Mark, First trip to the Netherlands was in 1990. I was in the Marine Corps at the time and we had docked at Tulon on the south coast of France for a month of training with NATO forces. I took two weeks of leave, flew my second ex-wife into Paris and we rode the night train to Amsterdam. We stayed in Amsterdam and traveled to various presumed ancestral home towns over a two week period. As Cor mentioned, nearly everyone spoke English, everyone was friendly and my wife and I never got a second glance (ex-wives #2 & 3 are both Black). Went to the municipality of Egmont and town of Voorhout, supposed origins of ancestor Cornelius Segerszen. Spent a day in Alkmaar where it would appear was origins of ancestor Lyzbeth Tyssen, wife of Maryn Adrianszen (van Veere). All three wonderful places, but we only spent a day in each. Emphasis was on Veere, Kloetinge and Wemeldinge in Zeeland. It is assumed that ancestor Maryn Adriaenszen was from Veere as well as ancestor Jacop Van der Veer who settled on the South River. Cornelius Janszen Dominicus who adopted the surname Vanderveer when he immigrated to the colony and settled on Long Island was born in Kloetinge. His brother Jacob Janszen Dominicus is found in documents as owing Cornelius money for the sale of property in Wemeldinge. I have not found a connection to the Long Island Vanderveers, I work on any family with the surname Vanderveer by any spelling. Had I known at the time that Michael Paulszen van der Voort was direct ancestor of more than a third of Vandiver’s today, I would have ventured over into Belgium as well. When we got there, it was explained to us that Veere was not really a town anymore. Something more akin to a living museum with a scant few residents and a yacht club. The town hall, church, etc. have all been restored and maintained. There is an area where all the Scots lived, the Lords Van Veere (the van Borssellen family) had intermarried with the Stuarts and conducted trade directly for many years. Our trip to Veere was entertaining. First took the train from Amsterdam to Roosendaal where we had to change to a train going to Middelburg. Roosendaal was extremely beautiful, flowers everywhere, very nice but we were on a schedule and couldn’t look around for long. When we got to Middelburg we found that we had to take a bus out to Veere. It was really hot and we had to wait for an hour, so we went into a small bar across from the bus stop. When we walked in it was like one of those old Western movies where the piano stops playing, the room goes silent … everyone turned and looked at us. My wife nudged me and whispered that maybe we should go back to the bus stop, so we turned around to leave and the bar tender asked me something in Dutch. I turned back and answered that I didn’t speak Dutch and a gentleman sitting at the bar said she wanted to know if we were English or American. I told him American and immediately the piano started playing again and everyone went back to their conversations, darts, etc. The gentleman at the bar invited us to sit with him at a booth and we talked with him for about an hour. It turned out that he had served in the Dutch Royal Marines and had trained with American Marines a couple times. When we were about to go out to catch the bus I asked him what would have happened if we had been English! He smiled and said that we probably would have been stoned to death in the square. HA! Jerry D. Vandiver --- On Fri, 6/3/11, Mark E. Dixon <[email protected]> wrote: From: Mark E. Dixon <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [DUTCH-COLONIES] Ancestral sites in the Netherlands? To: [email protected] Date: Friday, June 3, 2011, 1:33 PM Thanks, Cor. I was mainly interested in others' experiences -- what they found and how they went about finding them. As an example, however, let's take Cornelis Maessen Van Buren (1610-1648), the progenitor of the Van Buren family, the ancestor of President Van Buren (and me). He's commonly traced to the village of Burmalsen, near Buren from which he took his name. Since one of his descendants became president of the United States, I'm guessing that he is my Dutch ancestor most likely to have his homesite marked in some way. Is it? I have no clue. (Google Earth allowed me to virtually walk through a very neat -- though not particularly old looking -- little village.) I know that English is commonly spoken in the Netherlands -- especially in big cities like Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Out in the villages, however, that may be less true. Mark -------------------------------------------------- From: "cor snabel" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, June 03, 2011 4:02 PM To: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [DUTCH-COLONIES] Ancestral sites in the Netherlands? > Hi Mark, > >> I'm wondering if anyone has visited the Netherlands and found any trace >> of >> his/her 17th Century Dutch ancestor? > > You have to be more specific, what do you want to find, which cities > do you want to visit, etc. > The language will be no problem, almost everyone in the Netherlands > speaks English. > > Regards > Cor Snabel > The Netherlands > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message
