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I play in two bands; a rock and roll type group and a Brazilian style samba batucada percussion group.

The samba band is Samba Nova. What a great group of people and a terrific musical experience. We consider ourselves a “community band” that exists as a collective but manages itself with a management team. I’m one of four people who sort of run the business side of things, although it’s all very cooperative.

We are a practicing and performing group of around 25 people of varied backgrounds. The group was formed many years ago by Matthieu Keijser, who passed away in October 2006. Our new leader learned samba at his Granny’s knee in Brazil. He’s a truly excellent samba band instructor and leader and we are learning new materials and enjoying every single minute together as a band. We perform at festivals and events paying gigs and expect to be busy with events all year long. It’s extremely enjoyable.

• Visit the Samba Nova website!
• Check out a short YouTube clip!

The rock and roll band is a bunch of guys who more or less have been hanging out together, some for 20 years or more. I’ve been with them for roughly 15 years mostly playing my amplified violin. When I started we played a lot of Van Morrison and Bob Dylan and folk/rock type of music with great harmonies and music that suited my instrument. Since then we have bought more and more gear and become louder and louder and the genre of music has become more guitar-centric.

While the music is often good, with blues and rock and spontaneous inventions that seem to really fall into a smooth groove every once in a while I hear things like Smoke on the Water which for me is probably the bottom of the barrel as far as music goes.

We have played a few small events over the years, mostly parties and the like but no one has any will to do anything more than just “jam” in the music space. During jam sessions, sometimes three electric guitars will play at the same time, each seeming to compete with the other. No one ever discusses the songs or tries to improve and there usually isn’t even any agreement on what song to play.

I used to sing in the Atlantic Swells Barbershop Chorus. We performed regularly but I couldn’t commit to the many shows and other activities throughout the year.

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I bought a Sony Minidisc MZ-R700 digital recorder on ebay for $60, plus a Sony stereo condenser microphone to record pieces by my band Samba Nova

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Roughly a year ago, while updating some records for domains I maintain there was a news event where a Canadian was appointed to an important position. For some reason (maybe my underlying schemer tendencies) I spontaneously registered the .com version of the domain with that person’s name. Afterward it seemed kind of pointless but a month before I was intending to let it expire I received an unexpected email from an IT consultant “Is this domain for sale?”

