van Rooyen Genealogy

In my last blog post we learned that Cornelis van Rooijen hailed from the town of Gorinchem.

We do not have a date of birth for Cornelis, which is not unusual for the time, but we know he was baptised at the Nederlands Hervormde Kerk in Gorinchem on 15 April 1695.^[1] The baptism entry gives in father as Reinier van Rooijen and his mother as Fijke Vermeulen. The witnesses are Johannes van der Merse and Marisce van Roijen.

Reijnier van Rooij (as per marriage record) and Feijke Vermeulen were married on 20 June 1694 in Gorinchem.^[2]

Cornelis was the couple’s first child.

While research has been done in the past by Hein van Rooyen (1984) detailing the siblings of Cornelis, I have not personally undertaken this research, and without original documents to prove the matter I am cautious about venturing an opinion as to the correctness of this work until this can be done, but this is not a research priority for me.

We can imagine that all of the marriages and baptisms performed in the family took place at the Grote Kerk, standing tall above the skyline of the town. The imposing gothic-style church has a long history dating back to the Thirteenth Century when it was consecrated and dedicated to Saint Martin or Saint John. The Reformation, which took place in the latter part of the Sixteenth Century, changed it from a Catholic Church to a Hervormde Kerk (Reformed Church) and it was then referred to as the Grote Kerk.

Sources

[1] Nederlands Hervormde Kerk (Zuid-Holland), Gorinchem, dopen 1619–1714. Doop Cornelis van Rooijen, 1695 via FamilySearch.org film 005849884, image 657.

[2] Nederlands Hervormde Kerk (Zuid-Holland), Gorinchem, trouwen 1692–1761. Huwelik Reijnier van Rooij en Feijke Vermeulen, 1694 FamilySearch.org film 005849887, image 14.

List of figures

Fig. 1: Van Liender, Pieter. 1737–1779. “Kansel Poort te Gorinchem”. Rijksmuseum, Den Haag. Available via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kansel_Poort_te_Gorinchem,_RP-T-1888-A-1654.jpg [accessed 3 April 2026].
Fig. 2: See source [1] above.
Fig. 3: See source [2] above.
Fig 4: Bulthuis, Jan. 1786–1792. “Gezicht op Gorinchem.” Rijksmuseum, Den Haag. Available via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gezicht_op_Gorinchem_Gezicht_op_de_stad_Gorinchem_(titel_op_object),_RP-P-AO-14-18B-3.jpg [accessed 3 April 2026].