Longevity ~ Arie Bras (1865-1959) of Almkerk in the USA

Arie Bras was born on 11 July 1865 in Almkerk, Brabant, The Netherlands. His parents are Arie Bras (1822-1901) and Wilhelmina Kamerman (1826-1892). His grandfather Leendert Bras (1793-1862) was a labourer, miller and innkeeper in Almkerk. Leendert's wife, Sijke van Drunen (1797-1874), is a direct-line descendant of my ancestor Michiel Hendrikse van Drunen, who lived around 1700 in Giessen in Brabant.
Arie Bras had many siblings, but several of them died young. Arie's elder brother Teunis Bras died on 11 February 1884, aged 24. Their siblings Sijke, Willemina and Leendert reached adulthood, too.

On 9 May 1890 in Almkerk, Arie Bras married Helena van der Heijden. She was born in Dussen in Brabant on 23 October 1868 as a younger daughter of Jan van der Heijden and his wife Cornelia Verhoeven. Arie's daughter Cornelia Bras was born on 9 February 1891 in Almkerk. She may have died young.
Arie Bras and Helena van der Heijden had further children in the USA: Cornelia Wilhelmina (1892-1873), Tunis (1895-1989), Wilhelmena Gertrude (1896-1980), Harry (1900-1974), John (1901-1993) and Helena (1908-1994). Arie's eldest son was born in South Holland, Cook County, Illinois, on 25 January 1895, and he seems to have named him Tunis after his elder brother who had died at the age of 24.

Arie's wife, Helena, died at the age of 75 on 28 March 1944 in Ganeer Township, Kankakee County, Illinois. Her widower Arie Bras died there on 19 June 1959 at the age of 93. He had survived his wife by 15 years. Arie was buried at the Kankakee Memorial Gardens. Arie's son Tunis Bras was born on 25 January 1895 in South Holland, Cook County, Illinois. He was 94 years old when he died on 28 July 1989 in Sibley, Osceola County, Iowa.

Maria Buggers (1789-1839) married twice

Maria Buggers was baptised on 20 September 1789 in Rotterdam, Holland, with witness Maria de Graaff. Her parents are Clasina de Graaff (1766-1829) and her husband Hendrik Buggers (1765-1802). Hendrik was baptised on 13 March 1765 in Leyden, Holland. At that time, Hendrik's parents Jan Buggers (†1787) and Adriana (de) Kogel (†1795) were living at the “De Hoge Molen”, a mill outside of the “Koeijpoort”, one of the city gates of Leyden. Around 1768 the family moved from to Rotterdam.

Hendrik Buggers and Clasina de Graaff were married in Rotterdam on 15 May 1787. Both were living in the Banketstraat, a street that ends at the Goudsesingel. Their eldest daughter, Adriaantje, was baptised on 12 February 1788 in Rotterdam with her grandmother Adriana de Kogel as witness. The youngest daughter was Johanna Buggers (1791-1850) who was to marry Jacobus Veltman.
At the age of 12, Maria Buggers lost her father Hendrik on 5 April 1802. In April 1806 Maria's elder sister Adriaantje, aged 18, married Cornelis Corbeau. Adriaantje gave birth to 3 children before she died on 9 January 1811, at the age of 23.

Civil Registry of Rotterdam Extract

At the age of 18, on 12 June 1808 in Rotterdam, Maria Buggers married Nicolaas Hooijkaas, a younger son of Richardus Hooijkaas (†1766) and Cornelia Kestelmans (1740-1822). They had Nicolaas baptised on 28 August 1778 in Rotterdam. Within a half year of their marriage, Maria Buggers gave birth to her eldest child. Maria is the mother of

1. Johanna Cornelia Hooijkaas is baptised on 11 December 1808 in Rotterdam with witness Cornelia Kestelmans, widow of Richardus Hooijkaas.
2. Clasina Cornelia Hooijkaas was baptised on 22 July 1810 in Rotterdam with the same witness. Clasina died young.
3. Richardus Hooijkaas was born on 20 July 1812 in Rotterdam. Richardus died there on 31 January 1840 in Rotterdam at the age of 27.

