Family Photos

I was recently sent a photo of my father’s family in the Netherlands, featuring all the brothers and sisters on the occasion of my paternal grandfather and grandmother’s wedding anniversary, some time before 1955. What a treasure!

Top row, left to right: Johannes (my father), Jacobus, Hendericus, Bernardus.
Bottom row: Andries, Tietje, Augusta, Edzer Gerben (my grandfather), Geertruida, Geertruida (my grandmother), Aurelia, Gerritje.

Following the family tradition, I was named Hendericus Jacobus Bernardus for my uncles (all three of them), my oldest brother Edzer Gerben was named for my grandfather, my brother Andries Johannes for my uncle and father, and my daughter Augusta Flynn for my aunt and Hazel’s surname.

There is another side to the family, of course, and while we were trying to work out the names of the people in this photo, my brother Andrys (he prefers the Frys spelling these days) sent me a photo of my parents’ wedding day in 1949, which features members of both sides of the family.

Naming the people in this photo is a bit trickier, so it comes with a numbered guide.

Among the wedding guests are my mother’s parents, Harmen Visser (3) and Jeltje Heerema-Visser (4), who gave their names to my second oldest brother, Harmen Jelle (who changed his name to Harry Julian). Of my siblings, that leaves Julia Flora (who now prefers Yulia to get the right pronunciation), also named for my maternal grandmother Jeltje and the daughter my mother had from her first marriage, Flora, who died in a tragic accident when she was just 2 years old.

1. Wedding guest
2. Jan Piket (husband of Aurelia Onsman)
3. Harmen Visser (my maternal grandfather, father of Elizabeth, my mother)
4. Jeltje Visser (my maternal grandmother, mother of Elizabeth, my mother)
5. Geertruida Onsman (my paternal grandmother, mother of Johannes, my father)
6. Johannes Onsman (my father)
7. Elizabeth Visser-Onsman (my mother)
8. Wedding guest
9. Gerritje Onsman (sister of my father)
10. Rinus (husband of Anna Visser)
11. Jacobus Onsman (brother of my father)
12. Andries Onsman (brother of my father)
13. Henk Westerdijk (husband of Gerritje Onsman)
14. Rense (husband of Johanna Visser)
15. Johanna Visser (sister of my mother)
16. Anna Visser (sister of my mother)
17. Trijntje Visser (sister of my mother)
18. Geertruida Knol (daughter of Gerritje Onsman)
19. Aurelia Onsman-Piket (sister of my father)
20. Cobi Piket (daughter of Aurelia Onsman)
21. Wedding guest
22. Dora Visser (sister of my mother)
23. Maaike Visser (sister of my mother)
24. Wedding guest
25. Edzer Gerben Onsman (my paternal grandfather, father of Johannes, my father)
26. Bernardus Onsman (brother of my father)
27. Wedding guest
28. Wiepkje Visser (sister of my mother)
29. Annie Onsman (daughter of Andries Onsman)
30. Augusta Onsman (sister of my father)

There is much more to the history of my family, some of which is captured on my brother Andrys’ blog. My cousin Rienk (son of Uncle Riekes) collected much more of the Onsman family tree, going back to the 13th century, when Andreas Ohnsmann migrated from Germany to the Netherlands. This post is really just to give my daughters, Mae and Augusta, some idea of their immediate family history on the Frisian side.

Click once or twice on each photo for a larger view.