My 3rd great grandfather, Peter Hoogerzeil (1803 –
1889) stated on documents in Massachusetts that he was from “Dort” in the Netherlands. I never found a city or village named Dort on
any map. I started to research his story
in the 1970s, but it was until the 1990s, when I started using the internet for
my genealogy, that I solved this little mystery. On a bulletin board for Dutch
genealogy I asked about “Dort” and someone told me that this was the nickname for
the city of Dordrecht in South Holland.
Solving this mystery led to my finding six generations of Peter
Hoogerzeil’s ancestors!
I recently blogged about my trip to the Netherlands, and my
distant Hogerzeil cousin who led me on a tour of my ancestral origins. Visiting Dordrecht was a highlight of this
trip, because it was the place where my immigrant ancestor was born. Sometime in the 1820s Peter Hoogerzeil, who was a mariner descended from many generations of whaling sea captains, stowed
away in a ship that left Rotterdam, nearby Dordrecht. This ship was full of hemp from Indonesia,
bound for the ropewalk in Salem, Massachusetts.
Peter settled in Beverly, across the harbor from Salem, where he married
and left many descendants. I was born in
Beverly, and grew up not far from where he lived on Bartlett Street.
Dordrecht is one of the oldest cities in Holland, and it was
built on several rivers that drain into the Rhine. At one time Dordrecht was considered to be more
important than Rotterdam, but that changed in the late 1800s and early
1900s. I’m guessing that at the time
Peter left Dordrecht, it was an important commercial port, which made it easy
for him to take the chance at running away to America.
My distant cousin, Hans Hogerzeil, and Erik Kon, met us in
Leiden and brought us to Dordrecht, where our first stop was the part of the
harbor called “Kalkhaven” (chalk harbor), where Simon Hoogerzeijl (1743- 1802) lived
when he removed from Nieuwpoort. This
little harbor can be seen in this map from 1868 (below). We also visited the outside of the Grote Kerk
(“The Great Church”) where many Hogerzeil ancestors were married, buried or
baptized. It was a Monday on the day of
our visit, which is a day many buildings, stores and museums are closed in the
Netherlands, so we never saw the inside of this church.
We also took a walk through the medieval center of
Dordrecht, and saw the city hall, and the city archive (closed!). When we return to visit Holland again, we
will be sure it won’t be a Monday!
The streets were a maze, but we had a good tour guide! |
The Dordrecht Museum and archive is in this building |
Part 1 of this series, where I visit the village Krimpen aan de Lek:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/02/in-footsteps-of-ancestors-touring.html
Part 2 of this series, where I visit the tiny town of Nieuwpoort:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/02/in-footsteps-of-ancestors-touring_5.html
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “In the Footsteps of the Ancestors ~ A visit to Dordrecht, The Netherlands", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 8, 2018, (
What an amazing experience to walk in the footsteps of our ancestors, particularly when you have to cross the Atlantic to do it!
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