To the GENEALOGY To the PICTURES

Hendrik Pieters EVENBLIJ Loosdrecht ø 1681

(July 2011) Netherlands

End of 2010. I think I got the mainline of my EVENBLIJ descent covered now. Had I started the search when my parents were still alive, it would have saved me a lot of time; they knew so many family facts. My father used to tell glorious stories of the past; that’s why I recognized a lot of names in my search. My mother had collected a lot of family papers, like birth-, marriage- and death certificates and some other things; they all served me well in my search. In her spirit, I consciously keep those papers too. She also had this photo album from her family members as well as my dad’s. She didn’t always put the names or the places with the photos, but she had a straight method, as I discovered. I remembered some names, events or places from my young years. I revised the album and added all I know. There are still remaining questions of course …

≈ ≈ ≈

How I started the family tree.

During the visit of my brothers from New Zealand and Australia in 1995 I got the idea of inviting as many family members possible for a reunion. On my drawing board I put sheets of paper with all the names and data I knew from descendants of our grandfather Pieter (1875).

Anyone joining the reunion could add other data.

There were very little positive reactions: the invitation came in too short notice and besides, people were out on summer holidays. That reunion never occurred. A 1^st cousin once removed however handed me a paper, with a start of a family tree, which he had found in family belongings. On that paper data from members from the Zaan-region.

My memories didn’t go any further back than till Zaandam,

which I have been visiting in the summer from 1945, 5 years

old. I do not remember the persons I met, nor the trip we

made, although that voyage must have been quite impressive

for me. I do remember however the garden of the family being

on the border of a river, the Zaan.

Some time later I decided to try to find back more persons of the family. I went for research at the “National Archives for Genealogy” in The Hague, Netherlands. But the most important hint was on the paper from the second cousin: apart from names and birthdates from persons in the Zaanstreek, a minuscule reference to: Loosdrecht !

I decided to go there in the summer of 1999. The weather was grey when I drove my car on the dike between the two lakes, entering (Oud-) Loosdrecht from the Westside. There was hardly any traffic, I drove calmly, sitting back at ease, listening to music. I decided to stop on the side of the road, to take a moment of reflection on the area where my ancestors lived around 1700. I walked some down the dike. I imagined my ancestors: walking on a bumpy and rough road, dressed very differently, with shoes far less comfortable. They must have been thinking of quite different things (or, maybe, not). I glanced once more at both sides over the water and then continued my way: heading for information!

At the small church I came across a person who told me that the church was in renovation and therefore the whole administration had been moved to the Archives for the region, Gooi- en Vechtstreek, in Hilversum. The person invited me to his house: he wanted to show me a huge paper: his family tree - with the mentioning somewhere of a (femal) Evenblij! After a cup of coffee and some more chatting, I took of for Hilversum.

In the archives of Hilversum I found enough material to work on. In the baptise-, marriage-, and burial registers of Loosdrecht I found a lot on the Evenblij’s.

I also knew that I had to come back for more research. And I realised that a course on “Reading the old Dutch script” would be appropriate; I had seen texts in unrecognisable script, with unknown words ….

≈

In the meantime I had been looking for Evenblij’s in the national phonebook (by that time on cd-rom!) in parts of the Netherlands of which I expected it to be relevant, like Zaandam and Amsterdam. I sent a note to several people, explaining that I was looking for relatives, to complete the family tree, and more of our family history. I didn’t get too much response, but in one of the reactions someone wrote a very valuable hint to his “un uncle in Haarlem”. That uncle, no Evenblij but married to an Evenblij female, had an enormous file about our family!

After some communication by letter, I went to pay him and his wife Greetje a visit in Haarlem. He gave me 7 handwritten pages of our descent. A very detailed enumeration of the Zaanse family. It stopped at Hendrik E. (1766) who came to Zaandam from Loosdrecht and the name of his father Pieter E. (without further details).

Greetje in Haarlem appeared to be from my generation; only with a difference of 22 years. She, granddaughter of the eldest E. in Zaandam, at the very left side on that family line, and me utterly to the right, being a descendant from the youngest on the line. Her grandfather Hendrik E. was the eldest brother of my grandfather Pieter E., the youngest. Greet’s grandfather had an important business in casks and barrels. He even seemed to have owned a car.

During my visit a photo was handed to me, on which: my grandfather and three of his brothers, with their wives; a stately and solemn portrait taken by a professional photographer (about 1900). I also got copies of some pages of a resume, made out of letters between family members around 1897; mostly pages where my grandfather was mentioned. The resume gives an idea what the family’s life was like at that time.

≈

Personal circumstances made me stop my research end of 1999. Picking it up again in 2008, I found that a lot of information was then to be found at Internet. I started the Palaeography

course (reading old script), went back to Loosdrecht visiting the Historische Kring (centre for

local history), contacted other relatives and learned that Greet and her husband had died in 2002. I would so much have liked to let them know that I had come as far as 1654 in Loosdrecht !

