Joan's Ancestral World

Van Arkel  is a surname derived from a place name, a toponym. Arkel is a village located in the middle of The Netherlands. In medieval times...

Barend Karssemeijer was born in Lengerik to the southeast of Tecklenburg in Germany. His wedding registration claims he “had no parents”, so...

Earlier I blogged about ceramist Cornelis van den Abeele  (†1731) and his brother Johannes. Cornelis’ wife was Maria Jans Vree (†1728). At t...

SS Noordam Peter Bos boarded the “Noordam” in Rotterdam, Holland, around September 27, 1906, and traveled to the United States of Americ...