July 2021

Our family name is written in many varieties mostly due to the civil servants who wrote the names down. For my family tree i use the family name as written at their birth certificate or the first written official name. This can mean that the surname is changed on example the death certificate now and then. With other genealogists i belief the official family name in 1811 should have been SMITS (wrongly written as Mits). But in the end we are all family.

A difficult search till today is the ancestral line of Folkert Haikes. Official prove is not to be given (yet). The closed i think is the line i have presented which have a growing group followers of genealogists. If there is one thing that is certain then it is that his name in all the official documents was Folkert Haikes (Haykes) and never Harkes. In the tax-report (Speciekohier) of 1776 is written that he is the new blacksmith at Hantumhuizen and was coming from Blija (Ferweradeel) his name was there also written as Folkert Haikes.

Maybe in time a research project is to be formed.

Till then, enjoy the discoveries. With lots of documents and photo's which can be found under the About tab of many family names..

From the children of Hille Folkerts Smits i created 4 books (3 are finished in pdf). A lot of family names you can verify with all the links (birth certificate/marriage certificate/death certificate/burial/obituaries/photo's/etc.). At this moment they are written in Dutch.

After i have completed the names of each group in GENI i will make these books available.

Martinus Smit a genealogist since 1995.

Info over my life:

Studying for marine engineer at the Hogere Zeevaartschool - Willem Barentsz at Terschelling from 1984 till 1988My first sealing trip during my education on board trainingship - mv Prinses Margriet

1986/1987 sailing as an apprentice marine engineer onboard mv BahreinIn 1988 as a 4th engineer onboard mv Rio Frio

In 1989 as a 4th and 3th engineer onboard mv Spring Panda1989 as a 2nd engineer onboard mv IcecrystalIn 1990 as a 5th and 4th engineer onboard mv Norstar

My most favorite time at sea was on the TrailingSuctionHopperDredgers of BallastNedam Dredging:

1990-1992 as 3th and 2nd engineer onboard tshd Apollo1990-1992 as 3th and 2nd engineer onboard tshd Poseidon

1990-1992 as 3th and 2nd engineer onboard tshd Wado - a grant old lady

Lecturer and simulator instructor at Maritime Institue "Wilem Barentsz" at Terschelling from 1992 -2008

Company trainer at Van Oord Dredging at Rotterdam from 2008 - 2014

Enjoying my early retirement in Noardeast Frysland since 2014.