The map shown on page 30 is a tricky one, made after an old Ortelius map of 1580, the inland
sea shown there does not exist anymore, and to confuse things further the top of the map is pointing East. It took 400 years after the big flood to drain the water and restore the land to where it was around the year 1400. All the families related to the “van der Kaa’s”, “de Zeeuws” and “van Son’s” were living around this water in Waspik, Sprang, Raamsdonk, Dussen and Capellen. Practically all of them were shippers. Cornelis Adraansz. Seeben, later called Seeuwen, was a ” peat moss skipper”, peat was the poor man’s fuel it was cheap and burnt fora long time. He could not write but both he and his widow after him made a testament and signed it with a “X” (1627 and 1642.) They had remained Catholics but their son Corst de Seeuw who had acquired a number of excellent positions in the public service decided to convert to Protestantism to save bis lucrative jobs.!
At the time of Adriana van der Kaa’s marriage to Henricus van Doom, the family was quite well to do and her father Johan Bartelse van der Kaa owned a fine house on the Haringvliet and had been retired for some time.
When George Lammerts and Lucia van Doom moved back to Rotterdam, their 4 oldest children were already married and only Maria (Mies) and Cornelia were still at home.
Marie went to work for her older sister Johanna who was married to Anton Mosmans, also a Brabander and a wine expert, who worked as a representative for several French wine exporters.
Johanna owned a fashion shop on the Blaak and was doing quite well in her own business and Marie, who liked dressmaking, felt right at home there. She worked there right up to her marriage with Herman Schrijver in 1907.
The youngest daughter Cor stayed at home and helped her parents with the household duties.
Lambertus (uncle Bertus) was married to Johanna Draaisma (Jo Draai.!) They were quite a couple he was very quiet and with-drawn as well as neat and orderly. A business man who over the years ran several different kind of businesses but was more of an inventor than business man. Among other things he invented a lifeboat that could not capsize! and sold it too. But his most famous invention was a weapon, nobody ever heard what kind, he tried to sell it to the Dutch military without success and consequently went to Berlin and sold it there.! They were living for a while in an old spooky house along the Rotte, a river just outside the city limits and later moved to Utrecht where he operated a store in the Zadelstraat in rubber products.
Jo Draai, his wife, was exactly the opposite , she was a real Brabander, always having fun and easy to get along with, not a very neat housekeeper hut most people still liked her. She might go out in the afternoon and not come home till six when her family was hungrily waiting for supper. Then she joked around a bit and made everybody laugh and an hour later she had her supper ready.! They had a big family 8 or 10 kids. All of them quite smart and most of them lots of fun.!
Then there was Hendrika (aunt Riek) who married Kees Simonis, the stonecutter, they had a big house on the Gerard Scholtenstraat, (the same street Herman and Mies lived at) with a large yard and barn behind it where the grave-stones and monuments were cut and stored. He must have been a smart business man as he ended up with a contract for all the natural stone for the new and
Coolsingel with Town Hall and Post Office.
Impressive City Hall on the Coolsingel, built between 1914 and 1920. And there was lots and lots of natural stone in that big building.!! The family became rich overnight.!! Kees was also a church elder and involved in various charities. His oldest daughter Lucia married Harry Jamin, the son of C.Jamin who owned a national chain of candy-stores. The family lived on the Bergweg across the street from the house where we lived at one time (I was bom there!) Anyway when George and I walked to school in the morning we often saw those Jamin kids getting into the chauffeur driven family Rolls Royce and been driven to school. !
Kees Simonis died fairly young and with his death went the business, his sons did not last very long in there. In later years we did not see much of the family with the exception of Harry who was quite chummy with our Frans. He was a pastry baker and also lots of fun.
