52W Mark II – Week 28: Random

The theme for this week’s 52 Ancestors Challenge is “Random”. So I decided to truly be random.

I currently have 5,294 people in my RootsMagic database. This consists mainly of my children’s direct ancestors, along with the spouses and children of those people. There are also several lines where I’m tracking all the descendants of certain ancestors; in particular, those of Dirck Jansz, my direct paternal great x10 grandfather.

Using a random number generator, I chose a number from 1 to 5,294. The plan was to write about the person whose record number corresponded with the result. The first result corresponded with a living person, so try again. The second time it came up with 3,061. That corresponds with Petrus van der Fluit, my second cousin twice removed.

Petrus did not have a long life. He was born on March 25, 1905 in Zijpe, Noord Holland, Netherlands. He died less than three months later, on June 18, 1905.

One might think that this is an unfortunate result, in that there is not much to say about someone who lived such a short life. However, I was quite happy with the result. To me, it’s important to remember those who never really got to live their lives. Not only were their lives dismally short, they’re often forgotten as a result. They might not have been long in this world, but their time on Earth should be noted.

Petrus was the son of Dirk van der Fluit and Aaltje Bakker. They married in Zijpe on May 4, 1895. Dirk is my first cousin three times removed. While Aaltje appears to be related to me through marriage, I have many Bakker ancestors and cousins from Zijpe and environs, so I would not be surprised to discover that she and I share a common ancestor.

Petrus was the fifth of six children born to Dirk and Aaltje. Sadly, Petrus was not the only one who died in infancy. Dirk and Aaltje’s second child passed away within a day of birth, and their youngest, Anna, lived less than ten months.

It has been said (attributed to everybody from the ancient Egyptians to Banksy): “Everyone dies twice. Once when you take your final breath, and then again the last time someone says your name.” I say the name “Petrus van der Fluit”, and he lives on.