Wijnand Otto Jan Nieuwenkamp and the Tangled Web

Look at the people in your genealogy database. How many of them have their own Wikipedia page? Within my own Gramps database of about 6000 individuals, a few are important enough to be discussed in Wikipedia. These individuals include Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Floris Verster, Menso Kamerlingh Onnes, and Elisabeth Keers-Laseur. A few days ago, using Google, I came across another distant relative with his own Wikipedia page, my 6th cousin once removed Wijnand Otto Jan Nieuwenkamp.

W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp (1874-1950) was a rather interesting person. Described as a multi-faceted autodidact, he was an artist working in a number of different media, as well as a writer, architect, explorer, ethnologist, and collector of East Asian art. In 1900 he married his first cousin once removed Anna Wilbrink (1871-1954). When her parents died, she was left with a sizable inheritance, which enabled Wijnand to finance his numerous trips to the far east. In 1906 and 1907, he traveled to Bali, and pursued pioneering ethnographical and archaeological studies of that island, work that is still appreciated today.

Tangled web of ancestors of Wijnand Otto Jan Nieuwenkamp

If you've been following this blog, you know I like to map out the tangled interrelationships of my distant relatives. Before I encountered W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp, I was starting to map out some tangles with my distant Wilbrink cousins. Wijnand just added some additional flavor to this story. (As before, in the above drop chart, my distant cousins are marked in blue.)

As I mentioned before, Wijnand Nieuwenkamp married his 1st cousin once removed, my 5th cousin twice removed, Anna Wilbrink. Wijnand's four childen would be my 7th cousins and also my 6th cousins once removed.

Moving up a generation (or two depending on which path you take), a couple of Wilbrink siblings married a few members of the van den Ham family: Gerrit Jan Wilbrink (1834-1907) was married to Marianne Gerharda Henriëtte van den Ham (1837-1913). Gerrit's sister Diderika Wilhelmina Wilbrink (1825-1876) married twice, first to Petrus Albertus Jacobus Moezel van den Ham (1813-1863), and then to his brother Johannes Hermanus Theodorus Wilhelmus van den Ham (1822-1912). These two brothers were the uncles of Marianne van den Ham.

Moving up a generation, we see another case of two brothers, Willem Wilbrink (1798-1859) and Jan Wilbrink (1804-1837) marrying two sisters respectively Gerritje Brouwer (1792-1864) and Hendrikje Brouwer (1786-1849). As far as I can tell, Jan and Hendrikje had no children.

The more I look through my family tree, the more tangles I can find. One great thing about having all the civil and church records for the Netherlands on-line, courtesy of the LDS and familysearch.org, is that you can easily pursue side trips, something that isn't practical using more traditional research techniques. Today's missive also demonstrates the usefulness of doing a Google search whenever researching a new branch. You never know what a Google search may turn up!

Cheers! Hans

More Tangled Webs in Oldebroek

In these modern times, when people can easily move from place to place, the vast majority of people we meet are completely unrelated. That is, although we are all certainly cousins, we cannot determine a relationship. Contrast this with life in 19th Century Oldebroek. As I discussed in my previous blog posting, Oldebroek is in a relatively isolated corner of northern Gelderland. The majority of people listed in today's drop chart lived their whole lives in that one village. Finding tangled interrelationships between these people is very easy.

Tangled interrelationships in Oldebroek

Consider the drop chart. Some of the people we've met before, in my previous blog posting: Aart Labots and Agatha Mol, Gisjbert Koster and Christina Labots, and Wilhelmus Labots and Marrigje Kragt. This time, we look at some of their other children. As before, the people marked in blue are distant cousins.

Let's start at the top. First, we see two brothers Hendrik Blaauw (1793-1832) and Gerrit Blaauw (1795-1834) married to two sisters Hendrika Wilhelma Spijkerboer (1789-1869) and Fennetje Spijkerboer (1802-1864). Gerrit Stange (1783-1862) married twice: First to a half-sister of the previously mentioned Blaauw brothers, Grietje Blaauw (1804-1887), and second to another Spijkerboer sister, Lubbigje Spijkerboer (1787-1826).

Moving down a generation, consider Hendrika Wilhelma Stange (1819-1905) Her husband, Jan Blaauw (1818-1855) was her father's brother-in-law, from his first marriage. Next, consider the married couple Jan Spijkerboer (1825-1889) and Lubbertje Blaauw (1828-1889). They were first cousins.

In the final generation in this chart, we tie in the previously mentioned lines with my distant Labots cousins. The siblings Marrigje Labots (1855-1930) and Aart Labots (1848-1901) married two first cousins, respectively, Gerrit van Loo (1848-1919) and Fennetje Spijkerboer (1854-1900). Another Labots sibling, Klaas Labots (1859-1900) married a second cousin of the previously mentioned spouses, Oetje Blaauw (1865-1947).

And to link these people again to the Labots, consider Jacoba Berghuis (1849-1888). Her first husband was yet another Blaauw: Goossen Blauw (1851-1882). Her second husband was a Labots descendant, Hendrik Koster (1851-1913).

And still, more interrelationships can be found in this area. In my notes, I've already mapped out a case of someone marrying twice, where his second wife was a niece of his first. But I'll leave the details for another blog posting.

Cheers! Hans