The Ploos Van Amstel Family Tree Part 1

Taking a detour from posting photos of the family, today I'm going to discuss the Ploos van Amstel side of the family. As you may know, the Ploos van Amstels were blue-bloods, that is, members of the nobility. There is even a couple of Wikipedia entries on the family.

Ploos van Amstel Coat of Arms

Van Amstel Family - the first entry is about the Van Amstel family which the article traces from Wolfgerus Van Amstel (1075-1131) through five generations to a knight named Jan I van Amstel (1270-1345). The lineage is shown as follows:

Wolfgerus van Amstel (1075-1131) Bailiff of Amestelle

• Egbert van Amstel (1105-1172) Bailiff and steward of Amestelle
• Gijsbrecht I van Amstel (1145-1189) Bailiff and steward of Amestelle
• Gijsbrecht II van Amstel (1175-1230) Lord of Amestelle, knight
• Gijsbrecht III van Amstel (1200-1252) Lord of Amestelle, knight
• Gijsbrecht IV van Amstel (1230-1303) Lord of Amestelle, knight
• Jan I van Amstel (1270-1345) Knight

Our family diverges after Geisbrecht van Amstel. Geisbrecht had another son named Egidius and our family is directly descended from Egidius. The chronology is given as a footnote on page 3 of a biography of our great great grandfather Johannes Jacobus Asuerus Ploos van Amstel (Een Wandel met God - Biography of Ds. J.J.A. Ploos van Amstel by Dr. L.H. Wagenaar, published by J.A. Wormser, Amsterdam 1895) and is shown below:

• Gijsbrecht I van Amstel (1145-1189) Bailiff and steward of Amestelle
• Egidius van Amstel (dates unknown) Egidius was a knight and in 1235 became Lord Van Mynden.
• Willem van Mijnden (dates unknown) he was a beaten knight in 1235
• Amelis van Amstel van Mynden (dates unknown) a craftsman from Loosdrecht and surety of Gisbrecht van Amstel in 1285
• Wouter van Mynden (dates unknown) knight in 1318 and Lord van Mynden and Loosdrecht
• Gijsbert Ploos van Amstel (dates unknown) first use of the Ploos van Amstel name in the Wandel account. 

Eight generations later we have Jacob Ploos van Amstel (1630-1694). Jacob is our great great great great great great great grandfather. In a book on Cornelis Ploos van Amstel 1726-1798 by our uncle Gerard Ploos van Amstel, there is the following description of Jacob Ploos van Amstel:

Jacob "moved from his birthplace Loosdrecht to the fortified town of Naarden where he made a living by making fine silks and damasks. Later on he also became 'impost master' (receiver of taxes), while he was further burgomaster of Naarden for a short while and also churchwarden." 

There is a genealogical website called Wikitree on which I have chronicled both sides of the family and which I am now continuing to add to. I have entered the Ploos van Amstels back to the Jacob noted above. Wikitree Family Tree starting with Mom. 

Which brings us to the second Wikipedia article on the Ploos van Amstel family itself. The article notes that "By Royal Decree of 8 July 1864, Johannes Ploos van Amstel was recognized as a member of the Dutch nobility . Since then, various recognitions have taken place, most recently on 9 September 1988." Johannes (1669-1701) was one of eight children of the aforementioned Jacob Ploos van Amstel. By extension, the entire family was recognized as a part of the Dutch nobility including Johannes' brother Gerrit (1667-1741) who is our great great great great great great grandfather. 

Our family is considered minor nobility and entitled to use the titles Jonkheer and Jonkvrouw which mean Young Lord and Young Lady.

Cousin marriages were accepted as normal in Holland and there are a few cousin marriages in our lineage. One of interest goes down two generations from Jacob. Johannes and Gerrit had brothers Cornelis (1664-1705) and Albertus 1672-1717). Cornelis had a son Jacob (1693-1759) and Albertus had a daughter Johanna Clemensia (1698-1777). Now here's the good stuff: Jacob, son of Cornelis married his cousin Johanna Clemensia, daughter of Albertus in 1726. They were married by uncle Gerrit who was a clergyman, the first of a long line of clergymen in the Ploos van Amstel family. 

Jacob and Johanna had three children, one of them a son also named Cornelis (1726-1798). Cornelis is the one who is the subject of the book by Oom Gerard. That Cornelis was an artist of note and an art collector and art dealer. 

Portrait of Cornelis Ploos van Amstel by George Van Der Mijn

Cornelis was one of several family members to become artists, including our own mother. In 1976, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam held a special exhibit of works by and about Cornelis Ploos van Amstel and his family. Here is a copy of the brochure that was made available at the time. And here is a two page insert that was inside the brochure. 

