“The greatest history book ever written is the one hidden in our DNA”
– Spencer Wells –

Who am I?

By asking yourself this question, you have started a journey. You will be scared and you will be excited. You will be lonely and you will find friendship. This journey has enriched my life with many relatives in Europe and America, new experiences, new friends and places I never knew before.Oil painting on canvas, View of Dordercht (from the Maas) by Aelbert Cuyp (Dordrecht 1620 –Dordrecht 1691), signed bottom left: A Cuyp, 1650.

My DNA origins

The species that you and all other living human beings on this planet belong to is Homo sapiens. This is my personal “Out of Africa story”, my ancestral migration 200.000 thousand years ago from North East Africa to Western Europe and finally sending my name to Mars on the NASA Perseverance Rover, 18-02-2021.

Prehistoric men hunting a young mammoth

Our ancestors

This site is presented with the hopes of preserving the memories of our ancestors. Many we know about and many we will never know. We owe them gratitude and an interest in understanding their experiences.
Without them, where would I be?

The Bayeux Tapestry (French: Tapisserie de Bayeux or La telle du conquest) is an embroidered cloth nearly 70 metres (230 ft) long and 50 centimetres (20 in) tall that depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy, and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings. It is thought to date to the 11th century, within a few years after the battle. It tells the story from the point of view of the conquering Normans but is now agreed to have been made in England.

What’s new

This site details the family tree of the Kloosterman family and emigrants to America.  Start your Search or browse Surnames.

View of Nieuw Amsterdam by Johannes Vingboons (1664), an early picture of Nieuw Amsterdam made in the year when it was conquered by the English under Richard Nicolls. In 1664, New Amsterdam passed to English control, and English and Dutch settlers lived together peacefully. In 1673, there was a short interruption of English rule when the Netherlands temporary regained the settlement. In 1674, New York was returned to the English, and in 1686 it became the first city in the colonies to receive a royal charter. After the American Revolution, it became the first capital of the United States.

Dordrecht

Dordrecht is my hometown, the map is from “Blaeu’s Toonneel der Steden” Dutch city maps, (Willem and Joan Blaeu), 1652.

Dordrecht, from “Blaeu’s Toonneel der Steden” Dutch city maps, Edited by Willem and Joan Blaeu), 1652.

Emigrants to America

Any information about the surname Kloosterman and emigrants to America is welcomed. Please Email me, Thank you !

In the Land of Promise, Castle Garden, New York by Charles Frederic Ulrich, 1884. Castle Garden, today known as Castle Clinton National Monument, is the major landmark within The Battery, the 25 acre waterfront park at the tip of Manhattan. From 1855 to 1890, the Castle was America's first official immigration center, a pioneering collaboration of New York State and New York City.

"Keep true to the dreams of thy youth“
Johan Friedrich von Schiller