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« on: Monday 11 March 13 05:19 GMT (UK) »
9 March 1823
My 4xgreat-grandfather, Giovanni Antonio Vitali, was born in Druogno, Piemonte. His parents, Pietro Vitali and Antonia Maria Beccari, were farmers in the area. Giovanni was the second of nine children. He argued with his father and at sixteen left Italy to live in the Netherlands, walking most of the way. When he was eighteen, he was forced to return to Italy for compulsory military duty. Upon his return to Amsterdam, he started as a chimney sweep apprentice. His father sent him letters and money but they never saw eachother again. Giovanni married a Dutch (a quarter French and a quarter German) servant, Sophia Pardoen, with whom he had 12 children, in Den Haag in 1850. He later owned his own chimney sweep companies, and died in 1893 aged 70.
10 March 1819
My 5xgreat-grandparents, Jan Stevensen Kieft, a 33 year old day labourer, and Jannetje Hannissen Haverkamp, a 23 year old, were married in Nijkerk. They had eleven children and remained married until Jannetje died on 23 May 1854, aged 59. Jan died the following year aged 69.
10 March 1875
My 5xgreat-grandmother, Antonia Maria Beccari, died in Druogno aged 75. She had been born there on 9 August 1799, the daughter of Giovanni Battista Beccari and Antonia Maria Baratta. She married farmer Pietro Vitali and had nine children. Widowed in 1853, she remained in the area until her death.
11 March 1781
My 6xgreat-grandmother, Gerritje Giesbers Rakhorst, was born in Putten. She was the daughter of Gijsbert Hendriksen Rakhorst and Teunisje Willems. Gerritje married Elbert Otten van Donkersgoed and they worked as farmers, raising eleven children. Widowed in 1845, Gerritje died in 1859 aged 78.