The accident of birth?
A special day, the wedding of a cousin who just reached retirement age and his second wife. The official part took place in the Museum of Scheveningen, Muzee, where the very beginning of the groom's family history was quoted from a written history of this former fishing village. The groom's father and my mother were siblings, so their history is also my history. On my mother's side, we all owe our existence to one man, Daniel Verbaan, a licensed privateer who lived in the 18th century. He was married on August 12th 1781. The next day he sailed out with a crew of 20 adult men to fight the English at sea in his ship, aptly named "The Heroic Patriot". When they encountered a ship of the enemy, the Dutch being at war with the English, a fierce battle followed. The Dutch were on the losing hand, and instead of being captured by the English, the ship was blown up, either intentionally because Daniel and his men did not want to be made captives, or because of some unhappy incident. All the men were killed and drowned, Daniel as well. This was on August 14th, so their marriage lasted only two days. But lo and behold, 8 months after Daniel's death his widow gave birth to a son, another Daniel. And that is our forefather, mine and the groom's, the only Verbaan living in Scheveningen at that time. Now I know where that wild streak in our character comes from. I thought it came from my father's side of the family, but perhaps not.
A special day, the wedding of a cousin who just reached retirement age and his second wife. The official part took place in the Museum of Scheveningen, Muzee, where the very beginning of the groom's family history was quoted from a written history of this former fishing village. The groom's father and my mother were siblings, so their history is also my history. On my mother's side, we all owe our existence to one man, Daniel Verbaan, a licensed privateer who lived in the 18th century. He was married on August 12th 1781. The next day he sailed out with a crew of 20 adult men to fight the English at sea in his ship, aptly named "The Heroic Patriot". When they encountered a ship of the enemy, the Dutch being at war with the English, a fierce battle followed. The Dutch were on the losing hand, and instead of being captured by the English, the ship was blown up, either intentionally because Daniel and his men did not want to be made captives, or because of some unhappy incident. All the men were killed and drowned, Daniel as well. This was on August 14th, so their marriage lasted only two days. But lo and behold, 8 months after Daniel's death his widow gave birth to a son, another Daniel. And that is our forefather, mine and the groom's, the only Verbaan living in Scheveningen at that time. Now I know where that wild streak in our character comes from. I thought it came from my father's side of the family, but perhaps not.
It was quite an experience to meet a number of cousins again, some of whom I had probably not seen for at least 30 years. One was the spitting image of his father, and although I could not immediately put the correct nametag on him, I knew he was one of my cousins straight away.
All the festivities took place in an area where I grew up, so I had a full day of going down memory lane. The bride and groom – and we, the guests of course - were in luck, as this was the one and so far only real summer's day since the end of June, I think. In the evening there was a garden party, and it stayed warm and dry till almost midnight. There was no wind to speak of either, which is amazing considering this is a seaside town.
Wedding picture of my grandparents, Willem Verbaan (1882-1928) and Cornelia Pronk (1884-1974). I never saw my grandmother wearing anything but the local costume. She had nothing else. My grandfather looks rather possessive with his hand on her shoulder. I never knew him. His father, my great-grandfather, was also a Daniel.
Hello! My grandfather Cor Verbaan once told me a story of an ancestor of mine who was a privateer. (He said pirate, but I think that was just to make things more interesting.) I decided to do some research on Daniel Verbaan and I found you! We must be related! I have that exact picture in my basement. So, hello from Canada! The internet makes the world so small.
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