We may safely assume that the influence of the Roterman-Engeringhs has added a degree of flair and a sense of daring and enterprise to our way of thinking. Both Theodor Roterman and Johan Engeringh were business minded and obsessed with grand ideas and fantastic plans ……!
Admittedly, some of these plans and ideas were un-practical and even dangerously unrealistic but never the less it added a much needed bit of pizzazz and vitality to the rather “sleepy” attitude, the Schrijvers of that period had gotten in to.
On Xmas Eve 1855 something quite unexpected happened Theodor Roterman and his family
suddenly moved to Rotterdam. Nobody ever heard what really happened, it could have been that the business went broke, but there would have been some write-up in the archives about that….
Or it could have been a feud with the in-laws.?? We probably will never find out. But we find the family on the Hoogstraat and Theodor found a job as sales rep for a textile wholesaler, the older kids were sure to help out too and must have found work here and a few boarders to help with the rent.
Our Frans Schrijver did not take long to make up his mind and asked Hendrika Roterman to marry him, which they did in 1865, at least we assume they did, because again no record of their marriage was found but a year later it seems they had found their own place on the Delftse Vaart where their first son was born and named Godefridus, Johannes, Bernardus and on the birth certificate the couple was named as the legitimate parents.!
Theodor Roterman never saw his first grandson, he died in December 1866 at age 52.
1866 was the first year of another terrible cholera epidemic, the second in this century. It took thousands of lives, the cause of death was not mentioned on Theodor’s death certificate but it could very well have been that awful disease.
Besides Godefridus Frans and Hendrika had two more sons and a daughter born in those years, all three boys died within week the girl survived till age 15.
In 1873 the first boy to survive was born, his name Anthonius, Christiaan but two months later Hendrika died still quite young at age 36……. but in those years that seemed to have been more the rule than the exception.!
After Hendrika’s death, Frans and his kids moved to Kralingen, a small village just east of the city Hendrika’s younger sister Everdina carne to live with them to look after the young ones and keep house for the family. She bad been working in Amsterdam for a few years before that time.
In Nov. 1874 Frans and Everdina were married in Kralingen, with “special permission of the crown” because normally at least a one year waiting period was required between the death of one partner and the time one can remarry. In this case, the couple was in a hurry, because it turned out that the bride was three months pregnant at the time of the wedding.
Shortly after the wedding they moved back to Rotterdam in a house on the Groote Kerkplein right behind the St. Lawrence church. A little girl was born there in June ’75 and she too died after 3 weeks. “The Lord as given And the Lord has taken” was a very common and appropriate expression in those days.
In ’76 Hermanus was born, in ’79 Henricus and in ’81 the youngest son Theodorus.
During the last two or three decades of the 19th Century Rotterdam experienced an enormous rate of growth. Thanks to the industrial development in Germany after the successes of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 and the subsequent birth of the German Empire under Kaiser Wilhelm I and the clever Graf von Bismarck.
Especially the Ruhr area around Essen and Dortmund grew fast and furious and their only way to world markets was through the open seaport of Rotterdam, both for the export of industrial products as the import of raw materials and food-stuff’s for the ever increasing population.
At the same time the U.S. became industrially of age and this combination alone made it possible for Rotterdam to become the No. 1 International seaport in the whole world.
There was a large influx of new companies in both shipping, financial insurance and construction, the city expanded in all directions and annexed Kralingen, Hillegersberg, Delfshaven and areas on the south side of the river. This required new rail and general road bridges and new large docks, mostly on that side of the river.
Located on the Coolvest.
In the foreground pack barges in the canal of the Coolsingel.
The ornamental frieze in building facade.
