Tag: 52 Ancestors

52W Mark IV – Week 11: Card V11 Teetje de Groot

Teetje de Groot (1830-1900)

I have three direct ancestors with the forename “Teetje”: Teetje Pater (my Great Grandmother); Teetje de Groot (my Gx3 Grandmother); and Teetje Bakker (my Gx5 Grandmother). It might not surprise you that Teetje de Groot is Teetje Pater’s maternal grandmother and that Teetje Bakker is Teetje de Groot’s maternal grandmother, especially if you are aware of Dutch naming customs.

Traditionally, the first son is named after the paternal grandfather, the second son is name after the maternal grandfather, the first daughter is named after the maternal grandmother, and the second daughter after paternal grandmother. I knew of this custom for years before it dawned on me to apply it to my father and his siblings, and sure enough, they followed this pattern, assuming that “Thecla” is a variant of Teetje. I also had it that “Teetje” was a form of Theresia, at least according to some records I have of my great grandmother.

However, I recently learned of the Corpus of First Names in the Netherlands. It does not indicate any relationship between “Teetje” and “Thecla”. It also does not indicate that “Teetje” has any relationship with “Theresia”, nor does Dutch Wikipedia. I had similar results at Voornamenboek (“first name book”). However, there would be nothing stopping someone named Theresia from using the roepnaam (nickname) Teetje, or my grandmother substituting “Thecla” for “Teetje” when she named my aunt.

The first paragraph of Teetje’s birth registration.

Turning to the middle of my chain of Teetje grandmothers, Teetje de Groot was born December 18, 1830 in Oude Niedorp, Noord Holland. She was the third of thirteen children, and the first daughter, born to Jan de Groot and Sijtje Sijbecarspel, my Gx4 grandparents. Teetje was also the first to live past childhood. In fact, only four of Jan and Sijtje’s children lived to adulthood. Of those who died in childhood, one lived to age eight, one lived to be three, and none of the others survived infancy. Of the four who attained adulthood, Teetje lived the longest and was the last of the de Groot children to pass away.

Extract from the marriage registration for Jan Pater and Teetje de Groot, June 11, 1852.
The circle shows the location of Jan and Sijtje’s farm, where their daughter Teetje and son-in-law Jan Pater later came to live. The star shows where my father was born.

Teetje likely spent all of her adult life living at the same home. After they married, Teetje and Jan moved into Teetje’s parent’s house in Zijdewind, which at the time was part of gemeente (municipality) Oude Niedorp. Teetje was still living there after her parents and husband passed away. At least two of her children, Gerrit and Bregje, were still living with her at the house in Zijdewind in 1880. It seems that Gerrit remained at the house after Teetje passed away; he sold it in 1917.

The house was an elongated structure that was divided into a living room with two box beds and a stable for four cows. In the living area there was a small kitchen with a rainwater tank. Rainwater was collected via the gutters and a pipe indoors. The house burned down in 1926.

Teetje died on April 26, 1900 in Oude Niedorp, at the farm in Zijdewind.

Died April 26 (1900) > Teetje de Groot, widow of Jan Pater, age 69.
Death Registration for Teetje de Groot

52W Mark IV – Week 10: Card V10 Jan Pater

Jan Pater (1826-1878)

Jan Pater was born on May 20, 1826 in Sint Maarten, Noord Holland, the eldest of five children born to Jacob Janz Pater and Antje “Anna” Lievendag. Sometime between the time Jan was three and seven, the family moved a few kilometers south to the adjacent gemeente (municipality) of Harenkarspel. According to his registration of marriage, Jan lived in Harenkarspel and was working there as a labourer until shortly before he got married.

Jan’s birth registration.
The circle shows where Jan lived with his wife and inlaws. The star is where my father was born.

Jan was 26 when he married Teetje de Groot on June 11, 1852 in Oude Niedorp. After they married, Jan and Teetje moved in with Teetje’s parents, Jan de Groot and Sijtje Sijbecarspel. They lived in Zijdewind, which at the time was part of gemeente Oude Niedorp.

According to an article in Toendertoid: Stichting Waarland van Toen, “Many tragic events took place in this family between 1850 and 1880.” It then went on to describe the house they lived in, without providing any details about what happened.

