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Preface
My work on the book of the genealogy of the Oteman family from 1650 till now takes much more time than foreseen because more and more data come to my disposal and what started some two years ago as a “hobby” , good for my post-active period, becomes more and more a passion.
n the meantime I got more and more impressed by the unbelievable efforts our family, our ancestors made to bring the family where she is to day. By suffering and working, by educating and showing that good exempla in hard circumstances, our ancestors handed down their norms and values, which are today the characteristics of the family: a strongly developed family solidarity, which I have observed in all generations and in the several Oteman's branches today; decency, probity , sense of justice and an adversity to bragging. I encounter all these properties again and again , and the more I encounter new family members the more I learn about the ancestors. “Honeste vivere, nisi laedere et suum cuique retribuere”, this old Latin adage, which means in English: “ live decently, don’t harm anybody and give everybody his due “ is in a nutshell, what we got from our ancestors and that is infinitely more than piled up capitals, possessions or noble titles. Let us realise that and as “ noblesse oblige”, let us pass on this family properties to our children The investigations in my family brought me into contact with several Oteman branches here in Holland from which I did not know so much before.From the beginning those new contacts were immediately hearty and spontaneous. The most emotional experience, however was two years ago the rediscovery of our American relatives of whom my uncle Jan, from Wijk bij Duurstede had kept alive the memory at me as he spoke about the family. I regret not having taken the initiative to go and to find them earliert than two years ago when I went, with my brother Wim , to visit them. But better later than never!
his study about the history of the house of the Otemans in Erlecom was initially done as a part of the genealogical book about the family, but by doing it I decided to publish these data in order to inform the family in an earlier stage as the completion of the family book will take some more time.This English translation is made at my request by my brother Wim, who helped me a lot by going out to the archives in the Netherlands and to the family to find the necessary documents so that I could get on working on this essay.
or our family in America: when the river Rhine enters into the Netherlands, the river arrives in its delta and splits itself in several branches. The most southern and widest branch is “The Waal” The area between the Waal and a range of hills which , coming from Germany like the Rhine, form at Nijmegen, some 20 kms. in the Netherlands, the top of a V, is called “The Duffelt”.This region lies partly in the actual Netherlands and partly in actual Germany. But that has not always been so. That region was in the past part of the Dukedom Gelre and was considered as a Dutch speaking entity and still today most people are each other’s relatives and are speaking the same dialect on both sides of the actual frontier. The land is flat and the bottom is formed by the river Rhine, so very clayey and we find there many farms, cattle but also brick works, which by clay winning made many, many water pools and swampy irregularities in the land. No wonder, that and on the German part and on the Dutch part, large areas have been declared : “ National Parks ” in order to secure the beautiful environment. In winter the Waal reaches its highest level and can rise 15 meters , but enormous dikes of 20 m. high protect the villages. Should there be a break, which happened in former centuries e.g. in 1926, it means a catastrophe, for the houses will be submerged under many meters of water. The villages in the Dutch part are mainly: Ooij, where I was born and where my father was a teacher, Erlecom, the place of the family house, Leuth, where the family of my mother lived ( the van Ecks), Millingen ( Branch Jan Oteman), Kekerdom and Beek/Ubbergen, where the county administration is located. In the German part you may find: Zyfflich, where Conrad Oteman was born, Niel (Dl)l where several Otemans and my mother were born, Mehr, Kranenburg (the administration centre) , Nutterden, Warbeyen, Wyler, etc. On both ends of the Duffelt there are two big cities, which mark the end of the region: on the Dutch side Nijmegen, a very old city founded by the Romans, and on the German side Kleef, also an old city with a rich history. For your orientation a survey map of the region is joined.