There was only one more brother Henricus Lammerts he too was a successful businessman who lived in Amsterdam and owned a wholesale in textiles (carpets and linens) He married Jeanne van Elst, a very elegant and good looking woman and they too had a big family. They lived on the Heerengracht, a real prestigious address on one of the famous Amsterdam canals. His specialty in the trade were the Axminster carpets and runners he imported from England. But as it went with Kees Simonis, after he died his business did not survive for long. The way he died was even more strange. He was an inpatient man and very excitable, so one day when he noticed some starlings eating the cherries off his tree in the backyard he grabbed a long pole and tried to hit them out of the window, he reached out too far, fell and died on the spot.!
George Lammerts died in 1917 and Lucia van Doom, like most widows without money, had to depend on her children for support. She lived fora while with the Simonis family. Cornelia the youngest came to live with Herman and her sister Mies, who was happy to have some help with all the kids, she had one boy, Frans, and 5 girls, the youngest one year old. But Herman was not too enthusiastic about the idea to have his wife’s sister in the house for the rest of his life, Cor was 34 at the time, a good woman but definitely the least attractive of the 4 sisters and at that age not likely to get married soon.!
So Herman soon found a solution, he remembered his cousin Herman Gunneweg who was 40 at that time and still a bachelor, because with the job he held in the tree growing business he was not making enough money to get married. So our Herman did two things for his cousin, he helped him get an administrative job at Hudig & Veder and he introduced him to Cornelia, everything worked out beautifully, the couple married in 1919, moved to a place on the Jagerstraat, had
two nice kids and his mother Alida, Antoinetta (aunt Net) coming to live with them.
This aunt Net was very special, a wonderful storyteller, she must have been the No. 1 babysitter of all times, she kept us spellbound for hours even though some of her stories were quite gruesome. Especially the one about the three young kids who were home alone one night and they heard some noises in the store on the main floor, so they sneeked down the stairs and peeked into the store and what did they see a hand and arm sticking through a window above the front
door, trying to reach the lock below to open the door……definitely a burglar..! So what to do.? One of the kids grabbed a hammer and nails, sneeked up to the door and drove the nail right through the man’s hand and they held the screaming burglar that way until the police arrived..! She surely made up all those stories but not surprisingly they all were about the time she was a little girl in Dordrecht, where her father, Theodor Roterman operated a store. She also knew several scary stories about traveling salesmen and how dangerous these people could be for young girls especially.
Herman Gunneweg died fairly young at age 60 in 1935. .
Aunt Net died in 1926 but her stories are living on The Gunneweg and Schrijver families
remained quite close. Cornelia Lammerts died shortly after the end of the war in 1946, during a very sad period in the lives of the Gunneweg family. We will come back to that later.
From there the ships of the Holland-America line (HAL) left for the promised land.
The Big and Happy Family
Herman and Mies’s house on the Gerard Scholtenstraat soon was getting too small, after Frans came Luus in 1909, the 2nd boy George in 1911 and Marie in 1912. (The little boy died in 1912). So the family moved to larger premises in the Blommerdijkschelaan, a pleasant street with trees and close to the St Hildegardus Church and the adjoining schools, run by the Franciscan mms.
By the time aunt Cor carne to live with us, there were three more girls, Jo in 1913, Dien in 1914 and Riek in1916. Thus another move, this time right around the corner on the Bergweg where Hans was born in 1919. From there to a the still roomier place on the Heer Kerstantstraat where George, Herman and Thé were born resp in 1920, ’21 and ’23. And that was it, the family was now complete with 5 girls and 5 boys plus Mom and Dad, made it an even dozen.!
Good thing Dad was a handy man, the dining-room table had to be regularly enlarged to accommodate the ever expanding family especially on Sundays when everybody was home, the dining room was a crowded but a real “gezellige” place. Frans, the eldest, used to say jokingly:
“One can’t be too careful in the selection of one’s parents” Well, we all must have been awfully careful because we could not have asked for any better!!
