The Children of Adriaan Beukenkamp and Alida von Gorcum: Marinus Beukenkamp

In my last post, I wrote about my great-granduncle Adriaan Beukenkamp. He was the elder brother of my great-grandfather, Gerhardus Beukenkamp (later George Beck).

Adriaan Beukenkamp married Alida Johanna van Gorcum in Amsterdam on August 22, 1907. They had four children together.

1. Marinus Gerhardus Beukenkamp, b. 1910 in Vienna, Austria; m. Anna Elisabeth Keur; d. 1971 in Leipzig, Germany
2. Janna Gerhardina Beukenkamp b. 1911 in Vienna, Austria; m. Hendrick Coenraad Nienhuys; d. 1993 in Suffield, Connecticut, USA
3. Radboud Beukenkamp, b. 1914 in Graz, Austria; m. Jantina Ette Mensinga; d. 1993 in Shalimar, Florida, USA
4. Lourens Jacobus Beukenkamp. b. 1920 in Zaandam, The Netherlands; m. Margaret Smit; d. 2007 in Dothan, Alabama, USA

In this and following posts, I'm sharing what I have learned about Adriaan and Alida's children.

Marinus Gerhardus Beukenkamp

Marinus G. Beukenkamp with his bride, Anna Elisabeth Keur

Marinus Gerhardus Beukenkamp was born on February 23, 1910 in Vienna, Austria. As detailed in his brother Lourens Beukenkamp's autobiography, Marinus' parents, Adriaan and Alida Beukenkamp, moved from Amsterdam to Vienna soon after their marriage, and their first three children were born there, before difficult post-WWI years brought the family back to The Netherlands.

According to the thorough Beukenkamp family records compiled by Estella Beukenkamp and shared with me by cousin Emily B., Marinus enrolled in a textile college in Cottbus, Germany, and then became a textile engineer, working at a factory in Berlin. Careerguide.com says the following about this occupation: "Textile engineers apply the principles of engineering to design and manufacture of fiber, textiles, apparel and associated processes and products." 

Marinus' father, Adriaan, was a banker who had a financial investment in a woolens and worsteds factory in Cottbus, and it appears that this is why Marinus was sent there to train and get started in the textile industry. After some time in Berlin, Marinus returned to The Netherlands.

On February 21, 1935, 24-year old Marinus married Anna Elisabeth Keur, known as Anny. Born February 5, 1912 in Zandvoort, The Netherlands, she was the daughter of Cornelis Keur and Johanna Petronella van der Kodde. Marinus' younger brother, Lourens Beukenkamp, wrote about the early years of Marinus and Anny's marriage in his autobiography.

During the Summer vacation of 1937 I went with Marinus and Anny to Austria. As I told earlier, my father was a participant in a textile company in Cottbus, Germany. Any income from this was held in a German bank and Hitler did not allow any transfers to foreign banks. Thus we were to use this "German" money for our vacation. Hitler had just marched into Austria and declared it to be part of Germany. Well, we arrived in Vienna and admired this beautiful city. It was a bit of a shock to see benches in the parks with a sign on it [saying] "Not for Jews" but other than that things were quiet.

We started walking through town. Marinus was 10 years old when the family left Vienna during 1920. One morning he stopped, looked at a building and told us "that was my school, my seat was right at that window on the second floor." All of a sudden he remembered a lot more and started walking all over town. Anny and I were puffing behind him and listened and looked at all the things he pointed out to us.

He walked to the Gartengrasse 26 which was where he used to live in a large apartment building on the third floor. We walked up the stairs and he pointed out the door in the hall that used to be the Beukenkamp front door. Then he looked at the nameplates next to other doors and said, "These people lived here when I was young." He rang the bell and introduced himself to an old gentleman. This fellow flipped and invited us in and we had a pleasant hour with coffee and cake."

Just a few years after Marinus and Anny were married, World War II began. In his autobiography, Lourens described Marinus' war service.

During 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland and France and England declared war, the Dutch also mobilized its army. Marinus was inducted and stationed in Venendaal. The rule was that if there were more boys in a family, the first one served, the second one was free of call up, and the third one had to be available if the need arose.

A scene from the Battle of the Grebbeberg. Source

Lourens describes his father receiving a telegram from Marinus in 1940, after the Battle of the Grebbeberg. Marinus was able to let Adriaan know that he had survived the fighting. This battle, which lasted from May 11-13, 1940, was a hard-fought attempt by the Dutch to repel invading German troops. Despite their best efforts, the Dutch were overwhelmed by German ground and air forces. Over 400 Dutch soldiers perished, but Marinus survived. 

On May 14, 1940, the German bombing of Rotterdam completely flattened The Netherlands' second-largest city, killing over 850 people. 

The Dutch military had no effective means of stopping the bombers (the Dutch Air Force had practically ceased to exist and its anti-aircraft guns had been moved to The Hague), so when another similar ultimatum was given in which the Germans threatened to bomb the city of Utrecht, the Dutch supreme command in the late afternoon decided to capitulate rather than risk the destruction of another city. (Wikipedia)

Rotterdam's devastated city center, 1940. Source

After the surrender, five long and terrifying years of Nazi occupation began. It's not clear what happened to Marinus between May 1940 and Fall 1944, when Lourens described him as being "liberated." It's likely that he was sent to a labor camp of some kind. He did not return home until near the end of the war.