It seems that Maria's marriage was not a success. Not only were no additional children born, in 1816 Nicolaas even had an advertisement placed in a local newspaper with the warning that he would not pay for any credit extended to his wife.

Rotterdamsche Courant (newspaper), 17-9-1816

After 10 years of marriage, at the age of just 40, Nicolaas Hooijkaas died on 8 October 1818 in Hillegersberg, nowadays a suburb of the city of Rotterdam. After a widowhood of just 1½ years, on 17 May 1820 in Rotterdam, 30-year-old Maria Buggers married 26-year-old Arij van der Zwaan, a bread baker's assistant. Arij was born on the 4th and baptised on 8 September 1793 in Oud-Beijerland, Holland, with witness Machteltje de Quartel. Arij is a younger son of Bastiaan van der Zwaan (1746-1832) and his first wife Neeltje Gibo.
Maria and Arij's 18-year marriage remained childless. Maria died on 29 January 1839 in Rotterdam at the age of 49. On 13 May 1840 in Rotterdam, Arij married his second wife, 50-year-old spinster Alberdina Kapsenberg. She was baptised on 14 February 1790 in The Hague, Holland. Her parents are Tjeerd Capsenberg (1757-1844) and Anna Olthof (1758-1828) who both originated in Frisia.
Given the age of the bride, this marriage remained childless, too. Arij van der Zwaan died at the age of 58 on 24 February 1852 in Rotterdam. His widow died there on 15 February 1870 at the age of 80.

Sources: Stadsarchief.Rotterdam.nl, ErfgoedLeiden.nl, WieWasWie.nl, MolenDatabase.nl, DTB Oud-Beijerland bewerkt door J.P. van der Spek.

The 4 marriages of Cornelis Kootkar (1842-1914)

The Cornelis Kootkar in this story was born on 5 April 1842 in Schalkwijk, south of Utrecht. His parents are Aaltje van Amerongen (1803-1851) and Arie Kootkar (1811-1890), and his grandparents are Hendrika de Jong and Johannis Kootkar (1785-1816). Cornelis' great-grandfather is Hermanus Kootkar of Meppen in Germany.
Cornelis' father Arie, when widowed for 8 months, remarried Heiltje Tukker (1809-1885). Arie Kootkar also survived his second wife, and died on 6 December 1890 in Schalkwijk, aged 79.
Cornelis Kootkar was 9 years old when his mother died, and 10 years old when he acquired a stepmother. His younger brother Hendrikus died at the age of 16 in 1862. Their half-sister Gerdina Kootkar remained unmarried, and died at the age of 46 in 1899.

At the age of 26, on 22 April 1868 in Utrecht Cornelis Kootkar married his first wife, 20-year-old Antoinetta Louisa Maria Vreeswijk. Antoinetta was born in Utrecht on 23-10-1847 as daughter of Gloudi Vreeswijk and Wilhelmina Tieson. Just two months after the marriage, Antoinetta gave birth to a son. In 1871 a daughter was born, but the baby died that same year.

At the request of Antoinetta, a divorce was registered on 12 December 1875 in Rotterdam, and on 18 February 1876 in Zutphen in Gelderland. At that time the residence of Cornelis Kootkar was unknown. His estranged wife was living in Doesburg in Gelderland.

Zutphensche Courant, 26-2-1876: the 1st divorce

On 18 September 1878 in Rotterdam  Cornelis Kootkar (36) married Gommaria Maria Johanna Mathot (27). She was born in Middelburg on 2-11-1850 as daughter of Bernardus Adrianus Mathot en Julia Catharina Bourdeau. At the age of 19, Gommaria had married Jacobus Johannes Baljé, who originated in Vlissingen. Gommaria's divorce had been registered on 11-10-1876 in Middelburg. In 1872 her only child had lived for only 4 weeks.
Gommaria died in Rotterdam on 14 May 1883, aged 31.

Adriana van der Koogh travelled to the USA with her 2 surviving kids

The Adriana van der Koogh in this story was born on 5 December 1814 in Dordrecht, Holland. Her parents are miller Jillis van der Koogh (1788-1877) and his wife Adriana de Leeuw (1789-1850). Adriana's paternel grandparents are miller Willem van der Koogh (1734-1809) and Sija Brand (±1758-1803). Adriana's 4 great-grandparents are all my ancestors, too.