They were just wonderful patient, loving and caring people , mother was deeply religious, a fine and charming woman, always properly dressed and trying to teach us good manners. On top of all that she was a wonderful cook too!! Herman, even though he looked like a very stem man was
the friendliest and most cheerful man you can imagine, in any crisis he was positive and optimistic and always managed to come up with the right solution.
From small to large: Hans, Riek (later sister Edwardina), Dien, Jo, Marie, Luus and Frans.
And even though he worked long hours at the office, he found time to take us for nice walks in the country, around Hillegersberg and the takes. Told us fascinating stories and organized games when it was raining or too cold to go out. Oh, yes and on top of that he also repaired shoes for the whole family and almost everything else that needed repair.
Frans, the oldest, was clever, enterprising, artistic (he played the violin and did draw quite well), and did not like school a lot. He quit early and started work in a home furnishings business, Frank & Remmers on the Botersloot, where he started as a helper to the man doing the window displays and made the price cards and other signs. Later he proved to have become a very convincing sales man as well. As a hobby he organized a “strijkje” a group of musicians playing the piano, violin and Cello. They performed for family parties and at dances. Around 1927 he started his first own enterprise making outdoor signs for various businesses. However that did not last and he found a good job with a Mr. Bertels who had a store in carpets, drapes and other textiles.
Presumably by Hans Schrijver.
Around l930 Herman contracted pneumonia and bronchitis and was dangerously close to death. The fact that for years he had been riding his bike to and from the office (at least a 10 KM ride) did not help any either. Without antibiotics doctors could not do much but subscribe rest. He was at home in his little bedroom and not getting any better…. Luckily for all of us his boss Mr. Hudig
took charge of the situation, arranged a large private room in the Franciscus Hospital and the best care available at that time. The company must have appreciated Herman as a top notch employee because after he recovered enough to leave the hospital, they arranged for him and Mies a month long stay in a Sanatorium in the country and away from the polluted city.
Herman fully recovered, his lungs were even good enough to allow him to smoke his daily two or three cigars for the rest of his life !
Shortly after this nasty period the family moved to Schiedam, to a nice large brand new place on the Rembrandtlaan with at least six bedrooms and a real bathroom! We just had become “suburbanites”. The whole western part of Schiedam had developed real fast and mostly Rotterdammers had moved there to escape their crowded city . Herman Gunneweg and family liked the area too and moved to within a few blocks of our place a little time later.
All this moving the family did, was the work of mother Mies, she liked new things and new places maybe she was homesick for her native Uithuizen and country living, with a nice backyard and a vegetable garden. Also she was fanatic about getting any new inventions and products coming on the market, right away. She was the first in the family to have a vacuum cleaner, a radio, permanent wave (she got rid of her waist long beautiful hair for this!). But all and all she was a very well balanced and wise woman with a happy disposition, deeply religious and she sang and hummed a lot while she was doing her home chores. She was not a big talker but when she said something she always made a lot of sense and hit the subject right on the point.
Luus, the eldest of the girls, had become one of the first Montessori teachers in the country. At that time the system was still limited to preschoolers. She and her close friend, Annie Kleintjes, were real enthusiastic about it. Luus also played the piano quite well and together with Frans on his violin made some fine music. She looked quite classy and a bit “hautain” at times (see familyportrait of 1932). She also was a “tough cookie” rode her bike in any kind of weather, never complained about any aches or pains, a quality which may eventually have cost her her life.! She died in 1937 while being operated on for an abscess in her abdomen. She probably waited too long before she saw a doctor.
Marie, the second daughter was a very pleasant girl and easy to get along with, she was Mom’s favorite to do the shopping, she was smart and always knew where to find the bargains. She worked as a salesgirl in a big Dept. Store Vroom & Dreesman.
The family started 1932 on the right foot, Herman and Mies were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary on January 31th and they did it in a big way. They had invited all the families on both sides and there must have been a total of at least 50 people involved.