Henk Oteman Jan van Brabantstraat 44 5282 NV Boxtel. Netherlands Tel/Fax 31 0411 673332
Family Pedigree
William Oteman ( 1680 1750 ?) | Petrus Oteman ( 1710-1790) | Joannes Oteman ( 1744-1800) | WilhelmusOteman ( 1771-1854) | Peter Oteman x Anna M. Puppinghuizen (1797 1870) _________________________________________________________________ | | | Joannes 1823-1908 Theodora 1824-1846 Conradus 1827-1890 x Hendrina Awater | _______________________________________________________ Willem 1854-1932 | | | | | | Gerardus 1888-1967 Hendrikus Theodore Fransciscus Willem Anna | x x x x Sister Nicoleta Lambertus 1927 E. Barten M. Geveling M.Jansen B.Kroes | _____________________ _________ __________ Wil 1951 | | | | Peter 1979 Coen 1893-1918 Wilhelmus Mary, Minnie, Hetty (x Krechy) * Gerrit 1894-1956 (x H.Jans) | Conny, Anne, Liz, George Oteman, ** Wim 1895-1929 (x A..v.Eck) Wilhelmus Rose, Pauline, Trudy ( x Bell). Jan 1898-1976 | Dorothy, Ceil Truus 1899-1975 (Nun) Wim 1931 Diets 1902-1988 * From Gerrit: Henk, Coen, Nico, Willie, Joep, Albert, Geert ** From Wim (my father): Henk, Ger , Wim (Coen)
History of the ancestral dwelling house of the Oteman family in Erlecom
magine an old house could tell us about the occurrences of the successive generations of a same family; about fortune and misfortune, joyful births an sorrow deaths, suffering and disasters, labour and efforts, success and disappointment, solidarity and love of family, discord and harmony.! We all should like to know that, but the inmates, our ancestors, are no more. We can only guess and try to learn something from the narratives and traditions. What do we have from them? What characteristics ? What do we owe them ?
hen several generations of a same family have been living in a same house, a genealogist can often reconstruct a vivid history of that family by studying notary’s archives. It's obvious that in such case several conveyances of land and property , public auctions, drawings up inventory, memories of succession, official valuations and the like have been taken place and they often hold a wealth of particularities of the residents and their relatives. It is no picnic studying notarial deeds. In the previous century the documents were hand-written and, dependent on a good or bad handwriting, extremely difficult to read. In addition to this, you need a fair knowledge to which notary the parties have gone to for their transactions and where the deeds are filed. Then it takes a lot of time to find them in the huge quantities of documents and microfilms . For the next generations it may be easier, when all the archives , provided with repertories of family names, are entered in computers and will be accessible via internet.
In the house in Erlecom , number 48, four generations of Oteman have been living and the following documents concerning them have been found:
I
deed of purchase of land by Jan P. Puplichhuizen on November 21 1855. ( Notary Van der Goes. Land registry Nijmegen 31-12-1855 part 114, nr.49) This lot came from tiller Hendrikus Rissenbeek, from whom he borrowed the amount of ƒ 700,-. Jan Peter was a blacksmith and in 1853 he moved from Zyfflich, where he was born on 14-09-1813, to Erlecom where, for some time , he lived with his sister (?) Petronella Publichuizen, who was married to Bernardus Vierboom. He married Maria Pauwels from Neerbosch (near Nijmegen) and who was 20 years younger. The couple got three children in Erlecom: Maria Anna (*1860), Anna Clara (*1862) and Maria Carolina (*1865). Thirteen years later, in 1868, he sold the house and smithy to Conrad Oteman, also blacksmith and from Zyfflich (actual Germany) and whose mother was a Publichhuizen too: Anna Margaretha Publichhuizen. (Zyfflich 1791-1858) The relation between these three Publichhuizens, Jan Peter, Petronella and Anna Maria Margaretha is ,up to now ,not yet clear. After he had sold his house, Jan Peter settled down as a blacksmith in Neerbosch, where his wife came from.
II
deed of exchange between the above mentioned Jan Peter Publichhuizen and Jacob Rissenbeek on May 1st. 1863 is found.( Notary Willem C.Bothlingh.; Land registry Nijmegen 8-05-1863, part 168, nr.12). By this contract the lot got his final size viz. 6554 m2. The house and smithy were built by Jan Peter Puplichhuizen and probably shortly after the purchase of the land ,but before his marriage, so between 1855 and 1859.
