Search for Napoleon's Soldiers

In the period 1802-1815 the (in)famous Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was at war with the other European powers. The recruitment of men required for his huge army - volunteers and conscripts - was enormous, likely the largest in France - except for the First World War.

Initially, a series of military victories allowed the French Empire to exercise unprecedented control over most of Europe. During the disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812, however, Napoleon's army suffered enormous losses, after which it never recovered its tactical superiority.

Unlike most armed forces at the time, Napoleon's army operated on a strictly meritocratic basis; while most contingents were commanded by French generals - except for the Polish and Austrian corps, most soldiers could climb the ranks regardless of class, wealth, or national origin.

Over 1 million soldiers have now been indexed from their military roll register records, while indexing of the remainder is ongoing. Each record contains the family name, first name, date and place of birth, parents' names, enrollment and discharge dates, and campaign records for every soldier. A link to the high-resolution scanned image hosted by France's Ministère des Armées is added, too. Most records are for French soldiers, but there are also men from other European countries like Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, and Poland.

One of those many soldiers in Napoleon's “Grande Armée” was my ancestor Arie de Sterke (1796-1892).

You can search here at GeneaNet.org :

https://en.geneanet.org/fonds/search-event/76/napoleon-s-soldiers

Note: When searching, keep in mind that a French version of the given name may have been written down, for example "Jacques" i.s.o. Jacob(us).

Further reading: Wikipedia.org

A double first cousins marriage in the Warrebie family in Dordrecht

Johannes (Jan) Warrebie (1746-1775) and Hendrina Warrebie (1736-1785) were married on 5 May 1771 in Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Their surname is spelled in different ways. Jan, for example, was baptized in Dordrecht on 23 October 1746 as a younger son of Thomas Warbie and Elisabeth de Raad (1706-1797). Hendrina was baptized in Dordrecht on 14-3-1736 as eldest daughter of Tristom Warbie and Aartie de Raad (1713-1785).

Jan Warrebie and Henderijntje Warrebie were married on 5 May 1771 in Dordrecht

Their fathers were brothers and their mothers were sisters, so Jan and Hendrina had the same 4 grandparents: Thomas Warbie (±1670-1732), Catharina 't Hooft (1675-1746), Denijs de Raad and Hendrikje Troost (1677-±1749). Jan and Hendrina Warrebie had two children: Anthonij (1772-1807) and Aartje (1774-1802). Jan Warrebie was buried on 4 March 1775 in Dordrecht.

Dordrecht

Hendrina Warrebie's remarriage was on 2 July 1780 in Dordrecht. Her new husband was Hendrik Sleper (also: Slijpers). He had been born in Limburg, the southeastern part of the Netherlands. Their daughter Anna was baptized in Dordrecht on 19 November 1780. Hendrik may have died soon afterwards, for Hendrina was a widow again when she was buried on 1 January 1785 in Dordrecht, aged just 28.
Their son Anthonij was married in 1802 in Dordrecht and had two children, too, before he died on 24 September 1807, aged 35, while serving as a sailor on the Dutch fleet.

Anthonij Warrebie was serving as a sailor on the Dutch fleet when he died op 25-8-1807.

Soldier Arie Koomans (1789-1812)

Pieter Koomans (1750-1802) of Strijen, Holland, had eight children with his first wive, Jannigje Bezemer (±1760-1798), but just two them - Arie and Jannigje - seem to have survived to adulthood. 

Strijen

Pieter's eldest surviving son, Arie Koomans, was born on April 2, 1789, and baptised in Strijen on the 5th. His next children, daughters Jannigje and Maria, were born subsequently in 1790 and 1792. Three little sons named Andreas all died young. Pieter's first wife, Jannigje Bezemer, died in May 1798. With his second wife, Adriana Moerkerken (1773-1850), Pieter had had one son named Andreas. After just 2 years of marriage with his second wife, Pieter Koomans died in May 1802, leaving his son Arie an orphan at age 13. Arie's stepmother was remarried in 1803 to Bernardus Bremken (1762-1808) and next in 1810 to Pieter Berrevoets (1775-1861).

In early 1795, intervention by French revolutionary forces had led to the downfall of the old Dutch Republic. The Dutch departments were incorporated in the French Empire by decree on 9 July, 1810. In the summer of 1812, before the invasion of Russia, Napoleon assembled new troops from all over Western Europe for his Grande Armée.
Arie Koomans was send to France, and incorporated into the 9th artillery regiment¹. The artillery was the part of Napoleon's army that fired its cannons. Arie was taken to a hospital on October 12, 1812. He died on October 28 in Douai, France, aged 23. His death was registered in Strijen on April 9, 1813.

Arie's surviving sister Jannigje was married, had several children, and died in 1831 in Hardinxveld. Their half-brother Andreas (1800-1842) married, moved to Delft, Holland, and had descendants, too. Step-brother Hendrik Bremken (1803-1865) and step-sister Cornelia Bervoets (1818-1906) were both married, too.