The festivities were held in the “Corner House” a good little Hotel, Restaurant with banquet room and other facilities. The out-of-town guests were all staying in rooms there. For months in advance all the younger members of the family were working on plays, songs and what have you, to entertain the partygoers. That alone was already a lot of fun. The party itself was a huge success. It started out in the afternoon with everybody trying their hand at playing 12 pin bowling, while drinks as well as tea or lemonade and pastries were served.
Followed by a two or three hour dinner with lots of speeches and then in the evening we had the many playacts etc. and dancing with good band music. After the party alt the guests were taken home in a chartered bus, which we later heard was lots of fun too and lasted for hours !
Herman Gunneweg was the master of ceremonies and did an outstanding job, he was so pleased with the success of that party that a year later he and Cor Lammerts held their “copper” wedding anniversary in the same place. But things like that usually work only once that well!
Front row: from left to right: Dien; Theo; father Herman; Frans; mother Mies; George Herman and Riek;
Back row: from left to right: Hans; Jo; Marie and Luus.
Jo, the third daughter, was like the aunt she was called after,(Jo Lammerts who had the fashion store on “de Blaak”) a real good dressmaker, she had attended the “Modevakschool” she stayed home, did a lot of dressmaking and helped Mom with the household duties, by that time Mies’ rheumatism had become quite a problem, especially in her hands and wrists.
Dien and Riek were still in school in Schiedam with the nuns. The four boys attended school with the religious brothers on the Nassaulaan (St Joseph)
All of us kids had special tasks to help in the house, from cleaning and washing to peeling potatoes and vegetables. Dien ‘s specialty was looking after the four boys and keep them occupied and out of trouble. She was real good at that and most of the time we even enjoyed it.!
From those years on we regularly went on holidays in the summer. Father had more free time and more money to spend, the first time we went to Ugchelen near Apeldoorn where a nice house was rented, it was all for us and we enjoyed it immensely. Later we went for a memorable summer to a little cabin on the Veluwe called “het konijnenhol” (rabit’s nest”) real primitive but lots of fun.
We also went on long trips by bike for the whole fami1y. We even had a bicycle built for two, because Mom did not want to ride a bike by herself.
Around ’34 we were on the move again, now to a house on the Singel the first one with our own backyard. Ma finally found her dream home and was quite happy there.
In those years Frans started his Drapery business on that same street in a tiny little shop. Mother must have encouraged him because she always used to say: “a permanent job is permanent poverty”. Frans was still working full-time with Bertels and Marie gave up her job at V & D to take charge of sales there. Business was not that easy in those depression years, people were holding on to their money and were scared. Everybody in the family did their little bit to help (without pay of course) get this thing going. Us boys were delivering and picking up goods on the bike. And on Saturday afternoons when the place was a bit crowded we were cleaning up behind the sales people. ·
After a few years the place became too small and the business was moved to a roomy brand new building. On the Broersvest. It was quite an improvement. The store was so big, part of it was set aside for Jo to have her dressmaking business and workshop there, soon after that drapes were made there too.
Due to the depression father went with early retirement from Hudig & Veder as did a large number of others, such as oom Harry and Herman Gunneweg, international transport were the first to feel the pinch, hundreds of big freighters were laid-up in all major sea-ports and sailors were discharged where ever the ships were stationed. And just had to figure out a way to get back home! A lot of them were from Asia and other faraway places. Un-employment was at an all-time-high and there was no un-employment insurance for those poor people…1
Schrijver’s home furnishings at Broersvest 69 in Schiedam.
In 1935 Riek was studying to become a Montessori teacher like her sister Luus, when she decided to become a nun with the Franciscan order of Bennebroek.
We all hated to see her go, she was a most pleasant, happy person and fun to have around… But our loss was the orders gain, she also was a hard worker, intelligent and eventually was placed in charge of the teachers college.
She also traveled a fair amount, visited various third world countries to organize Montessori education and colleges in those countries.
Meanwhile in the business, Frans had joined an association of home-famishing-stores which combined their purchases in order to obtain more competitive prices.
