Christiaan Erassemus Hollem of Bornholm married in Rotterdam

Christiaan Erassemus Hol(le)m was a young man, born on the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. W(e)ijntje Snikkers was a young girl, baptised on 25 August 1748 in Dordrecht. Her parents, Jan Snikkers and Jannetje de Roth, were married in 1747. Wijntje had several younger siblings.
Christiaan and Wijntje were married in Rotterdam on 15 March 1772. The notice of their marriage had been on 28 February.

Christian Erassemus Hollem and Wijntje Snikker were married in 1772 in Rotterdam

Christiaan Erassemus Hollem and Wijntje Snikkers are the parents of

1. Erasmus ("Rassemus") Holm was baptised on 25 December 1772 in Rotterdam with witnesses Jan Snikkers and Jannetje de Rot. In 1793 he married Margaretha Laziers who died on 28 August 1843 in Rotterdam, 69½ years old. Erasmus Holm died in Rotterdam on 21 November 1847, aged 75 years and 11 months.
2. Jannetje Holm was baptised on 16 January 1776 in Rotterdam with witnesses Jan Snikkers and Jannetje de Rot. Jannetje died on 8 June 1822 in Rotterdam, aged 56.
3. Johannes Holm was baptised on 19 March 1780 in Rotterdam with witnesses Jannetje de Ro(o)t and Jan Snikkers. Aged 50 years, 2 months and 27 days, "Jan" Holm died on 12 June 1830 in Rotterdam.
4. Christina Holm was baptised on 25 January 1784 in the Zuiderkerk church in Rotterdam with witness Jannetje Rot. Christina Holm married Jurrie Janse Kant on 14 July 1819 in Rotterdam. He originated in Leer in Ostfriesland in Germany. At the age of 42, Christina married 30-year-old Antonius Joannes Sanders on 8 November 1826 in Rotterdam.

On 3 October 1796 in Rotterdam Wijntje de Rot was a witness at the baptism of Cornelia, daughter of Alida Giesestijn and Cornelis Snikkers.
Wijntje Snikkers, widow of Christiaan Hollem, died on 15 April 1817 in Rotterdam, at the age of 70.

Source: StadsArchief.Rotterdam.nl, RegionaalArchiefdordrecht.nl.

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.

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.nl, Delpher.nl, Stadsarchief.Rotterdam.nl, Noord-HollandsArchief.nl, Archief.Amsterdam website.

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.

Sons of Emile Jean Hubert Wolters in Uppsala and Bloomfield

Emile Jean Hubert Wolters was born in Venlo, The Netherlands, on 2 September 1864. His parents are Josephina Gertrudis Hubertina van Meijel (1841-1906) and Jean Louis Hubert Wolters (1836-1900). Emile's paternal grandparents are Jean Gerard Hubert Wolters (1810-1889) and Maria Gertrudis Custers (1808-1894). They are also ancestors of the Beltman family in Amersfoort.

The obituary advertisement for Emile's widow mentions descendants in the Southeastern part of The Netherlands, in Uppsala in Sweden, and also in Bloomfield in the U.S.A. Emile's eldest son, Jan Laurent Wolters, was born on 4 March 1896 in Venlo. He lived for a while in Heerlen. In 1920 he moved to Rotterdam where he earned a living as a soap merchant. For a while he lived in Cologne (Köln) in Germany. Early 1926 is the first time Jan Wolters and his wife Martha Böhm were mentioned in the U.S.A. They were then living in Amityville in Suffolk County.
Martha Böhm (1894-1991) had travelled from New York to Europe in 1915 with the ship "Noordam" I. On 1 March 1916 she left Rotterdam again for the U.S.A. with the same ship.

Nieuwe Venlosche Courant, 12-11-1936

Emile's second son, Paul Wolters, was born on 11 January 1901 in Venlo. In 1926 he was still unmarried and living in Venlo. In 1936, however, Paul Wolters was living in Uppsala in Sweden. He had married a Swedish woman, Marthe Linquist. They had daughters Madeleine and Iona Martha Maria. Ioana Martha Maria was born on 28 August 1934, and died on 17 March 2021. She had married Stephen A. Farkas with whom she had shared 59 years of marriage. Her father, Paul Wolters, had died on 12 February 1954 in Uppsala at the age of 53.

Swede Anders Paulson (1865-1919) in Holland

Anders Paulson was born on 16 March 1865 in Eskilstorp, Bastad, Skåne, Sweden. His mother is Hersti Nilsdotter. His father is Paul Nilsson who died, aged 70, in 1909 in Sweden.

Bredasche Courant, 8-11-1909

In 1907 engineer Anders Paulson started a company for manufacturing and selling matches and related items. His his associate was Leonardus Jacobus Maria Eras. The company was located in Teteringen near Breda, Brabant, The Netherlands.
1908 was a special year for Anders Paulson. On 24 June 1908 in Numansdorp, Holland, Anders married Neeltje Hendrika (“Nellie”) Kluifhoofd. She was born on 14 November 1873 in Numansdorp as daughter of Susanna Niemantsverdriet (1837-1923) and Dirk Kluifhoofd (1837-19121), mayor of Numansdorp.
On 9 December Swede Anders Paulson was naturalised as a Dutch citizen.

Nederlandsche Staatscourant, 15-6-1910

The eldest son of Anders Paulson and his wife Nellie was Frans Paul Dirk, born on 16 July 1910 in The Hague, Holland. A son named Anders - like his father - was born in May 1913 in Breda.

