Family Tree - Dutch Families

This page is for the family of my father, Anton Cornelis Bruinsma (1935 - 1993).



The de Leeuw Family of Friesland

My great great great grandfather, Jan de Leeuw, was born in The Netherlands in about 1755 in Leeuwarden, capital of the province of Friesland. He and his wife Catharina van den Brug (b.about 1759 in Leeuwarden) are recorded in the old church register of the Nederduits Gereformeerde Gemeente in Leeuwarden as:
  • Jan de Leeuw of Leeuwarden, "schoenlapper" (cobbler), engaged to Catharina v. den Brug of Leeuwarden on 17 May 1777.
  • Jan de Leeuw of Leeuwarden married Catharina v. den Brug of Leeuwarden on 1 Jun 1777 in the Jacobyner church of Leeuwarden.

They are also recorded as getting married on the same day in the Catholic church:

  • Jan de Leeuw of Leeuwarden married Catharina v. den Brug of Leeuwarden on 1 Jun 1777 in the Roman Catholic church of St Nieuwestad, Leeuwarden.
Emblems of Leeuwarden:
Leeuwarden arms 1567
coat of arms 1567 		Leeuwarden arms 1818
coat of arms 1818

According to a family tree filed with the family history library of The Mormons (Church of LDS), Jan and Catharina had a son Arjen de Leeuw born on 26th August 1781 in Leeuwarden. Arjen De Leeuw appears to have been an only child. To date the only other records I have found for children of Jan de Leeuw and Catharina van den Brug have been burial records for four unnamed children:

1808 Leeuwarden Register der Quotisatie
On 30th March 1808 a new law was passed as an emergency measure to raise funds for the ongoing war with Napoleonic France. It was supposed to serve "tot goedmaking van zoodanige kosten, de gewone inkomsten te boven gaande, welke door de omstandigheden van den oorlog waarin het Rijk is gewikkeld, ongetwijfeld zullen veroorzaakt worden." So in 1808 an income assessment was carried out in preparation for the tax. Arjen is recorded in the 1808 Leeuwarden Register der Quotisatie as

The same 1808 register has one Dirk Christen listed as living further along the same street at map reference F236. Dirk and his younger sister, Henderika, must have known Arjen since childhood. Henderika (born April 1782 in Leeuwarden) married Arjen in the Nederduits Gereformeerd church of Leeuwarden aged eighteen.

Dirk and Henderika Christe were children of

Family of Arjen de Leeuw and Henderika Christe
In keeping with tradition Arjen and Henderika named their eldest son after the paternal grandfather (Jan de Leeuw, father of Arjen) and their second son after Henderika's father (Gijsbert Criste). Three of Arjen and Henderika's children were christened in the Nederduits Gereformeerde church in Leeuwarden:

In 1811 Napoleon took over the Netherlands (albeit briefly) and a Napoleonic law came into effect requiring the civil registration of all births, deaths and marriages. The first civil record of our de Leeuw family is the birth of Arjen and Henderika's son Gijsbert de Leeuw on 5th June 1813 in Sneek, Friesland. (Note: it was Frisian tradition that if a child died, the next child of the same sex received the same name, so we can assume Gysbert had died.) Later marriage and death records show that the family had indeed moved permanently to the inland port town of Sneek.

Jan De Leeuw Tree

Frans de Leeuw
Frans was the youngest son of Arjen de Leeuw and Henderika Christe, born on the 1st of November 1820. He was a merchant in Sneek and lived there all his life. He married Hendrikje Booma, and they had seven children:

  • Hendrik de Leeuw - born 7 Apr 1850
  • Grietje de Leeuw - born 3 Jan 1853
  • Trijntje de Leeuw - born 6 Feb 1856
  • Henderika de Leeuw - born 26 May 1858
  • Jan de Leeuw - born 7 Apr 1861
  • Fokke de Leeuw - born 11 Jan 1864
  • Hendrika de Leeuw - born 6 Mar 1870

Hendrikje's mother was Grietje Hendriks Booma (1795 - 1861). She registered Hendrikje's birth in Sneek on 5 Jan 1824, akte number 5: Hendrikje Booma born 4 Jan 1824, daughter of Grietje Hendriks Booma, no father acknowledged. Family rumour has it that Grietje was a young servant girl for a titled family and that is why she did not reveal the father's identity.

