CORSTIAAN VAN DER GROEF , KRIENA VAN PUTTEN AND THEIR CHILDREN -
a rather remarkable and astonishing emigration story .....
PART I : the Dutch years , living in poverty ...
CORSTIAAN VAN DER GROEF was the fourth child of his father ADRIANUS VAN DER GROEF , and Corstiaan was the only child born within the second marriage of his father with JANNETJE STRUIS .
Corstiaan came into the Dutch world on January 4th 1838 in the village of Dirksland on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee , in a period of time in which circumstances in life were far from ideal , if not terribly bad .....
Corstiaan , protestant of faith , became a (field-)worker halfway the 19th century , so about his financial situation we certainly don't need to have any illusions : day in day out , year in year out , it must have been hard up in his life ....
Corstiaan had one lucky strike though : he didn't have to join the army - and bear in mind : service lasted for nothing less than five years in those days .... Corstiaan didn't need to serve , not because of some fysical defect or so , but simply because he was drawn for the army .
Now Corstiaan had the opportunity to marry and settle fairly soon in his life , and so he did : when he was 23 years old Corstiaan said yes on April 26 , 1861 in his birth- and dwelling-place Dirksland , to KRIENA VAN PUTTEN , like Corstiaan belonging to the Dutch Protestant Church (N.H.) , born on March 12 , 1838 in the very tiny place of Herkingen , also on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee and not so far away from Dirksland . Like Corstaan Kriena earned her bread as a labourer .
How poor and miserable conditions of life still were for a lot of people in the Netherlands in the 19th century can be illustrated as follows : in 1861 , the year of the marriage , the average weekly wages for regular workmen were merely 6 guilders - and yét the average wages of labourers in the years to come wouldn't rise but even go down up to the end of the 19th century .....
It certainly doesn't come as a surprise to know that many fellow-countrymen and -women , thousands of them actually , in the course of the 19th century , would take refuge so to speak , in an other country , in the United States of America , the country of unlimited opportunities and of hopefully much better chances in life - and indeed that's what Corstiaan and Kriena after their marriage would decide to do , bút at first no less than t e n children would see their first light on Dutch soil ..... so we cannot say that the decision to emigrate was made rather instantly after their marriage ....
Knowing that all of the ten children were born in the same place , the village of Dirksland , one might jump to the conclusion that Corstiaan , Kriena and their growing family lived a kind of stay-at-home life on Dutch soil , but then one couldn't be more wrong ....
Looking for work , for better and regular work with higher income , Corstiaan and his family must have gone from one place to an other : from Dirksland to Melissant , from Melissant back to Dirksland , from Dirksland back again to Melissant .... and later they were found living for some time in Sommelsdijk , Nieuwe-Tonge and finally in the neighbour village of Oude-Tonge , and all the time possibly rather desperately trying to hold their heads up .....
Nót only on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee Corstiaan tried to find a suitable job : in the year 1876 Corstiaan in the company of his wife Kriena and his oldest son Adrianus stayed for a period of eight months far outside the island , all the way in the Haarlemmermeer , in the province of Noord-Holland , where in those days a huge polder was drained - hard and tough work that must have been .
But after eight months Corstiaan , Kriena and Adrianus were back again on the so well known island of Goeree-Overflakkee , and what would life bring them now ???
Since the day of their marriage Corstiaan and Kriena , as 18 years had passed , had been blessed with the coming of ten children , but unfortunately two of these children had already died during their years of childhood . So after the birth of the tenth child the family of Corstiaan consisted of ten persons : mother , father and eight children , who were all now on the threshold of a new , special , challenging and at the same time also somewhat frightening emigration adventure .....
PART II : the decision years ...
# Son ADRIANUS VAN DER GROEF was the first born child of Corstiaan van der Groef and Kriena van Putten .
The course of life of this son would turn out to be rather exeptional - notably one day in his life must have been both special ánd unforgettable ....
Adrianus was born more than a year after the marriage of his parents , on July 26 , 1862 in the village of Dirksland , the same village where not only Adrianus but also all of his brothers and sisters to come would see the light of day .
