a rather long but pitiable life ....

# WITTE ADMIRAAL is the small , standing and somewhat surprised looking man (third person from the right) , next to the rather severe looking woman , Mrs. Scheffers , caretaker of this house for elderly people , together with her husband Mr. Scheffers , the man on the far right .

It is indeed a very old picture : it must have been made in the last years of the 19th century .

> WITTE ADMIRAAL , son of SIMON ADMIRAAL and of MARIA PRINS , was born in the year 1836 in the small town of Sommelsdijk on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee in the Netherlands .

Witte grew up on the island and , at the age of 31 , he married ANNA VAN DER GROEF who came from a neighbouring village on the island , named Nieuwe - Tonge .

Anna was the daughter of JACOB VAN DER GROEF and of PIETERNELLA DONKERSLOOT (my great-great-grandparents) .
In a period of probably not more than three or four years Witte Admiraal lost two of his four daughters ánd his wife Anna van der Groef .........

Being the father of two still very young children , Witte married again a year later , to JANNETJE VAN ES .

We do not know if any more children were born of this second marriage , but we dó know that both of Witte's daughters from his first marriage grew up to become adult women and that they both got married by the end of the 19th century .

Contrary to his first spouse , Witte Admiraal himself must have reached a high age : we came across this very antique picture , dating back to the last years of the 19th century , depicting Witte and the other residents of the former 'oudeliedenhuis' ('old folks home') at the Molendijk in Nieuwe - Tonge .

One doesn't get the impression that this place really was thé place to be in those days , since all the people portrayed here look rather grim to us ...
It is very likely that Witte Admiraal will have finally deceased in this home for aged persons , (shortly) after the year 1912 .