The Jäger family

The Börner family

My Great-grandfather Carl Jaeger was born on 26.07.1866 in Amsterdam he was the son of german born Friedrich Jäger and dutch born Johanna Boddenborg.

Friedrich Jäger was born in Frischborn, Vogelsbergkreis Hessen Germany on 23.01.1839. 

In 1863 when he was 24 years old he moved to Holland where he worked as a domestic servant. It was in Amsterdam where he worked that he met his future dutch wife Johanna Boddenborg.

Johanna was born in Haarlem on 07.01.1936 and was the daughter of a german father and dutch mother. She was a seamstress.

Although Friedrich went by the name Jäger he signed his marriage certificate and later on the birth certificate of their son Carl with Friedrich Jaeger. On most other birth certificates of their children he signed with F. Jäger.

Friedrich and Johanna had the following 6 children:

1. Friedrich Heinrich Jäger born in Amsterdam on 27.08.1865 date and place of death unknown. Friedrich was a sailor.
2. Carl Jaeger born in Amsterdam 28.07.1866 and died in Bandung on 22.11.1956 
3. Elise Jäger born in Amsterdam on 30.10.1868 and died in Amsterdam on 18.10.1894 she was a housekeeper
4. Georg Jäger born in Amsterdam on 02.10.1875 date and place of death unknown. Georg was a male nurse.
5. François Jäger born in Amsterdam on 18.11.1878 and died in Velp on 27.03.1973. He worked for         Lindetevis- Stokvis on Java as an import/export manager.
6. August Jäger born in Amsterdam on 03.05.1882 and died in Lochem on 01.08.1901. He was a carpenter

When his wife Johanna died on the 12^th of April 1885 Friedrich was left behind with his 6 children.

One year later on the 4^th of June 1886 Friedrich married Maria Louisa Bunemann born in Haarlem on the 3^rd of April 1850. Maria Louise was a housekeeper and my guess is that Friedrich and Maria met each other whilst in service.     

Maria Louise was the daughter of german born               Johan Ernst Heinrich Bunemann and dutch mother         Eliza Maria Haeseker.

Their first and only son and halfbrother to Friedrich's other children was born in Amsterdam on the 2^nd of January 1887 and was given the name Alfred Jäger.

When Alfred was only 3 months old his mother Eliza died on the 21^st of April 1887.

My Great-Great-Grandfather Friedrich Jäger died in Amsterdam where he lived on the Huidekoperstraat 4 on the 15 of November 1889 (only two years after his wife Eliza)

His death certificate is signed by my Great-Great-Grandfather Carl Jäger he most probably had not yet changed his name to Jaeger.

As I have written above my  Great Grandfather Carl Jaeger was born in Amsterdam on the 28^th of July 1866.

He held different jobs before qualifying as a chartered accountant in South Africa. He started his carreer as an upholsterer in 1889, after which he became a  diamond cutter from 15.11.1889 – 11.03.1891. It is whilst being a diamond cutter that he met  Maria Catharina Bernadina op ‘t Eijnde.

Most diamond cutters in those days were Jewish and the name Jäger lets me believe that there is a possibility that the Jäger familie were of Jewish decent. However Carl's mother Johanna Boddenborg is definitely not Jewish name. This means that because the Jewish bloodline runs through the mother's descendants and not the fathers, Carl and all his offspring are not Jewish.

Maria Catherina Bernardina op 't Eijnde was born in Arnhem on the 23^rd of December 1866. Her father Johannes Felix Bernard Antoine op 't Eijnde was a gymteacher.

Carl became an upholsterer in 1889 and lived in Utrecht at that time.

Carl and Maria had a civil marriage in Amsterdam on the12^th of December 1889. She died of tuberculosis barely one year later in Amsterdam on the  7^th of November 1890.

Iona  has told me that they  exploited a tobacconist shop in Amsterdam.

Carl being a widower moved to South Africa at some point between the death of Maria in 1890 and 1896, as he was then registered in South Africa s station ward.

Carl obtained the South African nationality in 1905.

When exactly my Great-Grandparents moved to the Dutch East Indies I have not been able to find yet but as soon as this information is available it will be updated.

Once in the Indies Carl worked as a chartered accountant and died on the 22  of November 1956 in Bandung.

During WWII Selma, eventhough she was German was held in a Japanese camp in Jakarta.

My Great-Grandfather Carl was interned somewhere in Bandung.

My grandmother was called Jenneke van der Meer born on the 14^th of March 1904 in Rheden (Gelderland) and listed as a housekeeper.