Without having much choice , if any , in choosing a suitable profession , Adrianus became , like his father , grandfather , great-grandfather ...., workman of profession , and when he was 23 years old Adrianus would say yes to LENA VAN DER VELDE , born on February 19 , 1860 in the small place of Herkingen , labourer/maid-servant of profession , daughter of HERMAN VAN DER VELDE and of LENA RIEDIJK .
Adrianus and his family lived in different places on the island : Nieuwe-Tonge , Herkingen , Oude-Tonge .
A year after their marriage the couple had a daughter , KRIJNA VAN DER GROEF , born on April 17th 1887 in Nieuwe-Tonge (certificate nr. 16) .
And then we discovered a strange thing .....: we found out that there also must have been a son named HERMAN VAN DER GROEF , who should have been born on March 21st 1887 in Paterson , Passaic , N.J. , USA .....
Obvious biological reasons prevent a woman giving birth to two babies within a period of five weeks in two different countries thousands of miles away from eachother ..... and this most certainly can nót be disputed ....
But what did happen then ??
We know - since the register tells us so - that Adrianus (or Adrian in the USA) must have emigrated t w i c e in his lifetime to the USA ; the second time in the year 1890 (on May 30th) and the first time on .......we weren't able to find an exact date , but we may assume that his first emigration took place between the date of birth of his daughter (April 17th 1887) and before the year 1889/1890 .
So somewhere in the late eighties of the 19th century , Adrianus , together with his wife Lena ánd with his then just born daughter Krijna must have emigrated to North America , and there , in the place Paterson , a son named Herman (in all likelihood named after the father of Lena , Herman van der Velde) was born , bút most certainly nót on March 21 , 1887 of course - let us assume then that the actual year of his birth was in reality one year later , in 1888 .
Ever since the birth of son Herman , profound events and changes took place within the lives of Adrianus and within the lives of all of his close relatives :
CORSTIAAN VAN DER GROEF was the fourth child of his father ADRIANUS VAN DER GROEF , and Corstiaan was the only child born within the second marriage of his father with JANNETJE STRUIS .
Corstiaan came into the Dutch world on January 4th 1838 in the village of Dirksland on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee , in a period of time in which circumstances in life were far from ideal , if not terribly bad .....
Corstiaan , protestant of faith , became a (field-)worker halfway the 19th century , so about his financial situation we certainly don't need to have any illusions : day in day out , year in year out , it must have been hard up in his life ....
Corstiaan had one lucky strike though : he didn't have to join the army - and bear in mind : service lasted for nothing less than five years in those days .... Corstiaan didn't need to serve , not because of some fysical defect or so , but simply because he was drawn for the army .
Now Corstiaan had the opportunity to marry and settle fairly soon in his life , and so he did : when he was 23 years old Corstiaan said yes on April 26 , 1861 in his birth- and dwelling-place Dirksland , to KRIENA VAN PUTTEN , like Corstiaan belonging to the Dutch Protestant Church (N.H.) , born on March 12 , 1838 in the very tiny place of Herkingen , also on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee and not so far away from Dirksland . Like Corstaan Kriena earned her bread as a labourer .
How poor and miserable conditions of life still were for a lot of people in the Netherlands in the 19th century can be illustrated as follows : in 1861 , the year of the marriage , the average weekly wages for regular workmen were merely 6 guilders - and yét the average wages of labourers in the years to come wouldn't rise but even go down up to the end of the 19th century .....
It certainly doesn't come as a surprise to know that many fellow-countrymen and -women , thousands of them actually , in the course of the 19th century , would take refuge so to speak , in an other country , in the United States of America , the country of unlimited opportunities and of hopefully much better chances in life - and indeed that's what Corstiaan and Kriena after their marriage would decide to do , bút at first no less than t e n children would see their first light on Dutch soil ..... so we cannot say that the decision to emigrate was made rather instantly after their marriage ....
Knowing that all of the ten children were born in the same place , the village of Dirksland , one might jump to the conclusion that Corstiaan , Kriena and their growing family lived a kind of stay-at-home life on Dutch soil , but then one couldn't be more wrong ....
Looking for work , for better and regular work with higher income , Corstiaan and his family must have gone from one place to an other : from Dirksland to Melissant , from Melissant back to Dirksland , from Dirksland back again to Melissant .... and later they were found living for some time in Sommelsdijk , Nieuwe-Tonge and finally in the neighbour village of Oude-Tonge , and all the time possibly rather desperately trying to hold their heads up .....