Mills in Dordrecht

At the age of 23, Adriana van der Koogh was married on 12 September 1838 in Dordrecht to Andreas Bax. Andreas was born on 31 May 1815 in Dordrecht as son of Johannes Bax (1794-1833) and Elisabeth Littig (†1866) whose father originated in Knopshof, Germany.

While still living in The Netherlands, Adriana and Andreas had 7 children:

1. Elizabeth was born on 22 April 1839 in Dordrecht and died on 22 Dec. 1848 in Rotterdam, aged 9.
   
2. Jillis was born on 14 July 1841 in Dordrecht. He may have died in 1894.
   
3. Johannes Adrianus was born on 1 Feb. 1844 in Dordrecht. He died in Rotterdam on 15 Sep. 1846, aged 2½.
4. Adriana Johanna was born on 28 April 1846 in Rotterdam.
5. Johanna was born on 15 July 1848 in Rotterdam. She died there on 22 Feb. 1850, aged 1½.
   
6. Elizabeth was born on 12 April 1851 in Rotterdam. She died in Dordrecht on 26 Sep. 1855, aged 4.
7. Andreas was born on 10 July 1853 in Rotterdam. He died in Dordrecht on 27 Sep. 1855, aged 2.

At first Adriana and Andreas were living in Dordrecht. Around 1845 they moved to Rotterdam. In October 1855 the whole family returned to Dordrecht. In September 1855 their 2 youngest children died, likely as a result of a contagious disease. Both in Rotterdam and Dordrecht Andreas Bax was working as a tailor.

In 1856 Adriana van der Koogh and her 2 remaining children Jilles (13) and Adriana (10) boarded ship and traveled from Hellevoetsluis - near Rotterdam - to New York. Her husband had likely already crossed the ocean, because I can't find any death date for him in The Netherlands.

Newspaper "De Sheboygan Nieuwsbode", 20-5-1856

Sources: RegionaalArchiefDordrecht.nl, StadsArchief.Rotterdam.nl, delpher.nl.

Barent & Lucas Coeymans, 17th century miller & sawyer

Barent Pieteres Koijemans/Coeymans first arrived in 1639 from Utrecht, The Netherlands, with his brother Lucas. First, Barent became an apprentice at a mill owned by the Van Rensselaer family. Later,  "Barent The Miller" purchased a tract of land that was given his name: Coeymans is a town in Albany County, New York, USA.
Barent married a daughter of Andries de Vos. His children were Andreas, Samuel, Pieter, Adriaentje, Jannetie and Geertie. Barent's daughter Adriaentje was born on October 19, 1672. His son Pieter married Elizabeth Greveraad on October 5, 1713. Barent died in 1710.

While Barent became known as "Barent The Miller", his brother Lucas Pieterse Coeymans became known as "De Houtsager", i.e. "The Sawyer". In 1675 Lucas bought a saw mill called "The Proesten Mill" on the east bank of the Hudson. Lucas married, too, and had a daughter Jannetje, baptised on October 19, 1684. 

Sources: OpenLibrary.org, Wikipedia.org and rootsweb.ancestry.com. 

The Van Dusens of New Amsterdam

In 2011 The New York Times featured an article on the Van Dusen family. It started with one of Manhattan’s first few hundred settlers, an operator of a windmill where the Dutch ground grain. Known in official documents as “Abraham the Miller” or “Abraham Pieterszen” - as in “son of Peter” - he landed on the island of “Manatus” some time before February 1627. Abraham’s forebears were from the the town of Deursen

in Northern Brabant in The Netherlands. 
The 1880 census counted 3,000 heads of household with the name Van Dusen — or Van Deusen, Van Deursen, Van Duzer and other common variants — all, the experts say, traceable back to Abraham the Miller.

Two of Abraham’s progeny — Martin Van Buren (1782–1862) and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) — served as presidents of the United States. A third, Eliza Kortright (Generation 7), married one, James Monroe (1758–1831). You can read much more about the Van Dusen family in this interesting The New York Times article.