Here is a chart detailing how different people, notably cousins, are related. Cousin chart According to this chart, Cornelis is our second cousin six times removed. 

I'll have more on our Ploos van Amstel family tree in the next post. 

Links of Interest

• Van Amstel Family - Wikipedia article on the early part of our family tree going back to Wolfgerus van Amstel (1075-1131)
• Ploos van Amstel - Wikipedia article on the Ploos van Amstel family
• Wikitree Family Tree starting with Mom - click on Johannes Jacobus PvA to go further back in the tree
• Brochure on Cornelis Ploos van Amstel Exhibit at the Rijksmuseum in 1976 - this is in Dutch. I may add a translation at a later date
• Cousin chart - a detailed chart explaining cousin relationships
• Family Tree Pages at my personal website
• Watch for Part 2 coming soon!

Two Auspicious Years - 1952 and 1953

I've compiled two different photo pages for this post - 1952 and 1953. Each was marked by the birth of a new family member.

In the photos from 1952 you'll find the fledgling den Ouden visiting Niagara Falls. You'll also find a variety of pictures of the family when we lived in Waterdown, Ontario.



The map above shows Waterdown, a suburb of Hamilton, Ontario.

Meanwhile across the country, unbeknownst to us at the time, a future family member was born that November, my future wife, Janis Baker.

1952 Photos

1953 continues with more pictures of the family when we lived in Waterdown. Some time in 1954, our family moved to Smithville, Ontario. I'll write about Smithville in the next post.

It was also during this time that my Dad got a job managing a cemetery. That job eventually had us move to Quebec where he established a new cemetery in suburban Dollard des Ormeaux.

But the biggest event for the den Oudens in 1953 was the birth of Carolyn on December 6th, a baby sister for Marco and Michael.

1953 Photos

1951 - We arrive in Canada and Michael is born

The SS Volendam

 1951 was a momentous year for the den Ouden family. It was the year we moved to Canada. Our small family, Mom, Dad and myself, came over on the Holland-America Line ship the Volendam. There were 1431 passengers on the ship and it arrived at Halifax's Pier 21 on February 22, 1951. I had my second birthday aboard the ship on February 18th.

The Volendam in 1951 at Pier 21, Halifax

The ship was commissioned in 1922 and during World War II it served as a troop transport for the British Ministry of War Transport. After the war she was very active in the post-war immigration wave to North America and Australia sailing to Sydney, New York, Halifax and Quebec from 1947 until she was scrapped in 1952.  Below is a vintage video of sailing aboard the Volendam in 1937.



I had the misfortune to catch Scarlet Fever during the voyage and as soon as we landed I was immediately quarantined.  Eventually I was released and the family moved to Waterdown, Ontario where our first home was the converted loft of an old barn. Dad got a job there as foreman on a farm which employed a number of Dutch immigrants.

Michael was born on April 10, 1951 in Hamilton. The photo gallery has a number of pictures of baby Michael as well as of our first house in Canada and some family pics.

Links of Interest

• Photo Gallery: The den Oudens in 1951
• Vintage Movie: The Volendam in 1929 - first 1:10 is aboard the ship, the rest of the video is a video of Holland in 1929.
• Postwar Dutch Immigration Through Pier 21 - Pier 21 is now an immigration museum
• Stories of the Volendam at GoDutch.com 
• The Pier 21 Story - at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21
• More on the Volendam at Cruise Line History
• Wikipedia article on the Volendam
• Volendam Ephemera Collection - includes two passenger lists (but not the one we are on)

Previous Photo Collections

• 1949
• 1950

1950

I've added the photos from 1950 to the mix. The one above is on my first birthday.

Photo Gallery: 1950

Our Family in Pictures

Welcome to our family in pictures. This website will feature photos of my family over the years, both on my side and my wife's side of the family.

My name is Marco den Ouden and I live with my wife, Janis Baker, in the Vancouver suburb of Abbotsford, BC. Retired after 40 years in the television broadcasting industry, I now spend many hours blogging on travel and politics among other things. I am now adding this photo memoir to my blogging efforts.

My siblings and I were fortunate in that our mother put together a nice album for each of us on the occasion of our respective weddings, an album of our life history to that point. I have scanned all the photos in the album she put together for my own wedding and have sorted them by year.

Each week I will add a different year to the collection. The photos will be on pages and will be linked from these blog posts.

This week, I start with selected photos from the year of my birth - 1949. You'll find the photos here:

• Photo Gallery: Marco in 1949