I have followed the method of the 7 pages at first to fill in my new found data. It got me as far as 16 pages. Now I have been putting all files in a digital family tree program, so I can achieve my goal:

Getting all the data assembled and open for relatives that may be interested and to keep the family history for our descendants.

Netherlands, HelenA.Evenblij, daughter of Piet Evenblij and Bertha Witteveen.

The translation in English: with assistance of my cousin Anja, USA, 2011

≈ ≈ ≈

Notes for Hendrik Pieters EVENBLIJ te Loosdrecht

I suppose that Hendrik Pieters E. (ca.1681) and Zoetje Pietersen E. (1686) (x A.H.Moen)

were siblings. [Zoetjen, Soetje]

1/ Zoetje was a daughter from a Pieter Hendriksz. E. (1654) and he could very well have

been the father of Hendrik Pieters E. from 1681 too (with the turned around Christian

names).

2/ Zoetje Pietersen E. was witness for the christening of Heiltje Pieters E. (1741), daughter

of Pieter Hendriks E.(1711) and his first wife Fijtje Pos (1707), so Zoetje may have been

Heiltje’s aunt.

3/ Hendrik E. (1681) had a daughter Dirkje E. (1715), may be named after Hendrik’s (and

Zoetje’s!) mother Dirkje Gijberts (1660).

> In that case Hendrik Pieters E. would be a son of Pieter Hendriksz.Evenblij (1654) x Dirkje

Gijberts (1660) and that would make

Pieter Hendriksz. Evenblij (1654) our eldest ancestor so far.

I found another Hendrik Evenblij from about 1624/1630 in Loosdrecht; might he be the father of Pieter Hendriksz. (from 1654) ?

Our family branch comes from the 2^nd marriage of Pieter Hendriks Evenblij (1711) with Geertje Jans Leeflang.

≈ ≈ ≈

Some sources

. My own memories

. Documents gathered by my mother: certificates of

birth, death and marriages

. An old handwritten unfinished family tree

. Pages of O.van Doeland and parts of his archive about

the Evenblij family

. National Genealogical Archives [CBG] / The Hague,

Netherlands

. Book about Jan van Zaanen [CBG]

. Regional Archives / Hilversum, Netherlands

. Loosdrecht: Centre for Local history:

(church)archives about baptisms, burials, marriages

and several of their interesting publications.

≈ ≈ ≈ continuing >>>

Things I found

Until now I have been able to go back to about 1650; may be 1630. In a document about the cashing of local rates, I found a list of names from those who were living in Loosdrecht till 1608. I saw 14 names, but no Evenblij. The first noted Evenblij is from 1630. I have not found where the Evenblij’s came from, before arriving in Loosdrecht. Names were not always used consequently or logically.

I found (in Loosdrecht):

- in 1654 a Pieter Meertsen Evenblij, who appeared to be Pieter Hendriksz Evenblij. Had the

man changed his name? Had there been a Meerts Evenblij?(Meertsen meaning:“son of

Meerts”)? Had there been a mistake in the writing, by error or by ignorance? Or was the

name wrongly understood?

- a Sijmen Henderiksz Meertsz (married to Ietie Cornelis Timmer): 5 children with the last

names (Hendriksz) Evenblij. Sijmen, Jannitje, Jannitje, Sijmen, Marritje, from which one

Sijmen Hendriksz Evenblij probably baptised on 07.05.1684.

- a son from Willem Gijsbertsz Backer (married to Jannitje Dircks), presenting himself as

Gijsbert Willemse Evenblij (1704). Also the two next children, Dirk (1706) and Wilmpje

(1709): named Evenblij. Not so: the two children born before Gijsbert Willemse.

- twice the name Eevenblij with Ee (about 1782); no indication about being of our family.

(- 21 May 1568: galley-punishment for a C.Peeters, alias Evenblij. From the south region of

the Netherlands, near Belgium; so: no member of our family).

Oud-Loosdrecht was formerly called Oûkerck or Oud-Over. Nieuw-Loosdrecht was first Ter Sype, later Nieuwkerk. There were several ways Loosdrecht was written: Loesdregt, Loosdregt, Loosdrecht. Oud = Old ; Nieuw = New

[Oud-Loosdrecht was mentioned for the first time at the end of the 13^th century. The inhabitants went to church in Loenen (across the lake). In 1332 Oud-Loosdrecht got it’s own parish with a chapel in de Zijpe (Sijpe/Sype), which is Nieuw-Loosdrecht nowadays. In 1400 de Zijpe became an independent community. From that time on one spoke of: Oude kerk (Oûkerck,Ouderkerck) and of: de Nieukerk. Later: de Oude-Loosdrecht and de Nieuwe Loosdrecht; however both are equally old] [Wikipedia]

(kerck=) kerk = church

The first Evenblij’s were very religious and churchy, reason that so many data were recorded ! (in church). First Calvinistic, later Calvinistic, Reformed or churchmembers of the Vergadering Der Gelovigen, celebrating the Lord’s Supper with the baptism on older age based on (a personal) confession of faith. Around 1900 there was a rupture; some members of the branch in Zaandam broke with religion. The branch I belong to was one of those.

