I try to visit locations whenever possible. My VanderHoof ancestors hailed from Beesd, which is now a village in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands. I live across the pond, but my sister, Kim, was able to visit.
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| Kimberly Lutter visiting Beesd, Netherlands, June 2026. In the background is the church tower, the only remaining part from the 1600s. |
In 1661 two sisters, Adriaentje and Geertje, sailed aboard De Bever from Amsterdam to New Amsterdam, which we now call New York City. Their names were written using a patronymic. Their father was Cornelis vanFulpen or Vulpen. Geertje was the widow of Cornelius Gijsbertsen vanderHoeven. With her were six children who passed on the surname vanderHoeven or more common variant, vanderHoof or vanderHoef to the thousands of descendants they created in what became the United States.
Adriaentje was the widow of Mercus Leenaertsen Schuers. She immigrated with their daughter.
I wanted to post the original ship record, but I don't see it online. The late Terry Haslam-Jones Vanderhoof (1944-2021) may have posted it on his now defunct website Vanderhoof Project. You can read Terry's summary of the immigration as well as history in Beesd here.
The church bells rang as Kim arrived.
Signs are posted explaining the history of the church. Below their pictures are videos of translations from Dutch to English courtesy of Kim's husband, Alexander Rasker.
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| Sign on the church. Translation to English in the video below. The current church building was built in 1825 out of materials and walls of the older church. The clock on the tower bears the year 1468. |
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| Another sign on the church. See video below for translation into English. Excavations in 2000 revealed that a church existed here at least since the 12th century. Dedicated to Saint Peter. The church was expanded in the 1600s, then rebuilt in 1825. The original outside walls and windows can be seen on the south side. |
The nearby cemeteries were also visited and photographed.
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| Informational sign with map Old Cemetery, Beesd |
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| Kim in the old cemetery |
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| This memorial is probably very old. |
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| More recent grave Wimmie van der Hooft (1934-1938) |
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| Dutch war graves |
These are graves of members of the British Bomber Command lost on May 24, 1943 in the Battle of Ruhr. The are listed on Find A Grave in the Beesd General Cemetery.
