Pray for the Soul of Deceased

Antonius v. d. Sloot

Husband of

Petronella van der Heijden,

born in Gemonde the 3^rd of July 1833 and there passed away the

22 January 1903

Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. That they, saith the Spirit, may rest from their labors. Rev. XIV, 13

Death is better than a bitter life; and eternal peace better than continuous illness.

Eccl. XXX, 17

Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed?

Jer. XV,18

After I’m gone, show respect to your mother. Take care of her for the rest of her life.

Tob. IV, 3

He who honors his mother gathers up treasures. Eccl. III, 5

Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love. Rom XII, 10

Strive together in your prayers to God for me.. Rom XV, 30

Sweet heart of Mary, be my salvation.

(300 days indulgence)

By A VAN GRIESVEN, Verger, Gemonde

Pray for the soul of deceased

Petronella van der Heijden

widow of

Antoon van der Sloot

Born in Gemonde 15 April 1833

and provided with the HH. Sacraments,

there passed away 27 January 1920.

The honorary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness.

Prov. XVI, 31

Now treat me as you please. Lord, give the command, bring all my troubles to an end, take me to an eternal rest. Don’t reject my prayer. I would rather die that live in misery.

Tob III, 6 Ps XXVI, 9 Ps XXVI, 16

The dead will be raised. Pray for them to make provision for them to be set free from their sin. II Macc XII, 46

I urge you, friends, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love that the spirit gives: join me in praying fervently to God for me.

IV Reg 1,13,14 Rom XV, 30

My Jesus, have mercy. (300 days indulgence)

Sweet heart of Mary, be my salvation.

(300 days indulgence)

That she may rest in peace.

P.J. Vervoort, verger--Gemonde

O, Mary, Mother of God and

mother of mercy,

pray for us and for the

deceased.

American Frank VanderSloot with daughter in search of roots in Meierij

‘Where was Great-grandmother buried?’

•Frank VanderSloot and his daughter LaurieKae at the old churchyard in Gemonde.

Who knows where Petronella van der Sloot-van der Heijden was buried in 1922 at the old churchyard in Gemonde? This question has been with Frank VanderSloot for several years now. These days he is back in the area with his daughter.

By Ko Luisterburg

In 1911, Piet van der Sloot left Gemonde for America for good. He never made it back to visit family in the Netherlands. His wife, Mieke van Oorschot, visited at an older age. The stories about family in the Netherlands kept circulating among the American VanderSloots. Great-grandson Frank VanderSloot, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, decided in 1969 at age 20 to go to Braband to research his family. He came across a few cousins and other family members. One of them gave him a large picture of his great-grandmother Petronella van der Sloot-van der Heijden. He also located her grave through a cousin, Piet van der Sloot, and took slides of it.

The Search

He hung the large portrait of his great-grandmother, complete with Dutch headdress, in his livingroom. “We don’t joke about her. She gives us a good feeling, even though we do not know her. To me, my wife, and six children, she represents a bond with our home-country,” says Frank. He and his daughter Laurie Kae Banks are in the area for a few days to do further research. A few years ago Frank VanderSloot brought his wife to visit the grave of his great-grandmother in Gemonde, but the gravestone was gone. The grave had been cleared. “I didn’t know that a grave could be cleared if no payments were made,” said he with regret. Because his slides also got lost, he cannot remember the location where his great-grandmother was buried. And that’s what he would like to find out.

Plans

“I know it is there, but whether it is left or right of the main pathway, I don’t remember,” says VanderSloot. Even Pastor Peter Luijcks could not help. But VanderSloot is determined to keep looking. “I want to place a new gravestone where the old used to be, and pay for the grave, naturally. I want to do this before people get too old.” In the mean time the 51-year-old, VanderSloot discovered that Gerard van der Sloot, owner of Café Marktzicht [Marketview] in Boxtel, Herman van Oirschot, and Willy Schellekens of Gemonde have the same great-grandmother as he does. The latter he met by coincidence as Schellekens owns the iron mongers’s shop near the churchyard in Gemonde. VanderSloot wants to bring his whole family to visit the Netherlands shortly. In the back of his head, he plays with the idea of holding a large reunion in Gemonde for all the American descendants of Petronella van der Sloot. He estimates this number to be over five hundred now. “And this number grows fast.” He sees the restored grave of his great-grandmother as a physical reminder of her existence.

American conducted long search after the grave of his great-grandmother in Gemonde.

Gravestone Finally Unveiled

•Great was the enthusiasm of the family at the sight of the new gravestone of Petronalla van der Heijden.

The American Frank VanderSloot was finally able to unveil the new gravestone of the earlier cleared grave of his great-grandmother Petronella van der Heijden. He did this in the presence of his family.

By Ko Luijsterburg

“Beautiful. We love it.” That was heard yesterday evening at the nearly-dark old graveyard of Gemonde when American Frank VanderSloot unveiled the new gravestone of his great-grandmother Petronella van der Heijden. She was married to Antoon van der Sloot and passed away in 1920.

There was great admiration for the new headstone and the American reactions of the VanderSloots were genuine: “So nice. Look at that!”

Meanwhile more than five hundred descendants of Petronella live in America and perhaps just as many in the Netherlands. After the unveiling, a flower was placed on the grave on behalf of those present. “We are very grateful for all the help we have received from the community, and that we have been able to find the grave of Great-Grandmother. None of us knew her, but she is a part of us,” was the reaction of Frank VanderSloot after the hurried ceremony. Hurried, because the family had been held up at Schiphol for two hours and thus arrived late.

Found

During a visit to the Netherlands in the late sixties, VanderSloot had found the grave of his great-grandmother in Gemonde. On a second visit, the grave turned out to have been cleared. He took a portrait of her with him to America where he hung it in the living room. This way great-grandmother, complete with Brabands headdress, lived on in the family. Accompanied by one of his daughters, he undertook another quest for her grave. An article in the Brabands Dagblad drew attention to the matter and a distant cousin, Willy Schellekens from Gemonde, spoke up in the Gemonde community. Initially no one could point out the correct location until Gemonde’s Jan Geerts remembered that he had been involved with the clearing. He pointed out the correct location. “And that was exactly right,” commented Schellekens. “Upon placing the new headstone we found the foundation of the old still there.”

Afterwards the American company, consisting of ten people, headed to the Boxtel fair to sit and talk. In the coming week another ten Americans arrive to participate in a reunion on Sunday with Dutch descendants of Petronella. It will be held at Café Marktzicht [Marketview] in Boxtel. The owner’s name is van der Sloot. Also related.

The year one thousand eight hundred thirty and six the second of the month of August at 10 o’clock in the morning appeared before us Major, Civil Servant of the Registers’ Office, Province North Braband, Peter van der Sloot, profession wooden shoe maker, twenty and seven years old, living in Boxtel, who showed us a child of the female sex, born on Monday the first of the month of August one thousand eight hundred thirty and six at four o’clock in the afternoon, of him, the appeared person, of profession ---- old ---- as for living in Boxtel, District C No. 25 and of Petronella van den Brand his housewife twenty and two years old, also living in Boxtel and whom he had declared to have named Anna Maria, which declaration and showing have occurred in company of Jan van den Brand, of profession tailor, sixty and one years old and of Antony Mandos of profession tailor, forty and one years old, both residing here, and have after the reading of this document has been done to the appeared, signed with us, save Peter van der Sloot who has declared not to be able to write.