Henriëtte Hubertine Persoon, called 'Dina' in the family, was born on 6 November 1909 in Doverheide, just across the German border, the daughter of Pieter Persoon and Anna Giesen.
A harrowing childhood
Her earliest childhood was harrowing. The family lived in Spaarndam, where the children were severely neglected. On 4 June 1913 the family was evicted and the six children, Dina was then three years old, were found in wretched conditions. Shortly afterwards their mother abandoned them, and on 14 June 1913 the Guardianship Board took the children to Haarlem, where they were cared for and placed in foster families. Both parents left for Germany that summer; on 29 September 1913 they were stripped of parental authority by the Haarlem court.
Growing up in Drunen
As an orphan girl she was placed on 25 September 1913 with the J. Boelen foster family in the Groenewoud in Drunen; that is how she grew up in Drunen, where she later also met her husband. What she missed most in her childhood was true parental love.
A family of her own
Despite that shattered start, she built a life of her own: on 27 August 1942, Jan's 28th birthday, she married Johannes ('Jan') Klerks, with whom she had eight children. Her eldest son Leo would later spend years working to uncover the history of this very Persoon family, and found the court file that records it all.
Last years
In June 1986 Dina was struck by an incurable illness. She was cared for eleven months in the Oosterhof nursing home and then in the Jacobushof care home in Drunen, where she died on 6 December 1988. After the funeral service in the St John the Evangelist parish church she was buried on 10 December 1988 in the cemetery at Elshout.
Life events
- Generation
- 10
- Name variants
- Hubertine
Notes
Recorded in the Klerks document (S1) as Hubertine; full first names and place of birth according to family sheet 9 (S2).
Parents
Family with Johannes Antonius Klerks
Marriage: 27 augustus 1942 te Drunen
Children (8)
Family page: G012
Photos
Het familiegraf van Jan en Dina op het kerkhof van de St. Jan Evangelist te Elshout. Op de steen staan Henriëtte H. Persoon (6-11-1909 tot 6-12-1988) en Johannes A. Klerks (27-8-1914 tot 2-9-1990). Foto: online-begraafplaatsen.nl.
Groepsfoto van de deelneemsters aan de huishoudcursus Drunen/Elshout; Dina Persoon (Oma Dina, P0064) zit op de voorste rij, 5e van links. Het gebouw rechts was de meisjescongregatie.
Volgens het bijschrift op heusdeninbeeld.nl staan op de foto o.a.: Deken Th. Goossens, Chr. Muskens, M. van Halder, kapelaan Willems, C. van Hulten, J. Klijn, Van Delft, Van Son, Van Rooij, Dina Persoon (voorste rij, 5e van links), Knippels, A. Verhoeven, J. van Spijk, H. van de Wiel, B. van de Hoven, H. Pijnenborg, A. Pijnenborg, A. Brok en D. van de Bosch.
Bron: heusdeninbeeld.nl (foto's Drunen personen vroeger).
Foto uit de jaren '30 (waarschijnlijk 't Sempke): dames maakten die dag een fietstocht naar Meerseldreef, een plaatsje aan de Belgische grens, onder begeleiding van enkele heren van De Fellenoord. Dina Persoon (Oma Dina, P0064) is de 3e van links.
Volgens het bijschrift op heusdeninbeeld.nl, van links naar rechts: onbekend, Anna van Drunen, Dina Persoon, onbekend, Jans Bergmans, Cato van der Sanden, Marie Smits, Betje van der Sanden en Marie van Loon.
Bron: heusdeninbeeld.nl (foto's Drunen personen vroeger).
Groepsfoto van de vijf oudste kinderen van Pieter Persoon (P0121) en Anna Maria Giesen (P0134), omstreeks 1913 te Spaarndam, kort voordat het gezin uiteenviel.
Van links naar rechts: Heinrich (Henk) Peter Persoon (1905-1963), Leo (Heinrich Leonardus Cornelis) Persoon (1907-1957), Henriëtte 'Dina' Persoon (1909-1988), Josef Heinrich Persoon (1903-1933) en Anna Judith 'Judith' Persoon (1902-1991). De jongste, Cornelis (1912), staat niet op de foto.
Aangeleverd door Tinka Persoon (kleindochter van Leo, P0138), 2026. Bijschrift op de originele kaart: 'Kinderen Persoon-Giessen ± 1913 te Spaarndam'.
Documents
1/7
guardianship file, children of Persoon (State Archive Haarlem) · 1913 · 7 pages · also: Pieter Leonardus Jacobus Persoon, Anna Maria Giesen, Anna Judith Maria Persoon, Josef Heinrich Franz Persoon, Henk Persoon, Leo Persoon, Cornelis Persoon
1/2
letter to aunt Anneke about the Persoon family · 1986 · 2 pages · also: ‹privé› Klerks, Leo Persoon, Anneke Persoon