Her parents:

My Great-Grandfather Laurens Antoon “Lourens” van der Meer born 25.12.1859 in Ubbergen (Gelderland) and died 29.01.1918 in Velp. Lourens was coachman and he drove the local doctor to and from patients.

My Great-Grandmother Jenneke van den Berg born 06.06.1864 in Velp and died 20.08.1959 in Arnhem

From this marriage following children were born:

• Johanna Geertruida van der meer born 09.03.1884 (married to Dirk Jan van Zandwijk)
• Jacoba Martha van der Meer born 01.09.1886 (married to Gerrit Joosse)
• Dina van der Meer born 09.03.1898 in Velp (married to Jacobus van der Velden)
• Lourens Antoon van der Meer born 02.09.1900 in Velp  and a KNIL deserter.
• Jenneke van der meer  born 14.03.1904 in Velp

Whilst studying in Holland Felix meets Jenneke and the two fall in love.

Felix was an Agricultural Engineer by now and Jenneke was a houskeeper.

Neither of their parents approved of this union, so Felix and Jenneke eloped and married in St Giles (London) on 19^th March 1925. Immediately after their wedding the left on the s.s. Grotius on the 28^th of March 1925 to their new married life in the Indies.

From this marriage the following two children were born:

1. Carl Jaeger born on the 3^rd of May 1926 in Cheribon, West Java and died on the 10^th of February 2012 in Southend- on- Sea, Essex. He was an aircraft engine mechanic. He was engaged once never married no known children.
2. Eric Jaeger  (my father) born in Pekalongan on 09.03.1928.

In 1931 my Grandparents divorced in Madioen when Eric was 3 years old and both children remained with Jenneke, who raised them.

Jenneke remarried Charles Louis Charlouis in Magetan on the 30^th of August 1932 (one year after her divorce from my Grandfather) Charles was a man from Jewish decent born in Willemstad, Santa Maria, Curacao on the 28^th of July 1898 and 6 years older than Jenneke.

This marriage did not last, and Jenneke and Charles divorced on the 9^th of May 1946 in Batavia.

Charles was a journalist for the daily newspaper “The Locomotive” in Semarang from 1933-1939 and foreign editor for “the News of the Day” in Batavia from 1939-1942.

My Great-uncle Lourens Antoon van der Meer is a story on his own: Lourens Antoon joined the army and was sent to the Indies in 1929 and sailed with the Sibajak. He was a fusilier in his records there are various entries of misconduct on the 8^th of November 13 it is listed: Back on duty from being removed as a result of going missing for more than twenty-eight days -  martial punishment

• On 22.01.1934 gone missing
• On 19.02.1934 removed from duty
• On 08.05.1935 Back on duty from being removed because of going missing for more than twenty-eight days - martial punishment.
• On 21.12.1935 before a court martial at Tjimahi and in police custody on this date. Was in provisional detention from 8 May to 21 June 1935 and from 20 Oct until 5 Nov 1935. By judgment of the court-martial of 20 Feb 1936 upheld by sentence of the high court dd 24 April 193 sentenced to 7 months' imprisonment and fl 5 fine. The sentence imposed on him and dismissal from military service without disqualification to serve in the armed forces because of

1. I desertion committed in times of peace.
2. II having given a false name requested by the competent authority.
3. III wilful unauthorised absence in time of peace for the duration of at least one day and not longer than thirty days committed while the guilty party is on duty.
4. IV slight embezzlements

• On 19.05.1936 this was executed
• On 20.01.1937 he was dishonourably discharged

Lourens was a bad boy and at one point he visited his sister (my Grandmother) when she was absence and Carl and Eric where home alone. He demanded to have a shower and they let their uncle in. Jenneke was furious that the boys let him in as she was not on speaking terms.

Grandpa Felix remarried after the war with                                        Cornelia Adriana Jaeger- van Schouwen born in Rotterdam on the 7^th of June 1916 and died in Bennekom, Ede, Gelderland on the 27^th of September 1991 (75 years old).

This marriage was blessed with one son Paul Felix Jaeger born in Semarang on the 19^th of February 1949.

Paul was 1 month old when his father (my Grandfather) was shot and killed on the 15^th of March 1949 as he was inspecting the sugar plantations.

Grandpa’s widow (second wife) Oma Cox as we called her relocated to Holland with Paul and brought him up on her own.

Paul lives with wife Jose in Oegstgeest

My Grandfather FrançoisMarie Felix Jaeger was posthumously awarded a royal decoration the Cross of Merit, by the Queen of the Netherlands, on the 31^st August 1950 and one year after his death.