III
deed of purchase on Jan.21, 1868 (Nr.14, Notary Franc.W.van der Goes in Beek) by which Conrad Oteman, blacksmith in Zyfflich (*16-06-1827), obtains lot and house from Jan Publichhuizen. Purchase amount ƒ 2.000.- Conrad Oteman was born in Zyfflich on June 16. 1827 as a son of Peter Oteman (1797-1870) and Anna Margaretha Publichhhuizen (1791-1858). He had a brother, Johannes Oteman (Jan, 1823-1908), who later moved to Millingen ( Netherlands) and who was a building contractor there ( like his father Peter in Zyfflich). This Johan we'll meet again later, when he , at the age of 67 at Conrad's death in 1890, has to value the latter’s immovable as a sworn expert. All John's descendants practise the same profession and his great-great-grandson, Will Oteman, now lives in Tegelen ( Netherlands) . He has a Do-it-Yourself and building-material business. His son is also called Peter! Conrad ( also called Coen in Dutch), had also a sister, Theodora Oteman ( 1824-1846), who died at an early age and unmarried in Zyfflich.
randfather Peter, so Coen's father, was still alive at the time of the removal to Erlecom. He even witnessed Anna's birth , but died two years later at the age of 73. Grandmother Anna Margaretha Puppinghuizen deceased ten years earlier in 1858 and Peter remarried in 1861 Everdine Hendriks (1828-1863) from Frasselt (Prussia), but this second wife died two years later in 1863. Anyway, those moves in that area were quite common. The distances were rather short; Zyfflich, Niel, Leuth, Erlecom, Ooij, Millingen and Gendt lay 5 to 10 kms. from each other and there was not a frontline between the Prussian and the Dutch townships and all people in that area spoke a similar Dutch dialect and were often family. Those official frontiers and language boundary came later.
ack to Conrad and his removal.! He was a blacksmith and it suited him well that the previous occupant of the house in Erlecom, Jan Peter Publichhuizen, was of the same profession, thought, '' all tools of the smithy were reserved by the seller'' !. Jan Peter clearly wanted to continue this profession in Neerbosch. Coen had to bring with him his own equipment from Zyfflich!
onrad buys, and now we cite the deed: '' a house and yard, garden and arable land, situated in Erlecom Land registry Ooij, section B, nrs: 459: outlet as 'wood' , 4 roeden and 20 ellen ( 400m2) ( The Klever bos/wood. Disappeared to day) 552: arable land, 17 roeden and 20 ellen ( 1720 m2) 553: arable land, 41 roeden and 10 ellen (4110 m2) ''
These land registry numbers were altered in later documents because of renumbering and remeasurement. (But I don’t understand the system ,which lies behind!) The historical maps of the section B from Ooij are found in the land registry archives by my brother Coen .
So the total 6554 M2 for ƒ. 2000,- Nowadays in the Ooij polder – which is now a National Nature Park – that piece of land means quite a fortune, something to dream of! The date of the purchase is January 21 1868, but Coen was not allowed to move in until May 1st. But he can take possession of the garden and the “unsown land”on February 22nd. (St Peter) and the sown land as soon as it is '' free of stubbles''. Land and polder taxes and remaining taxes and payments are on Coen's account from January 1st. Excluded from the purchase are the above mentioned tools and further individual “beams and cross-beams.''
The witnesses present were, Theodorus Beeker, carpenter in Beek and Reinier van Baal, ditto. The notary was Franc. W. van der Goes.
onrad signed his name in the Dutch way with one 'n', as he already used to do in Prussia. He considered himself as Dutch. With the exception of Theodorus ( Gendt branch) all his children and their descendants have followed this example. Theodorus , his son in Gendt, went on spelling his name with double 'n', so not always consistently, for I found several deeds signed by him where he writes his name with one 'n'. Theodore’s descendants kept on writing their names with two 'n's', except one of his children, who went back to one 'n' and so did his descendants up to now.( Gendt's under-branch Winterswijk.)
The deed of Conrad's purchase was registered in Nijmegen on February 1st 1868 ( part 97, folio 159, recto vak b. Reg. fee ƒ.116,61) . 22 Years exactly, until his death in 1890, Coen was to live there in Erlecom with his five children. Then a new generation of Otemans came to live in the house, when the eldest son, Hendrikus, (Driekus), my grand-father, bought the house in a public auction, married and raised a family. We can learn this from the following deeds. |