Grietje named her baby girl Hendrikje after her father, Hendrik Sierks Booma. It is not strange that she named a girl after her father: her younger sister Pietje had already named a daughter Marijke (b. 11 Mar 1822) after their mother, Marijke Pieters Bloksma. And Marijke was illegitimate too. I could not find any record of Grietje later getting married or having more children, although her sister Pietje married Roelof Murks Ozinga in 1826 and had five children by him.

The family of Frans de Leeuw, b. 1 Nov 1820
Two of the children died as infants: Trijntje on 20th January 1859, a fortnight before her third birthday, and a year later her younger sister Henderika died on 14th January 1860, a year and a half old. Nine years later Frans and Hendrikje suffered further loss when their eldest son Hendrik died on the 9th of July 1869 at the age of nineteen. Expecting a new baby, when their youngest daughter was born eight months later they named her Hendrika after her lost brother and younger sister.

A year later, just five days after Hendrika's first birthday, Frans himself died leaving his widow with eighteen year old Grietje and three children under the age of ten: Jan, Fokke and baby Hendrika. Unable to work whilst caring for her young children, and with no other means of support, widowed Hendrikje had no choice but to put the three younger children in an orphanage. [Note: this may have been the Old Burger Weeshuis, a well known Frisian landmark which recently celebrated its 400th anniversary.] But after a couple of years in the orphanage Hendrikje's second oldest son, Jan, died on Christmas Eve 1873 aged twelve.

De Leeuw Tree

Only three of Frans and Hendrikje's seven children made it to adulthood:

Grietje
Grietje married Klaas Doevendans in Sneek on 23rd December 1877. Klaas had been married before (6 Feb 1876) to Elizabeth Egberts but she had died the same year (12 Dec 1876) just four weeks after bearing him a baby girl. The little girl was named Aukje and was one year old when her father remarried to Grietje de Leeuw. Ten days after Aukje's second birthday Grietje and Klaas had a little girl of their own, Hendrikje. The family moved to the neighbouring Gemeente of Wymbritseradeel on the 9th of October 1879 when Grietje was expecting her second child. Grietje's new baby was born in January 1880 and was named after her but the baby only lived for two months. Another baby girl was born in Wymbritseradeel on 15th March 1881 and also called Grietje but she also died, aged seven months.

Fokke

Frans and Hendrikje's youngest son Fokke grew up and after leaving the orphanage got married in Sneek on the 26th February 1889 to Sjoerdje Hottinga, a Frisian girl from Sloten. Hendrikje lived to see the wedding but died on 13 Feb 1890, two months before the birth of their first child Wijbren on 19th April 1890. Fokke and Sjoerdje named their second child Henderikus after Fokke's late mother and brother and left Sneek a year later on 6th May 1892 to settle in Gemeente Watergraafsmeer near Amsterdam. There they lost Henderikus, but had two more children: Frans and Henderikus II. In 1902 Sjoerdje went back to Friesland to have her last child, but little Anna de Leeuw died in Sneek aged six months (20 Dec 1902). Fokke and Sjoerdje later took in a foster child, Johanna van Brug. Frans and Wijbren both became coal stokers while Henderikus II became a carriage builder (wagenmaker).

