This page is dedicated to my Grandfather Cornelis van der Geld

Grandpa van der Geld at 38 years old in the year 1914. Click on the picture for more information

My Grandfather Cornelis was born in 1876 in the City of Amersfoort Holland. His parents were Father: Willem van der Geld and Mother Adriana van der Velden.

When he was 18 years old he went into the Dutch Army and was sent to the Country called Suriname that was also known as the West Indies. 

He used to tell us great tales of his adventures when he was in that country. . . . . Such as, the turtles were so big that you could sit on them and they would give you a ride!

As you can see from the photos below it must have been quite a change from living in the Netherlands. These are what the rural areas of Suriname looked like in 1893. In Suriname, the roads were almost non existent as all travel was done by ox and cart. 

Houses in those days were just huts, as you can see below, so all buildings had to be built by the Dutch.

SURINAME

Click on the logo to see more of Naarden

NAARDEN, HOLLAND

After twenty years of service he was retired from overseas duties by the army and was sent back to Veenendaal Netherlands for other official army duties. He met our Grandmother Marie van Leeuwen - van Eden in the interim of 1911 and she married him March 20, 1911 in City of Veenendaal.

In 1914, the van der Geld family moved to Naarden since he was transferred there because of his new Governmental duties. Since the housing was in short supply at that time, the family had to move into Nieuw Molen which was one of the barrack buildings in the fortification at Naarden until a house could be found. That lasted about eleven months, then they moved to Oude Haven 22 in Naarden. That was their last and final move.

His duties while in the Dutch army included being a supervisor of all the Governmental Buildings around Naarden until he retired 1934 at age 58

Our Grandmother became quite ill for several years and towards the end was bedridden until she died in 1949.

She was 67 years old when she passed away.
 
For awhile he rented several row boats which were docked in the waters around Naarden called the Oude Haven. Many times he would let us borrow a boat, but told us -  Come back in a half  hour if not, you're going to get it.  But many times we did not make it back in time and he would be MAD at us and would come after us with his cane or walking stick.

Later in life he found another love  Jansje Groenou from Naarden. She was 66 and he was 77. They were married for four (4) years until he died in his sleep at the age of 81 years in 1957.

Oude Haven, Naarden

The City of Naarden the Netherlands 1930ís

If you would like to learn more about
the City of Naarden, I have included
several links to Naarden on the LINKS page.

Most all of those pages are in Dutch,
but you can always just look at the pictures
and get a feel for what modern life is
like in this small Dutch city!

Grandpa gets married
again at 77!

Gerda, Uncle Jan and Aunt Jaan
coming out of the stadhuis at Naarden
where they watched Grandpa obtain his Marriage
License in one office and get married in another.

After the wedding was done,
the whole town was invited
to join the happy couple at a
reception at the "Military House"
on Cattenhagestraat (street)
in the City of Naarden.