I found many Evenblij’s in the south of the Netherlands, like around Rotterdam and in the Alblasserwaard. They were mostly Catholic; the generations go back to even early 1500. I am curious to know if there exists a link ? between those Evenblij’s and ours. Till now I have found nothing of the kind. The christian names do not show much similarity. Maybe the fact that our branch counted several masters of a barge?

They sailed to Amsterdam, transporting water (from the river Vecht, being far more pure then the “city”water), but also dry goods to Rotterdam and the Alblasserwaard! They had wooden sailships; one of our forefathers had an iron, motorized, boat! (Hendrik 1862?) In wintertime they often got stuck in the ice, impossible to come home and of course with loss of income. They suffered hard times.

From 1650 till about 1800 the Loosdrecht Evenblij’s were stayers, in Oud-Loosdrecht as well as Nieuw-Loosdrecht.

And 1797 Hendrik (born 1766) went to live in Zaandam with his wife Stijntje Onrust, who came from Oostzaandam (East Zaandam). Their grandson Simon (born 1834) moved to The Hague on 6 October 1879.

Simon’s daughter Hillegonda (born 1863) left for Pretoria (South-Africa) with her husband Martinus Johannes Stolte around 1890. Martinus died in 1895 in Johannesburg; Hillegonda returned to the Netherlands in 1896.

More of our Evenblij’s went overseas:

Frederik (born 1899 in The Hague) went to Congo as commercial agent.

His son Frits who was born there, finally settled in Texas, USA.

From Pieter, born 1875: three of the four grandsons emigrated after the second worldwar: Simon and Albert (the twin) went to New Zealand (with 3 month of difference) (Albert later to Australia) and Jacob went to USA’s Westcoast. Those three are my brothers.

I myself have been living in France for a while with my (at that time) French husband. Cousin Anja Sl. went to the USA with her Norwegian husband and cousin Niek H. went to South-Africa.

Because of settling down in English speaking countries some Evenblij’s changed their name in Evenbly !

That reminds me of mentioning that in some countries, like in USA, dates are written differently from Europe, with the month first and then the day; 10/04 would not be the 10^th of April, which is the European way, but the 4^th of October. Sometimes it brings funny surprises.

My father is a descendant of the Loosdrecht family that settled in Zaandam; his mother’s family (van Zaanen) comes from Leiden. There are twins on both sides. Not surprising then that we had a twin too: Simon and Albert.

My mother’s descent makes the mix complete:

Her father (Witteveen) comes from the north of the Netherlands (Friesland, with connection to Zuidlaren en Deventer) and her mother (Schlösser) is from the south, Limburg (with connections in Germany, just across the border with Limburg).

≈ ≈ ≈

Evenblij

ca.1650

Loosdrecht van Sanen

(ca. 1530)

| Leiden

| |

|

(Zaandam) | van Zaanen Witteveen Schlösser
| 1799 1788 ca.1800

| Leiden Twello Kerkrade

| | | |

| | | |

| | | |

Evenblij van Zaanen Witteveen Schlösser

________________________ __________________

| |

Evenblij Voorburg Witteveen

______________________________________

|

≈ ≈ ≈

Tidbits

- 1700-1710 is known as the “the small-ice-age”: with very long and cold winters (minus

22°C) (unusual for our climate!)

- Sometimes poor people didn’t register a deadborn or a baby that only lived shortly. One

had to pay the church for the (birth)registration in the 18th century. (and probably again

for the burial).

- One may find (also in Loosdrecht) dates of baptizing older than dates of birth. Apparently

errors, because the registration was not always done instantly, but sometimes weeks later.

- Children born from unmarried women were registered: “ in onegt geteeld”, meaning:

“illegitimate breed” in old Dutch.

≈ ≈ ≈ continuing >>>

(Precious) Personal Memories

My mother was an energetic and many-sided person, skilful and creative in every way. I have admired her for everything she did. Memorable is her presence on the (Primary) school in The Hague where she was teacher; appreciated by her colleagues, (most of) the children and the parents. After her pension she kept (unpaid) giving lessons in handcrafts. She took 8 mm. films and showed them in the classes. She took care of the Lucia-celebrations, in Scandinavian style (no special reason for that choice; just because of the colourful decorations and the burning candles, I presume). She was a genius in sewing. For the procession for children on the occasion of our Liberation in 1945 she made me an “Austrian porcelain” doll; a skirt out of lace in my memory, completed with a bonnet (style 1830) and a fan (hers). But there were hardly any materials at that time and the skirt appeared to have been a piece of curtain lace. I found the skirt and the fan back in old things from my youth! Equally the photos that were taken. I won the first price; well in fact: my mother did!

