Komen – Page 6 – A Deck of Ancestors

52 Weeks – Week 27: Extended Family

For theme of this week’s 52 Ancestors Challenge, “Extended Family”, we are invited to write about relatives other than our direct ancestors: aunts, uncles, cousins, nibblings, or even those to whom we are related by marriage. So many options! After deliberating on the topic, I decided that the best and most impactful way to write on the topic would be to focus on a single relative. But whom? It did not take long to decide: my father’s aunt, Tante (“Aunt”) Anny.

My father actually had two Tante Annys, one on each side of his family. Both were wonderful women and I have very happy memories of both. I chose my Tante Anny on my grandmother’s side of the family because of the close and unique relationship we had.

Anna Adriana (“Anny”) van Kleef was born in Zuid-Scharwoude, Noord Holland in 1926. Anny was the third-born child of Arie Komen (who I wrote about last week) and Elizabeth Bakker. Zuid-Scharwoude is part of the larger “gemeente” (municipality) of Langedijk (which recently merged with a neighbouring gemeente and is now “Dijk en Waard”). Anny lived in Langedijk her whole life.

*^{Tante Anny and Ome Nic during their visit to our home in Saskatchwan when I was 12}*

I first met Tante Anny when she and Ome (“Uncle”) Nic van Kleef came to visit Canada when I was 12. While they spent most of their time in Alberta with my grandparents, the four of them planned a road trip to the town in Saskatchewan where we were living at the time. I was so excited by their impending visit, because it would be my first time meeting any of our relatives who lived in the Netherlands. I went to our little bookstore and bought myself a Dutch-English phrase book to prepare for their visit.

*I still have the phrase book that I bought when I was 12*!

Tante Anny and I clicked right away, despite the fact she spoke no English and the only Dutch I knew was a few phrases I had memorized from my little book. A few days after she arrived, I came down with a small cold. She sat with me for hours while I lay on the couch with my sniffles. She chatted in Dutch, I responded in English, and we spoke a lot with our hands.

*My grandparents, Arie van der Fluit and Christina Komen, with Tante Anny Komen and Ome Nic van Kleef*

At the end of her visit, I asked Tante Anny for her address. We soon entered into a correspondence that we maintained until she passed away. I’d write in English, she’d write in Dutch. My father would translate her letters for me; Tante Anny’s children would translate my letters for her.

*The first letter I received from Tante Anny. Here she’s writing about her return trip from Canada to the Netherlands and the weather at home.*

When I moved away from home, I had to painstakingly translate Tante Anny’s letters with only a Dutch-English dictionary. It wasn’t easy, especially when it came to idiomatic phrases. There was no Google Translate back then! Once in a while I’d call my dad, but it wasn’t easy because I didn’t always know the pronunciation of what was written (although I definitely could pronounce the Dutch “g” early on). However, when you look up a word over and over and over again, after a while it sticks.

During my first trip to the Netherlands in 1990, my friend and I stayed with my Tante Anny and Oom Nic for two weeks. She still spoke no English. What little Dutch I knew back then I largely learned from reading her letters, supplemented by a bit of coaching from some Dutch-speaking friends and a Dutch translation of a Richard Scarry book. Nevertheless, we still managed to communicate quite well, and my English-speaking Dutch cousins were very encouraging in my attempts to speak their language. I was particularly happy to understand enough when she told me the stories about the old family photos in her albums. Perhaps the strangest thing was explaining to her what my grandmother – Tante Anny’s older sister – had written to her in a letter that arrived during my visit. It was then that I realized that my grandmother’s Dutch had become heavily Canadianized.

*October 1990, on the last day of my stay with Oom Nic and Tante Anny at their home in Zuid-Scharwoude.*

Upon my return to Canada, I discovered a night school class that gave me a few basics. However, reading those letters remained a challenge. Happily, with the advent of the internet and things like YouTube videos and DuoLingo, learning on my own has become easier. A few years ago I pulled out my cache of letters from Tante Anny. While my comprehension was not perfect, after so many years I was amazed by my ability to read her letters by myself, without constantly having to look up every second word.

*Almost twenty years worth of letters from my great aunt.*

I’m happy that in my letters I asked Tante Anny questions about the family history. With one letter, I enclosed a simple questionnaire and a pedigree chart that I spent a lot of time writing in Dutch, in order to make it easier for her to respond. I figured the easier I made it for her, the more likely it was that she’d fill them out. She did, although in her reply letter she queried why I’d want to know about something that was so uninteresting as family history. I often amuse myself by thinking she said that only because there is something interesting worth knowing that she didn’t want me to find. However, in the 25 years since she wrote that, I have not found anything that would support that idea.

