I had originally drafted this as a post separate from the 52 Ancestors Challenge, but then I noted “Free Space” as an upcoming post. So nice to be ahead of the prompt for a change!
The Database of Surnames in The Netherlands contains about 300,000 surnames found in the Netherlands in 2007, with similar data for 1947. It is maintained by the CBG Centrum voor familiegeschiedenis (“CBG Centre for Family History”) in the Netherlands, formerly called the Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie (“Central Bureau for Genealogy”).
A swimming pool with my surname on it, located on Fluitpolderplein in Leidschendam, Zuid Holland. Our surname either comes from the polder on which this pool is located, or the polder is named after my ancestor. There’s also an adjacent library, where I tried to do a bit of family history research.
You’d be hard pressed to find many Vanderfluits/van der Fluits in North America. Yes, there are a few of us, mostly in New Brunswick and Alberta, and some in British Columbia (like me!). There are also a few in the United States.
There aren’t many van der Fluits in the Netherlands, either, but 218 (in 2007) seems like a huge number when I think of how few are on this side of the Atlantic.
Visiting my cousin in the Netherlands, whose house is on “‘t Fluitnpad” – which is actually the name he gave his driveway. In English, it says “The Fluit Path”.
It’s no surprise to me to find the concentration in Noord Holland (the bit below Texel, the largest of the islands on the map). It’s where my father was born and pretty much where all the van der Fluits who I know in the Netherlands live. What’s surprising are the pockets of van der Fluits in Gelderland and Noord Brabant (the south-east). I have no idea who they are or how they got there. Even more surprising is the dearth of van der Fluits in Zuid Holland (around The Hague and Leiden), especially since that is the primary source of the surname. There are *zero* in many of the municipalities where my ancestors came from.
In the Netherlands, there has not been much of a tradition of preparing and publishing obituaries of deceased persons. Deaths were once noted in local newspapers in regular reports of recent entries of births, marriages, and deaths taken from the local civil registry (“burgerlijke stand”). What is more common to see in newspapers are “familieberichten” (“family notices”). These are all secular forms of announcing and commemorating the death of a person.
For Roman Catholics, another common form of remembrance is a “bidprentje” (“prayer card”). In Germany, they are known as a “totenzettel”. These are usually given out at funerals and commemorate a deceased person. They usually consist of a short prayer or biblical verse along with the name of the deceased. However, bidprentjes can be used to mark other religious milestones, such as baptisms, first communions, confirmations, marriages, and ordinations into the priesthood. While they originated as a Roman Catholic tradition, in recent decades the practice of making these cards has occurred within other religious traditions.
Bidprentjes are a fantastic source of genealogical information. In addition to the name of the deceased they usually include the dates and places of their birth and death and the name of the deceased’s spouse. They also often have details of the date and place of the funeral and interment. Older bidprentjes are quite beautiful as they were adorned with religious art and iconography. In more recent years, they are more likely to include the name of the deceased’s children. In that regard, they now appear quite similar to familieberichten.
Bidprentje for my great grandfather, Johannis Albertus van der Fluit (1894-1932)
Bidprentje for my great grandmother, Teresia (“Teetje”) Pater (1894-1947)
Bidprentje for my great great grandfather, Jan Dirksz van der Fluit (1846 – 1935). It notes that at the time he died he was the widower of Agatha Rood and that he had been previously married to Maria Veldman (my great great grandmother) and before Maria he was married to Brigetta Tak. Jan had outlived all three of his wives.
Neither bidprentjes nor familieberichten are government documents. They are private documents created, distributed, and published by the family. This means a primary source of bidprentjes would be the family of the deceased. There are also genealogical societies that have collections of bidprentjes. The Centrum Voor Familiegeschiedenis (“Centre for Family History” or “Central Bureau for Genealogy”) also has a collection of bidprentjes. While you can search the collection, you must be a member to view and download the document. Familieberichten can be found at Online Familieberichten and Mensenlinq.
The theme for this week’s 52 Ancestors Challenge is “Lost”. Given that it’s Week 42, I suppose what has been lost is the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything. Since I don’t have access to Deep Thought, I will have to consider a much simpler matter.
I began researching my family tree when I was about nine years old.
My first genealogy book, which I got through Scholastic Book orders when I was in Grade 4 or 5. Fortunately, it’s not lost and I still have it to this day.
One of the earliest genealogical resources I had was a book my grandmother, Christina Komen, had about her family history, Het Geslacht Komen: Nakomelingen van Cornelis Komen uit Abbekerk ca. 1725 (“The Komen Line/Lineage: Descendants of Cornelis Komen from Abbekerk circa 1725”).
Cornelis Komen is my great 6x grandfather. It attempts to show all of his known descendants up to the time it was published. In addition to 36 pages consisting of a descendants’ narrative, additional pages include illustrations, interesting statistics, maps, numerous photos, and many “bidprentjes” (“prayer cards”, which could also be called funeral cards) and “familieberichten” (“family notices”). The quality of the image reproductions in the book were fairly poor, but they were discernable nonetheless. As well, the book includes a name index.
From page 8: “Above: Family KLAAS KOMEN and ANTJE WOLTERING with the children (from left to right: Cornelia, Nicolaas, Adrianus, Jacob, Laurentus, Johannes, Corenlis, and Freek [a diminutive of Frederik].” Klaas and Antje are my great x2 grandparents (my grandmother’s grandparents).
My grandmother showed the book to me soon after she received it. Needless to say, it was fascinating to me. At the time, it was the furthest back I had ever seen documented for any branch of my family. I think back then, the furthest back ancestors I knew of were probably some of my second great x2 grandparents, and here was a book going four generations back from that. The book was one of the earliest texts I have in Dutch, which started me on a decades-long journey of trying to learn the language. It was also the one of the earliest detailed exposures I had to the geography of the area where my father was born.
European paper sizes are so much more logical.
Years later, sometime in my late teens or early twenties, my grandmother loaned the book to me. Luckily, one of the first things I did was photocopy it. It wasn’t easy, because it was printed on A3 or A4 sized paper, which are different from the letter and legal sizes commonly used in North America. Today’s computerized photocopiers can easily adapt the size of the copy to fit the original, but such a thing did not exist at the time. Despite the quality of photocopiers at the time, I think the copy turned out fairly well. Many years later, I scanned the photocopies. I know I made the scans when Geocities was still a thing, so I am surprised by the quality of the scans.
By the time I copied the book, I had moved to Vancouver. Going through it, I was amazed to see that there were other Komen descendants in Canada, all located in British Columbia. Some were in the Okanagan, in south-central B.C., some were on Vancouver Island, and some were in the suburbs of Vancouver, within 25 kilometers of where I was living at the time.
Page iv, showing the locations of various members of the Komen family in Noord Holland (North Holland).
It was fortunate that I copied the book. Years later, my grandmother misplaced it. She spent years looking for it. There might be copies of the book in a Dutch archive, and I am sure that there is – or was – a copy in the holdings of the CBG Centrum voor familiegeschiedenis (“Center for Family History”, formerly the “Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie”, hence “CBG”). However, as far as I knew at the time, the only extant copy of the book was the photocopy I had made.
Page 11, showing the bidprentjes for my great grandfather and his siblings.
After my grandparents passed away, many of the family photos and other items of interest to genealogists ended up in the possession of my father’s youngest sister. She is not really a family historian or genealogist, but she has shown or loaned many of those items with me over the years. While writing this, it crossed my mind that I should ask her if she found the book and has it in her collection. It would be nice to know whether it is still around.
A Deck of Ancestors 