Source:http://www.eee.bham.ac.uk/com_test/img%5Cdsnl%5Cinternet15jan06.pngWith the use of modern tools we were able to find VR-descendants & genealogical contacts throughout the years. For us to remember how we got in touch we have gathered all the reactions we received from many VR-descendants:
Please find below the first email which has been send out to VR-descendants. The contents of the email is kept in it's original form and has not been modified and therefore you will find some spelling and grammatical errors as you read. We apologize for this but would like to keep our information in the original format.
The email 24 February 2006:
Dear family,
I'm so happy that I took the time tonight to do a deep search on the internet. It was great to see how many of us that are all decendants of the van Romondt family (in whatever way) is in search of our family.
My name is Malaki Zuleika Croes (31) and I;m a decendent of Diederick Johannes van Romondt. My grandmother aswell as my grandfather are decendants of the van Romondts from 2 different branches.
My grandmother's father was Aubrey Cannegieter (whom father was a van Romondt). Aubrey gave a very good contribution to the stories and history of the van Romondts in Sint Maarten in several documentation including the book for the Love of Sint Maarten by Will Johnson.
My grandfathers father was also a van Romondt (John Granville Otto v. R.) and his grandfather was George Louis illidge van Romondt who was governor in Bonaire.
I grew up listening to stories my grandparents told me, since they remember a few van Romondts. I was always interested in the family, not a specific branch no the whole tree. I wanted to know who my ancestors were and to find those who are desendants. This is how i started a project a few years ago "the van romondt family tree:, Diederick Johannes van Romondt".
During the years I gathered information and I tried to get information on the families decendants of the van Romondts.
My wish is to complete the family tree with the help of each and everyone so it can be dedicated to those still alive from the older generation. At the moment we have a few family alive that are enjoying their last days. Their is a great uncle that will be 99 next year, unfortunaly mrs. Lilian Richardson (daughter of Lewis van Romondt) died in 2004 in New York at the age of 99 and I feel sorry that I never had the chance to meet her.
In honor to those that are still alive up to this day I believe that the family tree this is the best gift they can receive, looking back that they might not have had all the oppurtunity to meet their relatives and the resources were limited throughout the years.
I believe the family tree is each one of us and I would really appreciate if we can do this togehter. Please contact me so we can look into all the data we have to gather it all. Time is all we have!
A little info, one of you mentioned that some data of their family was not included in the book, by Will Johnson ( for the love of Sint Maarten). My desendants were also not included at all, eventhough my great grandfather (Aubrey Cannegieter) gave a great contribution to the history. The only record in the book on my family is the name of John Granville Otto van Romondt, No other record of him and his family.
The van Romondt family was very big in Sint Maarten. During the years some left to U.S.A., Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire and other caribbean island. As you can see the name remained in several families up to this day. Eventhough In Sint Maarten many van Romondts are buried there are no "real' Romondts at this time there, except for those that are desendants from the van Romondts but by the names of Cannegieter, Richardson, etc. etc. The beauty of it all is that by looking at each other we all have something from the van Romondts, whether it is hobbies, interest, business, characteristics, education etc etc. and this makes each one of us special in our own way!
For the past 11 years I lived in Holland and currently I;m back in Aruba ( my homeland), y travel often to Sint Maarten and Curacao were I meet with several families and it is always nice to listen to stories and gather information.
The desendants of Diederick Johannes van Romondt (1781-1849) together with his wife Ann Hassell and their children made a very huge and amazing family where we all are a part from and located in sevaral places in the world including Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, Sint Maarten, Venezuela, U.S.A., Dominican Republic, Holland, France, Martinique etc, etc.
I hope to hear from you soon! I wrote this email in English, but I also speak/write and understand papiamento, spanish, dutch, french and german! Feel free to contact me in the language you desire!
Feel free to contact me and especially those living in Aruba please give me a call: 00-297-5635347 so we can meet personally, I would love this. I'm also on the msn (mzcroes@hotmail.com ) and skype (Malaki Zuleika Croes). Or if anyone knows the best way for all of us to come together online sent some suggestions!
Looking forward to meet each one of you,
Many family & sunny greetings from Aruba
God bless,
Malaki Zuleika Croes
The reactions:
Ingrid Gumbs, genealogist living in The Netherlands:
Hia Malaki, Leuk van je te horen en te weten dat je een van de afstammelingen van Diedericht van Romondt tak bent en ook zo’n enthousiaste stamboom onderzoeker. Ja de familie van Romondt is heel groot. Zo te zien hebben zij zich allemaal flink vermenigvuldigt. Ik weet ook dat de familie Richardson related is to the Gumbs evenals de Lakes.Ik ben zeer benieuwd .
Hou mij in iedergeval opd e hoogte van de ontwikkelingen. we zouden dan tezijnertijd een grote reunie van de stamboom van Romondt en aanverwante familieleden moeten houden.
Eleanor O'Malley, VR-descendant living in the U.S.A.:
Wonderful to hear from you! What a noble project you've undertaken!
I am Eleanor (Fitzgerald) O'Malley of Warrensburg, MO. My Mom, Irene vanRomondt was wife of my dad, Daniel Fitzgerald.
I don't know if you are white or black and I don't care, but while you are "putting this family together" I do wish you could do something about bringing the races together harmoniously as I know there were many on both sides.
Happy to have met you Malaki Zuleika Croes! I hope we can meet in person some day. Thanks for contacting me. You made my day!
Heidi van Romondt, VR-descendant living in The Netherlands:
Hello Malaki, How nice to hear that you are researching the Van Romondt's, My name is Heidi (as you might already know). My grandfather was Lewis August van Romondt and he was married to Henrietta Brouwer.
Egon van Romondt, VR-descendant living in Canada:
Thank you for your letter. My name is Egon van Romondt and I'm 32 years old. I was born and currently reside in Toronto, Canada. I was in St.Maarten in January looking into some family history. It would be nice to continue a discussion with you.
Peter Oxley, VR-descendant living in the Bahamas, island called Exuma:
Thank you for your contact & interest in tracing further members of the van Romondt family.Hope all this information helps your researches & look forward to hearing about your further investigations in due course.
Diederik van Romondt, VR-descendant living in the Netherlands:
Ik ben Diederik van Romondt en ook ik ben een afstammeling van Diederik Johannes van Romondt die zich rond 1800 op Sint Maarten vestigde. Zelf ben ik 23 jaar (maandag wordt ik 24) en kom uit Den Haag, waar ik mijn hele leven al woon.
Enkele jaren geleden raakte ik ook geinteresseerd in de familiegeschiedenis van de van Romondts, wat ze deden en waar ze vandaan kwamen. In mijn familie zijn er echter niet veel verhalen bekend van de van Romondts.
Ik vind het leuk om de kennis over de familie en voorouders met je te delen en hoop je te kunnen helpen met mijn bijdrage voor het aanvullen van de familiestamboom van de van Romondts. Daarnaast vind ik het ook leuk om te weten dat ik (verre) familie heb op de Antillen en op het Amerikaanse continent, wat ik vroeger niet wist.
Dorothy Henderson living in the U.S.A.:
How great that you've shown up. I'm glad that I haven't changed my address as yet.
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