In his autobiography, Lourens described the end of the war in 1945, and his reunion with Marinus. 

On May 5, almost exactly 5 years after the war started in Holland, the end was there and the Germans in Holland capitulated. Canadian and American jeeps, small tanks, Harley-Davidsons rolled into town and were soon followed by convoys of trucks with more food, medical help and believe me they were welcomed with open arms. It is not possible to describe the feeling everyone had. 

The elation was unbelievable. Young people were climbing on the armored cars and tanks with flags and flowers. The soldiers were handing out cigarettes, chocolate bars and the streets were filled with happy people. German soldiers stayed in their camps and were rounded up and brought to internment areas.

Celebrations marked the end of the war in The Netherlands

Marinus who had been liberated during the Fall of 1944 came to visit us and brought food. In Helmond, where he lived, they had had the British Goldstream Guards and he had gotten to know a few officers very well. When the collapse of Germany began they had to move on and fight the war on German soil. But one day they returned for a visit, each driving a big German luxury car. When their leave was over, they stepped in one car and told Marinus,"You can have the other one." It was a 12 cylinder Horch cabriolet. The type of big car the German staff officers would use to view their troops during parades. And he came with this car.

Horch 853 Sport Cabriolet, like the one given to Marinus. Source: 12cylinders.com

Lourens also described how, in 1947, Marinus obtained a permit to start a weaving business. He decided not to follow through on those plans, for something better had come up, and he transferred the permit to Lourens, allowing his younger brother to build a business and some post-war financial stability.

In the early 1950s, Marinus bought a boat. Lourens described it as a "steel double ended boar, about 32 feet in length," and said that he and his brother would sail races on the Zuiderzee (later renamed the IJselmeer) and the North Sea. He recalled one race on the Zuiderzee, where Marinus' boat, the Anna Elizabet, took on some much larger boats and ended up winning the race. 

In the mid-1950s, both Marinus and Lourens were both seriously considering moving to America. Their sister, Janna, and brother, Radbout, had already emigrated and were living in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., respectively. New political tensions in The Netherlands began to concern the Beukenkamp brothers who remained there. As a result, Marinus sold the Anna Elizabet and bought a larger, fixer-upper boat, which he christened Rebecca. Here is a passage from Lourens' autobiography describing that moment in time.

The reason why he bought it, was that there was a feeling in Western Europe that the situation with the Russians was of concern. Marinus had the 2-mast boat laid out with a big hold between the masts. This provided sufficient room to put all his and our furniture aboard if it became necessary to flee. We could sail to America or any other place. When it was finished we sailed it a few times on the North Sea and it was marvelous.

Then Marinus had plans to load the hold with all kind of equipment, refrigerators which could be run with kerosene, generators, etc. and sail to Africa's Gold Coast where these items would bring a considerable profit. He left with some of his buddies as crew and had a beautiful trip. In one of the harbors at the Gold Coast he met the captain of an American [ship] which was in the harbor. This fellow was close to retirement and loved this big yacht. He wanted to buy it and refit the hold into several rooms so that he could use it for charter purposes. Well, over a few glasses of Bols Genever it came about that he would pay as many dollars as the boat had cost in guilders, and with the dollar-guilder exchange that was a considerable profit.

Marinus sailed the boat across to the USA to the harbor of Newport. However, something did not develop as expected. I do not know all the details, but Marinus flew back home and it took a long time ere he sold Rebecca. And he did not make as much profit as he hoped. 

Marinus did not end up moving to America, although Lourens did. Marinus was the only one of his siblings to remain permanently in Europe. He died in Leipzig, Germany on September 10, 1971, at the age of 61. Anny died on February 12, 1985 in Heemstede, The Netherlands, at the age of 73.

The Children of Marinus and Anny

Marinus and Anny had four children together. The eldest three were born in 1936, 1937, and 1939, before Marinus went away with the Dutch Army and was gone for the duration of the war years. The youngest Beukenkamp child was born in 1949, after Marinus was reunited with his family.

Marinus and Anny's eldest child, Adriaan Beukenkamp, was born April 12, 1936 in Losser, The Netherlands. Losser is in the far east of the country, near the border with Germany. In 1965, Adriaan married Elisabeth (full name not shared as she may still be living), and they moved to Vermont, USA together that same year. There, they had two daughters. According to an article published in The Brattleboro Reformer in 1981, Adriaan and his family lived in Mount Snow, Vermont from 1965-1972, a popular area for skiing, and Adriaan worked in hotels and restaurants. Then, the Beukenkamps returned to The Netherlands, where they ran The Hague Golf and Country Club, then the largest club of its kind in western Europe. In 1981, they once again settled in Vermont, where Adriaan purchased a Londonderry hotel. Adriaan died in Dorset, Vermont in 2011. His descendants continue to live in Vermont. 

Marinus and Anny had three other children that I won't discuss in detail, as they may still be living. The second of those children also moved to Vermont, where she and her husband worked in the hospitality industry, like her brother. The two other siblings remained in The Netherlands, and their descendants are still there. 

 

The next post will be devoted to Adriaan and Alida's second child, and their only daughter, Janna Beukenkamp.