The Mill of Johannes and Cornelis Versteegt.

Some of our ancestors were water millers by profession. One of the first relatives of this profession (on mill nr. 2 in Lopik) was  Johannes Versteegt (1783-1861). He was married to Anna de Graaf. Cornelis-1817Their only son Cornelis (1817-1885), who was married to Hendrika de Hoop,  also became a water miller on the same mill.
Recently we discovered that this very same mill, they lived and worked on, still does exist.
The reason we looked for this mill was the Historical Reading of the life of Cornelis and Adriana, which we published earlier.  This Cornelis (1851-1925) was a son of the Cornelis mentioned before. The Historical Reading starts with a fairly detailed description of where the mill of the Versteegt family was located. 

There are quite a few pieces of information found in the family-archives of Henk Versteegt  concerning the mill during this period of time. We found some letters of Johannes from 1855 he had written to the polder board to ask if it was possible for him to retire and also if it was possible to assign his son Cornelis to this post.

On the old maps of 1771, we can see the mill mentioned as "2e Loopicker Molen" (second mill of Lopik). It is pointed out by the little blue arrows on the map below. So, we know exactly where the mills were located.

 

Today the family mill is known as the middle or 2nd mill of Cabauw. Cabauw is a small town east of Schoonhoven and is part of the town of Lopik.  We can find on the internet a lot of information about the mill, such as this page in the Dutch Mill database.

From the archives of the district water board of Lopik we know that the millers mentioned below have worked and lived on this mill:
 J. Versteegt, from 1811 to 1855.
 C. Versteegt, from 1855 to 1884.
 W. Rietveld 1884
 J. de Lange 1915-1959
 M. Noorlander, 1951-1962
 F.A. Noorlander, 1951-1970
 E.Stoop, present

Of course we went over there to see what this very special mill looks like. Below we see a photo-report of this visit:

The address of the mill: Lopikerweg west 106 in Cabauw (east of Schoonhoven).  Watch carefully for a  mill sign, by the road, that directs you to the red and white mill sign, that we see in this photograph.  This sign is not visable from the road.  Far away we can already see the mill, a walk of about 2 kilometers,  but first let's have a look at the board.

 
Some parts of the mill, on the board,  can be enlarged by clicking on them.

And then of course we move on to the mill. By clicking the "Closer"-button we can see the mill closer and closer.

 

 
Here we see the mill at work.
When we look to the right we see the present pumping-station. The first mill was located on this spot until 1933 (at the left). At the right we see the present millers home.
Brandlaag van 1772.

 

When we returned to the mill on another day,  there was some maintenance work being done. Part of the soil was dug up. Some traces of the 1772 fire became visible. Here we see a bed of coal in the soil.
In de molen.

 

Erik Stoop, the miller,  invited us to take a look inside the mill. Here we see the interior where our ancestors lived. 
De bedstee.

 

 

Here we see the box bed where the miller and his wife used to sleep. By the way the present miller occasionally sleeps here also. The space behind the hatch is a storage depot for potatoes.  
Aandrijving van het waterrad.

At the other side of the room, behind 2 big doors we see the lower part of the water wheel drive. At the back there used to be 3 more box beds where the millers children used to sleep. Those box beds were removed some time ago and were replaced by a small kitchen.
De trap buiten.

Then we went to look at the upper part of the mill. You have to climb the stairs on the outside the mill. The big wheel the miller is leaning against is used to turn the upper part, including the wings of the mill.
Hele klim naar boven.

It is quite a climb to the top.
In the week we visited the mill, a film called "Floris", was made. In one action scene 2 people were tied to the wings of the mill. That was quite a job to accomplish. The film will be released for viewing at the end of 2004.
When we reached the top, we could see the mill at work from the inside. The wings power this shaft and this wheel. 

In the end, we can conclude, that with this mill there is a nice part of our family history still visible for us.

 

As we all know this 2nd Lopicker Mill was one of a series of 3 close mills. The ruins of the 3td mill can be found along a route you can follow. This route is known as the "Cabauwse Jacobsroute". More information about the route can be obtained from the café "Het Witte Paard" (The white Horse) in Lopik. Tel 0348-551532.

There is also a brochure available about our family mill. The two pages of the brochure maybe downloaded by clicking on the page numbers listed below. Please note that the two pages are not translated into English, but it is still interesting to look at the brochure in the Dutch language.
Page 1       Page 2
The Foundation "Friends of the Cabauwse Mill" supports the preservation of the mill with advise and action. You can become a friend of the mill by making a donation of at least 6 Euro a year by check payable to the foundation(see the form on the brochure) and completing the information form and mailing the form to the address on the brochure. At this time it is not known if our American ancestors may join the foundation. For more information on joining the foundation, please take a look on the website of the Mill.

In 2005 a book about the mill was published by Rob Alkemade and Erik Stoop, the miller. In 80 pages the history of the mill and the millers is described. From page 40 until page 53 the period where our ancestors Johannes and Cornelis Versteegt were millers on this mill is described. It is very interesting to read what they have gone through and what they were occupied with. See the 2 sample pages. The book itself is obtainable on the site of the mill. Click on "Geschiedenis" in the menu and you'll see all the information you need (in Dutch unfortunately, but it's intended to translate this site into English as well).

 

 

Last edited on 20-08-06