Gerritdiena D. Voorthuis (1832- )

Gerritdiena Diederika Voor(t)huis was born 29 Jan 1832 in Ambt Hardenberg, Overijssel, the daughter of Everhardus (Evert) Voorthuis and Geertruid(a) Nijman. She is the wife of my 2nd cousin 4x removed, Benjamin ter Braake (dutch link).

I usually don’t pursue the spouses of ten Bruggencate descendants, unless it is either a direct ancestor or a sibling of a direct ancestor, so I had not paid much attention to her parents. And because she was not born in Almelo, I didn’t pursue her there either.

Recently in reviewing some of my data in the Almelo database, I realized there was a Martha Wilhelmina Voorthuis married to another Benjamin ter Braake. Both were married in Kampen: Marta in 1843, Gerritdiena in 1857. As a matter of fact, I already had the notation that Marta’s husband was present (as her uncle) at the marriage of Gerritdiena’s daughter! But I never put two and two together.

The two Benjamin ter Braake’s were first cousins, and both were born in Almelo. Marta’s husband moved to Kampen, he was a merchant there, and died there in 1914. No doubt his cousin met his wife’s little sister Gerritdina (she was twelve years younger) there, and thus is came about!

Marta and Gerritdiena had quite a few siblings, but as they are neither related to me, nor connected to Almelo, I have to stop somewhere. But this story does point out the necessity of periodically reviewing your data; you never know what you overlooked.