Middelharnis on 15 October 1836. His parents are Arend Vroegindeweij (1804-1855) and Geertje Soldaat (1805-1869). Leendert died in Middelharnis on 21 April 1900, aged 63.

Sources: WieWasWie.nl, P.J. Bos, DIENAREN VAN DE VROEGERE ZUIDHOLLANDSE PAROCHIE KORENDIJK, ALIAS GOUDSWAARD EN VAN DE DAARUIT VOORTGEKOMEN NEDERLANDSE HERVORMDE GEMEENTE, ca 1442 tot heden, Mensen van Vroeger, 1974.

21 Feb 2025

Nollius Hajonides van der Meulen (1862-1907) drowned

The “SS Berlin” was a steel ship of 1775 tons, build for use on the ferry service from Harwich to Hook of Holland. On Thursday 21 February 1907, around 5 o’clock, a huge wave struck the ship, causing her to become impaled on the tip of the granite breakwater at the entrance to the New Waterway, west of Rotterdam. A Dutch lifeboat attempted to offer aid, but the rough seas rendered it impossible to approach the stricken vessel. Around 6 o’clock the ship broke in two, drowning the majority of the passengers. Later, 16 survivors were rescued, while 128 people had drowned.

Nederlandsche Staatscourant, 5-3-1907

One notable passenger who drowned was a King’s messenger, Mr. Herbert, travelling with diplomatic bags. Another victim was Hendrik Spijker of the Spyker car company. The main subject of this blog post, Nollius Hajonides van der Meulen, was also killed in this disaster.

Leeuwarder Courant, 25-2-1907

Nollius Hajonides van der Meulen was born on 7 July 1862 in Leeuwarden as eldest son of Pieter Hajonides van der Meulen (1835-1875) and Anna Gorter (1838-1918).
As an Adult, Nollius Hajonides traded in flax. At the age of 32, on 27 June 1895 in Menaldumadeel, Nollius Hajonides van der Meulen married 25-year-old Clasiena Cornelia Alma. She was born on 11 April 1871 as daughter of Margrieta Maas (1842-1916) and Hermanus Alma (1839-1915).

14 Feb 2025

Christina Kotting married her first cousin Adrianus Nieuwenkamp

Adriana Kits
Adriana Kits

In a previous blog post, I wrote about Jan Kits Nieuwenkamp (1811-1870) after I stumbled upon a newspaper article. He had been travelling with a steamship when it hit a rock, and he drowned. Recently, I came across a picture of his sister Christina Nieuwenkamp (1809-1887, below right). Christina married Jan Ludolph Kotting (1809-1844) who was clergyman, successively in Kwadijk and Alkmaar in Holland. Jan and Christina are both children of Jan Mattheus Nieuwenkamp (1764-1824) and his third wife Adriana Kits (1774-1881, to the right).

Jan Mattheus Nieuwenkamp and his wife Adriana also had a son Abraham, who was baptised on 4 March 1800 in Amsterdam. Abraham Nieuwenkamp (23) was a bookseller when he married Petronella Kotting (31) in Amsterdam on 23 May 1823. Petronella is a daughter of shopkeeper Jan Ludolph Kotting (†1830) sr. and his wife Jannetje Brinkel (1797). Within a year after her wedding, Petronella died on 18 May 1824, 8 days after giving birth to a dead daughter.
Her widower, Abraham Nieuwenkamp, married his first wife’s younger sister Geertruid Kotting (28) on 24 February 1826 in Amsterdam. Geertruid was baptised on 21 June 1797 in the Zuiderkerk, another church in Amsterdam. They had issue, including a son Adrianus Nieuwenkamp, born on 30 November 1835 in Amsterdam. Geertruid Kotting, aged 50, died in Amsterdam on 15 August 1847. Her widower Abraham Nieuwenkamp died in Amsterdam on 1 January 1866.

Christina Nieuwenkamp
in widow's clothing

Christina Nieuwenkamp (to the right) was born on 5 May 1809 in Hasselt.  Her husband, clergyman Jan Ludolph Kotting, was baptised in Amsterdam on 12 February 1809 with witnesses Anna Maria Kotting and his grandfather Jan Ludolph Kotting sr. The parents are pharmacist Gerardus Kotting (1785-1852) and his wife Maria Elisabeth Gude (1849). 
Jan Ludolph died of scarlet fever at the age of 35 on 29 May 1844 in his parent’s home in Alkmaar. After a widowhood of 43 years, Christina Nieuwenkamp died on 23 July 1887 at the age of 78. They had 7 children, including a son Gerardus Kotting, who was working as a pharmacist, and a daughter Christina Kotting.