Nót only on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee Corstiaan tried to find a suitable job : in the year 1876 Corstiaan in the company of his wife Kriena and his oldest son Adrianus stayed for a period of eight months far outside the island , all the way in the Haarlemmermeer , in the province of Noord-Holland , where in those days a huge polder was drained - hard and tough work that must have been .
But after eight months Corstiaan , Kriena and Adrianus were back again on the so well known island of Goeree-Overflakkee , and what would life bring them now ???
Since the day of their marriage Corstiaan and Kriena , as 18 years had passed , had been blessed with the coming of ten children , but unfortunately two of these children had already died during their years of childhood . So after the birth of the tenth child the family of Corstiaan consisted of ten persons : mother , father and eight children , who were all now on the threshold of a new , special , challenging and at the same time also somewhat frightening emigration adventure .....
PART II : the decision years ...
# Son ADRIANUS VAN DER GROEF was the first born child of Corstiaan van der Groef and Kriena van Putten .
The course of life of this son would turn out to be rather exeptional - notably one day in his life must have been both special ánd unforgettable ....
Adrianus was born more than a year after the marriage of his parents , on July 26 , 1862 in the village of Dirksland , the same village where not only Adrianus but also all of his brothers and sisters to come would see the light of day .
Without having much choice , if any , in choosing a suitable profession , Adrianus became , like his father , grandfather , great-grandfather ...., workman of profession , and when he was 23 years old Adrianus would say yes to LENA VAN DER VELDE , born on February 19 , 1860 in the small place of Herkingen , labourer/maid-servant of profession , daughter of HERMAN VAN DER VELDE and of LENA RIEDIJK .
Adrianus and his family lived in different places on the island : Nieuwe-Tonge , Herkingen , Oude-Tonge .
A year after their marriage the couple had a daughter , KRIJNA VAN DER GROEF , born on April 17th 1887 in Nieuwe-Tonge (certificate nr. 16) .
And then we discovered a strange thing .....: we found out that there also must have been a son named HERMAN VAN DER GROEF , who should have been born on March 21st 1887 in Paterson , Passaic , N.J. , USA .....
Obvious biological reasons prevent a woman giving birth to two babies within a period of five weeks in two different countries thousands of miles away from eachother ..... and this most certainly can nót be disputed ....
But what did happen then ??
We know - since the register tells us so - that Adrianus (or Adrian in the USA) must have emigrated t w i c e in his lifetime to the USA ; the second time in the year 1890 (on May 30th) and the first time on .......we weren't able to find an exact date , but we may assume that his first emigration took place between the date of birth of his daughter (April 17th 1887) and before the year 1889/1890 .
So somewhere in the late eighties of the 19th century , Adrianus , together with his wife Lena ánd with his then just born daughter Krijna must have emigrated to North America , and there , in the place Paterson , a son named Herman (in all likelihood named after the father of Lena , Herman van der Velde) was born , bút most certainly nót on March 21 , 1887 of course - let us assume then that the actual year of his birth was in reality one year later , in 1888 .
Ever since the birth of son Herman , profound events and changes took place within the lives of Adrianus and within the lives of all of his close relatives :
we know for sure that some time after the birth of Herman , Adrianus and Lena already returned to the Netherlands , wíth daughter Krijna but withóut son Herman ....
We must assume that their son Herman had passed away soon after his birth . But why did the family go back to Holland then ??
The cause of their return máy have been the at that time already possibly bad and deteriorating health situation of Lena , since soon after being back in Holland , Lena passed away on February 4th 1889 in Oude-Tonge , and that was just two weeks before her 29th birthday ......
We must assume that their son Herman had passed away soon after his birth . But why did the family go back to Holland then ??
The cause of their return máy have been the at that time already possibly bad and deteriorating health situation of Lena , since soon after being back in Holland , Lena passed away on February 4th 1889 in Oude-Tonge , and that was just two weeks before her 29th birthday ......
Adrianus was the one year older brother of STINA VAN DER GROEF . Stina was married in the year 1889 in Sommelsdijk to LEENDERT VAN DER WEKKE , and they had settled in Dirksland .