I saw Tante Anny one last time in the summer of 1998. She came to Canada on her own to visit my grandmother in Alberta. My parents had moved back to Alberta a few years earlier, so Tante Anny stayed with them for a few days. I made sure to get out there for a visit, because I did not want to miss an opportunity to see her again. By then, I had expanded my efforts to learn Dutch as part of my genealogical pursuits. As a result, it was easy for Tante Anny and I to discuss my sister’s wedding video, which we watched during her visit. However, I was far from conversant on other topics. One night my Dutch was particularly bad and I knew I was making stupid mistakes, so it was no surprise when Tante Anny just waved her hand to indicate I was making little sense.

*Tante Anny at my parents’ house, August 3, 1998.*

I’m glad I was able to see Tante Anny during her visit, because she passed away two months later at age 72. Oom Nic, who was almost seven years older, survived Tante Anny by 15 years. He died in 2013 at age 93.

Many years ago I stumbled across the below photo on Flickr that might show my Tante Anny’s signature. It shows a panel of wood inside St. Jan de Doper Katholieke Kerk (“St. John the Baptist Catholic Church”) in Noord-Scharwoude with messages written in pencil. The large message in the centre reads “het koor schoongemaakt op 21 Oct 1943” (“the choir cleaned here on October 21, 1943”) and is signed by Annie Bakker and Annie Komen. Tante Anny would have been 17 years old at the time and this is the church she attended. I should ask my cousins if she was in the church choir. It would not surprise me, because my grandmother had been. Tante Anny’s mother was a Bakker, so Annie Bakker could have been a relative of hers.

*Possible “graffiti” by my great aunt?* *Could this vandalism be the dark secret she was hiding when she told me family history isn’t interesting?* 😉

^{(Posted on Flickr by Regionaal Archief Alkmaar under Creative Commons licence Generic 2.0.)}

52 Weeks – Week 26: Identity

How little did I realize that when I decided what to write about on the topic of “Identity” for this week’s 52 Ancestors Challenge it would actually turn out to involve a case of mistaken identity!

A suggestion for this week’s topic was to write about an ancestor beyond just their name. I decided to write about my great grandfather, Adrianus (“Arie”) Komen. He was my father’s maternal grandfather. I chose Arie because of all my great grandparents, he seems to be the one who I consider least often when I write or research. Arie passed away not too long after my father was born, which further served to make him more remote in a way.

Arie was born on May 11, 1888 in Zuid-Scharwoude, Noord Holland, Netherlands to Nicolaas Komen and Antje Woltering. As far as any record I have indicates, Arie spent his whole life as an agricultural labourer.

The civil register for Zuid-Scharwoude with the record of Arie’s birth

The Netherlands had compulsory military service until the 1990s. When Arie’s name came up in the conscription draw, he sought an exemption from service due to poor eyesight. On December 24, 1907, the military deemed him fit for service. Arie was conscripted into the militia on March 3, 1908. Service was somewhat equivalent to reserve or national guard duty. Adrianus was assigned to the 4e Regiment Vesting-Artillerie (4th Regiment Fortress Artillery) based out of Den Helder. I found the way the military listed his height to be rather odd. Instead of stating that he was 172 cm tall (about 5′ 6 1/2″), it was listed as “1 meter 723 millimeter”.

Arie married Elizabeth Bakker on April 7, 1921 in Noord-Scharwoude, Noord Holland, Netherlands. Elizabeth, or “Oma Komen” as we referred to her when I was a child, lived until I was ten years old. I never met her, but she regularly sent us letters, postcards, and – most significantly to us as children – boxes of goodies in time for Sinterklaas.

*Arie and Elizabeth, from a family history album compiled by my aunt.*

Shortly after they were married, Arie and Elizabeth moved into a house on Dorpstraat in Zuid-Scharwoude. I know this street well, as I have relatives who live on this street. In fact, during my last visit to the Netherlands, I stayed with a relative who lives at the north end of this street.

I was fortunate to discover an article in a local history society’s annual magazine that included an article documenting the history of the house that Arie and Elizabeth had moved into. The house itself was built in 1858 and my great grandparents lived there from 1921 to 1928. The article noted that their first three children were born in this house. As the eldest child, this would have included my grandmother, Christina Komen.

The house where my great grandparents lived for the first seven years after they were married. I just realized that during my first visit to the Netherlands, one of my cousins took me by this house and told me this is where my grandmother was born.

*Not so fast, caption writer! This is actually Arie’s older brother, Laurentius (“Louw”) Komen.*

Until I found this magazine article, the only photos I had seen of Arie and Elizabeth were taken late in their life. The article had a photo of Elizabeth that I was very familiar with; however, the photo of Arie showed him when he was a younger man of about 32.

Or so I thought.

