Johanna Esther de Rocher de la Rouviere (1740-1816)

Johanna Esther de Rocher de la Rouvière died, at the age of 75, on 14 September 1816 in the manor “Kraaijveld”, located near Aalburg in Brabant, The Netherlands. It was a square building, accessible by a wooden bridge over a moat that surrounded the house.
Her testamentary executors were the brothers Gerrit Dirkse Branderhorst (1755-1844) and Bastian Dirkse Branderhorst (1765-1831), sons of Dirk Gerritse Branderhorst (1731-1816) and Johanna Bastiaans Vos.

Dagblad der provincie Noord-Braband, 17-9-1816

Johanna Esther was baptised in Breda on 28 November 1740. Her father is Jean de Rocher de la Rouvière who originated in Valon in the Languedoc region of France. He was a captain in Aylva's regiment, and living in Breda, when he married Marthe Marie de Lange de Beauveser in 1739 in Breda. She was baptised on 5 April 1713 in Breda as Martha Maria Agnes, daughter of Antoine de Langes de Beauveser (†1739) and Hester Kip (†1748). Martha's godparents were Maria Agnes Expolude (Expalidé) and colonel Marten Kip. Martha had 13 siblings, and they were all baptised in Breda.

Martha Maria Agnes was baptised on 5 April 1713 in Breda

At the age of 13, on 17 July 1754, Johanna Esther de Rocher de la Rouvière was enfeoffed with some land near Aalburg. She inherited the land form her aunt or great aunt Catharina Rocher de Paris, who had inherited it in 1747 from her brother Louis Rocher de Paris (†1746). Louis had acquired the land through his marriage to Anna Willemina van Heert.

Johanna Ester died without having a will made. She seems to have been an only child, but her mother had siblings. However, it was unknown if she had additional heirs on her father's side. Possible heirs were required to show proof of their relationship to the deceased, within 6 weeks after publication of the notice below.

Dagblad der provincie Noord-Braband, 1-11-1816

Sources: WieWasWie.nl, Delpher.nl, StadsArchief.Breda.nl, OpenArchieven.nl, BHIC.nl, Altena-historie.nl, De Lange de Beauveser, Algemeen Nederlandsch Familieblad, 1988.

What happened to Cornelia Gerdina Branderhorst?

Cornelia Gerdina Branderhorst was born on November 3, 1860, in the municipality of Eethen, Genderen en Heesbeen. Her parents are Catharina van Gameren (1819-1888) and Gerrit Branderhorst (1812-1882). Just 4 of her parents' 10 children survived infancy, and Cornelia Gerdina was the youngest daughter.
She was married on April 5, 1879, to Johannes van der Pol. Her eldest brother Dirk Branderhorst was one of the witnesses. The groom, Johannes, born on August 30, 1851, in Wijk. His parents are Dirk van der Pol (1827-1890) and Pieternella van Rijswijk (1830-1903). Cornelia Gerdina and Johannes had a son Dirk in 1879, who lived for 15 days, and a daughter Catharina in 1880, who lived for 16 days. In 1881-1882 the couple lived in Rotterdam.

Apparently, the marriage was not a happy one. First, they agreed on a separation. Cornelia Gerdina, housewife of Johannes van der Pol, had been living in 's-Hertogenbosch before she arrived in Genderen in March 1892. In 1893 she left for Antwerp in Belgium.
Finally, in 1897, 46-year-old Johannes van der Pol, then living in Aalburg, wanted a divorce. Since Cornelia Gerdina's place of residence was unknown, a request for her to appear in court was printed in a newspaper.

Newspaper of December 25, 1897

On April 29, 1898, a divorce was finally pronounced on the grounds of adultery by judgement of the district court in 's-Hertogenbosch. The divorce was registered in the village of Wijk-en-Aalburg on December 12, 1898. The newspaper announcement doesn't mention which of the partners had committed adultery.

Newspaper of August 22, 1898

Within 2 years, Johannes van der Pol, aged 50, died in the village of Wijk-en-Aalburg on December 2, 1901.

Sources: Salha.nl, WieWasWie.nl, Delpher.nl. You can find more data of Cornelia Gerdina's siblings at GeneaNet.

Cornelis Adrianus Branderhorst left for the USA in 1895

On 20 April 1876 in a municipality in Brabant, known as "Heesbeen, Eethen en Genderen", Cornelis Adrianus Branderhorst, aged 32, married 23-year-old, and pregnant Maaike Branderhorst. She gave birth on 6 August 1876 in Genderen to a son named Pieter. I'm not sure if Cornelis Adrianus is also the boy's biological father for I can't find any more children born within this marriage.
Cornelis Adrianus Branderhorst was born on 30 July 1843 in Wijk as son of Pieter Branderhorst (1817-1893) and his wife Judick Verdoorn (1813-1881). He had a surviving sibling Adriaan Cornelis Branderhorst (1844-1878) who was a witness at his brother's wedding.
Maaike Branderhorst was born on 18 March 1853 in Genderen as daughter of Blees Branderhorst and Margrita Branderhorst (1816-1880). Maaike's elder brother Jacob was a witness at her wedding.

