About me and about the website
I, as a human being, naturally come from a long line of ancestors. How I live and approach life now is largely determined by my upbringing.
My father and mother raised me and taught me their norms and values. And they have inherited a large part of their norms and values from their parents. In this way, norms and values are, of course adapted to the prevailing spirit of the times, passed on from generation to generation.
Since everyone has had at least a father and a mother, the number of ancestors per generation that you go back in time increases by a factor of two. If you go back in time about six generations, you are talking about 64 ancestors, 32 men and 32 women. Finding out the names of these people, together with the factual data associated with them, such as dates of birth, marriage and death, is also called genealogy. It's not difficult, but it does become increasingly difficult the further back in time you go. If you want to know more about it, you can visit many websites.
Much more fun, and at the same time much more difficult, is to find out how your family used to live, what they did as a profession, where they lived, in short, you try to get an idea of their circumstances.
For this you have to limit yourself to a small selection of your ancestors. You also need to delve into history to get an idea of the general conditions prevailing at the time they lived.
Much more difficult, but also much more interesting! Because the longer you deal with a number of ancestors and the deeper you dig into their situation, the more they get a “face” and, even though they have died centuries ago, they slowly but surely become part of your family again. Digging is almost addictive. Give it a try if you can. It will almost certainly open your perspective on the world around you.
In short, Jan is the sum of all his ancestors plus what he himself and his environment have added.
He passes that on to his descendants, whether they like it or not.
And that, dear reader, is now what we call 'the circle of life'.
As a born Rotterdammer, I like to tackle things. To a certain extent. Because even though I was born in Rotterdam, I have never lived there. I grew up in The Hague and surrounding areas. And as a true resident of The Hague, I also love a good plan, a logical plan with which you can achieve your goals. So my motto is: first think, then act.
Logic is important to me. Everything happens for a reason, even though it is often impossible to determine the reason. That also explains my interest in history. For everything that has already happened. Because only by knowing history can you say something about the future. By making connections between past events, we are able to predict what awaits us with some effort.
This way I can also learn from the people whose genes I have inherited. Who were they, what did they do, what did they think? What did they hope for, what did they dream of, what did they count on?
What were they afraid of, what made them angry?
Thanks to the fact that more and more archives are coming online and more and more people can come into contact with each other, it is becoming increasingly possible to get a glimpse of how my (and possibly your) ancestors lived.