Afiena Scholte (1901-1970)

Afiena Scholte was born 22 Mar 1901 in Nieuw Buinen, a small village in the province of Drenthe, the second child and eldest daughter of Jan Scholte and Klaassien Starke (dutch link). She is my grandmother’s first cousin (and my first cousin twice removed), and like my grandmother (and me) named for her grandmother Afien Meijering.

Her father⁽¹⁾ was born in Oude Pekela, and her mother in Nieuwe Pekela in Groningen, and they moved to Nieuw Buinen shortly after their marriage. This is not as big a move as it might seem, Nieuw Buinen is just over the border with Groningen, and about 15 miles from Nieuwe Pekela. Nieuw Buinen later became part of Borger, and is now part of Borger-Odoorn.

Jan Scholte was a blacksmith, after their 14 children (12 of whom lived to adulthood) were born, they moved around a lot. They were registered in Winkel in the Wieringermeer on 30 Apr 1924, coming from Borger; they left for Rotterdam on 27 Mar 1925. Two years later, on 23 Mar 1927 the family moves to Maarn in Utrecht.⁽²⁾ From the address (Tuindorp 30) it seems they moved into a new subdivision, build to accommodate laborers working for the railroad. They were small houses, but had large yards, so people could grow their own vegetables to supplement their very small wages.⁽³⁾

From the family card we can see that Afiena in Oct 1926 moved to Schoterland, near Heerenveen. She comes back on 25 Jan 1927, her occupation is now listed as housekeeper. She is permanently removed from the family card on 16 Feb 1927, when she married Eise Alberda, and moved to Steenwijk in Overijssel, on the border with Friesland. They must have moved again at some time; Afiena died in Haarlem in 1970 from injuries sustained in a house fire.⁽⁴⁾ She was 69 yrs old.

(1) You can find more information on Jan’s ancestors here at Johan Scholte’s website.
(2) Family card Jan Scholte. 494-03 Archief van de Gemeentesecretarie Rotterdam, afdeling Bevolking: bevolkingsboekhouding van Rotterdam en geannexeerde gemeenten. Inv# 851-424, Pg 454621.
(3) Tuindorp Maarn (dutch only)
(4) “De Waarheid,” 8 Apr 1970. Koninklijke Bibliotheek Database (Delpher.nl). Index and/or images online at http://www.delpher.nl/.