Jerry, your trip sounds like some of mine. I've known that an ancestor came from a certain town, but nothing more. So, you just look around, soak up the atmosphere and try to imagine what the place was like 300 years earlier. Sometimes, that's all you can do. BTW...Vandiver. Any relation to Jacob Vander Veer of New Castle County, Delaware, who had a son, Cornelius Van Diver (ca. 1658-1712), who married a woman named Margaret.? My wife is a descendant of that line. I wasn't aware that the Dutch and English didn't get along. In earlier centuries, they were on the same side in many wars. Mark -------------------------------------------------- From: "Jerry Vandiver" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, June 03, 2011 9:10 PM To: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [DUTCH-COLONIES] Ancestral sites in the Netherlands? > > Mark, > > First trip to the Netherlands was in 1990. I was in the Marine Corps at > the time and we had docked at Tulon on the south coast of France for a > month of training with NATO forces. I took two weeks of leave, flew my > second ex-wife into Paris and we rode the night train to Amsterdam. We > stayed in Amsterdam and traveled to various presumed ancestral home towns > over a two week period. As Cor mentioned, nearly everyone spoke English, > everyone was friendly and my wife and I never got a second glance > (ex-wives #2 & 3 are both Black). > Went to the municipality of Egmont and town of Voorhout, supposed origins > of ancestor Cornelius Segerszen. Spent a day in Alkmaar where it would > appear was origins of ancestor Lyzbeth Tyssen, wife of Maryn Adrianszen > (van Veere). All three wonderful places, but we only spent a day in each. > > Emphasis was on Veere, Kloetinge and Wemeldinge in Zeeland. It is assumed > that ancestor Maryn Adriaenszen was from Veere as well as ancestor Jacop > Van der Veer who settled on the South River. Cornelius Janszen Dominicus > who adopted the surname Vanderveer when he immigrated to the colony and > settled on Long Island was born in Kloetinge. His brother Jacob Janszen > Dominicus is found in documents as owing Cornelius money for the sale of > property in Wemeldinge. I have not found a connection to the Long Island > Vanderveers, I work on any family with the surname Vanderveer by any > spelling. Had I known at the time that Michael Paulszen van der Voort was > direct ancestor of more than a third of Vandiver’s today, I would have > ventured over into Belgium as well. > > When we got there, it was explained to us that Veere was not really a town > anymore. Something more akin to a living museum with a scant few residents > and a yacht club. The town hall, church, etc. have all been restored and > maintained. There is an area where all the Scots lived, the Lords Van > Veere (the van Borssellen family) had intermarried with the Stuarts and > conducted trade directly for many years. > > Our trip to Veere was entertaining. First took the train from Amsterdam to > Roosendaal where we had to change to a train going to Middelburg. > Roosendaal was extremely beautiful, flowers everywhere, very nice but we > were on a schedule and couldn’t look around for long. When we got to > Middelburg we found that we had to take a bus out to Veere. > It was really hot and we had to wait for an hour, so we went into a small > bar across from the bus stop. When we walked in it was like one of those > old Western movies where the piano stops playing, the room goes silent … > everyone turned and looked at us. My wife nudged me and whispered that > maybe we should go back to the bus stop, so we turned around to leave and > the bar tender asked me something in Dutch. I turned back and answered > that I didn’t speak Dutch and a gentleman sitting at the bar said she > wanted to know if we were English or American. I told him American and > immediately the piano started playing again and everyone went back to > their conversations, darts, etc. > > The gentleman at the bar invited us to sit with him at a booth and we > talked with him for about an hour. It turned out that he had served in the > Dutch Royal Marines and had trained with American Marines a couple times. > When we were about to go out to catch the bus I asked him what would have > happened if we had been English! He smiled and said that we probably would > have been stoned to death in the square. HA! > > Jerry D. Vandiver > > > --- On Fri, 6/3/11, Mark E. Dixon <[email protected]> wrote: > > > From: Mark E. Dixon <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [DUTCH-COLONIES] Ancestral sites in the Netherlands? > To: [email protected] > Date: Friday, June 3, 2011, 1:33 PM > > > Thanks, Cor. I was mainly interested in others' experiences -- what they > found and how they went about finding them. > > As an example, however, let's take Cornelis Maessen Van Buren (1610-1648), > the progenitor of the Van Buren family, the ancestor of President Van > Buren > (and me). He's commonly traced to the village of Burmalsen, near Buren > from > which he took his name. Since one of his descendants became president of > the United States, I'm guessing that he is my Dutch ancestor most likely > to > have his homesite marked in some way. Is it? I have no clue. (Google > Earth allowed me to virtually walk through a very neat -- though not > particularly old looking -- little village.) > > I know that English is commonly spoken in the Netherlands -- especially in > big cities like Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Out in the villages, however, > that > may be less true. > > Mark > > -------------------------------------------------- > From: "cor snabel" <[email protected]> > Sent: Friday, June 03, 2011 4:02 PM > To: <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [DUTCH-COLONIES] Ancestral sites in the Netherlands? > >> Hi Mark, >> >>> I'm wondering if anyone has visited the Netherlands and found any trace >>> of >>> his/her 17th Century Dutch ancestor? >> >> You have to be more specific, what do you want to find, which cities >> do you want to visit, etc. >> The language will be no problem, almost everyone in the Netherlands >> speaks English. >> >> Regards >> Cor Snabel >> The Netherlands >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without >> the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message