The search fot De Hoek

The search for De Hoek.

One of our ancestors, Johannes (1845-1929 see Photo) lived with his wife Mensje van der Vliet from April 17th, 1872 to October 13th, 1875 in Bergambacht. Their address was the Hoek 3C. (translated: the Corner number 3C)

Because of these dates we know their 2 first born sons (both with the name Cornelis) were born here.

The first Cornelis (who was called Co) was born on February 13th, 1873 (at 12:00 hour), which is shown to us in this photocopy of the StatenBible he owned.

The second son Cornelis (who was called Kees) was born on January 18th, 1875 (at 03.30 A.M.). In the family bible (originally owned by Johannes and Mensje and later by the second Cornelis) we see that both Cornelis' were born in Bergambacht. Later on this Bible was passed on to Vicar Johannes Versteegt, another son of Johannes and Mensje.

Nowadays it seems perhaps a little strange to give the same name to 2 individual sons, but we must keep in mind that it was a good habit to name the first born son after the father of the father and the second born son after the father of the mother. Both Johannes's father and Mensje's father were called Cornelis. So that's why.

On the map (of about 1800) of Bergambacht we see South West of Bergambacht (in the direction Lekkerkerk) an area called "De Hoek" (translated: the corner). It is quit clear why. There is a ditch flowing into the river Lek at an angle of approximately 75 degrees. This wedge-shaped piece of land was therefore called "De Hoek".

We were anxious to know if there were any old homes or buildings that were in Bergambacht or the area De Hoek when the family of Johannes and Mensje lived there. To answer this question, we took a trip to look at this neighborhood. The next pictures show us what the area of Bergambacht and De Hoek look like today (Aug. 8, 2001)

First of all to prove we are in the right area we see a sign with the name of Bergambacht (seen from the direction of Lekkerkerk).

At the far side of the river Lek we see a mill..

And behind the dyke we see very nice new buildings. But this certainly doesn't remind us of the period around 1875.

And yet we are at the right place. Take a look at the bus stop sign.

Look, the buildings and homes in this picture seem a bit older, but from 1875 ?
No, I don't think so.
This picture is taken on the street of Lekdijk West. The house numbers are not right for when Johannes and Mensje Lived here. The numbers on the homes are very high numbers.

Here we see why it is called "De Hoek" (The Corner) over here. We look in the direction of Lekkerkerk and turning to the right we see the ditch.

Which flows through a sluice into the river Lek.

Here we see the last part of the ditch.

And at the far side we see Streefkerk.

By all means this is a very beautiful part of Holland.

This page is last edited on: 03-08-02