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Monday, August 19, 2002 Back The Halifax Herald Limited VAN GURP, Alexander VAN GURP, Alexander - 78, Halifax, died peacefully in his sleep with family around him, August 17, 2002. Born in 1924, in The Hague, The Netherlands, he was one of 15 children. In his early years he worked in a radio lab where he designed a new model of a radio, now a collectors item. He immigrated to Canada in 1953 with his wife, Margaretha and children, Maria, Hetty, Gerald, with Susan, Carolyn and John, being born in Halifax. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Margaretha; seven brothers and sisters in The Netherlands; his six children; nine grandchildren. He spent two of the war years in a forced labour camp in Germany and was interred in a camp for political prisoners. He was active with the Dutch Association of Slave Labourers, he founded a website for survivors of forced labour camps and spent much of his time translating documents and maintaining the site. Through this work he found information for the families of deceased forced labourers. In Canada he established VanGurp Electronics, taught electronics at Halifax Regional Vocational School and served as principal at the Community College. Since his retirement he has taken great joy in the peace and solitude of his cottage at Russell Lake, where the natural beauty inspired him to perfect the craft of bird carving. Cremation has taken place. A memorial service will be held 3 p.m. Friday, August 23, in Atlantic Funeral Home Chapel, 6552 Bayers Rd., Halifax. A reception will follow the service in the family reception centre. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Save the Children Canada, 1-800-668-5036 ext. 292   Ceremony on August 31, 2002 at Russell Lake Introduction On April 11, 1924 Alexander van Gurp was born at Scheveningen, The Netherlands. On August 17, 2002 Alexander van Gurp gave his spirit back to his Creator. Today we are together to commend his remains to the earth at a place where he spent so many happy hours.   Quotations from the cottage-book (a journal documenting events and thoughts starting with a camp purchase in 1985) January 1991 Eventide It’s getting dark, the sun is slowly setting. A quiet peace descends upon the land. Even the birds have all but ceased their chatt’ring. The trees are black, no wind for them to bend. The lake is still and slowly disappearing. The trees will blend in total darkness then and up above, beyond all human hearing, a million lights for me, a single man. A melancholy mood, a sense of perfect peace comes o’r me when in this enchanted land. Thoughts disappear, my mind is so at ease. It makes me feel this peace will never end.   July 1991 This evening it was very quiet as it usually is after the birds and mammals have retired, for whatever reason they have to do so. And when I soak this in, I’m very happy and peaceful. February 1994 Lately I have been trying to decide why I am so content and relaxed here at Russell Lake, even when the weather is not very nice and I think the answer came to me one evening recently when I was sitting on the sofa at home in Halifax, looking at my surroundings. It suddenly struck me that almost evrything around me was dead: the fire place, the walls, the ceiling, the ornaments, attractive as they were. I then fancied myself in the cottage, looking out through the sliding doors. Everything I saw was showing signs of living. I realized that I am a living organism in the company of other organisms. It makes no more sense to distinguish between nature and oneself than between, for instance, nature and birds or trees, we and they are altogether one. May 1996 Lots of birds and their songs. I can just imagine how Adam and Eve must have felt in the Garden of Eden. June 1997 I’m looking out in the flower garden with the orange azalea and purple ajuga in full bloom and birds frolicking in the birds bath. The sound of the wind in the trees and the chirping of the many birds are the only outside sounds. Not a human within miles; no lawn mowers, no cars. Vivaldi’s “summer” of the Four Seasons is playing softly in the background. Nothing but tranquility. The sunlit greens of the trees, ferns and grass appear to be almost luminous. There is a light haze over the lake. Oh, perfect peace! May 1998 Russell Lake … Sunset Chalet … How sweet it is!! No cellar, no whzzz-whzzz or grrrr-grrrr of cars and lawn mowers. Just the sweet sounds of bird songs … nothing else, or total quiet. January 2002 During 2001 I have been here 132 days which is 36% of the year, almost all of it from May to November: 4 more months and the fun starts again. What will 2002 bring?   Reflections and Thoughts by Family   From the 103rd Psalm As a father has compassion on his children So the Lord has compassion on us For He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with us and his righteousness with our children’s children.   We all select a stone and place it on the heap of stones which is a monument to the memory of Alexander van Gurp Farewell In the ancient Greek world, religion sprung from people’s interaction with their environment and was a way of understanding or coming to grips with the actions and cycles of the natural world. Gods lived on misty mountain tops and controlled the oceans and the skies. The most sacred spots were also the areas of greatest beauty and inspiration. Even today visiting these sites send chills up your spine and generates a strong sense of awe and reverence. The Christian religion of our father’s youth and family has close connections to the beliefs of the ancient Greeks. Common threads can be found between the ancient and more modern religion and a number of books of the New Testament were written in Greek communities amid the temples and religious practices of the Greeks. The ancient people believed that everyone went to the underworld when they died. To reach the underworld they had to pay a boatman one coin to be ferried cross the mythical river Styx. Africans held similar beliefs and many of the old sprirituals, based on ancient beliefs, refer to rivers or waters to cross to reach the promised land. The Greeks also believed that exceptionally good or heroic people were reserved a place in the Elysian Fields, a golden, blissful place of rest in the underworld. Of course, not everyone made it to the Elysian Fields after their first life. If you were sent back to earth and made it to the fields three times, you earned the right to rest in the Island of the Blessed and never had to leave. Today we are ferrying our father’s body across the waters of the Lake Russell to reach the promised land of eternal peace and serenity, to remain undisturbed as long as the land, God or gods allows islands to stand and lakes to be filled. Whatever our religious beliefs may be or not be, may we all live with the hope that eternal peace is possible, whether it exists in the form of a place in heaven next to God, a spot reserved in the Elysian Fields or a tranquil island in Lake Russell. Travel well, Dad, and Godspeed. Carolyn The ashes are taken in the canoe and are deposited on an island in Russell Lake

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Netherlands Slave Labourers WWII My father created this site dedicated to information about World War 2 Nazi slave labour camps for Dutch nationals. It includes pages of requests by survivors and survivor’s families for information about them or people they knew. He spent a great deal of time writing and translating documents for his site and for others as well. The Documentatiegroep 40-45 has generously offered to host and maintain the site. A Letter to Susan is the account of his experiences in a German factory and in nazi labor and prison camps between 1943 and 1945. 

“… a letter which a Dutch former forced laborer wrote to his daughter in 1983, forty years after having been deported to Germany. In it he describes the events which led to his deportation, his experiences in a German factory, and in labor and prison camps between 1943 and 1945. The story is representative of the many accounts which have been written since the end of the second world war. The contents are based on memoirs written immediately after the war and can therefore be considered factually accurate.”

 

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by Dr. G. J. van Gurp (Eindhoven, Holland - c.1983)

The van Gurp family history can be traced back to circa 1300 and possibly even further. My own research has progressed to the mid-15th century.

The family derives its name from the hamlet Gorp, near Hilvarenbeek, in the province of Noord Brabant. This hamlet, which today only consists of a small castle, a number of homes and parcels of land, belonged to the Duke of Brabant whose seat was in Brussels and who had given it by tenure to one of our ancestors. At that time a person by the name of Wouter was the vassal. Since he lived in Gorp he was called Wouter van Gorp, or van Gorop. In legal documents one can also find other name forms such as: Jan Gerits op Gorop wonende (Jan Gerits living at Gorp), or in short Jan Gerits op Gorop. The vassalage passed from father to son. When there were several sons, they all inherited land but only one inherited the title. Gradually the name Van Gorp was used even when the person no longer lived in Gorp.