The family of Fokke de Leeuw

  • Wijbren - 19 Apr 1890
  • Henderikus I - 7 Aug 1891
  • Frans - 29 Sep 1895
  • Henderikus II - 22 May 1897
  • Anna - 13 Jun 1902
  • Johanna van Brug - 17 Mar 1903
    (foster daughter)

Hendrika
The youngest of Frans and Hendrikje's children, Hendrika (my great grandmother), spent her entire childhood in the orphanage. When she left the orphanage aged seventeen a local businessman donated the traditional dress and gold and lace headdress which was worn by adult Frisian women. Equipped with little more than these clothes, Hendrika moved South to Amsterdam where work was plentiful and she was hired by a wealthy family there as a housemaid. (Her story is continued - see De Vet family, below.)



The De Vet Family of West Friesland

Jasper de Vet was the youngest of three children born to Sijtje Dissel and her de Vet husband (first name unknown). Sijtje died when Jasper was only a young boy. When his father remarried soon afterwards, the new wife, a Brouwer, refused to care for the children of her husband's first wife. She persuaded him to send the children to an orphanage in Arnhem or Amersfoort where they spent the rest of their childhood.

On leaving the orphanage Jasper's older sister became a hairdresser and settled in Heerhugowaard where she ran a salon on the Middenweg for many years. I have no record of what became of the second child.

Jasper de Vet went to Amsterdam where he found work as a butler and married another servant with a similar orphanage background, Hendrika de Leeuw. They had nine children of which the youngest was my grandmother: Hendrikje Francisca de Vet, born 10th September 1913.

De Vet Tree

Frans
The first to leave home was Frans in January 1917. He got married and had a daughter born in Amsterdam on 20th May 1921. He named her Henderika Fancisca de Vet after his youngest sister Hendrikje Francisca - who became an auntie aged eight. When she was two and a half years old for some reason baby Henderika was sent to live with her grandparents for six months (January to June 1924) and it may have been during this time with the two girls in the same household that my grandmother (the older Hendrikje) got the nickname "Cisca".

Neeltje, "Nel"
Nel was engaged to Wim de Haan, a Dutch engineer living in Weltevreden, a southern suburb of Batavia on the island of Java, Indonesia. In 1919 they got married "with gloves on" (met de handschoen getrouwd) - Nel still in Amsterdam, and Wim in Weltevreden! On 2nd September 1919 Nel left Amsterdam by boat to join her husband in Indonesia, a trip of some six weeks, and she and Wim settled into more traditional married life. Nel and Wim had a nice house with a large garden and three servants: a gardener, housekeeper and chauffeur. But after some years Wim became seriously ill and was advised to return to Holland. He died soon after their return, probably of tuberculosis. Still quite a wealthy woman, Nel bought and ran a private library with an adjacent bookshop but business did not go well and ended in bankruptcy. Nel eventually remarried to a truck driver by the name of Jacques Kortbeek and they had a son named Wim. Young Wim attended the Technical University of Eindhoven and history reapeated itself: he met his wife, Nel, at Eindhoven university and Wim and Nel emigrated to Indonesia. They later returned to Holland for the education of their two daughters.

Willem Hendrik, "Wim"
Wim became a smith and left home in April 1920 aged only seventeen to live in another part of Amsterdam. (This may have been for an apprenticeship?) He later married and had a son Jan who was tinkering in the garden shed when he was accidentally electrocuted and killed aged sixteen. After his death Wim had another son who was given the same name. Jan now lives in Brabant where he has a daughter and two grandchildren.

Sijtje, "Jeanne"
Jeanne seems to have left home and returned a couple of times. After moving to Watergraafsmeer in May 1918 (Paul Kringerstraat 29) she moved back to her parents' house in March 1919 but left again for Watergraafsmeer before the end of the year. She probably divided her time between her parents' house and her new address. When their mother Hendrika died in 1925 only the two youngest children, Jan and Hendrikje were still recorded as living at home. Already living away, and busy making final arrangements for her wedding, Jeanne returned home to help her father and postponed the wedding. Three years later she finally moved out in December 1928 to marry Cornelis Hendrik "Henk" van der Wal. They had a daughter, Hannie, in 1936.