The fourth child born within the family of Corstiaan and Kriena was baptized MAGCHELINA VAN DER GROEF , she was labourer/maid-servant of profession . Magchelina married MARINUS HANENBERG in the year 1888 and one year later , on the for them historic date of February 15th 1889 , the married couple emigrated to the United States , so from that moment on the family of Corstiaan consisted of n i n e persons living on Dutch soil ....
JANNETJE VAN DER GROEF was the two years younger sister of Magchelina . Like her sister Magchelina Jannetje found work on the island as a labourer/maid-servant , like her sister Magchelina Jannetje would marry in the year 1888 (to JOHANNES HOKKE) , and like her sister Magchelina Jannetje would emigrate to North America - that event took place on February 15 , 1890 , so to the day (!) one year after her sister Magchelina had emigrated to the States (Jannetje emigrated in 1890 together with her husband ánd together with her just born son KLAAS HOKKE) .
And from that moment on Corstiaan's family consisted of e i g h t persons who were still living on Dutch island soil ..... but not for a long time ....
May 30th 1890 must (beyond any reasonable doubt ...) have been the most exceptional and most memorable day not only in the life of son Adrianus , but also in the lives of father Corstiaan , mother Kriena ánd in that of their children ...
When he woke up that day - and that must have been a very early rise ... - Adrianus should have realised that that specific (hopefully very beautiful) day in springtime truly marked a new starting point in his existence as a mature man (and he wasn't any older yet than 27 years back in 1890) :
Adrianus had emigrated to America , but he had come back , he had been married , but he had lost his wife within three years , and now , in the early moments of May 30th 1890 , Adrianus was bound to say yes again to a woman in his Dutch residence of Oude-Tonge : JOHANNA BRUINSE , born on March 21 , 1866 in Oude-Tonge , daughter of HENDRIK BRUINSE and of CORNELIA GEBRAAD , labourer by profession , who would become Adrianus' bride that unforgettable day in the month of May .
Johanna Bruinse was already mother of a son : HENDRIK BRUINSE . At the time Hendrik still was a baby of just a few months - Johanna had given birth to him as an unmarried mother on January 17th 1890 in Oude-Tonge [ the birthcertificate of Hendrik says , in Dutch : 'moederzoon , onechtgeboren kind van Johanna Bruinse' ] .
But since that day , May 30th 1890 , Hendrik Bruinse very officially became : HENDRIK VAN DER GROEF .
Though it may have been love that had been the attraction force between Adrianus and Johanna , this marriage undoubtedly was a practical one , very much in their mutual interest : Johanna had found a father now for her son and Adrianus had found a woman who could take care of his daughter Krijna who , in the year 1890 , still wasn't any older than three years .
Bút there was something else , something else with far-reaching consequences for the entire family that took place that same day : on May 30th 1890 Adrianus and his young bride Johanna , together with their children Hendrik and Krijna , and in the company of both the parents of Adrianus , 52-years old Corstiaan and 51-years old Kriena van Putten , ánd in addition in the company of his brother MACHIEL VAN DER GROEF , his sister MARINA VAN DER GROEF , his brother CORSTIAAN VAN DER GROEF and his youngest sister LEENTJE VAN DER GROEF ..... , all left Oude-Tonge , left Goeree-Overflakkee , left Holland and emigrated towards that huge country at the other side of the ocean , the land of all those unlimited possibilities ....
Johanna Bruinse was already mother of a son : HENDRIK BRUINSE . At the time Hendrik still was a baby of just a few months - Johanna had given birth to him as an unmarried mother on January 17th 1890 in Oude-Tonge [ the birthcertificate of Hendrik says , in Dutch : 'moederzoon , onechtgeboren kind van Johanna Bruinse' ] .
But since that day , May 30th 1890 , Hendrik Bruinse very officially became : HENDRIK VAN DER GROEF .
Though it may have been love that had been the attraction force between Adrianus and Johanna , this marriage undoubtedly was a practical one , very much in their mutual interest : Johanna had found a father now for her son and Adrianus had found a woman who could take care of his daughter Krijna who , in the year 1890 , still wasn't any older than three years .