One of those stores was owned by Mr. van Nus, who had a 18 yr. old son working in his store, but wanted him to get
used to the way other businesses were run and when he mentioned this to Frans, he suggested to make a trade, Hans goes to Geldermalsen and Wim van Nus comes to work in Schiedam.
Everybody was happy with the plan and things did work out real well, we both learned more from “strangers” than from our own folks and we made friends with a wonderful family.
F.J.G. (Frans) Schrijver and W.G. (Mies) van den Berg. September 24, 1937.
A year earlier the family had moved again, this time to Overschie, a nice roomy house, but a long bikeride to Schiedam, especially in the winter..!!
In that same year 1937 Frans married Mies v/d Berg a real fine girl, very quiet, very wise and very frugal all those qualities mothers like in the future wives of their sons… Besides her parents came from Groningen and that was a big plus for Ma Schrijver who never forgot her place of birth.
Mies was the only daughter, her parents lived in the west end of Rotterdam and like Frans’ father, he too met his future wife at a dance-club, called “Inter Nos”, where Frans played with his little band.
Their first house was on the s’ Gravesandestraat.
George and Herman were at that time attending the taylors school in the Hague, they went by bike all the way every day and that was worse than the little trip from Overschie to Schiedam.!!
In the mean time I had a great time in Geldermalsen working and staying with the van Nus family Wim being the only kid, I was for a change the only “minor” in the family and it did not take me long to get used to that idea. They were a fine couple, Ma van Nus was smart, a bit “pushy” and a good cook, she had already found a girlfriend for me, by the name of Mies Zondag, her father owned the local furniture factory and she was not bad looking at all….. besides they were Catholics and the van Nus were Protestants and mixed marriages were not appreciated in those days. (She was worried her son might get involved with her !) But I was not quite ready for any serious engagements, we did however go out and had a good time anyway.
I learned a lot about the home furnishing business from Mr. van Nus, who was more a tradesman than a merchant, but he had people’s confidence and because of that he did a pretty good business in the town and surrounding area.
During that time George too got the idea of joining a religious order and went to Venray with the Franciscan monks and priests. He seemed to be quite happy there when we visited lim with the whole family, once or twice.
In ’38 I went back to Schiedam and Win van Nus went to the East Indies where he had found a good job as interior designer in a Batavia furniture store. I already had my orders to join the army and in March ’39 I went to Leiden and the 4th Regiment Infantry as a recruit for my first taste of “bootcamp”. In the meantime the family had moved back to Schiedam around the same neighborhood in the Franklinstraat, near the Singel.
As far as I know, was I the first one in the Schryver family to have served in the army, since Barend’s youngest son Johan, Albert served in Napoleon’s time. In 1820 he re-married in a village in Limburg, called Merkelbeek, with a Anna Linse. In 1822 a son Wilhelm is born there. He must have been stationed there.
In Leiden after the 2 months of bootcamp I was transferred to a training class for noncommissioned officers, which was housed in a small idyllic house in the dunes near Noordwijk, close to the Noordzee beaches.
In Sept.’39 World War II broke out but it did not affect us seriously until the spring of 1940 when the Germans invaded our country as well as Belgium and the main attack on France was begun.
In the meantime my training was over and I was active as a sergeant in the 4th Regiment. Located in nearby Katwijk, we were awakened in the middle of the night and marched to a nearby smal1 airport where German paratroopers had landed. By the time we reached our target the airport was already retaken by some other units and we were sent to Wassenaar, the whole situation was most confusing and Holland, just like most of its neighbors were extremely ill prepared to fight the efficient, well trained and equipped German forces.
At one time we were told that we were to join the battle raging just east of Utrecht when the whole thing was called off after the news that “the entire city of Rotterdam was bombed and virtually wiped off the map” Of course this was slightly exaggerated even though it was bad enough that the old inner city was wiped out and burned completely. Defeat was followed by de- mobilization and we were all sent home to Mammie……….