Frans Schrijver and Everdina with their four sons were still living behind the St. Lawrence Church he was working hard and made steady promotions. At home he managed to instill his love of literature into bis sons, especially French literature seemed to have been the real favorite amongst all of them. ·
Even though Frans did not have the opportunity for a good education himself he made sure his sons were not going to be denied this advantage The oldest boy Antoon went to Latin school at age 12. The building was still in the old center of town in a converted cloister but the teaching was well up to par and in 1886 moved to new quarters on the Coolsingel and though for years it was still known as the Latin School, it was officially called “Gymnasium Erasmianum.”
In ’88 he was joined by his younger brother Herman at that institution.
However around 1890 Frans made a major error of judgment. In this period of exiting growth in the city his two brothers in law had come up with a grotesque plan for a new enterprise……. “that could not fail” But as to be expected it needed a fair amount of money to get it off the ground. Frans put most of his savings in because he bad always looked up to the Rotermans as smart business people. Then after a year it turned out the company did well but needed more money to expand and he figured it was save to “borrow” some money from the company he worked for. As the chief administrator he bad every opportunity to do this and he was absolutely sure he would be able to put it back within a few months, before the next audit of the books….!!
The rest is history, things did not work out he was fired from bis job and on condition of full
repayment of all the moneys involved, be was let off easy. No charges were laid, but financially Frans was ruined..!
He did find another job at lower wages and moved the family to a cheap little place on the 3rd Diergaardekade. One of these tiny one-room houses with an attic for the boys to sleep in.
Of course there was no money left for expensive schools, like the gymnasium, and besides the boys now had to help with the family income, so both Antoon and Herman found jobs as officeclerks, Antoon with van Es & van Ommeren and Herman with a smaller shipping company.
Even though the relationship with the Rotermans was quite strained for a while there was no getting away from that family because two of Everdina’s sisters were married to the Gunnewegs. Antoinette to Antoon and Anna Maria to Thomas Gunneweg. And after all the sisters could not help it so the family ties stayed pretty close. Besides the boys were quite chummy with their cousins on the Roterman as well as on the Gunneweg sides.
And this turned out to be a good thing, because both these families were exiting and interesting people and there was nothing dull about them. Take this Antoinette for instance, as little kids we all loved to have her visiting us or we could go and see her. We still remember the unbelievable and wild stories, with which she used to keep us spellbound and dead scared…!
And then there was a Herman Gunneweg, a son of Thomas and Anna, he became a rather prominent artist and painter…..always broke naturally. He settled in Dordrecht became head of the Art Society there and right now bas several of his paintings in the permanent collections of both the Dordrecht and the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem. At home later, most of the Schrijver boys bad some of his paintings. The artist was practically giving them away at some time. Painfully enough none of those survived.!!
Besides reading and studying a lot, the Schrijver-boys entertained themselves by getting bicycles, a comparatively new invention at the time. The only place to store them at night was in the living room! The tires on those bikes were not exactly top quality and sometimes they exploded in the middle of the night giving Frans and Everdina a big scare they figured someone was shooting at them…..! Then on Sunday mornings they took their bikes (after fixing the tires of course!) For nice long trips in the country-side.
Their other more civilized form of entertainment came in the local pub where they played billiards and drank a glass of beer. Their favorite place was on the Kruiskade in a “Café” owned by the van der Wal family. One reason……..three good looking daughters.!
Born: October 23, 1837.
Anthonius, or “oom Toon” as we knew him, became involved with Marie the eldest daughter and he married her in 1903. Toon was a fine gentleman, a hard worker, intelligent and outspoken. He did very well at his job and became a “procuratiehouder”, what we might call a top office manager at this quite important shipping and brokers’ office of van Es & van Ommeren. They lived in Kralingen for most of their Jives.
Herman, the 2nd son, found his future wife in a danceschool, Mies Lammerts happened to be taking lessons there too and the two were looking forward to their first formal Ball. Mies was an expert dressmaker, she worked in her sister Johann’s fashion business, so she was sure to come out with a real fancy evening gown. The big Ball turned out to be a bit of a disaster, her “beau”, in this case our Herman, had the misfortune to step on the train of her gown quite embarrassing of course!