Toendertoid, May 1994, page 12
WHAT HAPPENED?!?

Jan was a labourer almost his entire life, except for a brief period in 1872 when he was a “veldwachter”; literally, “field guard,” a kind of rural police or constabulary. The veldwachters originated as the “garde champêtre” during the Napoleonic era. They were very poorly paid, if at all, and largely relied upon other sources of income. There were few prerequisites to become a veldwachter and at Jan’s time it was much less than a professional police officer. What authority they had was limited to the municipality in which they served.

Jan was 46 when he was a veldwachter and he did not serve very long. It is not clear what qualification Jan had for the role. He was still described as a labourer when his daughter Maartje was born in March 1871. It was only the April 1872 death registration of his son, Jacob, that showed Jan as a veldwachter. Maartje died later that same year, in December, and her death registration recorded that Jan was a labourer at the time. Jan was still a labourer when he died in Zijdewind at age 52.

Burgerlijke Stand = Civil Register
Died: Jan Pater, age 50, husband of Teetje de Groot.

52W Mark IV – Week 9: Card V9 Trijntje Stoop

I shouldn’t have to tell you that this isn’t really a picture of Trijntje Stoop (1832-1906)

I feel like this post could be a bit of a disservice or letdown to my Great x3 Grandmother, Trijntje Stoop. In many ways, I’ve exhausted a lot of what I could say about her through previous posts, such as Week 37 of the 2023 52 Ancestors Challenge (“Prosperity”) and last week’s post about her husband, Jan Gerritsz Veldman. What else can I say that I haven’t said already?

To that end, I have a fun fact about Trijntje. Her sister-in-law was also named Trijntje Stoop! The other Trijntje was married to Jan’s oldest brother, Pieter Veldman. There was an almost 20-year between Pieter and Jan; likewise, there was a 15-year age gap between the two Trijntjes. I’ve done a bit of digging to see if and how the Trijntjes might be connected, but nothing definite yet. In fact, you might think Trijntje Stoop might not be a common name. On the contrary, I’ve found quite a few!

Taking a step back to the beginning, Trijntje was born on October 30, 1832, in Barsingerhorn, Noord Holland. She was the first daughter and second of seven children born to Jan Pietersz Stoop and Elizabeth de Groot.

Schager Courant, November 18, 1906, page 4. “Bericht van Inzet” (“Notice of Commitment”), regarding the sale of Jan and Trijntje’s property after she died.

I have not yet found any records regarding Trijntje from the time of her birth to the time she married Jan Gerritsz Veldman on May 1, 1858. Their marriage registration says that Trijntje did not have an occupation at the time of their marriage. Given that she did not marry until she was 25 years old it is quite possible that Trijntje had worked in some form or another, such as a farm worker or a house servant.

While much of Trijntje’s life story is intertwined with her husband’s, after Jan died in 1897, she spent the next ten years of her life as the owner and operator of their farm. Trijntje died on January 27, 1906 in Barsingerhoorn.

“Burgerlijke Stand” – Civil Register. Notices of births, engagements, marriages, and deaths for Oterleek and Barsingerhorn, with Trijnte’s death noted at the bottom. Alkmaarsche Courant, February 8, 1906, page 4.

52W Mark IV – Week 8: Card V8 Jan Gerritsz Veldman

Jan Gerritsz Veldman (1835-1897)

I generally think of my Dutch ancestors – particularly the paternal side of my father’s family – as labourers, farmers, domestic workers, or similar. I suspect that the maternal side of my father’s family might have been better off, although by how much I cannot say. With a couple exceptions, I have to go five or six generations back to find something other than farmer or labourer, such as a cordwainer and a cobbler, a harbour pilot, or a sailor. Of those who worked the land, I doubt few of them actually owned their farms.

One exception is my Gx3 Grandfather, Jan Gerritsz Veldman. During the 52 Ancestors Challenge in 2023 , I described him and his wife Trijntje Stoop as “prosperous“. However, at one point in time he may have been even better off than I had previously thought.

Jan was born on November 27, 1835 in Nieuwe Niedorp, Noord Holland. He was the eighth of twelve children born to Gerrit Veldman and Maartje Cornelis Zijbecarspel. In 1855, when he was 20, he was drafted for the militia, as the Netherlands had mandatory military service until the 1990s. Many conscripts never actually served; rather, they were largely on-call, like a reserve. However, according to his marriage registration, Jan had “bought” himself a replacement.