The article appeared in the historical society’s 2004 edition. The 2005 edition included mention of correspondence from my great aunt, Riet Komen, correcting a few errors in the previous year’s publication. One was to note that the photo they had published of Arie was not her father at all, but her uncle, Arie’s older brother Louw. Unfortunately, at the time Tante Riet wrote the magazine, she was unable to provide a photograph of her father. It was another year before the magazine was able to correct the error, two years after the fact.

When I made my original discovery, I emailed my mother the photo of Arie (which was actually Louw) so that she could show my dad. Apparently his response was to say, “what a good looking guy!” When I found the later edition of the magazine with the correction, I sent the actual photo of Arie to my mother for my dad to see. My mom’s response was to say how much they looked alike. I responded by saying that’s probably how the error occurred in the first place.

In December 1928, the family moved to “Pikstraat” in Noord-Scharwoude. I have never been able to find Pikstraat on the map, until today. By happenstance, I found a history of a family unrelated to mine (as far as I know!) in which one of the person’s ancestors lived on Pikstraat. The author of the history noted that the street is now called Werfstraat.

*My father walking in front of his grandparent’s house on Werfstraat in Noord-Scharwoude.*

I looked it up on Google maps – and discovered I had been there! Werfstraat is just off Dorpstraat at the north end of the municipality, near where I was staying with my family member. My parents were also visiting Noord-Scharwoude at the time, which had partially prompted my trip at the time. One day my father and I were walking around the neighbourhood and he showed me things he remembered from his childhood. One place we went was to where his grandmother, Oma Komen, had lived. I never realized that after Arie passed away in 1948, Oma Komen remained in the same house until she passed away in 1976.

Arie was only 59 years old when he passed away in January 1948. He was buried in the parish churchyard of St. Jan de Doper Katholieke Kerk (St. John the Baptist Catholic Church) in Noord-Scharwoude. I’ve been to that cemetery, but his grave is no longer there. Graves in the Netherlands are usually leased, not purchased, and are routinely cleared after a few decades.

While I’d say I know more about my great grandfather Arie than simply his name, despite all I’ve written about him I still do not feel like I know him. My grandmother never spoke of her father and, to be fair, I never asked her about him. I was very close to one of my grandmother’s sisters, Anny Komen, ever since I was twelve. However, despite the close relationship we had, language was a significant barrier as she never spoke English and my Dutch was very rudimentary for most of the time I knew her (we had our ways of communicating), so asking about her father was not realistic. My grandmother’s youngest sister passed away only last year, but we were not as close. I last visited her in 2017, and it was not really the time for questioning her about her family history. As well, her health in the last many years made correspondence difficult for her. Thus, what I have to rely upon are what records are available. Nevertheless, I am pleased to discover that I know him better than I realized.

52 Weeks – Week Twelve

Joined Together

Twelve weeks of genealogy, my true love gave to me: the theme “Joined Together” for the 52 Ancestors Challenge. Rather than a lot of discussion, I thought this week I’d post photos of some of the couples whose unions ultimately resulted in…me!

While I have photos of other (great) grandparents, I will only post for those of whom I have the pair. First, my maternal great great great grandparents.

William Burgess (1822 – 1904)
Charlotte Liggett (1837 – 1909)

Robert Nelson (1818 – 1902)
Elizabeth Joseph (1818 – 1902)

Valentine Schmidt (1839 – ?)
Margaretha “Regina” Boechler (? – ?)

Next, for my great great grandparents on my father’s side, I only have photos for one pair. These are my grandfather’s grandparents.

Johannes Jansz “Jan” Pater (1862 – 1935)
Ariaantje Jacobs “Adriana” Bleeker (1865 – 1929)

I have photos of all my maternal great great grandparents.

Horace Conrad Liggett Burgess (1854 – 1940)
Sarah Florilla Cook (1857 – 1894)

Ella Elizabeth Thomas (1859 – 1941)
John Alexander Nelson (1854 – 1942)

On to my great grandparents. I have photos for all of them.

^{Theresia “Teetje” Pater (1894 – 1947)
Johannis Albertus van der Fluit (1894 – 1932)}

^{Adrianus Komen (1888 – 1948)
Elizabeth Bakker (1888 – 1976)}

^{Milton Leo Burgess (1891 – 1964)
Hazel Nelson (1899 – 1967)}

^{Heronimus “Jerome” Lerner (1895 – 1954)
Emelia Anton (1903 – 1997)}

My paternal grandparents.

Adrianus Joseph “Arie”
van der Fluit (1923 – 2002)
Christina Komen (1923 – 2000)

“Trouwboekje” means “marriage booklet” in Dutch. In the Netherlands, only a civil marriage is legally valid. A church ceremony can take place afterward, but is not recognized by the state. The registry office would issue one to a couple at they time they were married. They typically include an extract of the marriage registration. While they can vary from one municipality to another, a trouwboekje usually will include space for the birth information of the couple, as well as for the children of the marriage. They can also include information about religious matters, such as information about the church wedding and baptisms of the couple and their children.