After this kind of a poor start, things were getting a bit better, they decided there were more important things in life, thus gave up on dancing and became what they then called “engaged”. On Jan 31th 1907 they married, moved into a modest house in the Gerd Schottenstraat and “lived happily ever after”!
Born: March 20, 1843.
Herman still worked for this Mr. Ooms, a freight and shipping brokerage firm, but the man was getting old and decided to sell out to a larger firm Hudig & Veder, all five workers went to work for the new owners. And Herman stayed there for the rest of his working days. Mostly as a foreign correspondent and to some extent in the so called “Captain’s room” discussing transactions with those captains from all over the world. This mainly thanks to his “flair” for languages, he was fluent in English, French and German and managed to get along in Spanish and Italian as well.
Thanks to the fact the boys were bringing in additional income the family could afford to move to a better house in Kralingen on the IJsclubstraat. However father Frans did not enjoy the new location for long, he died Nov.26, 1907. At age 70. He had worked almost to the last, but did not leave any pension or savings for his widow and Everdina like most widowed women in those days was dependent on her children or had to go to the “poor-house”
Luckily for her she had 4 hard-working and good sons who did look after her. Harry did marry the next year in 1908 with the younger sister of Marie van der Wal, Comelia, he worked at the office of the Municipal slaughterhouse.
Harry was an extremely likable man, always pleasant and cheerful and a real “handyman” to both he made nice cabinets and could repair anything that needed repairing! The couple lived most of their married life in de Honaertstraat in the same neighborhood as Herman and Mies.
Theo the youngest son worked in the same office as Herman, who most probably helped his younger brother to get a job there. He was the more quiet of the four boys and not as excitable and enthusiastic as the others. He married a Cornelia Geene in 1911, she was from Rotterdam too and born on Dec 30th, but to the chagrin of all the females in the family nobody ever found out in what year…. her age remained a well-guarded secret all her life. They were living in the Western part of town and kept very much to themselves.
With the marriage of the youngest son, Everdina lost her last own residence and started to live with one and then with another of her four sons’ families. The only items rescued from Frans and Everdina’ s estate was a couple of pictures, one a little painting of a young boy carrying a live bird on a stick which according to Frans was his father at approximately 6 years of age and a very early photograph of another little boy which turned out to be Frans at about the same age. Both of these were in possession of oom Thé and a friend of his copied the photos and gave these to the other brothers.
On August 17 1921 Everdina died at the house of Herman and Mies in the Heer Kerstantstraat 90 she was 78 years old. She was a kind, loving and wise woman and must have been a wonderful mother and wife, she admired her late husband enormously.
A quite common complaint about mothers-in-law being a burden and sometimes even a “pain-in- the-neck” to their daughters-in-law, especially when “living-in”, did not apply in her case Mies loved her very much and did appreciate her help around the house and the love she radiated in her family.
But then at that stage in her life, Mies needed all the help she could get with 8 children, the eldest being only 13 years old and with number nine “on-the-way’.!
Ship on the Maas.
A ship from N.V. De Wit Berging en Transportonderneming.
At work on the Nieuwe Maas, October 1946.
Toon and Marie might have lived in the Lusthofstraat in Kralingen for starters but they lived for a long time in the Jericholaan, real close to the Kralingseplas which was (and still is) a favorite playground for Rotterdammers. In the summer sailing and picnics in the surrounding parks and in winter skating. This Jericholaan was quite attractive and wide (30 meters) .
In 1904 their first child Everdina was born, followed one year later by the second, another daughter Helena, in 1907 a son was born and named after Herman, Hermanus, Josephus, Marie. Four years later the youngest son Henricus, named after Toon’s other brother Harry.
All four were bright, intelligent and lively youngsters who did well in school. The oldest girl Dien after finishing High school went on to Delft to study Engineering. Doing this in the year 1922 did require lots of guts, Engineering was considered a typical male profession and was showing even more disgust for females who dared to “intrude” than the medical profession.! But she did it and became a successful chemical engineer who later worked for one of the leading paint factories.