Cornelis Adrianus, Maaike and little Pieter were living together with the father of Cornelis Adrianus, Pieter Branderhorst sr. He was born on 11 May 1817, and died on 3 December 1892.

Longevity ~ Maria Wilhelmina Branderhorst (97)

Maria Wilhelmina Branderhorst was born on 23 July 1895 in Genderen, Brabant, The Netherlands, as the 6th child of  William Marius Branderhorst (1863-1944) and hist wife Maria Johanna van der Beek (1869-1957). One of her elder siblings, Gijsbert, died on 8 October 1898 at the age of 6. Eight more siblings were to follow. The siblings closest in age to Maria Wilhelmina were Gerrit Branderhorst, born on 13 January 1894 in Genderen, and Pietronella Cornelia ("Nellie") Branderhorst, bron on 18 Ocotber 1896 in Genderen.
In 1908 Maria Wilhelmina and her parents and siblings boarded the S.S. Rotterdam and travelled to the U.S.A. The family settled in Pella, Iowa. There, Maria Wilhelmina had 2 additional sisters.

In 1915 Maria Wilhelmina Branderhorst was married to Hessel D. van Ryswyk. He was born on 31 December 1898 in Leighton, Mahaska County, Iowa. His father is Dirk Jan van Rijswijk (1861-1952) who originated in Heukelum in The Netherlands. Hessel's mother is Dena Evelena Bierma (1864-1937). She was born on 28 October 1864 in Holwerd, Frisia, The Netherlands, as Ybelina Hesselina Bierma, daughter of Hessel Bierma and Jelktje Denkema.

William Marius Branderhorst (1898-1976) travelled to Pella

William Marius Branderhorst of Pella, Iowa, was born on 17 December 1863 in Genderen, Brabant, The Netherlands as Willem Marius, younger son of Gerrit Branderhorst (1826-1911) and his first wife Peterke van Gammeren (1823-1866). Peterke died on 30 July 1866 at the age of 43, leaving 6 young children.
Widower Gerrit Branderhorst, aged 49, was married secondly on 15 March 1876 to 23-year-old Pieternella van Wijk (1852-1924). They had at least 4 additional children.
William Marinus and his father Gerrit are male-line descendants of an earlier Gerrit Branderhorst (1680-±1749) who is also my ancestor. The area where this line of the Branderhorst lived was dotted with 3 villages: Heesbeen, Eethen and Genderen.

At the age of 24, William Marius was married on 2 August 1888 to Maria Johanna van Beek. She was born on 30 April 1869 in Genderen as daughter of Gijsbert van Beek (1827-1900) and Emmeke Bax (1835-1904. Her brother Lambert Gijsbert (1867-1941) had earlier married Hester Margaretha Branderhorst (1861-1942), a full sister of William Marius.
Soon, approximately every 1½ year Maria Johanna gave birth to a new child. One of their children, Gijsbert, had died in 1898 at the age of 6.
After the birth of their 14th child, Lambert, William Marius and his wife and 13 children left The Netherlands on the S.S. Rotterdam. William Marius was already fluent in English, and travelled second class. On board he made acquaintance of the novelist Newton Booth Tarkington (1869–1946). Their ship with its 1,243 passengers arrived in the U.S.A. in 1908.

Dagblad van Noord-Brabant (newspaper), 16-9-1908

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.

Jacobus Vos and Johanna de Roy, a double brick wall

One of my ancestors, Pieternella Vos, was baptized on December 20, 1778, in Capelle, Brabant, The Netherlands. She was the only known daughter of Jacobus Vos and Johanna de Roy. This couple had married earlier that year on May 17, 1778, in Capelle. Jacobus Vos was a young man, born in Capelle. Johanna de Roy was a young girl, born in Loon op Zand, Brabant, The Netherlands.

Pieternella Vos was married on February 9, 1800, in Capelle to Pieter Branderhorst (1777-1852). They paid ƒ12,- for their marriage, so they certainly weren’t poor folks. The marriage produced 9 children: Cornelis, Johanna (2x), Maria, Jacoba (2x), Willem, Jacobus and Pieternella. Three of these nine children were married and had children of their own.

Pieternella Vos died on March 18, 1847, in Capelle. Again, her parents are mentioned as being Jacobus Vos and Johanna de Rooij.

These are all references to my ancestors Jacobus Vos and Johanna de Roy/Rooij. Together they are a double brick wall.