Christina Kotting was born on 17 December 1841 in Alkmaar. She married her first cousin Adrianus Nieuwenkamp in Amsterdam on 7 May 1868. Adrianus is the son of Abraham Nieuwenkamp and his second wife Geertruid Kotting (as described above). At the age of 82, Adrianus Nieuwenkamp died on 20 July 1918 in Haarlem, Holland, and was buried there on the 23th. His widow, Christina Kotting, died in Haarlem on 10 February 1921.

9 Feb 2025

Common Latin Terms for Family Members

When doing genealogical research, you may stumble upon some words of Latin. For centuries, the church provided for marriages, baptisms and burials, and Latin has been the standard for the Roman Catholic liturgy since the 6th century.

If a Latin term ends in “us”, then it refers to a male; if it ends in an “a”, it generally refers to a female. For example, “avus” refers to grandfather, “avia” to grandmother, and “avi” is used to indicate plural grandparents. “Proavus” means great grandfather and “proava” means great grandmother. So, “meus avus est pater mātris meae” can be translated as “my grandfather is my mother's father”.
The Latin language has different words for aunts, uncles and cousins, depending on whether they are on the father’s side or the mother’s side. An aunt, father’s sister, is “amita”, while an aunt on mother's side is “mātertera”. A cousin - a mother's sister's child - is “cōnsōbrīna” when female, and “cōnsōbrīnus” when male. The word for a cousin on father's side - when he's a child of father's brother - is “patruēlis”. Thus, in the table below I have focussed on general words for family members.

English Latin
birth nati, natus, genitus, natales, ortus, oriundus
christening baptismi, baptizatus, renatus, plutus, lautus, purgatus, ablutus, lustratio
given name nomen
surname cognomen
pasgeborenneonatus
child infans, filius/filia, puer, proles
parents parentes, genitores
mother mater
father pater
godparent patrini, levantes, susceptores, compater, commater, matrina
husband maritus, sponsus, conjux, vir
marriage matrimonium, copulatio, copulati, conjuncti, intronizati, nupti, sponsati, ligati, mariti
marriage banns         banni, proclamationes, denuntiationes
jongegehuwden neosponsi
wife uxor, marita, conjux, sponsa, mulier, femina, consors
son filius
(father) of the son (pater) filii
(baptizavi) filium     (I baptized the) son
death mortuus, defunctus, obitus, denatus, decessus, peritus, mors, mortis, obiit, decessit
burial sepulti, sepultus, humatus, humatio
(I buried the) father (sepelivi) patrem
widow vidua
(son) of the widow (filius) viduae
father pater
(son) of the father (filius) patris
he was baptized, has been baptized  baptizatus est, baptizata est
great-great-grandmother abavia
great-great-grandfather, ancestor abavus
relationship by marriage affinitas

Sources: FamilySearch.org/wiki, BHIC.nl, BSKempen.be, NazatenDeVries.nl, en.wikiversity.org, Willebroek.info.

28 Jan 2025

Inbreeding among the ancestors of Gerrit van Zee (1842-1934)

Gerrit van Zee was born on 3 April 1842 in Herwijnen, Gelderland, The Netherlands. His parents are Stephanus (“Steven”) van Zee (1817-1905) and Judik (“Judith”) van Zee (1820-1909), daughter of Engel van Zee (1777-1827). In 1847 Gerrit arrived with his parents in Pella, Ohio, travelling with a ship named "Pieter Florisz".
On 1 March 1865 Gerrit married Dirkje van Zante. She was born on 5 January 1843 in Herwijnen. Her parents are Aart Benthem van Zante (1815-1894) and Maria van Zee (1819-1879), daughter of Anthonie van Zee (1787-1870), an uncle of Gerrit's father Steven.
Gerrit and Dirkje had 7 children. Dirkje died on 4 April 1904. Gerrit died on 19 March 1934 at the age of 91.

Gerrit van Zee was born on 3-4-1842 in Herwijnen s son of Stephanus van Zee and Judik van Zee.