Note 1: Arie's army number was 2728.

Sources: Archieven.nl, WieWasWie.nl.

Born at the Battle of Waterloo

The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday, June 18, 1815, near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of The Netherlands. June 18, 1815, is also the birthdayof  Frederika Louisa Wilhelmina van Beusekom, daughter of Gijsbertus van Beusekom and Anna Verkerk, who gave birth "on the battlefield between Quatre-Bras and Waterloo". The Battle of Quatre-Bras had been fought on the 16th.
Gijsbertus van Beusekom was a soldier in the 7th battalion of the ground forces. Obviously, the baby girl was patrioticly given the same name as the Queen Consort of Dutch King William I, Frederica Louisa Wilhelmina of Prussia (1774-1837).

Rotterdamsche Courant, 5-6-1865

Saleswoman Frederika Louisa Wilhelmina van Beusekom (48) married Jean Paradies (51) on May 18, 1864, in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Jean was born on July 30, 1812, in Vlissingen, The Netherlands. He was a son of a bricklayer Johannes Paradies and his wife Cornelia Pietersen. Jean died on December 14, 1884, in Utrecht. Frederika Louisa Wilhelmina died in Utrecht, too, on November 1, 1886.

Arie de Sterke (1796-1892), my hero ancestor

I've found a real hero amongst my ancestors! His name is Arie de Sterke (1796-1892). On 24-7-1865 Arie received a decoration for his efforts in the 1813-1815 wars against Napoleon Bonaparte. He fought for the Prince of Orange, later King Willem II, in the battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo.

The Prince of Orange, later King Willem II, with Durch soldiers in Belgium.

At the age of 15 Arie de Sterke had joined Napoleon's army to fight in Russia. He went as far as Smolensk on the Dnieper River. As the Russian army retreated, they burned the remaining stores of food, depriving the French of provisions and, finally, in October, forced its retreat. A lack of grass weakened the army's remaining horses, almost all of which died or were killed for food by starving soldiers. Napoleon abandoned his army on 5 December, returning home on a sleigh. The surviving soldiers of his army had to walk back to Western Europe. One of them was Arie de Sterke.

The army's retreat from Russia was full of hardships.

Arie's surname means "The Strong One" and he certainly seems to have been a strong man, both physically and mentally. Back in The Netherlands he fought for the Prince of Orange, later Dutch King William II, at the battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo against Napoleon.

Arie was baptized on November 16, 1796, in Dordrecht as a younger son of Pieter de Sterke (1765-1842) and his first wife, Adriana Knikman (1766-1804). Arie was married, on April 6, 1825, in Dordrecht, to Hendrika Pieters Faassen, and acknowledged to be the father of Hendrika's 10-month-old son Pieter. Within their marriage Hendrika gave birth to 8 additional children. Five sons and a daughter survived infancy and married. Hendrika died in 1871.



Dordrechtsche Courant, 15-6-1890: Arie de Sterke is mentioned with his son-in-law.

In 1890, at the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, 93-year-old Arie de Sterke was still alive, living with his daughter Adriana and her husband, Frans Langeweg (1836-1915), in Hof Toulonschelaan in Dordrecht. The street was decorated, he received some money, and a lot of people came to visit. Although elderly, Arie was still in good health, able to walk around and sound of mind. He died on August 8, 1892, aged 95.

De Nederlandstalige versie van dit verhaal kun je hier lezen:            

Voorouder Arie de Sterke (1796-1892) vocht bij Waterloo

1816, "The Year Without a Summer"

Starting on 10-4-1815, a series of explosions of the Tambora vulcano triggered a 'Volcanic Winter' all over the world, ultimately causing the worst famines of the 19th century both in Europe and the USA. It also caused spectacularly coloured sunsets throughout the world, and global temperatures dropped by as much as 0.3°C in 1816.

The Tambora is one of Indonesia’s 130 active volcanoes, still standing at a gigantic 2800 m. on the northern Sumbawa Island. Prior to the enormous 1815 eruption it had shown no signs of volcanic activity for a thousand years.

On 10-4-1815, however, the first of a series of eruptions sent ash 20 miles into the atmosphere, covering the island with ash to a height of 1.5 meters. Five days late, the Tambora erupted violently once again, expelling so much ash that the sun was not seen for several days. The series of explosions continued for 4 months. 

Red-hot stones rained down after the grumbling volcano finally blew, and nearby settlements were completely engulfed in lava. Debris, particles and sulphur components were blown into the higher layers of the atmosphere. All vegetation on the island was destroyed by the noxious ash, and the resulting poisoned rain. Floating islands of pumice 3 miles long were observed before the coast, and even 4 years later these islands still hindered navigation. In all, so much rock and ash was thrown out of the Tambora that the height of the volcano was reduced by 1400 m. An astounding 70,000 people may have died in Indonesia as a result of burning, starvation, or poisonous gasses.