Now I move into the 4x great-grandparents. The information gets scanty, and this generation did not immigrate to the United States. I’m going to start with my maternal grandfather’s ancestors–once again, because the inspiration for this blog came from his family.
Grandpa’s surname Zuidweg came from Cornelis Zuijdweg, who was born on 22 5 May 1781 in Goes, the son of Adriana and Paulus.
He was born during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, a conflict between Great Britain and the Dutch Republic between 1780-1784. This war was somewhat related to the American Revolutionary War because it had to do with whether it was legal for the Dutch to trade with Britain’s enemies in the ARW. The Dutch Republic was the second European country to diplomatically recognize the Continental Congress, less than a year after Cornelis was born.
This painting is of The Battle of Dogger Bank, which took place the year Cornelis was born, between the Dutch and the British. You can read about it on Wikipedia.
The Dutch were led in battle by Vice Admiral Johan Zoutman.
Cornelis married Geertrui den Herder who was born on 22 May 1780 12 December 1779 in Kloetinge (which is next to Goes), the daughter of Antona and Adriaan. The name Den Herder probably means “The Shepherd.” The couple married on 4 January 1803, in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands. They had at least two children during their marriage, Adriaan (1805 – 1851), my 3x great-grandfather, and Antonia Adriana (1810-1881) who married Johan Pieter den Boer.
Cornelis worked as a fish inspector and, possibly, some other type of inspector. However, at the time of the wedding of their daughter Antonia to Johan, Cornelis is listed as a shopkeeper. Geertrui is listed as a laborer at one point, so it’s probable that she worked for someone else.
Geertrui died on 22 May 1838 in Goes, at the age of 58.
Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands, death record, Geertruida den Herder, 22 May 1838
Just over a year later, Cornelis married Catharina Geertrui van Kleef on 25 July 1839, in Goes. He died on 9 November 1841, also in Goes, at the age of 60.
Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands, death record, Cornelis Zuijdweg, 9 November 1841
Did you notice all those May 22 dates? Here is what I know: Geertrui’s death record in 1838 is definitely May 22. But the other May 22 dates? They came from other sources, and I don’t believe them. I no sooner published this post than Yvon Rijshouwer of Gouda responded with some more information from the Population Register in the Goes archives (which I did not know exists). Geertrui was a married housewife of the Reformed faith. Kornelis was a fish inspector of the Reformed faith. I have adjusted the birth dates of both Kornelis and Geertrui based upon Yvon’s information. They are no longer May 22!
Here is the address in Goes where the family lived.
Source: Bevolkingsregister 1831-1836, wijk D,Street: J.A. van der Goeskade Tussen de 2 Poorten. (between the two gates)
Kornelis lives there withGeertrui den Herder, wife,Adriaan Zuidweg, son, born 28/1/1805, Goes, tailorBenjamin Kornelis den Boer , grandson. born 13/5/1831, Goes.
So I am looking for both birth/baptism records, their marriage record, and possibly any military history for Cornelis. Onward!
P.S. And now I have this new online source: https://gemeentearchief.goes.nl/
The Family Kalamazoo 
In Open archieven I found another birth date for Geertrui den Herder and her husband:
Geertrui den Herder, geboren op 12 december 1779 te Kloetinge, gehuwd, huisvrouw van beroep, Hervormd, overleden op 22 mei 1838
(born on December 12 1779 at Kloetinge (=next to Goes), married, housewife, Reformed, died may 22 1838).
And cornelis:
Kornelis Zuidweg, geboren op 5 mei 1781 te Goes, gehuwd, viskeurder van beroep, Hervormd
(judge of fish)
Source: Bevolkingsregister 1831-1836, wijk D,
Street: J.A. van der Goeskade Tussen de 2 Poorten. (between the two gates)
https://gemeentearchief.goes.nl/detail.php?nav_id=1-1&id=9533090&index=1037
I cannot download the page, but he lives there with
Geertrui den Herder, wife,
Adriaan Zuidweg, son, born 28/1/1805, Goes, tailor
Benjamin Kornelis den Boer , grandson. born 13/5/1831, Goes.
I hope this helps you find more about your ancestors,
Greetings from
Yvon Rijshouwer
Gouda
Yvon, this is wonderful information. I knew she couldn’t have died and been born on May 22 both ;)! Thank you so much. I didn’t know about the population registers! How do I tell what the date is of the register? It says 1831-1836, but is there a specific date? Now I am curious why the grandson was living with the couple. Their son Adriaan was probably not married yet (married 1836) so that is why he was there. I will have to do a little search to see if I can figure out why they had their grandchild, but not their daughter or son-in-law living with them. Maybe it was a temporary arrangement because of illness or something like that. Yvon, thank you so much for your kindness.
Onward!
Yes yes yes!
Onward to more exciting discoveries and filling in the blanks 🙂
Yes, Sharon! Thank you!
I always appreciate your snippets of research avenues!! Thanks again!
Thank you so much! I hope it’s helpful to others to see my chaotic progress haha!
Good luck with the next phase of the hunt for missing records!
Thank you, Liz. I really do think genealogy is a limitless endeavor!
What amazes me is how much information is now available in digitized records. (Internet Archive and I are very close friends.)
I was wondering about those crossed-off dates! How lucky to have someone find those records to correct the May 22 dates. Where had those come from? I’m amazed that you are able to go back this far with this much detail.
And thanks for the information about the Dutch and English—I never knew about that war.
There are family trees put on https://www.genealogieonline.nl/. Although they are like Ancestry trees, they offer good clues because the trees are usually of Dutch families by Dutch individuals. So in this case, I got the clues of the years, but the dates were all the same as a death date. Who knows why? Place holders? I don’t know, but that is why as with Ancestry trees everything is just a clue or an error until records back it up.
I think it’s pretty interesting that the Dutch were our ally way back at the beginning.
I’ve always like the Dutch! 🙂 And we loved Amsterdam. Probably my favorite city outside of NYC and Boston, which are like home to me.
I was eaten by bedbugs in Amsterdam LOL. Very nice smallish hotel, but yes, bedbugs! Other than that, I liked Amsterdam, but preferred Rotterdam and the smaller towns we visited. I wish I still had my itinerary, but it was so long ago.
We stayed in a brand new hotel. It was just a few years ago—none of those steep stairs for me! We stayed in Amsterdam the whole time, but did day trips to The Hague and Haarlem and did a bike ride into the country around Amsterdam. It was one of our favorite trips. (It was 2013…so seven years ago, not a few.)
It sounds fun! We went so long ago now–the kids were young. No traveling now, of course . . . .
Nope. I sure hope we can by next summer. I’m not getting any younger…