Gerrit's ancestors

heraldry
Van Zee Family Coat of Arms
  1. Stephanus (“Steven”) van Zee, was born on 12-2-1817 in Herwijnen. He died on 21-1-1905 in Pella, Iowa, USA, aged 87. He married, aged 24, on 30-9-1841 in Herwijnen
  2. Judik (“Judith”) van Zee was born on 30-11-1820 in Herwijnen.  Judith died on 23-6-1909 in Pella, aged 88.
  3. Gerrit Aries van Zee was born on the 12th and baptised on 16-6-1793 in Herwijnen. Gerrit died there on 24-1-1877, aged 83. Gerrit married on 15-4-1815 in Herwijnen 18-year-old
  4. Cornelia Maria de Kock was born on the 9th and baptised on 16-10-1796 in Herwijnen. Cornelia  died there on 24-2-1848.
  5. Engel van Zee was born on the 17th and baptised on 18-6-1775 in Herwijnen. Engel died there on 9-6-1868, aged 92. Engel married there on 17-2-1799
  6. Engeltje (“Engelke”) Bijl was born on the 17th and baptised on 20-7-1777 in Herwijnen. Engeltje is overleden op 15-07-1827 in Herwijnen, 49 jaar oud.
  7. Arie van Zee was baptised on 4-10-1761 in Herwijnen with witness Ariaantje de Fockert. Arie died in Herwijnen on 10-12-1845. He married there on 31-3-1787
  8. Anna (“Anneke”) de Fockert was baptised on 27-9-1767 in Herwijnen. Anneke died there on op 24-4-1836.
  9. Stephanus de Kock was baptised on 1-7-1759 in Herwijnen. He died there on 26-7-1835. He married there on 10-7-1791
  10. Pietertje Ariens van Balgoijen was baptised on 21-5-1769 in Oud-Alblas, Holland. Pietertje  died in Herwijnen on 21-8-1847.
  11. Gerrit (“Geurt”) van Zee was born on Monay 1 March 1728. He is baptised on the 7th in Herwijnen with witness Neeltje Rosa. Geurt died on 19-4-1789. Geurt married in Herwijnen on 8-5-1763
  12. Jenneke Leenderts de Fockert was born 15-10-1740 and baptised the next day in Herwijnen. Jenneke died after September 1810.
  13. Coenraad Bijl was baptised on 29-2-1756 in Herwijnen with witness Maria Bijl. Coenraad  died on 11-9-1830 in Herwijnen, aged 74. He married
  14. Judith de Bruijn was baptised on 15-9-1748 in Herwijnen with witness Anneke de Jongh.  Judith died on 27-2-1820 in Herwijnen, aged 71.

17 Jan 2025

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.


7 Jan 2025

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.

newspaper article
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:

  1. 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
  2. Lijpje Moret was born on 30-5-1813 in ’s-Gravendeel. Lijpje died on 10-01-1895 in Pella, Iowa, USA, aged 81 jaar.
  3. 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
  4. Maaike Kleinjan was born around 1775 in ’s-Gravendeel. Maaike died in Dordrecht op 24-12-1822 in Dordrecht.
  5. 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
  6. Maria Snijders was born around 1787 in ’s-Gravendeel. Maria died there on 6-12-1823, aged 36.
  7. 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 
  8. 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.
  9. Aart Kleinjan married  
    Willem van der Linden
    (1847-1903)
  10. Adriaantje van Ham.
  11. 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 
  12. Elisabeth (“Lijpje”) van Rossum died on 25-11-1809 in ’s-Gravendeel
  13. Teunis Snijders, was born around 1754. He died on 12-3-1825 in ’s-Gravendeel. He married
  14. Geertruij Noteboom died on 19-12-1823 in ’s-Gravendeel.
  15. 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
  16. Marijke (Marijtje) Willemsen Molendijk was baptised on 8-12-1709 in Dubbeldam.  Marijtje's death was registered on 12-12-1750 in Dubbeldam
  17. 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 
  18. Luijcksje Willemsen Molendijk was born on 24-1-1712 in Dubbeldam. Luijcksje died there on 16-9-1793, and was buried on the 20th. 
  19. 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 
  20. Maaike Aarts van der Wulp was baptised on 25-4-1717 in Puttershoek. Maaike died around 1775.

1 Jan 2025

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.