Jan
Hendrika and Jasper lost two babies in succession, both called Jan. The first, born 8th August 1905, died in January the following year barely five months old. The second, by coincidence born on Jan I's birthday in 1908 lived to be a year and five months, also dying in January (1910). Their next child was again a son. Born on boxing day 1910, he was named Jan Hendrik and lived.

Hendrikje Francisca, "Cisca"
Cisca was eleven when her mother died, and when Jeanne got married she found herself keeping house for her father and Jan at fifteen. In December 1932 Jasper remarried to a mature lady (widow?) from Nijmegen, Maria Johanna Petronella Mulders (born 4 Jun 1880). The family had moved to the Lutmastraat immediately after Hendrika's death in 1925, and never since. In October 1933 Jasper and Maria moved with Cisca and Jan to the Rastenburgstraat. It may not have suited Jan who left home a month later (November 1933). It suited Cisca, who in 1934 started courting Antoon Cornelis Bruinsma who lived at Mauvestraat 19. In December 1934 Jasper and Maria moved with Cisca to an appartment a few doors down from Antoon at Mauvestraat 13. Less than a month after the move, on New Year's day 1934, Maria died. Cisca and Antoon were planning to get married in May, but that would leave Jasper alone so the young couple moved in with Jasper. He was a beloved grandfather to their five children until he died of stomach cancer around 1950. In about 1945 Jasper made front page of the Amsterdam newspapers with a photograph of himself and his grandson Ton (my father). They were crossing the finish line of the famous long distance walking event known as the "Nijmegen vier daagse": Jasper and Ton were respectively the oldest and youngest entrants to complete the gruelling four day course of 40 Km per day. Jasper was about 75 and Ton about 10.



The Bruinsma Family

Originally from Friesland, our Bruinsma family was recorded in Arnhem, Tiel and Utrecht before settling in Den Haag in the late 1700's and ending up in Amsterdam a century later.

Johannes Bruinsma
Soldier in the regiment of Lt. Gen. Glinstra. Born about 1725 in Friesland, came to live in Arnhem and was married there on 7 Sep 1749 to Nieske Brantsen. Married a second time on 6 May 1759 to Helena de Goeij of Arnhem. Moved with wife and family to Tiel 9 Apr 1766 where he worked as a painter. Buried in Tiel 14 Mar 1799 as Jan Bruijnsma.

Children by first marriage
to Nieske Brantsen:

  • Beertje, bapt. Arnhem 2 Jul 1750
  • Jantje
  • Hendrikje

Children by second marriage
to Helena de Goeij:
  • Frans
  • Harmen
  • Hendrik I
  • Judick
  • Hendrik II
  • Aaltjen
  • Ferdinandus
  • Willemina
  • unnamed son, buried in Tiel Oct 1781
Hendrik II Bruijnsma

Baptised in Tiel in 1767, Hendrik Bruijnsma became a soldier and served in the Hollandse Gardes regiment in the company of Major Grave Van Byland. He had several children by Angenis den Elsen in Den Haag before eventually marrying her in 1795. For the birth of his second child, Henderica II, the christening register notes "vader absent in het leger" (father absent in the army). He later moved to Den Haag and on leaving the army became a dyer and glassmaker.

Signature of Hendrik Bruinsma in 1824
signing as father of the groom on
Willem Hendrik's marriage certificate

Signature of Hendrik Bruinsma

The population register of the City of 's Gravenhage (Den Haag) has two consecutive entries for the night of 12th/13th August 1832 recording the deaths of Hendrik Bruinsma and his wife Angenita den Elzen within twelve hours of each other, both aged sixty six. They had fallen victims to the Cholera plague of 1832. (see image of register - with thanks to Kurt Bruinsma. )