Searching the Soundtoll Registers for shipmasters sailing the Baltic Sea

The Sound Toll Registers are accounts of the dues (Deens: Øresundstold, Zweeds: Öresundstullen) which the Kings of Denmark levied on the shipping through the Sound, the strait between modern-day Denmark and Sweden. The registers from 1497 have been preserved. The registers have some gaps in the first decades, but from 1574 on the series is almost complete until 1857, when the toll was abolished.
All foreign ships passing through the strait, whether en route to or from Denmark or not, had to stop in Helsingør and pay a toll to the Danish Crown. If a ship refused to stop, cannons in both Helsingør and Helsingborg could open fire and sink it. A "ship handler" handled the paperwork at Øresund Custom House for captains in connection with Denmark's collection of Sound Dues from all ships that passed through the Øresund.

The Sound Toll Registers contain data of 1.8 million passages. Of each passage, the officials of the toll booth at Elsinore usually recorded the following data:

• date of passage
• name and domicile of the shipmaster
• port of departure
• port of destination (from the mid-1660s)
• composition of the cargo
• amount of toll

You can find the Soundtoll registers here:

http://dietrich.soundtoll.nl/public/advanced.php?periode=

When searching in the registers you can use the * sign to replace unknown characters.

After clicking the "Find" button you'll get the results in the right pane:

Search results in the Soundtoll Register 1634-1858

Cornelis Nekeman died in 1717 in Denmark

Cornelis Cornelisz. Nekeman lived in Oost-Vlieland on an island to the North of Frisia in the Netherlands. He was born around 1660 to Cornelis Cornelisz. Nekeman senior and Aaltje Aalders. Around 1690 Cornelis the younger was married to a local girl named Neeltje, a daughter of Abel Kerstensz. and Annetje Cornelis. They had at least 4 children: Grietje, Cornelis, Abel and Claas.

Cornelis Nekeman was a sailor. He sailed from Amsterdam on June 29, 1704, with destination Dantzig (nowadays Gdansk in Poland). On December 16, 1705, he boarded the ship "Paarl" as sailing master. He is also mentioned as sailing master of the "Paarl" on April 15, 1706, and April 9, 1710. 

Cornelis Nekeman was a memmonite. The mennonites are a christian group belonging to a church community named after Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Frisia. Because of their commitment to pacifism, mennonite mariners had a preference for sailing the somewhat safe Baltic sea. 

On March 2, 1717, Cornelis Nekeman died due to "an unhealty body", while visiting Copenhagen in Denmark.

Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1728

Cornelis' son Abel grew up to be a sailor, too. In 1741 Abel Nekeman transported seeds from Riga in Letland to Amsterdam in The Netherlands. The next year he settled in Amsterdam. 

Sources: soundtoll registers, cpvanderlaan.nl, zeebrieven.

Madness Monday - The longest beard

Hans Nilsen Langseth was nicknamed "King Whiskers" for holding the record for the world's longest beard, 18 feet and 6 inches long. He used to roll it up and tuck it into his coat or vest, which hid much of it. 

This is a portrait of Hans Nilsen Langseth, aged 68.
Mr. Langseth is seated in an ornate chair with
his beard draped over his shoulder and down again.

Mr. Langseth was born on July 14, 1846, in Norway to Nils Olsen Langseth and Marthe Gulbrandsen Overholtet. Like at least 3 of his brothers, Mr. Langset made his way to the USA. With his wife Anne Benson he had 6 children. 
Mr. Langseth spent much of his life as a farmer. For a while, however, he traveled with a circus show, exhibiting his beard to the public, but he soon tired of people yanking his whiskers to see if they were real.

Hans (to the right) with his children Pete, John, Emma, Martin and Nels. 

When Mr. Langseth passed away on November 10, 1927, one of his children - to the displeasure of his other siblings - cut his father's beard. It is preserved in the Smithsonian at Washingon, D.C. 

See also: HansLangseth.com, The World's Longest Beards, GuinnessWorldRecords.com.

Anneke Jans and the Webber Controversy

For generations descendants of a Wolfert Webber claimed that property on Manhattan Island in New York had illegally been taken from their family by the Trinity Church.

Pieter Van Brugh (1666–1740), Mayor of Albany, New York, in the periods 1699-1700 and 1721-1723, was descended from Norwegian immigrants. His mother's parents were Anneke Jans (1605–1663) and Roelof Janse (1602–1637), who was born on a small island in Norway (that was ceded to Sweden in 1658). Roelof received a grant of 62 acres of land on the Hudson River on Manhattan Island in nowadays New York. After her husband's death in 1637, Anneke was married in 1638 to the Rev. Everardus Bogardus (1607-1647) of the Trinity Dutch Reformed Church on Manhattan Island. 


Anneke Jans and Everardus Bogardus

  
Anneke Jans became famous through a long series of lawsuits initiated by her descendants, who claimed (1) ownership of real estate on Manhattan and (2) royal descent. 
F.A. Virkus writes in "The Compendium of American Genealogy":

"Anneke (Webber) Jans (1605-63), [..] dau. of Wolfert Webber (b 1565), 
said to have been son of William, 9th prince of Orange and later King of Holland".

It was even said that Anneke Jans, "daughter of Wolfert Webber, 4th King of Holland, whose father was William, Prince of Orange", was born in "the King's Mansion in Holland" in 1605.

The first and only person who held the title "King of Holland" was the great Napoleon's brother Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (1778-1846) who ruled The Netherlands in the period 1806-1810. The compendium probably refers to Prince William I "the Silent" of Orange (1533-1584), stadtholder of Holland. In 1565 - the supposed birth date of Wolfert Webber, -William was still married to his rich - but mad - 2nd wife, Anna of Saxony (1544-1577), and he was still married to his 4th wife when he was murdered in 1584. During his life William of Orange did recognize only one illegitimate son, Justinus (1559-1631). It wasn't until 1815 that one of William's descendants in the female line, Willem I Frederik of Orange-Nassau (1772–1843), became the 1st King of The Netherlands.