Hendrik Gast (1787-1848)

Today is the birthday of two of my 2nd great-grandfathers: Jan Tonkes Starke (1838, on my mother’s side) (dutch link) and Hendrik Gast (1787, on my father’s side) (dutch link). It is interesting to note the difference in birth year, almost two generations between them. My mother’s grandmother Geertje was Jan Tonkes’ eldest child, and her daughter was the second child; on the other hand my father’s grandfather Arnold was Hendrik’s 9th child, and his son Jan Gerhard was the sixth and last child. Quite a difference.

I already wrote once about Jan Tonkes’ wife Aafien Meijering, so now it is Hendrik’s turn.

Hendrik was baptized on 18 Jan 1787 in Almelo, the third son of Hendricus Gast and Maria Brouwer. Of his six siblings, two died as infants, and one as a young adult. Dutch death certificates do not give a cause of death, so we can only speculate on the cause.

Hendrik registered for the draft in 1814. He is described as having a long face,  round forehead, blue eyes, pointed nose, normal mouth, round chin, blond hair and eyebrows, no special marks. His height was 5 ft, 3 stripes; it is however not clear how tall this actually was. Before 1820 measurements varied by region and a foot could be anywhere from 0.27 to 0.31 meters. A stripe became later a millimeter, but that also was variable before 1820.

He married Anna Kolthof in 1818, and they have 6 children together, of whom only one survives to adulthood. Anna died in 1835, six months after the birth of her 6th child (who lives another seven years). A year and a half later he married Aaltje Stoltink, they have three more children, only two survive to adulthood

He was a farmer, and later became a store keeper and merchant. Son Arnold  became a storekeeper and merchant also. Son Egbert is unemployed when he married in 1846, and worked in the textile industry (he was a ‘kalander,’ someone involved in the finishing process of the woven fabric) in 1852 and 1868

Hendrik died in 1848, his youngest children being 7 and 4 yrs old. Egbert was married, so most likely the children were taken in by him and his wife. Egbert had no children of his own. Only Arnold survived to have children.