Longevity ~ Trijntje Roobol (94) in Rotterdam

Trijntje Roobol died at the age of 94 on 3 July 1962 around 16:00 in Rotterdam, Holland. Her death was reported on the 5th by the undertaker. She had been a widow for 35 years.
Trijntje was born in nearby Pernis on 2 May 1868. Her parents are Cornelia Lagendijk (1838-1923) and Arie Roobol (1831-1905). She was named after her paternal grandmother Trijntje Klootwijk, a descendant of the 16th-century Cornelis Beerntsz., who farmed in Barendrecht.

Trijntje married on 19 May 1892 in Charlois, now part of Rotterdam. The groom was labourer  Jan Noordzij, and both were 24 years old. Jan was born in Charlois on 17 January 1868 as second son of Pieter Noordzij (1837-1915) and his first wife Neeltje Langstraat (1838-1896). Trijntje's brother, labourer Arie Roobol (31), and her cousin, another Arie Roobol (34), were witnesses at her marriage.

Jan Noordzij en Trijntje Roobol had 9 children, born in the period 1893-1912 and named Pieter, Cornelia, Neeltje (1895-1951), Arie, Gerrit, Pleun, Hendrik Leendert, Ida Antje (1906-1919) and Antje Adriana, who lived for 1 month in 1912.

Trijntje Roobol lost her father Arie in 1905 when he was 74 years old. Trijntje's aunt Adriaantje Arijens Roobol died at the age of 90 on 4 September 1909 in Pernis. Trijntje's mother, Cornelia Lagendijk, died at the age of 85 on 23 May 1923 in Rotterdam. Finally, Trijntje's husband, Jan Noordzij, died at the age of 59 on 13 May 1927 in Rotterdam. Trijntje was left with 7 surviving children, all of whom were now adults.

Trijntje's son Arie was born on 18 March 1897 in Rotterdam. He married Gerarda Bos, who originated in Utrecht. They had a daughter Trijntje Gerarda Noordzij, born on 29 November 1932 in Velsen. Arie Noordzij worked in Indonesia for some time.

Arie Noordzij is a son of Trijntje Roobol and Jan Noordzij

Sources: WieWasWie.nl, StadsArchief.Rotterdam.nl, CBGverzamelingen.nl.

The eventful life of Maaike van der Giessen

This is the story of Maaike van der Giessen. Her first husband, carpenter Arij Schaaij, divorced her when she was just 23 years old. They had two children, but both had died shortly after birth. The divorce was pronounced on 24 May 1872 at the District Court in Brielle, Holland.

Nederlandsche Staatscourant, 19-6-1872

Maaike van der Giessen was born on 29 June 1848 in 's-Gravendeel, Holland. Her parents are Maria Bezemer and Arie van der Giessen (1818-1897). Maaike had a sister Maria who married Jacob van't Hof. Maaike, Maria and their father Arie are most likely male-line descendants of my ancestor Teunis Ariens van der Giessen who lived in the 17th century in Mookhoek, south of 's-Gravendeel. 

On September 12, 1868, in 's-Gravendeel Maaike married carpenter Arij Schaaij, son of Wouter Schaaij and Lena Trees. Arij was born in Brielle on November 4, 1835, around 4:30 PM.

Their two children both died as infants:

1. Wouter Schaaij was born on 21-2-1869 in Piershil, Holland, and died on the 27th, 6 days old.
2. Maria Martha Schaaij was born on 24-1-1870 in Piershil, and died in Dubbeldam, Holland, on 9-8-1870, 6½ months old.

This marriage ended in divorce on May 24, 1872, in Brielle. Arij Schaaij, residing in Brielle, Holland, was the plaintiff. Maaike, who was not present at the hearing, was the defendant. She was living in Rotterdam, Holland.

Arij Schaaij married his second wife on September 18, 1874, in Heenvliet. She was Willemina Fokkeliena Meppelder, 22 years old and born in Dordrecht. From his second marriage Arij had children named Lena Fokkelina and Tallegien Schaaij.

Aanvankelijk woonden Emile Joseph Thomas en Maaike van der Giessen in Rotterdam

Maaike was 25 years old when she remarried on October 1, 1873 in Rotterdam to Emile Joseph Thomas. He was born in Vierset-Barse in the province of Liège in Belgium in 1845*. His parents are Antoine Joseph Thomas and Marie Catherine Joseph Colette.

Maaike and Emile had the following children:

Het Nieuws van den Dag
(Kleine Courant), 18-7-1898

1. Antonius Joseph Thomas was born on 19-10-1873 in Rotterdam**. He worked as a stonemason, and was married in Enschede on 19-5-1921 to Henderika Vink (40), widow of Jan Ties Prins. Antonius Joseph died in Oldenzaal on 17-7-1934.
2. Maria Catharina Thomas was born on 12-3-1876 in Rotterdam. She married Henri Willem Eduard Lijbrink (1875-1956) of Nieuwer-Amstel on 28-7-1898 in Amsterdam. By judgement of the Amsterdam District Court of June 3, 1922, Maria's marriage was dissolved by divorce. Her ex later married Grietje Smit.
3. Catharina Josephina Thomas was born in Nijmegen on 24-1-1878. She was married on on 7-5-1902 in Amsterdam to Jan Broere who originated in Capelle aan de IJssel. They had issue. Catharina Josephina died on 20 October 1925 in Amsterdam, aged 47.
4. Emilia Johanna Thomas was born in Zaandam on 5-11-1879. She was still alive in 1891.
5. Henriëtte Jeanette Thomas was born in Papendrecht on 9-1-1881. She married diamond cutter Johannes Krabbenbosch on 24-5-1905 in Amsterdam.

Emile Joseph Thomas died at the age of 84, and was buried in Amsterdam on 16 May 1929.

Notes:
*  Emile Joseph Thomas was born in Vierset-Barse in 1845, either on 22 February 1845 or 3 May.
** The family cards in Amsterdam show the wrong year of birth. I've checked the birth certificate.

Sources: WieWasWie.nl, Delpher.nl, StadsArchief.Rotterdam.nl, Archief.Amsterdam, AlleFriezen.nl, Wikipedia.org.

Using AI to make photos of villages look like old sketches

When doing genealogy, I occasionally use ChatGPT to create images to beautify my family tree. This blog post is about how ChatGPT can convert modern images into drawings that show what it used to be like.

Strijen

In the first example, I used a photograph I had taken of the old Saint Lambertus church in Strijen. The building to the left was build in the 20th century, so it had to be removed.

Thus, I asked Chat GPT: 

"Can you transform the photo into a drawing with pastel colours? Can you remove all the poles, lampposts, and posts? Also remove the leaning building on the left. Can you focus on the church complex of buildings, and blur the background? Thanks!"

In this case I manually fixed the dark little door in the middle, because ChatGPT had messed it up.

 

My photograph of the church in Strijen

 

The church of Strijen with AI

Barendrecht

In the second example, I used an old photograph of the village of Barendrecht. The lamppost was way too modern, and had to be removed.

Thus, I asked Chat GPT:

"Hi, can you turn this photograph into a nice drawing? Can you remove the lamppost? Give it a bit of pastel colour? Thank you."

In this case I did a follow up with

"Can you remove the boy in the middle of the picture?"