Last week I wrote about the Remijnse (Remine) family from the beginning (of our current knowledge). There is a huge pedigree chart available online, and while I need to take it all with a grain of salt, it is extremely useful. It prints out to exactly 248 pages!
My new chum Jacob Remijnse decided to try to figure out the identity of the people in the unidentified Remijnse family photo, using the pedigree chart.
The photograph seems to have been taken upon the occasion of a wedding–the bride is in the white dress in the center and the groom is to her left (our right). The other seated man is probably the father. Let’s assume the five standing behind are siblings.
The only thing I know about this photo is that my family believes it is of one of the Remijnse branches. I figured out it has to be from the Netherlands because it doesn’t fit the Remijnse family members who came to this country.
Using the clothing as a guide, especially the styles of the dresses and the women’s hats, I think the photo was taken somewhere between the late 1870s and 1890. Jacob came to that independent analysis, as well.
Then he drew up a chart of the Remijnse family with dates of birth, dates of death, dates of marriage, and names of spouses. He made columns for how old each person was in 1865, 1875, and 1885. This was extremely helpful.
Using this analysis, it seemed likely that the young couple was one of two choices.
Jan Remijnse 29-05-1863 01-05-1900 2 12 22 07-08-1885 Cornelia Bijlo 06-03-1863 01-04-1942 2 12 22 Jan was 22 in 1885 when he married 22-year-old Cornelia Biljo. There is no doubt that this couple looks 22 or so.
OR
Dina Remijnse 17-02-1856 09-01-1943 9 19 29 07-05-1886 Francois Bijlo 09-08-1864 09-09-1942 1 11 21 Dina was 29 when she married Francois Biljo in 1886. Francois was 21.
Doesn’t Dina seem a better candidate for the standing woman in the back? She would have been 29 here and married the following year at age 30.
So what was the next step?
We needed to look at the family groups. Were Jan and Dina siblings? Was their mother deceased by 1885 since there is no mother in the photograph? Were Cornelia and Francois siblings? The last is purely curiosity because I think this photo is a Remijnse family photo with the new spouse included. I don’t think it is a combination of members of the Remijnse and Biljo families.
Here is info on Dina Remijnse:
Dina Remijnse, born Sunday 17 February1856 in Kapelle. Notes at birth: Witnesses Pieter Staal and Jan Loijs. Dina died on Saturday, January 9th1943 in Kapelle, 86 years old. Note Dina: Religion Dutch Reformed. Profession housewife. Dina married, 30 years old, Friday 7 May1886 inKapelle [source: huw.akte nr. 13 BS Kapelle] with Francois Bijlo , 21 years old, born Tuesday 9 August1864 in Kapelle as son of Willem Bijlo and Maria van de Linde. Francois died on Wednesday 9 September1942 inKapelle, 78 years old. At the marriage ceremony the following witness was present: Nicolaas Remijnse (ca.1858 – 1909).
Notes on marriage: Witnesses Leendert Monter, 50 yr. Anton Leijs, 32 yr. Worker, Cornelis Markusse, 42 yr. Innkeeper.
Here is info on Jan Remijnse:
Jan Remijnse, born Friday 29 May1863 in Kapelle [source: certificate no. 34 BS Kapelle].
Notes at birth: Witnesses Thomas Snoep, 22 yr. Quartermaster and master, Johannes Staal, 29 yr., Tailor. Jan died Tuesday, May 11900 in Kapelle, 36 years old. The following witness was present at the death report: Nicolaas Remijnse (ca.1858 – 1909). Note on the death of Jan: Witnesses Willem Bijlo, 75 years of field worker, father-in-law. Profession: Field worker Religion: Free Evangelical. Jan married at the age of 22 on Friday 7 August 1885 inKapelle with Cornelia Bijlo, 22 years old, born on Friday 6 March1863 inKapelle as a daughter from Willem Bijlo and Maria van de Linde. Notes on the birth of Cornelia: Witnesses Pieter Snoep, 58 yr., Laborer, Nicolaas Mieras, 40 yr., Laborer. Cornelia died on Wednesday 1 April1942 in Goes, 79 years old [source: deed no. 75 BS Goes]. Note on death Cornelia: Witnesses Cornelis Sleutel, 55 yr., Caregiver. Note Cornelia: Religious Affection Dutch Reformed. At the wedding ceremony the following witness was present: Nicolaas Remijnse (ca.1858 – 1909). Notes on marriage: Witnesses Pieter Hoogstraat 34 jr. Merchant, brother-in-law of Jan, Simon Kramer, 63 jr. Shopkeeper, Dingenis Jeremiasse, 55 jr. Tailor.
