Notitie bij:

 

Gerardus (Gerrit) Johannes van Aken

1874-1934

Gerrit en Johanna Damen hadden 5 kinderen:

Marinus Antonius Maria (George)

Antonius Cornelius Maria (Tom)

Hendrika Wilhelmina Ignatia (Henriette)

Antonia Maria Bertha (Anna)

Cornelius Christopher

Volgens Cornelia van Aken: "My grandfather had quite a time with immigration authorities when he finally  brought the family over. I have a copy of a lengthy letter from him to the authorities.

 

Johanna Cornelia Maria Damen

Dochter van Antonie Damen en Antonia Anna M. Hermes

Volgens Cornelia van Aken: "My grandmother came from a wealthy family and all the kids went to boarding school in France before coming over here. She was a beautiful woman, had violet eyes."

 

Cornelius (Kees) van Aken (1872 -   )

Volgens Cornelia van Aken: "I think everyone probably already knows that Kees located in Whitefish, Montana where he became the pastor. In a stage production that he was producing and acting in, he shot a gun supposedly carrying blanks, and killed a nun. He left Whitefish and the priesthood, and became a chaplain in the Army, then moved to New York, was employed at the World’s Fair and married a woman he met there."

 

Christophorus (Chris) van Aken (1880 -   )

Volgens Cornelia van Aken: "Chis first moved to New York then to British Columbia around New Westminster, where he was a superintendent of a landscaping nursery.  While he was in NY, he lived at a rooming house where he met a  young woman he corresponded with while in BC. He left BC to visit her in NY, married her and brought her back to BC. She didn’t like it, so they moved back to NY and later separated. He spent his later years in NY, impoverished, but received some aid from his sister Antonia.