It is probable that the name was pronounced Görp as is still the case in the western part of Noord Brabant. The government officials whose job it was to write deeds and other legal instruments were always local people who knew how t he name was spelled. When, during the 17th century, clergymen from outside Brabant were appointed, the name was distorted to Van Geurp or Van Gurp in the baptismal and marriage record books and it is for this reason that today both the names Van Gorp and Van Gurp appear, both traceable to the vassal of the Duke of Brabant.

Over the course of history the Duchy of Brabant split into two sections of which one became part of the Netherlands (Noord Brabant) and the remainder part of Belgium. The name Van Gorp or Van Gurp appears on both sides of the border.

The research which I am conducting contains some areas of genealogical uncertainty. The genealogy of our family can be traced with certainty to the beginning of the 18th century when our ancestors lived on the isle of Goeree-Overflakkee, namely in Stad aan het Haringvliet. Because of a 50-year gap in the baptismal and marriage record books and because the family did not live in Stad aan het Haringvliet before that time, there is also a gap in the genealogical tree. A family named Van Gorp has been found who lived on the island circa 1700 but it cannot be proven that the Van Gurp family descended from them. However, it appears probable and this essay will be based on the assumption that the relationship is indeed factual.

Our ancestors therefore came from the Hilvarenbeek region of Noord Brabant in which Gorp was located. Ancestors also lived in Tilburg. An important relocation took place circa 1578 when Hendrick Laureijs van Gorp moved from Tilburg to the village of Cape lle in de Langstraat. The reason for this move is not known. It may possibly have something to do with the persecution of the protestants which resulted in an exodus from ’s Hertogenbisch and de Meierij, to which Tilburg belonged. Capelle which is now in Noord Brabant, was then part of the province of Holland which enjoyed a considerable degree of freedom of religion. Adam, Hendrick’s brother, also moved from Tilburg (circa 1592) and settled in Poppel which is now Belgium, close to the border. Our ancestors lived in de Langstraat for about 100 years and during that time some of them also moved from de Landstraat to Oud Beijerland, whence the trail leads to the isle of Goeree-Overflakkee. These relocations always took place by boat which was necessary because all these places were located on or near waterways. For our ancestors the move away from Goeree-Overflakkee took place circa 1880 when Pieter van Gurp moved first to Sliedrecht, then to Noord Brabant and later still to ’s Gravenhage.

In the part that follows I shall present the genealogical tree to the extent that it represents the direct line of descent from father to son. The data were researched mainly in the following archives: Algemeen Rijksarchief (General State Archives) in ‘ s Gravenhage, Rijksarchief van Noord Brabant (State Archives of Noord Brabant), Gemeentearcgieven (Municipal Archives) in Tilburg and Sprang-Capelle, and the archives of the Nederlands Hervormde Gemeente (Dutch Reformed Congregation) in Sprang-Capelle.

For the period after 1600 baptismal and marriage record books are significant sources. For the preceding period judicial and notarial instruments are the only sources. Among these are deeds of purchase and sale, wills and testaments, bankruptcy petitions, et cetera. It is understandable that these documents are also of importance for the period after 1600. For the purpose of this research they are only of importance to the extent that the family owned property and unfortunately that was not the case during the early part the 18th cetury which coincided with the gap in the baptismal and marriage record book in Stat an Haringvliet. Years of birth are not known for the time before circa 1600 since baptisms and marriages were not recorded which makes the construction of the family tree somewhat like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle.

It goes without saying that baptismal and marriage records were entered by hand. Because this was sometimes done in poorly legible handwriting, data cannot always be traced. Besides, the baptismal and marriage record books are not complete. Also, name changes occur which hampers research. Relocations were not recorded with the result that a branch of the family tree simply breaks off. All this means that it is nearly impossible to construct a family tree in its entirety. For that matter, such would also take a great deal of time.

As late as the 18th century it was common to use patronymics, having one name to which the father’s name was added. For instance: the father of Laureijs Hendricks van Gorp (Hendricks meaning Hendrick’s son) was Hendricks Jans van Gorp.

Infant mortality was high and as a result it happened that sometimes several children in a family had the same name. Apart from this, one will also find that two children from one family carried the same name without one having died. In such case they we redistinguished as Cornelis de oude (Cornelis the older) and Cornelis de jonge (Cornelis the younger). This is how the surnames De Oude (the Older) and De Jonge (the Younger) came into existence. Sometimes there were also a Cornelis de middelste (Cornelis the middle).

Few people lived to be 65; many died before that age. Many women died in childbirth.

With those who were less well-off it often happened that they moved because work could be found elsewhere. That is how one family, Jacob Hendrickse van Gorp is found under three different addresses on the isle of Goeree-Overflakkee (circa 1685).

Official functions were always awarded for a number of years by the Schout en Schepenen (sheriff and magistrates). It is not surprising that the most important functions were filled by wealthy families, sometimes passing from father to son.

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