Bút there was something else , something else with far-reaching consequences for the entire family that took place that same day : on May 30th 1890 Adrianus and his young bride Johanna , together with their children Hendrik and Krijna , and in the company of both the parents of Adrianus , 52-years old Corstiaan and 51-years old Kriena van Putten , ánd in addition in the company of his brother MACHIEL VAN DER GROEF , his sister MARINA VAN DER GROEF , his brother CORSTIAAN VAN DER GROEF and his youngest sister LEENTJE VAN DER GROEF ..... , all left Oude-Tonge , left Goeree-Overflakkee , left Holland and emigrated towards that huge country at the other side of the ocean , the land of all those unlimited possibilities ....
Two other sisters of Adrianus , Magchelina and Jannetje , had already emigrated with their husbands a short time before , but how about their sister Stina .....??
When May 30 had made room for May 31, 1890 , there was just one close relative still living on the Dutch island : STINA VAN DER GROEF , born on August 26 , 1863 in Dirksland , who , a year before , on March 29 , 1889 , had been married in Sommelsdijk to LEENDERT VAN DER WEKKE , born on December 24 , 1863 in Dirksland .
One may suppose and assume that when Stina heard the news about the coming emigration of her family , she and her husband did consider the possibility to emigrate for themselves as well , and then they must have decided nót to do so ..... and they kept on living on the island and continued living their long lives .... since Stina would pass away on February 22 , 1954 in her hometown Dirksland at the age of 90 , and her husband Leendert must even have reached a higher age - bút had Stina since that memorable day of May 30 , 1890 , ever , if only at one single occasion , seen her parents and brothers and sisters back again .....?? We wonder .......
For a brand new episode in their lives , a challenging and at the same time rather uncertain one , Adrianus and his familymembers were shipped now from Holland to the United States of America ...
PART III : living in the United States , the final years ........
# Corstiaan , Kriena , Adrianus , Krijna , Johanna , Hendrik , Machiel , Marina , Corstiaan jr. and Leentje van der Groef reached the shore of the American Continent , set foot on American soil and all became American citizens under the 'new' familyname of Vandergroef , VanderGroef , Vander Groef or Van Der Groef ..... and Corstiaan became Christopher or Christian , Adrianus became Adrian or Andrew , Hendrik became Henry and Machiel became Michael .
We knew that when he married for the second time , Adrian already was the father of Krijna and that his wife Johanna already had a baby , named Henry , but in the United States the married couple díd get some children together as well , about t e n ....... who were mostly living (later) in the area of Clifton , N.J. .
These children would finally loose their mother on a special day : May 30th 1945 , exactly 55 years after they , still completely unaware what kind of future would lay ahead of them , had left Holland and had been shipped to America . On May 30 , 1945 the life of Johanna Bruinse came to an end , after having reached the age of 79 .
The obituary of Johanna Bruinse states that she had 21 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren at the time of her death .
More than a year later also the life of her husband , the father of all the children , Adrian(us)/Andrew Van Der Groef came to a final end - Andrew had reached the high age of 85 - he passed away on the first day of September in the year 1946 .
Looking back on all the events that had taken place during Andrew's lifetime , we may conclude that his life hadn't been all too easy , most certainly not during his life as a young adult , but we may also conclude that the course of his life had been both remarkable and astonishing and even rather unique ....
In the year 1945 eight of the children of Andrew and Johanna were still alive - they were :
> TRINA VANDER GROEF (married to John Grunsta) of Clifton , N.J.
> HENRY VANDER GROEF of Clifton , N.J.
This must be Hendrik Bruinse , child born out of wedlock of Johanna Bruinse , who became Hendrik van der Groef when Johanna married Adrianus/Andrew van der Groef , and who must have become Henry Vander Groef the moment he set foot on American soil .
Henry used to live in Passaic (and in Clifton) - he passed away in the month of July in the year 1976 (and that was in a very memorable year and month for áll Americans citizens ...) - Henry had reached the age of 86 - his last place of residence was Irvington , Essex , New Jersey - there is no information about a possible marriage or children .
> CHRISTINE VANDER GROEF (married to Benjamin Koenig Sr.) of Clifton , N.J.
> CHRISTIAN VANDER GROEF (married to Florence) of Clifton , N.J.
> ALICE VANDER GROEF (married to James Abner) of Clifton , N.J.