My maternal grandparents.

^{Leo Cleveland Burgess (1920- 1995)
Helen Lerner (1921 – 1984)
October 1971}

^{Helen and Leo around 1947.}

My parents. Married crazy young by current standards and still together, modelling what a great marriage should be.

And then there’s mine.

52 Weeks – Week Ten

Worship

In what seems a bit of a change of course, this week’s 52 Ancestors Challenge is “Worship”. As the only mayor I’ve found in our family tree is my wife’s third great grandfather, this week I’ll be writing about three men and women of the cloth on my father’s side of the family. My grandmother had a brother who was a priest and a sister who was a nun, while my grandfather had a sister who became a nun.

Born in 1932, Marie Adriana “Riet” Komen was the youngest of child of my great grandparents, Adrianus Komen and Elizabeth Bakker. On my reading of the funeral card and “familieberichten” (“family message”, something akin to an obituary) my cousin sent me after she died, Tante* Riet entered religious training when she was 17. Tante Riet took her vows as a Roman Catholic nun in August 1954, when she was 22. She belonged to the order “Zusters van ‘t H. Hart”, which translates as “Sisters of the Sacred Heart”, which was a teaching order. Tante Riet served as a missionary in Metro Lampung, Indonesia for many of years. Tante Riet also spent time in Finland, where her order also served. By 1997, Tante Reit was Mother Superior of her order, in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Later, she spent several years at St. Bernadette Monastery, in Maliskamp, Noord-Brabant before retiring to Nijmegen.

When I was in grade ten, Tante Riet came to Canada to visit my grandmother in southern Alberta. My grandparents and great aunt made the drive to visit us in northern British Columbia. During that visit she gave me a hand-painted silk bookmark from her time in Indonesia. During my last visit to the Netherlands in 2017, my dad’s cousin drove me and my parents to visit her. We literally drove across the country, going from Langedijk in Noord Holland to Nijmegen on the German border in a matter of hours. Compare that to Canada, where driving across the whole country is much longer than three hours! I wrote to her several times afterwards, but she found corresponding more difficult in her last years.

Tante Riet passed away last year, in August 2021. Funeral services were restricted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While a funeral home in Den Bosch, Noord-Brabant handled the services, while writing this it only just dawned on me that I do not know where she was interred.

Cornelis Jan “Kees” Komen was the middle child of my grandmother’s family, born in 1928. Oom* Kees was a Roman Catholic priest. I do not know what order he belonged to. In his teens, he attended Het Klein Seminarie Hageveld in Heemstede, Noord Holland, Netherlands. Hageveld was a grammar school and “minor seminary”, a secondary school that prepared boys for eventual enrollment at an actual seminary to prepare for the priesthood. Oom Kees was ordained in May 1958.

Oom Kees is buried at St. Barbara Roman Catholic Cemetery in Haarlem, Noord Holland. He shares a grave marker with two other priests. Kees’s colleagues are named as “Pastoor” on the marker, while he is identified as a “Kapelaan”, suggesting that he had been assigned to work in a secular institution such as a hospital or school.

I never met Oom Kees, who passed away in 1987, so I do not know much about him personally. Until a few years ago, the only photos I had ever seen of him were of him and the Pope.

Oom Kees certainly liked to see the Pope. On the left is Pope Paul VI. The other two photos show Pope John Paul II.

*Bidprentje* (Prayer Card) – Cornelis Jan Komen

“Grateful Memory of Chaplain Cornelis Jan Komen Born in Langedijk on April 10, 1928, ordained a priest at the Cathedral of Haarlem on May 31, 1958, he died after an active and meritorious life in Haarlem on January 8, 1987 and was buried on January 12 at St. Barbara Cemetery“

Tante Marie (Zuster Melania) in 1954, shortly after taking her solemn vows.

Turning to my grandfather’s side of the family, my Tante Marie van der Fluit was an Ursuline nun. Born in 1925, she likely entered the convent sometime around 1951. Tante Marie took her vows in 1954 and went by the name “Sister Melania”. As far as I have been able to learn, she spent most of her years of service in Bergen, Noord Holland. I met her once, when I was a kid, when she came to Canada to visit my grandparents. I remember being excited to meet her, because she was the first of my van der Fluit relatives living in the Netherlands who I ever met. Tante Marie passed away in October 2016 – three days before her youngest sister who lived in Canada, Anna “Anny” van der Fluit.

My father with Tante Marie (Zr. Melania) in 2009

“Tante” means “aunt” in Dutch. German and French as well.
“Oom” means “uncle” in Dutch.

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Joined Together

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Worship

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