She remained single for a long time but during the war, in 1943 she married a Leo Waterman, a medical doctor from Amsterdam, the couple did not have children and she died in Amsterdam in 1977.
Helena or Leen as we called her too finished high school in a hurry and took courses in business administration, she worked most of her life for “Reckit’s” an English firm with plants in Holland that made a product every any self-respecting housewife used doing her laundry. She married even later than her sister in 1961 with Walter Beach the owner of the company. They lived in de Bilt near Utrecht, however he died five years later in ’66.
Herman, the eldest son, also went for business administration and accounting and joined the same company his father had worked for, so successfully. He managed to eventually acquire the same job of chief administrator at van Es & van Ommeren. His great hobby was sailing and he managed to win several championships in the “Rainbow Class” . Following family tradition he too married fairly late in life, 1947 with Anneke van der Klok, they had two children, Herman in ’49 and Anne Marie in ’53. Anne Marie married Johan Kok.
In the background the Delfshaven 1923-1927
The Park on the Westzeedijk in snowy condition. Around 1900.
Hans, the youngest son was the first to get married, he was 29 and working for the city in the Sanitation department, in an administrative position. Miep Apon his bride to be was a charming and goodlooking girl, they married in Rotterdam in 1940.
They had 4 children, Theodorus , the eldest followed by Everdina and Henricus all born in Rotterdam and the youngest Leopold born in Velsen in1954. Everdina married Jan Kruis in Venlo in 1964.
Theodorus married A. Brakenhof and this couple had 2 children, Natalie in 1969 and Annoek in 1977, both born in VelsenOf the other grandchildren of Oom Toon it is so far unknown whether they had children. Anthonius Christiaan died on March 13th 1951 in Rotterdam.
GRONINGERS AND BRABANDERS JOIN THE FAMILY
Born: April 26, 1879.
Meanwhile back at the Gerard Scholtenstraat, Herman and Mies were enjoying their first year Of wedded bliss and were rewarded with a son on March 20 1908. This 20th. day of March was going to be a memorable day in the family, 2 more kids were to be born that same day in later years, Herman always used to joke about it, saying that he was quite relieved when this day in March was safely over.! Franciscus Johannes, Georgius was called after both his grand-fathers, (Frans Schrijver and George Lammerts.).
Mies, or rather Maria, Josephina Lammerts was born in Uithuizen in the most northerly part of the province of Groningen and very proud of it….! Her parents operated a sort of general store there, located right next to the Catholic Church. This Parish had remained Catholic during and after the Reformation, when most of the Northern Netherlands had converted to Calvinism.
She used to tell us that after High Mass on Sundays many of the men and women of the Parish would come in the store first to chat and have coffee with “Gröniger Koeken” and then started to spend their money on groceries, tools ,clothing and what have you.
Even though Mies was always talking about Uithuizen as the home base for the Lammerts family she was seemingly not well informed. Her own father was born in Warfhuizen about 50 KM west of Uithuizen in a part of the province called “Hunzingo”. This happened to be another pocket of Catholics in the middle of a Protestant seal. George or Jurrien Lammerts was the eldest son of Lambertus Lammerts and Johanna Coerts, traditionaly the eldest son was called after bis paternal grandfather thus we regularly got Lambertus and Junien as first names. When around 1800 surnames became a legal requirement, a Jurrrien was there to take on the family name Lammerts
For generations it seems the Lammerts were merchants and store owners, strangely enough in a highly developed agricultural environment very few of Mies’s ancestors were farmers. Most were tradesmen or merchants. Her grandmother Johanna Coerts’ father was the local silversmith.
The first Lammerts registered in baptismal books of the parish (of the Marne) in Hoorn, was Jurrien born in 1722. After that the writing in these church-registers becomes illegible and would require the knowledge of the Gröniger dialect.
Map of the province of Groningen and Ommelanden.