On the big document where I pulled the above info from, I saw that Jan and Dina were, in fact, siblings, the children of Marinus and Jozina. But when I searched for siblings, I was dismayed to see that they had two sisters, Adriana and Wilhelmina–and only ONE brother, Nicolaas. This does not fit the portrait with all the young men. While this might be explained away, the mother Jozina was alive in 1885 and 1886, not dying until 1896. And the mother is not in the photo.
My conclusion: We do not have a match.
But Jacob is not ready to give up on it. He has another scenario worked out, but for that we need more info on the Bijlo family!
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I might be off-the-blog for a week or two, but I’ll be back with more Remijnse information (I hope)!
The Family Kalamazoo 
Fascinating analysis. But why are you convinced that these are all from the bride’s family? Why not the groom’s family? Or a combination?
You know my recommendation on this stuff—Ava Cohn! She could likely pinpoint to the year. Do you have other photos of anyone in this family?
No assumption of bride or groom’s family, as we don’t know if it’s the bride or groom that is a Remijnse, although the only wedding that seems to work at all is Jan’s. So now it means research into Jan’s bride’s family. To me a lot of those young men look related, though. Ah, Ava. I wish I had a budget supplied other than my own pocketbook for genealogy haha. I am sort of on a no spending rule right now as I spent for Entering the Pale research and then to have Val colorize photos for me. But I ought to put this on a list of stuff to have done when my budget opens up! Thanks, Amy. As far as other photos, yes, but they are either unidentified or they are a generation removed in the U.S. branch so the looks aren’t likely to bring an aha moment. But my intuition does say that those young men in this photo seem as if they could be Remijnses. If the Bijlo family research doesn’t yield anything, we might need an expert to find the date of the photo.
I get the budget stuff. I just hired her again to do a photo for me—not too bad $150 or so. But it’s only the second time, so I figure it’s in the budget. Good luck!!!
$150?!!! Omigosh.
Yeah—but for what she does, it’s actually not bad. I wouldn’t do it except for something really important, but what she did last time was amazing and answered several open questions for me.
Well, we’ll see . . . .
WOW
This reminds me so much of the time when I was working on my old photographs posts. I did the very same thing. Comparing ages and trying to find the right family group which would fit. Happy to hear Jacob has not given up.
Jacob is a rockstar!
A mystery for sure! Again a reminder to label (before its to late even for us) I m glad you have some help with figuring this one out. Its a doozy! I have no ideas for you 😦 except to wish you good genealogy luck ~ Sharon
And I spend so much time scanning I don’t label! It’s such a dilemma. No time for everything.
Most of the men look as if they’ve shaved their heads. Was this the fashion in the Netherlands at that time? Most of the pictures I’ve seen of men at that time shows a fuller head of hair. (Other than a brief period of parting in the middle and slicking it down, men’s hairstyles haven’t changed much. There’s not much they can do, poor things.) Clothing style change. At first I thought the family was bristling with clergy, but a lot of men at that time still wore round collars.
The two ladies have so much personality in that picture! Either of them would be a good companion.
Now, Dina, the groom and the fellow standing behind dear old dad all seem to have the same sort of shape to the mouth. Just to confuse the issue even more, y’know.
Good job pecking away at that brick wall! I think you knocked at least a couple of bricks off the top. I love the photograph. The bride looks downright regal. But the woman standing above her looks like she’s about to come down on her head with a stick! 🙂
It’s so frustrating, isn’t it, trying to work out who is in a family photo? I’ve ones from my own family that contain similar mysteries. I wish you success! Whatever you do or don’t find out, it’s a beautiful photo. 🙂
Just found out about this quest. Has it been resolved yet? The elderly man seated next to the bride resembles my mother’s (Elisabeth Remijnse) grandfather, Nicolaas Remijnse (1890 -1956 ). It seems they are related as my mother remembers seeing this photo when she was younger. It may be Cornelia Bijlo’s dad. We’ll dig up some pictures to compare. (We are all Dutch).Thanks.
Yvette, this is so exciting! Please do compare. I can’t wait to hear from you. My email is luanne.castle@gmail.com.