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Posts Tagged ‘history of Goes’

2020 Fill in the Gaps Project: My 4XGreat-Grandparents, Willem and Pieternella (Filius) Hijman

Posted in Family History, Genealogy, Lucille Edna Mulder Zuidweg, Netherlands history, tagged , , , , , , on November 6, 2020| 24 Comments »

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.

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2020 Fill in the Gaps Project: My 4XGreat-Grandparents, Willem and Neeltje (Reijerse) Gorsse

Posted in Family History, Genealogy, Lucille Edna Mulder Zuidweg, Netherlands history, tagged , , , , , , on October 28, 2020| 18 Comments »

Today I move on to Grandma’s 3rd set of Dutch great-greats. My 4x great-grandfather Willem Gorsse was born on January 25, 1802, in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands to 19-year-old parents. At the age of 23, he married Catharina Opperman. They had eight children together. The four girls all survived into adulthood, but the four boys all died in infancy. With the birth of the eighth child, a boy named Kornelis, Catharina herself passed away in 1839. She wasn’t my ancestor, but my sympathies are all with her. She was only 38 years old.

Eleven months later, on 30 January 1840, Willem married my 4x great-grandmother, Neeltje Reijerse in Goes.

Neeltje was not a young girl. She was 34 years old (born 1805) and had given birth to at least two children. At the age of 19, when she was working as a maid, she gave birth to a son, Geerhard. No father was listed. That makes it appear that this was an illegitimate birth. Then nine years later, Neeltje gave birth to a daughter, Adriana. No father was listed for Adriana either. Both children had been given Neeltje’s surname at birth.

Here is Geerhard’s birth record:

Someone in a genealogy translation Facebook group kindly translated the record for me:

On the 31st of March, in the year 1824 at 11AM, in front of Gerard de Leeuw, servant of the civil register of the city of Goes, district of Goes, province of Zeeland: Maria Drentz, 40 year old midwife living here, showed us a male child born on the 30th of March 1824 in Goes at 4 in the morning in house #312 to Neeltje Reijerse, 19 year old worker, living in this city district, and declares that the child has been given the name Geerhard. Verifying this declaration is witness Johan Gerard van Maldegem, 43 year old cow-milker living in house 3w, and Willem Legs, 32(?) year old labourer living in house 312. [Note from me: I suspect that address 3w was actually 310. Take a look at the record yourself and see if you agree with me.]

This is the first time I have run across this issue of fatherless children in all my research on my Dutch ancestors. Sometimes the first baby was not a “nine month” birth. But years ago my grandmother told me that it was common in the Netherlands that after the banns were read (this indicated that the couple were to be married), a little fooling around was not frowned upon. This was meant to be a fertility check, according to Grandma. So what happened when the girl didn’t get pregnant?! I’d like more detailed information about this practice. Nevertheless, that isn’t what happened in Neeltje’s case. The father or fathers of her children remain anonymous, and I can find no record of a marriage for Neeltje before the one to Willem.

I wish I knew what made Willem and Neeltje decide to marry. Did Neeltje want a husband or a father for her daughter Adriana (Geerhard died as an infant)? Did Willem think a little older woman who had a living daughter might be able to give him more children? Or did she seem a good mother for his four daughters? We will never know the personal history of these two and how they knew each other and what led to their marriage.

Willem and Neeltje did end up having four children together. Geertruid and Marinus both died as infants. But Jan and Gerard lived longish lives. Jan, my 3x great, died in 1911 at age 70, and Gerard lived until 1920 at age 74.

Willem died on 29 November 1867, in his hometown at the age of 65. Neeltje passed away on 11 November 1869 also in Goes. Three of her six children survived, and six of Willem’s twelve children survived.

I have all the basic records for this couple except for Willem’s birth or baptismal record–as well as any military record that might exist for him. But I have both his marriages, his death, and Neeltje’s baptism, marriage, and death records. Willem’s occupation was bezemmaker. I believe, but am not certain, that this means broom maker.

The more I read about the infant mortality experiences of my ancestors and the deaths of young women from childbirth the more I wonder about the emotional landscape of these people. Although the experiences of both Catharina and Neeltje were different, their lives were completely defined by their childbearing. How did it feel to have and raise a daughter knowing that she might very well be dead a few years after she married? That she might spend most of her adult life pregnant or nursing? That the likelihood of a stepmother raising your grandchildren was so great? How did girls feel growing up seeing how dangerous childbirth was for women? Did it change how girls were raised and treated?

I keep thinking about the lullabye “Rockabye baby.” Although Wikipedia lists many possible origins, one that is not mentioned is the one I learned in researching for an academic text chapter I wrote years ago: the rhyme was meant to make the “evil eye” think the mother didn’t love her baby so that the baby wouldn’t be taken away (die). Did the children feel less loved because of these fears?

Rock-a-bye baby
On the treetop
When the wind blows
The cradle will rock
When the bough breaks
The cradle will fall
And down will come baby
Cradle and all

History was one of my college majors, so I like to think I know a little bit about the subject. But the more genealogy I study the more I realize history was like a movie to me before. Now I really wonder about the interior lives of the people.

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2020 Fill in the Gaps Project: My 3XGreat-Grandparents, Karel Pieter Philippe and Johanna Maria (Boes) Mulder

Posted in Family History, Genealogy, Michigan history, Mulder, Netherlands history, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 8, 2020| 16 Comments »

My next fill-in-the-gaps couple is Grandma’s great-grandparents–my 3x greats, Karel Pieter Philippe Mulder and Johanna Maria Boes Mulder.