A two-page completely hand-written marriage certificate from 1835, a copy ofwhich is on file, shows the signatures of the bridegroom Lambertus, Jurrien Lamrnerts, his bride Johanna Coerts, the fathers of the couple ,two uncles and two friends or neighbors. Especially the groom’s signature was elegant and decorative and is copied on the Lammerts Pedigree (Kwartierstaat).
In the 1860s. Jurrien was working as an apprentice in a similar store as his father operated, in a town called Wormerveer, just North of Amsterdam In some way or another he must have made the acquaintance of his future wife Lucia van Doorn, the daughter of a shoe merchant in Rotterdam. We never heard how or when the couple met, but in 1864 they married in Rotterdam and after their marriage moved to Uithuizen where they opened their store.
Lucia had excellent business sense and helped make lots of friends and good customers for the new enterprise. Especially coming from another part of the country and not being familiar with the local lingo, this must have been quite difficult fora “stranger”. But she was a cheerful person outgoing and spontaneous. Jurrien was far more serious and a bit of an introvert but hardworking and dependable.
In 1865 their first son was born and of course got the name Lambertus, after him carme Johanna in 1867, then Hendrika in ’70, Henricus in ’73, Maria in ’79 and the youngest Cornelia in ’84.
So besides the care for 6 kids and the housekeeping, Lucia worked hard in the store as well. By the year 1900 the competition from traveling merchants from neighboring Germany, who without overhead expenses, could undersell the Lammerts ‘s and did so at their expense.!
Around 1895 George and Lucia had given up on the business in Uithuizen and moved to Rotterdam, where Lucia van Doorn ‘s family lived and were doing rather well for themselves.
They settled down in Hillegersberg which in those years was still a quiet little village with some fine homes and larger estates. With the two lakes at both sides of the Bergweg it was quite rustic too and a bit more like what they were used to in Uithuizen.Lucia’s parents were Henricus van Doorn and Adriana van der Kaa, both died earlier, Adriana in 1863 even before Lucia and George were married and her father in 1884. They had owned a very busy shoe store on the Schiedamschedijk. Lucia always “bragged” about her mother working in the store and wearing an apron with deep pockets, on busy afternoons and evenings, she had to come frequently into the living room behind the store to empty her pockets filled with coins.!
Lucia was the third of seven children in her family. Four boys and three girls. They all married and all were in business and quite successful too. Originally they stuck with the sale of shoes but gradually they moved into specialty leather goods, like riding boots and saddles and later into hunting and fishing supplies. Still today there is a very active wholesale business by the name ” van Doorn” established in Rotterdam, in that type of goods.
Lucia’s grandfather, Adrianus van Doorn and his wife Anna van Lieshout had come to Rotterdam, or rather Delfshaven, in those days from their native Veghel in Brabant. Adrianus was a shoemaker. Delfshaven was then a rather quiet separate town which had lost its prominent position as the major seaport for the once flourishing and mighty city of Delft, to the upcoming world-class port of Rotterdam, so he did not stay very long there and moved his business to the Schiedamschedijk.
Adriana van der Kaa, the wife of Henricus van Doorn, carne from a family if shippers, they owned and operated sail-ships used for transport on the many rivers and canals in the Low countries. They were also living in Brabant, but in the Western part around the “Biesbosch” an inland sea formed in the 15th century during the s.c. St Elisabeth’s flood.
They lived in Raamsdonk and Waspik and were closely related to the de Zeeuw family. The de Kaa family has been traced back to ca. 1720 but the de Zeeuw’s to 1450, only a few years after that terrible St Elisabeth’s flood. The name was originally Seeben.
This is the earliest date we have found any ancestors.!
There is quite a bit of information about the families from that part of the country.
Map Biesbos
Map of the area around the drowned Zuid-Hollandse Waard.
Created after the St. Elisabethvled in 1421.
Note: The North is on the right of the map!
Collection: Rijks museum, Amsterdam