Today I am sharing the last of my 4x great-grandparents. Luckily, I had posts and research prepared before I got this Valley Fever pneumonia, but I won’t be able to work on 5x or greater until I get rid of this brain fog. But because of the records I already have, I believe I have the names of most, if not all, of my 5x, as well as many of my 6-8x greats. I can only hope that a lot of their records are online.
This couple is Willem Hijman and Pieternella Filius. By the way, I think I have the names of my 9x greats through Willem.
Ancestry life stories:
When Willem Hijman was born on March 19, 1812, in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands, his father, Gerrit, was 33 and his mother, Hendrika, was 22. He married Pieternella Filius on May 5, 1836, in his hometown. They had six children in 19 years. He died on January 19, 1875, in Kloetinge, Zeeland, Netherlands, at the age of 62.
When Pieternella Filius was born on January 30, 1813, in Kloetinge, Zeeland, Netherlands, her father, Pieter, was 33, and her mother, Cornelia, was 29. She married Willem Hijman on May 5, 1836, in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands. They had six children in 19 years. She died on February 14, 1889, in her hometown, having lived a long life of 76 years.
The information about Willem and Pieternella is accurate as I have their baptismal, marriage, and death records. But what the life stories don’t mention is that of the six children, only four survived into adulthood. One child was stillborn (levenloos) and not even given a name. In fact, the stillborn record takes the place of birth and death records. Another, the first Gerrit, died an infant in 1844. Kornelia, Pieternella, Gerrit, and Willem survied. Kornelia, the eldest, was my 3x great-grandmother.
Here is the levenloos document, entry #3:
Both Willem and Pieternella are listed in records as arbeider and arbeidster respectively. These terms mean worker, but I don’t know what kind of work they did. They are another couple who were born and died in Goes. Goes is the city where my grandparents’ ancestors intertwined.
My parents actually visited Goes, and while my father was very good about recording all his travel with his camera (and even sending me CDs with the photos), for some reason I never got any photos of Goes from their trip.
All the images of Goes that I have seen, including the one below, make it look very picturesque. It’s hard to understand why someone would want to leave such a beautiful place, but lovely scenery is obviously not all there is to having the best life one can achieve. It is nice to know, though, that all the generations that did live in (and stay in) Goes could look out upon the beauty of the area. 
The Family Kalamazoo 
I have an ancestor with the last name of Goes. hmmm
I knew someone with that last name, and his ancestors were Dutch, but he didn’t know the details.
5X and beyond is amazing
We shall see!
I wrote about my great grandparents yesterday. Thanks for keeping their history alive. We need to share these stories so they continue to live in on our families.
I so agree with you. Thanks for stopping by!
What a lovely place and yes, imagine living there…perhaps worker was a very hard life and the promise of the American dream seemed like the best for your children.
Thank goodness none of our ancestors lived to see this tragic sight. We have lost our way… good for Arizona for sending a new Senator.
Hope your brain fog clears sooner rather than later.
Yes, I agree. Yesterday the doctor told me to expect the exhaustion and brain fog for four months. Yikes!
I had similar brain fog after my two knee replacement surgeries last year. It’s such an unsettling feeling. And fatigue is like a thief in the night – but lasting all day long. I hope you get better quicker than expected!
That does look like quite a charming place. Eighth and nine great-grandparents!? WOW. I will never get that far back.
Hope you are feeling better and feel all better soon.
Thanks, Amy. I hear you on the 8th and 9th. I would like to see how far back if you take it though.
The furthest I’ve been able to go is sixth, maybe one seventh. Remember that before 1800 or so Jews had no surnames so it’s almost impossible to trace relatives much before 1750.
Yes, I’ve seen some of the gardener’s be son of so and so who is son of so and so and since in those cases we’re talking tiny villages, it might be possible to track EXCEPT for the fact that so many records are missing, “lost,” in various languages, and only accessible on site. Look what Lara Diamond (is that her name???) accomplishes though!
Nice.
Hope you kick that nasty lung ailment.
So that’s the secret; – brain fog -…
I like it, I will have to use it next time I get a tricky question:
“Gee I don’t know, it must be this brain fog thing from my illness.”
LOL
Get well soon and know that you are in our thoughts, during these trying times.
Lol! Thank you so much!
Love that picture. Love that legible ledger.
The Dutch records are amazing.
Small country; huge impact.
So true.
Goes does look like a beautiful place. I hope you’re continuing to feel better.
Thanks, Liz. I’m working on it!
I’m glad to hear that you’re on the mend!
A little late to the party, I sure hope your feeling better. It really is hard to imagine why are ancestors left our ancestral hometowns as we tend to see only the beauty in those places. Healing hugs Luanne
Thank you, Sharon!