Last week I mentioned that both Lambertus and Gerrit Leeuwenhoek were at the orphanage together after their parents died.
I wanted to share with you information that Adriaan Leeuwenhoek discovered and shared with me about Gerrit’s stay. Gerrit was living in an orphanage located in Neerbosch in 1893. Here is the photo I posted last week of the campus.
Various newspaper records show that Gerrit was beaten by teacher Cornelis de Bruin.
Unlike the Dickens’ stories about the abuse of orphans in 19th century England, in this real life 19th century Dutch story, Gerrit went to the police station to report this crime!
The articles indicate that the court prosecuted four cases of the mistreatment of children at Neerbosch. Superintendent Leendert Sies abused 9-year-old Willem van Deth, teacher Frans van Geelen assaulted 11-year-old Marie van Deth. Another child was abused, as well, but the Google translation gets murky there.
The 3rd victim listed is our Gerrit. Teacher Cornelis de Bruin was given a 14 day jail sentence for assaulting Gerrit. I hope he fulfilled his time!
With so many teachers abusing children, it appears that abuse was rampant at the orphanage, but that they were prosecuted shows, to me, a determination to try to improve the situation for the children.
Adriaan has informed me that within a half year of registration one child died, as well. I wonder what the statistics were for the entire run of the orphanage regarding child “mortality.” I am sure abuse was rampant in orphanages around the world at that time.
The case was important enough that even De Volksvriend, one of the various Dutch speaking newspaper in the U.S., reported about the lawsuit. Adrian says to refer to page 7 of the attached PDF. Note that this is not the Michigan paper that my relatives worked on, but a paper out of Iowa!
Leeuwenhoek, Gerrit [De Volksvriend (Orange City, Sioux County, Iowa) 1894-03-03 – Pagina 7]
Thanks for Adriaan for this wonderful information (which I would not have found since I don’t read Dutch).
I’ll conclude this 3 part story of Gerrit and Lambertus Leeuwenhoek with a photograph of one of Adriaan Leeuwenhoek’s handsome ancestors, his grandfather Adriaan Leeuwenhoek, born 1896. I love the straw boater hat.
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I’ve tried to stick to the punctuation rule of not capitalizing “van” and “de,” but the sources list them both capitalized and not, which REALLY confuses me because I had thought that they were not capitalized in the Netherlands and then were capitalized in the United States. Apparently not true!
The Family Kalamazoo 
Very interesting case! About the capitalization, I just wrote an article about that: http://www.dutchgenealogy.nl/how-to-capitalize-dutch-names-with-prefixes/
The final paragraph that the translator was murky about translates to:
The demanded punishment against Cornelis De Bruin, teacher, accused of assaulting Gerrit Leeuwenhoek, was 14 days in prinson, while against Amos Joh. Van Houten, teacher, in the case of assault of van Hensbergen, the demand was a 20 guilders fine or seven days in prison.
Yvette, thank you. Your article very helpful! I tweeted it!
Thanks for the translation, too. I actually find it amazing that there was justice for these children at that time period. Very encouraging.
I agree! I once researched a family where a 16-year-old girl testified against her stepfather who had molested her. He was convicted to three years in jail. I felt so proud of her for having the courage to stand up for herself and angry that it was necessary for her to do so.
What a brave young lady! Yes, proud and angry. That is how I feel about Gerrit and his classmates, too. I can’t imagine what it took to report a teacher at the orphanage to police.
The court records should include their testimonies. Criminal case files can be extremely detailed. They are one of my favorite types of sources to consult. Newspaper articles like these are a great way to find out about cases.
Eventually I do want you to try to find out more about the Karel Mulder jailer’s hand situation–where he was disrespectful to his boss. I have been contacted by a Karel Mulder descendent who lives in the Netherlands.
How exciting to find a Dutch cousin! These types of stories just beg to be researched, don’t they?
They sure do!
Sad to think how badly orphans were treated.
It is so sad, but I find it a positive in a lot of negatives that these kids were able to get justice through the courts in the Netherlands all those years ago.
Sad but fascinating post. What’s most sad is how much child abuse still occurs and how little protection the legal system provides.
The failure of our foster care system is a huge part of the problem. It’s so sad.
I missed last weeks pictures so glad to see the orpanage here. Such sad conditions then and still existing in some countries (our poor children). I was surprised that any kind of enforcement would be used; thank goodness evil didn’t prevail 100% of the time. He’s a looker all right with or without his dandy hat!
So true. Still so many children growing up in appalling circumstances. I was so pleasantly surprised to see justice in Gerrit’s case!
Reblogged this on Janet’s thread.
Thanks so much, Janet!
Thanks for stopping by my blog. The Squire and I are both tracing our families, although we are in our 70s and have waited until everyone who could help us is dead. His people are mostly from the UK, which makes life a little easier, but my family is from Germany, and so many records have been lost.
Do you find people copy things down without checking dates, etc.? He just found one lady who was born 100 years after she died! Some more research is in order, methinks.
[…] A Beating, or The Leeuwenhoek Connection: Part 3 […]
My great grandma and her brother were also in the orphanage at Nijmegen in about that same time period, and it was said there was abuse. She met Jesus there, and was in an orphanage choir that sang before heads of state of Europe. She sang a solo about the moon…
She must have had a beautiful singing voice! I wonder if the boys and girls spent time together or were separate.