  • Hendrica Bronsman - b. 17 Feb 1791
  • Henderica Brunsmaa - b. 26 Jul 1793
  • Helena Brunsma - b. 6 Nov 1794
  • Johannes Frederik George Brunsma - b. 16 Mar 1797
  • Maria Sofia Wilhelmina Bruynsma - b. 6 Sep 1801
  • Willem Hendrik Brunsma - b. 3 Jan 1804
  • Johanna Aletta Bruijnsma - b. 4 Dec 1805
  • Willemina Bruijnsma - b. 24 Jan 1808
  • Dirk Bruinsma - b. 1810 in Tiel

Johannes Frederik George Bruinsma

Although the fourth child, Johannes was the first legitimate child of Hendrik Bruijnsma and the first son. On 12 Nov 1817 he married Francina Hendrina Favre (b. 26 May 1793), the daughter of Jean Favre and Elisabeth Wedel.

Johannes died on 15 Aug 1832 aged only 35 and leaving his widow pregnant with their eigth child. A painter and a dyer by trade (verwer/schilder) he must not have been a particularly wealthy man, for after his death Francina had to work for a living. She is recorded as a shop assistant in 1833 and a baker in 1850. She died on 2 Dec 1861 having outlived half of her children.

  • Henderina Francisca Bruinsma
    - b. 22 Jan 1820, d. 4 Jun 1835
  • Johannes Willem Karel Bruinsma
    - b. 9 Sep 1821
  • Martinus Pieter Abraham Bruinsma
    - b. 12 Jun 1823, d. 14 Aug 1826
  • Willem Frederik Alexander Bruinsma
    - b. 5 Feb 1825
  • Pieter Abraham Bruinsma
    - b. 3 Sep 1826, d. 11 Sep 1826
  • Elisabeth Bruinsma
    - b. 27 Sep 1828
  • François Pieter Bruinsma
    - b. 4 Jul 1830
  • Thomas Martinus Bruinsma
    - b. 9 Mar 1833 (see below)

Thomas Martinus Bruinsma
The youngest son, Thomas Martinus Bruinsma was born after the death of his father. He became a smith in Den Haag and was married there on 4 May 1859 to Al˙da Frederika Hahne, daughter of Gerrit Hahne of Tiel and Elisabeth Prins. They had four children:



Thomas Martinus Bruinsma jr. and family
Th.M. Bruinsma

Family history has it that Thomas Martinus jr. was the first Bruinsma to study at university (about 1880?) but that his studies came to an abrupt end in his first year. He is said to have turned his back on a professor mid-lecture and left the room, disgusted by the condescending tone the man used towards his students.

On 21st December 1891 the records of the City of Amsterdam (Gemeentearchief Amsterdam) show Thomas moving into a house at 44 Ferdinand Bolstraat, appartment 93 as head of his own household, occupation "Apotheker" (chemist/pharmacist).

A year later Thomas Martinus jr. married Rimpkje Sparenberg in Amsterdam on 19th January 1893. Rimpkje was born in Amsterdam on 10th May 1870, the daughter of Pieter Sparenberg and Anna Margaretha Groen. At the time of their marriage Thomas's occupation was given as "winkelier" (shopkeeper) and his parents were living in Utrecht. His brothers Gerrit and Willem were both living and working in Amsterdam and were witnesses at his marriage. Gerrit, 29, was a cabinetmaker ("meubelmaker") and Willem, 23, was a blacksmith ("smid"). Thomas had moved in 1892 to appartment 83 in the same building on the Ferdinand Bolstraat, and Rimpkje moved in there in January 1893.

Their first child was born just a little under nine months later, and they had a total of thirteen children together between 1893 and 1915:

In 1906 Thomas moved his wife and family to Delft where he took up a position as chemist for Gist Brocades. Gemeente Amsterdam records show Thomas, Rimpkje and five of their seven children (Thomas Martinus Pieter, Willem Frederik, Pieter Martinus, Martina and Sigismundus Pieter) officially leaving Amsterdam for Delft on 4th August 1906. Two children were left behind. Thomas and Rimpkje's eldest daughter, Rimpkje Anna Margaretha, had died three years earlier (18th February 1903, aged eight) and their youngest daughter Everdina had died the year before (18th January 1905, aged four weeks).