Here are the Ancestry-created bios:

When Karel Pieter Philippe Mulder was born on February 21, 1837, in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands, his father, Karel, was 24 and his mother, Rose, was 27. He married Johanna Maria Boes and they had six children together. He also had three sons and three daughters with Klazina Otte. He died on April 22, 1881, in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands, at the age of 44.

When Johanna Maria Boes was born on July 8, 1835, in IJzendijke, Zeeland, Netherlands, her father, Izaak, was 30, and her mother, Adriana, was 26. She married Karel Pieter Philippe Mulder on November 7, 1861, in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands. They had six children during their marriage. She died as a young mother on November 19, 1867, in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands, at the age of 32.

Karel’s family had been in Goes and would continue in Goes, for the most part. But Johanna was born in a town about 30 miles away from Goes. She would marry, live, and die in Goes.

Such a sad story. After bearing six children, Johanna died at age 32. Her sixth child was stillborn about six weeks before Johanna herself passed. Also, a daughter born three years before had also passed away as an infant, only a few months old. The other four children, all boys, survived. One of them was my 2x great-grandfather Pieter Mulder who immigrated to the United States with his wife and first two children.

Karel himself was two years younger than Johanna, so when she died, he was a 30-year-olg widower with four children. Nine months later, he married Klazina Otte. He had six children with Klazina. I have written before about the situation with this family. Karel ended up being a prosperous merchant, but when he died at age 44 in 1881, Klazina was left with her own children, as well as the two youngest children of Johanna’s. Those two were sent to the orphanage in Goes. I wrote about it here: Pieter the Orphan. In that post I wrote how Karel owned the store with family members, and I don’t know how that affected things financially when he passed. Perhaps Klazina couldn’t care for that many children physically. Perhaps she couldn’t afford to. I wondered if the family had been “severed” from the boys being sent to an orphanage, but then I was contacted by family in the Netherlands who shared with me a letter from Pieter to his half-brother Jan: The Treasure that Arrived in an Email. Then I could see that the siblings kept in touch. That was wonderful news.

So what do I have about Karel and Johanna and what am I missing?

For Karel, I have his birth and death records. I also have his marriage records for Joanna. I have information from Yvette Hoitink about Karel’s business and real estate ownership. In working on this fill-in-the-gap project I dug up a marriage record for Karel and Klazina.

For Johanna, I have her birth, marriage, and death records.

I found a painting to represent Johanna on Ancestry. This painting is of a woman from the same town Johanna was, painted by Jan Haak. Maybe this is how she looked when she got married, before she had six children.

Yvette Hoitink was able to find some information about Karel’s military history–namely, there is none. That is because he was actually too short to be taken for the military.

 

KAREL PIETER P. MULDER

  1. 21 February 1837, Goes m. 7 November 1861, Goes

Karel Pieter Mulder married in Goes in 1861, so his marriage supplements did not survive. Goes enlistment records were ordered. He married at age 24, so could have fulfilled his military before marriage.

Karel Mulder in militia registration, 1856 Source: Goes, lists of men registered for the National Militia, levies 1851-1862, 1856 no. 27, Karel Mulder; call no. 1438, archives of the city of Goes, 1851-1919, Goes Municipal Archives, Goes; scans provided by Goes Municipal Archives.

2

Abstract:

No. 27, lot no. 77

Karel Mulder, born Goes 21 February 1837. Physical description: 1.495 m, broad face and forehead, blue eyes, pointy nose, ordinary mouth, round chin, bond hair and eyebrows, no noticeable marks. Son of Karel [Mulder] and Rose Melanie Bataille. Occupation: apothecary’s hand, father: shoemaker Informant: himself.

This shows the name as Karel Mulder, not Karel Pieter P. Mulder. Karel Mulder is the name found in previous phases. The birth date and parents match the information previously found, proving this is the correct person.

Karel Mulder in militia enlistment, 1856 Source: Goes, lists of men registered for the National Militia, levies 1854-1862, 1856 no. 29, Karel Mulder; call no. 1484, archives of the city of Goes, 1851-1919, Goes Municipal Archives, Goes; scans provided by Goes Municipal Archives.

Abstract:

No. 29, Karel Mulder. Born Goes 22 February 1837. Height: 1.495 m Son of Karel [mulder] and Rosie Melanie Bataille Occupation: apothecary’s hand, father shoemaker Informant: himself

Lot number 77

Undersized, one year delay.

This shows that Karel Mulder was too short to have to serve in the military. He got a one year delay to see if he would grow. Unfortunately, the Goes archives did not check the register for the next year to see if he made the mark that year.

Later from Yvette by email:

The Goes archivist had to be in the archives and checked the following years of militia enlistment registers, but Karel Mulder does not appear in the later years. It appears he never served in the military on account of being too short.

It looks like Karel never got tall enough for the military. Maybe he was happy about that, maybe not.

So how short was he? I believe he was about 4’9. I do think that a line of short men came from this branch. His grandson, my great-grandfather, was not a tall man, although definitely taller than 4’9. After that the men were taller as my great-grandmother was tall.

The gaps I have for Karel and Johanna will probably always be places where I have to insert my imagination. I have all the main pertinent documents relating to their lives.

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