My Father was a hero, a real one! He prevented the blowing up of a bridge on the highway to/from The Hague by the Germans. The bridge was build for crossing the canal in Voorburg, where we lived and were my father worked as an electrician for the municipal supply works. The Germans put explosives (1944) to be able to blow up the bridge when retreating, so no one could come after them. My father disconnected the fuses one by one, in top secret of course. He never spoke of it to strangers, not even after the war.

My father was very skilful too; no (electrical)problem was to big for him. He would have loved nowadays developments and inventions! He liked using expressions or parts of poems and even strophes of children’s books to make something clear in a simple way. [Don’t teach a monkey how to climb] My father was a hero and a modest, but very wise man.

I am very grateful for what my parents learned me and showed me: the examples of their many-sidedness and perseverance, the way to use hands and brain, the meaning of language. My father was a true “none-believer” and my mother (born catholic) had her doubts in faith. They still chose to teach me the basics of religion, so that I myself could establish my opinion later on. I got piano lessons and went to the theatre with them. We had a record player, long before any one else did; there was room for a great variety of music: from Beethoven to dance music and Dixieland.

(and also old German popular songs, yes, rather popular in Limburg, the area where my mother came from, in the south of the Netherlands. (I still remember parts of the text whenever that music “comes by”.) It took me quite some efforts to get the consent for ballet lessons, but they finally agreed. I have enjoyed it very much and have been practising it a long time (with several long interruptions). My parents were proud of me when I told them about my ice-skating successes, showing the medals: First! at the school races or the races of the municipality. (on figure skating skates … at that time).

They stimulated me in “learning” in a way that I came to like school. I had a wonderful time in College and after that they made it possible for me to go to the (technical) University in Delft. Sad enough my dad has never known the successful result; my mother shared the glory!

Of course there have been ups and also downs!, but my memories are predominantly positive.

I am glad to have developed the right feelings for music, language and languages (!), dance, theatre (I played in quite some pieces myself, while studying in Delft), sports (only in a very modest way). I feel good when I can get a difficult job done and then think sometimes: this is

the way my father would have done it. Or: doing this or that I suddenly get the idea of being

just like my mother. I would like to be able to let them know that I love them, but since they

are gone, I can only write it down.

≈ ≈ ≈

At my grandma’s place, in the kitchen, was a picture on the wall, an illustration that I have never forgotten. In a shop the poulterer and an old lady are standing at the balance; the weighing of the bird takes places and what happens? – the poulterer pushes the scale down with his finger and on the other side the little lady pushes the scale up … I wondered what happened to that picture; it did not end up at our place. I found a specimen on the Internet in 2004 when I posed a search question for balances. A guy, collector of balances, recognised the description. He pointed me to “The butcher” from Leslie Thrasher, a satirical poster from The Saturday Evening Post of 1936 – on the article about cheating and being cheated. (The double ride by Francis Wallace).

How this image got to my grandmothers and why she had it on the wall (even framed, I believe) … I wouldn’t know. I was young (not yet 13 years old when my grandmother died), but I understood perfectly that this was an “important message”. I hoped life wouldn’t be

that way …

≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈

NOTES: - A description of the official documents I have, is to be found in the original Dutch version of this Introduction.

- Description of the italic texts in the Genealogy: to be found in the English Introduction) (most of it)

- A vocabulary of the most used words in the Genealogy is to be found here below: (Dutch > English)

Dutch geboren geboren voor geboren te geboorte doop gedoopt op gedoopt voor overleden overleden voor overleden na dood / overlijden getrouwd met uit dit - huwelijk - eerste - tweede - derde vader moeder kind zoon van dochter van tweeling oom tante opa / grandfather oma / grandmother bericht akte geen Evenblij meer op xx jarige leeftijd xx jaar oud oud nieuw kerk streek Frankrijk Nieuw Zeeland geboorte aangifte trouwboekje / trouwakte overlijdensbericht DTB boeken: doop-, trouw- en begraafboeken /

English born born before born at birth baptism baptized baptized before died died before died after death married to from this - marriage - first - second - third father mother child son of daughter of twins uncle aunt grandfather grandmother message certificate no more Evenblij on the age of xx xx years old old new church region France New Zealand birth certificate certificate of marriage death cert. / message baptism-, marriage- and burial registers from the churches / the official civil registration only started at 1811 in the Netherlands.

To the GENEALOGY