According to my late friend Nol van den Hurk, this was a common practice “if you had money.” I asked if this meant Jan was well off, Nol responded:

Whether Jan was well to do or not I can’t tell you. The archives hold papers you had to show when you wanted to marry. One of the papers is an official document that showed that you had fulfilled your duty in the Army. In Jan’s case I saw a document, signed by the Queens commissioner’s clerk in the Province North Holland (who was responsible for those things in those days) that said that Jan had his military duties done by a replacement. This was not uncommon in those days, but it never stated who paid for it. It might have been the bride’s father, the groom’s father, the groom himself…. When he was the only son of a farmer, he did not have to join the army. If so, it was stated so in the document.

The passage from Jan and Trijntje’s marriage registration that speaks of Jan having discharged his obligation for military service.

Jan and Trijntje married on May 1, 1858 in Nieuwe Niedorp. I have a copy of their marriage registration, but unfortunately I have not yet found a copy of their huwelijksbijlagen (marriage supplements) online. The marriage supplements are a set of documents the couple had to provide before they could marry, such as birth extracts and other vital records. As well, it used to include a record confirming that the groom had satisfied his mandatory military service. It would be nice if I could visit the Dutch archives in person, but I doubt I’ll be in the Netherlands in the foreseeable future.

The opening portion of Jan and Trijntje’s marriage registration, showing their names, ages, occupations, places of birth, residence, and parents, among other things.

At the time he married Trijntje, Jan was working as a farmer in Nieuwe Niedorp; however, their eldest child, Gerrit, was born in Harenkarspel in 1859. It is likely that Jan actually lived and worked in ‘t Veld, a village within gemeente (municipality) Nieuwe Niedorp, as reflected in the bevolkingsregister (“population register”) of Nieuwe Niedorp for 1860-1870. There was a subsequent bevolkingsregister for ‘t Veld for 1870–1880, which also listed Jan and his family. As for ‘t Veld, it later became part of gemeente Oude Niedorp. It is now within gemeente Hollands Kroon.

It appears that Jan and Trijnte did very well for themselves while living in ‘t Veld. I recently discovered that they were prosperous enough to have domestic servants in the late 1860s. The first, Jansje, worked for Jan and Trijntje until January 1868, but I do not yet know how long she had been there before leaving. The second, Brigitta, worked from February to December 1868.

I love seeing the signatures of my ancestors from so long ago. Here are my Gx3 Grandparents, along with the bride’s parents, my Gx4 Grandparents, 167 years ago.

Jan and Trijntje had eight more children who were born in Nieuwe Niedorp. It appears that all but two children survived infancy and childhood. In May 1872, Jan, Trijntje, and their children moved to Barsingerhorn, which is about five kilometers north of ‘t Veld. There they had the last of their ten children, Aantje, born in 1873.

Upon relocating to Barsingerhorn, Jan and Trijntje began to acquire several pieces of farm properties, which together formed two separate properties. One property consisted of two lots in Oude Niedorp of about 0.157 hectares (about 0.4 acres), on which there was a house. The other property was a farm consisting of 20 lots in Barsingerhorn, totalling about 11.9 hectares (just under 3o acres). The farm property included a farmhouse, pastures, farmland, and a boat.

Approximate size of the total amount of land Jan and Trijntje owned: 24 American football fields (FYI, Canadian football fields are longer.)

When Jan died on May 21, 1897, these pieces of property passed to Trijntje. Within a year after she died, on January 27, 1906, these properties were put up for auction. The auction noticed valued the first property at ƒ835, while the second property was valued at ƒ17,152.66. Together, they amounted to about CDN$427,958.27 in 2025 dollars.

Schager Courant, June 20, 1897, page 3: “Overleden” (Deceased), 21 May, Jan Veldman, age 61, husband of Trijntje Stoop
Schager Courant, Schagen, Noord Holland, Netherlands, November 11, 1906, page 4.
“Openbare Verkooping” (“Public Sale”). This is an itemized list of Jan and Trijntje’s two properties that went up for public auction after Trijntje died.