3 Otterspoor brothers in Australia

The Australian Anzacs website shows the records for Dutch immigrants in Australia who enlisted as soldiers in World War I. Among them are 3 brothers of the Otterspoor family: Servaas (“John”), Arnoldus (“Harry”) and Franciscus Jacobus (“Frank”). John Otterspoor is listed in 1917 as being an engineer, born in Utrecht, The Netherlands, aged 24 years and 2 months, and married to "Trintje". In fact, John and Arnold were born as twins in Utrecht on 19-11-1892. Their mother was 19-year-old and single Hendrika Johanna van Kesteren. She was born on 7-10-1873 in Amersfoort. Her parents are Arnoldus van Kesteren and Engelina Welling.

Servaas ("John")

Arnoldus ("Harry")

Franciscus Jacobus ("Frank")

Four Degrees of Separation

Randy Seaver offered the following Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge:

Using your ancestral lines, how far back in time can you go with FOUR degrees of separation? That means “you knew an ancestor, who knew another ancestor, who knew another ancestor, who knew another ancestor.” When was that fourth ancestor born?

That's not an easy challenge, for my oldest grandparent, my maternal grandfather, was born when all his grandparents had already died, so I had to pick another grandparent. With my paternal grandfather I had the same issue. Then I stumbled upon missing ancestors because I have a lot of ancestors in places with missing baptism records like Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, Sint-Anthoniepolder, Wieldrecht and 's-Gravendeel, all in Holland. 

W.C. Zijderveld
(1892-1976)

I also found out that to establish this line, and make sure they knew each other, I had to turn the definition around into "that ancestor knew that descendant" for a baby or toddler may not remember someone.

Here is my line:

1. I knew my maternal grandmother Willempje Cornelia Zijderveld (1892-1976).
2. She knew her maternal grandmother Adriana de Sterke (1829-1917).
3. Adriana knew her paternal grandfather Pieter de Sterke (1765-1842).
4. His double grandmother Lijsbet Kevers (1703-1767) knew him. Pieter was Lijsbeth's grandson both through her daughter Maria de Sterke (1730-1806) and her son David de Sterke (1733-1797). 

They were all born in Dordrecht in Holland.

I want to thank Randy Seaver and Yvette Hoitink for the inspiration.

Tuesday's Twins - Daniel & Cornelis Bakker

The twins Daniel and Cornelis Bakker were baptized in Sliedrecht on August 24, 1721. Their parents were Pieter Bakker and Neeltje Bisschop. The witnesses at their baptism were Jan (son of Daniel)  Bakker, Kundertje (daughter of Pieter) Visser, Arijen (son of Cornelis) Hofman and Zijchje (daugher of Leendert).

Daniel & Cornelis, sons of Pieter Bakker & Neeltje Bisschop, were baptized on August 24, 1721, in Sliedrecht.

Both Daniel and Cornelis reached the age of maturity. Daniel was buried in Sliedrecht on June 15, 1747. Cornelis was married to Grietje Barents Hovestadt who originated in Werkendam. They had a son Barent Bakker baptized on March 17, 1743, in Sliedrecht. In 1772 in Leyden, Holland, Barent was married to Geertruij (daughter of Teunis) Slijkhuijs who originated in Twello. At the baptism of their daughter Margrieta on September 21, 1774, in Leyden, Cornelis Bakker and Grietje Hovestadt were the witnesses.

Sources: WieWasWie.nl, Salha.nl, FamilySearch.org.

Madness Monday ~ Edmund Frowein (1813-90) was locked up

Edmund Frowein was baptized on December 19, 1813, in Zevenaar in The Netherlands. His father, trader Frederik Frowein, was born in Zevenaar around 1784. His mother, Anna Dorothea Frederica Ronstorff, was born in Düsseldorf in Germany. The notice of marriage for Edmund’s parents was registered on February 7, 1813, in Zevenaar. Subsequently the wedding ceremony took place in Düsseldorf.

Edmund’s younger brothers Wilhelm and Julius Frowein were baptized in Zevenaar on March 16, 1815, and June 30, 1816, respectively. Wilhelm and Julius were married in Nijkerk, The Netherlands, in 1843-44 to 2 sisters, Dina and Carolina Marcus, daughters of Jacob Marcus and Elisabeth Jacobs. Wilhelm and Julius both had children. Edmund, however, remained a bachelor.

Arnhemsche Courant, 11-1-1845

Edmund was described as “innocent” and locked up in a lunatic asylum in Deventer, The Netherlands. The Law Court in Arnhem established a guardianship for Edmund on January 6, 1845. His administrator was his father.