deBV HISTORY

DE BALBIAN VERSTER WOMEN

ABOVE: My father's grandmother, Jetske Palsma Bouman (whom we always called Oma) and my father's mother, Helen, who was born in 1902.

ABOVE: Helen on her wedding day. Helena Marie van der Ven married Cornelis Henricus de Balbian Verster in 1920. They divorced in 1932. She later remarried James Richardson Bright in Miami. She died in 1952.

ABOVE: My aunt, Jetske Ybeltje Christina de Balbian Verster (born 1921). What style!

Love Lies and the Unknown Life of Mata Hari:

FEMME FATALE

In Pat Shipman's book about Mata Hari, Femme Fatale, J.T.Z. de Balbian Verster was actually Jan Francois Leopold de Balbian Verster, who was a “journalist, redacteur dagblad Het Nieuws van de Dag,” which translates to journalist and editor of the News of the Day. He had 3 younger brothers, two of whom very likely were also friends of Rudolf MacLeod (Mata Hari’s husband), since Jan Arnold was in Medan and Abraham Henricus was in Padang, both at almost the same time as MacLeod.

1. Jan Francois Leopold de Balbian Verster (1861-1939) "Nadat hij een H.B.S. in Noor Brabant had afgelopen. Demasqueerde hij als 'Omega,' den nom de plume, waaronder his 30 jaar lange wekelijks als de briefschrijver aan de Sumatra post had meegewerkt. Daarna naar de Indische instelling to Delft…"

2. Sjoerd Arnold de Balbian Verster (1862-1922), who was an “Amerikaans staatsburger onder de naam Frank Hanson, koopman, burgemeester van Laguna Beach (California).”

3. Jan Arnold de Balbian Verster (1864-1902), who was “tokohouder te Kota Radja (Atjeh). Op 17 jarige leeftjid naar Atjeh in dienst van de firma de Lange en Co “Atjeh-leverantie,” doch moest streken egens malaria lerlaten en vestigde zich in Medan (Deli) Sumatra’s Oostkust. Na genezing weer terug naar “Atjeh-leverantie.” Richt in 1899 een Toko op te Kota Radja. Lijdt voortdurend aan verouderde dysenterie en moeraskoortsen…"

4. Abraham Henricus de Balbian Verster (1866-1939) was also in Pat Shipman’s book (erroneously) referred to as an older brother who was a member of the Mata Hari Loge ( a Masonic Lodge) in Sumatra -- Padang I.. He was “major inf., directeur central bureau voor het landbouwboekhouden utrechtsch Landbouw Genootschap,” and was the father of Cornelis Henricus de Balbian Verster (1897-1938) who was “ambtenaar secretarie van Willemstad (Curacao)” and my grandfather.
Abraham Henricus de Balbian Verster – "wirdt in 1890 officier de Infanterie’s-Hertogenbosch, gaat mei 1893 naar West Indie om daar drie jaren te worden gedetacheerd “Paramaribo 1 augustus aan de 2e luit der Inf. A.H. de B.V. is admissie verleend als landmeter.” Op 25 februari 1898 voor 5 jaren gedetacheerd naar Oost Indie in garnizoen te Padang…"

ABOVE & BELOW: Oma in 1959 when she was living with Tante Gre in the castle pictured below, located in Santpoort in the Netherlands.

ABOVE: Oma flanked by her daugher, Helen, and her granddaughter, Jetske Ybeltje Christina de Balbian Verster (the older sister of my father, Florentius de Balbian Verster). Family lore has it that Oma harbored a Jewish family during WWII, and each morning had to witness Nazi executions of "traitors" from the balcony of her Haarlem home which overlooked the town square. Oma was a duplicate bridge player, and at 100 years of age was bridge champion of the Netherlands. She lived to be 104.

ABOVE: My aunt, Jetske Ybeltje Christina de Balbian Verster (died 2005).

LEFT: the de Balbian Verster family crest. (Please forgive the Moor.)

LOWER LEFT: the de Balbian crest.

BELOW: a document which traces the Verster/de Balbian Verster lineage:

Justus of Joachim Verster (b.1555)

Pieter Verster (b. 1602)

Isaac Verster (b. 1632)

Abraham Verster (b. 1667)

Jan Louis Verster (b. 1697)

Abraham Verster (b. 1720)

Florentius Verster (b. 1747)

Jan Francois Leopold Verster (b. 1788)

[title of Baron bestowed and
name changed by royal decree]

Abraham Henricus de Balbian Verster (b.1830)

Abraham Henricus de Balbian Verster (b.1866)

Cornelis Henricus de Balbian Verster (b.1897)

Florentius de Balbian Verster (b.1924)

Karen de Balbian Verster (b.1954)

Karen is the last "de Balbian Verster" using that name