Continuing with the foray into my direct Dutch ancestors who were not farmers or labourers, meet Cornelis Ran, my Gx3 Grandfather. In his occupation, Cornelis was following in the footsteps of his father, Reijer Jansz Ran, at least as much as you can follow on the confines of a boat or ship. Cornelis’s maternal grandfather and great grandfather were also sailors, although their forebears were innkeepers, bricklayers, and bakers.
Reijer and his wife Maartje Klaas Gomes had eleven children, all born on Texel. Remarkably for the time, all but two survived to adulthood. Cornelis, born on November 21, 1824, was the sixth of these eleven children. He was born in Oudeschild, a coastal village on the east coast of the island of Texel, which lies only a couple of kilometers across the Marsdiep from the mainland city of Den Helder, a major Dutch port and naval city. Several generations of Cornelis’s ancestors spent their lives in Oudeschild.
Cornelis’s life on the water was spent as a harbour pilot and sailor. He was serving his apprenticeship as a harbour pilot in Den Helder when he married Elisabeth “Lisbeth” de Waard there on February 6, 1851. Lisbeth, who also went by Betje, was born on Texel in 1824. Delightfully, Cornelis and his sister Johanna Maria were both married on the same day and at the same place, possibly in a joint family celebration in Den Helder.
The item below the civil registration notice are odd little bits of news: “The King of Prussia appointed 1,152 knights in the previous year.” “The Governor of Egypt, Abbas Pacha, is totally insane.”
Elisabeth and Cornelis remained in Den Helder for the rest of their lives, where they raised seven children. Again, remarkably for their time, all seven of their children lived well into adulthood. All seven also went on to marry.
Over those years, Cornelis continued in his profession, working as a harbour pilot and as a sailor until about 1886, when he was 62. Records show that Cornelis had no occupation from 1886 to 1890. This suggests he might have retired. However, he was working again as a sailor in 1890, so it is not clear if he had briefly retired, had been unable to work, or had been unable to find work.
Elisabeth passed away in 1887 at the age of 63 and was buried in Huisduinen, a village near Den Helder. Cornelis lived another ten years, dying in Den Helder on June 26, 1897, at the age of 72. He was also buried in Huisduinen, on June 29, 1897.
A Deck of Ancestors 