> LEONARD VANDER GROEF (married to Elsie Alma Dorpfeld) of Passaic , N.J.
Leonard was born on the second of January in 1901 - he served in the United States Army at the Panama Canal from 1920 until 1923 - he married Elsie Alma Dorpfeld on March 12 , 1926 and in the years to come they had , fully in line with Leonard's parents , about t e n children ....
Both Leonard and Elsie have passed away , they were both buried in Laural Grove Memorial Park in Totowa , New Jersey , leaving behind a considerable amount of descendants .......
> MICHAEL VANDER GROEF of Nutley/Woodbridge , N.J.
> CORNELIA VANDER GROEF (married to George Genthon) of San Diego , CA
# Adrianus or Andrew Van Der Groef was the first but by no means only child of father Corstiaan and mother Kriena who had emigrated to the United States . So , what can we tell about the course of life of all those other children since the moment they arrived in America ??
Here is what we found out about them , in a family-nutshell so to speak ..... :
~ MAGCHELINA VANDER GROEF : she had been the first of the children to permanently settle down in North America together with her husband MARINUS HANENBERG in the year 1889 - her name is found on a long list with names of American immigrants and we assume that Magchelina passed away in the USA before the year 1956 .
~ JANNETJE VANDER GROEF had emigrated with her husband JOHANNES HOKKE and her son KLAAS HOKKE to North America on February 15 , 1890 , and also Jannetje is presumed to have passed away before the year 1956 in America .
~ MACHIEL/MICHAEL VANDER GROEF must have married shortly after his arrival in the States in 1890 , since we came to know that Michael was married to ADRIAANTJE N.N. and that Michael and Adriaantje had at least one child , a daughter named KUYNA (= Krijna ?) VANDER GROEF , who was born on April 7 , 1895 in Passaic City , Passaic , N.J.
~ MARINA VANDER GROEF : when Marina arrived in America she was just 14 years of age , but nevertheless just about two years later she was already married to HENDRIK PLOKHOOY , like Marina of Dutch descent and like Marina born and raised on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee - the couple had f i v e children .
After the early death of her husband , Marina would remarry (to a man named GARRY KNIGHT) , but , as far as we know , no further children were born of this second marriage of Marina .
Marina , once born on December 10th 1875 in Dirksland , Holland , should have passed away áfter the year 1955 , and thus she must have reached a (rather) high age in America .
~ CORSTIAAN VANDER GROEF , the youngest son of father Corstiaan and mother Kriena , who was named Christopher or Christian in his new homeland , was born on June 10th 1878 in Dirksland , Holland .
In the year 1910 Christopher was married to MARY ANNA VANGULICK , also born in the Netherlands .
Within a period of 12 years the married couple had t h r e e children , a daughter and two sons .
Most of their lives the family spent in Paterson , Passaic , N.J. , but familylife didn't last very long for Mary Anna unfortunately : Mary Anna VanGulick passed away in the year 1927 , just 44 years of age .
In his laborious years Christopher must have worked at about everything , from the textile mills to driving a coal wagon .
Since the early death of his wife , Christopher had never remarried - he finally passed away on January 11th 1956 at the age of 77 , leaving behind at least six grandchildren - and nowadays there must be about ten great-grandchildren and even one or two great-great-grandchildren , being the very young and very vivid present offspring of Christopher and Mary Anna VanderGroef .
~ LEENTJE VANDER GROEF was the Benjamin within the family of Corstiaan and Kriena - she was born on December 15th 1880 in Dirksland , Holland and at the age of nine Leentje had also gone from Holland to the United States , but the sequel of her then still young life at the other side of the Atlantic Ocean is unknown to us .
Father Corstiaan and mother Kriena will have departed their lives in their new fatherland by the end of the 19th or somewhere within the first decades of the 20th century . Emigrating to an unknown and to such a different country , thousands of miles away from Goeree-Overflakkee must have been a big risk for them to take , not knowing what to expect in that huge unfamiliar country , which in the year of 1890 had already become the new homeland for numerous men , women and children from Holland , and not in the least for those who had been born and raised on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee . Let us hope that Corstiaan , Kriena and their children all have had a good , healthy and prosperous life in that new country in that New World with all of its promising horizons .........
**** END OF THE STORY ****
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