In Delft Thomas and Rimpkje had three more children: Gerrit, Antoon and Albert. While in Delft Thomas suffered an accident at work in which he received serious acid burns to his hands and was permanently disabled. After the accident he returned briefly to live near family in 's Gravenhage and his daughter "Greet" (Wilhelmina Cornelia Margaretha) was born there on 10th Feb 1913. But a month after Greetje's birth Thomas moved the family back to Amsterdam (13th March 1913) and Thomas later took up work as a dental assistant ("Tandtechnicus"). Thomas and Rimpkje's last two children, twins Al˙da and Jean, were born in Amsterdam in 1915, but contracted a chest infection and died within a fortnight of each other in September 1916.

Thomas Martinus died in Amsterdam on 9th January 1921, survived by his wife. Rimpkje lived to be an old lady of 96 and appears to have been somewhat eccentric. "Oma Bruinsma" was of the old school who believed good families should speak French at home and children should not speak at all. The residence records of Gemeente Amsterdam suggest that she and Thomas also had a penchant for moving house when they were younger. Aside from the moves to Delft, 's Gravenhage and back to Amsterdam, the Bruinsma household seems to have had an annual routine of moving house. They are recorded as changing address within Amsterdam in 1894, 1895, 1897, 1898, three times in 1899, 1900, 1901, twice in 1902, and twice in 1903! On return from 's Gravenhage they finally slowed down: arriving back in Amsterdam in 1913 the family moved only in 1915 and 1918, then in 1927 (after the death of Thomas) to their last address at the Mauvestraat 19.

death certificate of Thomas Martinus Bruinsma jr., died 9th January 1921 T.M. Bruinsma Death Certificate

Antoon Cornelis Bruinsma

My grandfather, Antoon Cornelis Bruinsma, was born in Delft and after a brief period in 's Gravenhage grew up in Amsterdam Oud Zuid. It was while living with his mother at Mauvestraat 19 that he met my grandmother, Hendrikje Francisca "Cisca" de Vet. They were married in Amsterdam in 1935 and moved into their own home at Mauvestraat 13 on 3rd May 1935.

Bruinsma Family Antoon and Cisca's eldest son Ton (my father) was born Anton Cornelis Jr. on 26th June 1935. He is shown here standing in the back between his parents with sister Henny (Hendrika) and younger brother Martin (Thomas Martinus).

His younger brother Martin is in fact Thomas Martinus II as there was an earlier Thomas Martinus I who died in infancy of whooping cough. This picture was probably taken in 1945 when the family was reunited immediately after the end of World War II.

Anton and Hendrikje's fifth child, Willy (Wilhelmina Cornelia Margaretha) was born after the above photograph was taken and she was their only child to be born after the war (17th September 1947).

Huib and Willy
Huib Maass and Willy Bruinsma
on their wedding day

Bruinsma Tree

Origins of the Bruinsma Name

The Meertens Instituut's research on the origins of Dutch surnames found that Bruinsma was originally a Frisian patronym meaning son of Bruin. Based on the 1947 population census (see results below) they found that the Bruinsma name was most common in the Province of Friesland with a significant migration to the city of Amsterdam and Province of Noord Holland, spreading only to a lesser extent to Friesland's neighbouring provinces.

Map: Provinces of The Netherlands Incidence of the BRUINSMA Surname
in The Netherlands in 1947
Total:2,852
Friesland
Drenthe
Overijssel
Groningen
Gelderland
Utrecht		 1,399
262
198
108
87
69
Noord Holland 417 Amsterdam
Noord Holland (rest)		 243
174
Zuid Holland 194 Den Haag
Rotterdam
Zuid Holland (rest)		 74
73
47
Zeeland
Noord Brabant
Limburg		 6
54
58


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email to Annemarie Bruinsma Hanlon / Last updated 12 Mar 2004