About this site

In 1969 my husband and I came to the US for three years. We are still here, that’s the way it goes.

I have been doing genealogy for about 30 years. It all started when my daughter had to do a genealogy project for 4H. That got me started, and I haven’t stopped since. And after I retired, it became an almost full-time hobby.

Over the years my interests broadened. I started with the genealogy of my husband and myself (surnames: Broekman, Koch, Gast, De Haan, and ten Bruggencate), all in the Netherlands. Then the kids got married and there were grandchildren, and I added the in-laws to the mix (surnames: Seidler, Tiffany, Richstein, Edelman, Vo, Nguyen), mostly in the US, although they came to the US at vastly different times, and from very diverse places. You can find these in the Ancestors of my grandchildren.

The descendants of Harmen ten Bruggencate (c. 1560) were added as a different project, because it seemed like fun to collect them all (of course, they are also all related to me). Who would have guessed there were that many.

From there it was only a short step to the family reconstructions in Almelo. As both the Gasts and the ten Bruggencates lived in Almelo for over 300 years (and some of them still live around there), it seems like most of Almelo was also related.

I live in Radburn, which is a National Historic Landmark. The 1930 census inspired me to setup a database to document the early inhabitants. Not ancient history, but very interesting.

My volunteer work for the Genealogical Society of Bergen County had me looking for obituaries to fulfill patron requests. I started collecting those of the “Hollanders,” people born in the Netherlands, who had emigrated to Bergen and Passaic County in New Jersey, and figuring out their ancestry.

So there you have it. Hope this site will be of use to you. Leave me a note if you have questions or remarks.

Afina