# This is a so-called 'Certificaat der Nationale Militie' = 'Certificate for the National Militia' of my great-great-grandfather JACOB VAN DER GROEF , from the year 1832 , so quite some time back now .
On October 22 of that year this certificate had been written out , declaring that Jacob was dismissed from National Service .
This certificate also gives us some idea of how Jacob must have looked like , as a result of the addition of his personal description ; and hence we know now that Jacob's length must have been about 1,67 meters , that he had a round face , a low forehead , grey eyes , a pointed nose , a big mouth , a round chin and brown hair and eyebrows ; we are also informed that Jacob didn't have any 'noticeable marks' , as it was defined , and that his signature was missing , because of his disability to write (' kan niet schrijven ...') .
Though we can not fully exclude the possibiliy of the opposite , we are fairly convinced that never ever any picture of Jacob or of his wives had been taken .
This certificate also gives us some idea of how Jacob must have looked like , as a result of the addition of his personal description ; and hence we know now that Jacob's length must have been about 1,67 meters , that he had a round face , a low forehead , grey eyes , a pointed nose , a big mouth , a round chin and brown hair and eyebrows ; we are also informed that Jacob didn't have any 'noticeable marks' , as it was defined , and that his signature was missing , because of his disability to write (' kan niet schrijven ...') .
Though we can not fully exclude the possibiliy of the opposite , we are fairly convinced that never ever any picture of Jacob or of his wives had been taken .
# JACOB VAN DER GROEF , third son of JACOB VAN DER GROEF and of LEENTJE VAN PELT , saw the light of day on january 12 , 1809 in the little place of Dirksland on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee in the country of the Netherlands .
Later he moved with his parents and brothers and sisters to an other small place on the island , Nieuwe-Tonge , where he would live for the rest of his , relatively long , life .
Jacob's brother Teunis married twice and had all together nine children , Jacob would 'exceed this family-record'; by marrying three times and by becoming the father of a total of eleven children .
Jacob was labourer by profession and - like almost all the inhabitants of the island in those days - protestant by religion .
Two weeks before his 24th birthday Jacob married PIETERNELLA DONKERSLOOT , like Jacob also an islander of very humble descent , and thus , not very surprisingly , labourer by profession as well .
This fírst marriage of Jacob - two more marriages were bound to follow - could be viewed as his most important one , since most of Jacob's children were born of this first marriage ánd a lot of present-day descendants of Jacob spring from this marriage , including the person who is contemplating this marriage at this very moment ........
Pieternella Donkersloot passed away on the last day of the year 1852 in Sommelsdijk , on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee - she had just reached the age of 39 .
Two years later , on april 15 , 1854 , Jacob married again : the name of his second bride was ADRIAANTJE DROOGER .
A year later their first child , a daughter , was born - it would turn out to be their ónly child , since Adriaantje would already die ten days after the birth of this child , at the very young age of 24 ....... and now , once again , Jacob was a widower ......
By the end of 1857 Jacob's third marriage would take place : CORNELIA TULP , widow of Jacob Spee , was the name of the woman Jacob took to his , third , wife in that year .We know that Cornelia , also labourer by profession , must have been a very poor woman as well , since in an appendix belonging to the marriage-certificate , was reported that for both Cornelia and Jacob a so-called 'certificate of insolvency' had to be surrendered , as a result of the 'straitened circumstances' under which they both were living ....
Jacob and Cornelia became the parents of two children .
Jacob van der Groef finally passed away by the end of the year 1886 in Nieuwe-Tonge (Goeree-Overflakkee) , at the age of 77 - so despite the very harsh life he undoubtedly must have known , Jacob still managed to reach that relatively high age , considering the period of time he was living in and the very severe conditions of living in those days .
More than a year after Jacob's death , his widow Cornelia Tulp would emigrate to the United States of America , at the age of almost 70 years .........
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