The following is a fascinating story that brings distant relatives together along with some long unanswered questions about where our ancestors came from and how they lived in a Netherlands village called Doornenburg.

It all started when Jos (Joseph) Banning of Essen Germany (formerly Doornenburg) e-mailed Christopher Milder of Minneapolis, about a photo he saw on this web site. He recognized one of the buildings that Christopher's Aunt, Catherine Milder, photographed on her trip to our ancestors homeland in Doornenburg. He also knew Arnold L. Milder whose gravestone she also photographed.

It turns out that Arnold Milder's daughter also lived in the same building that Mr. Banning recognized. Eventually the daughter, Els-Liesbeth Milder, found out about the photo on this web site as well.

After many e-mail's and translations Christopher got the story of this ferry house, photos and family tree data on some of our Dutch relations.

First a little geographic History.

The name Doornenburg was mentioned as early as 891, Doornenburg the settlement received "city rights" in the 11th century. A settlement is (often proudly) called a city in the Netherlands when it has received city rights somewhere in its history. The actual number of inhabitants has no relevance on this, so there is a reasonable number of very small cities in the Netherlands.

City rights in the Netherlands are a medieval phenomenon in the history of the Low Countries. City rights, granted by a member of high nobillity, gave settlements certain privileges that settlements without city rights did not have. To stimulate the establishment of cities, landlords started to grant these privileges to settlements around the year A.D. 1000.

Doornenburg and the other villages of our ancestors, Gendt, Hulhuizen and Haalderen all lie in the area between the Rivers Rhine and Waal also called the Betuwe. Doornenburg is less than a mile away from where the Waal river splits off from the Rhine.

The Betuwe is an area in the Netherlands in the province of Gelderland. Tacitus knew it as Insula Batavorum ("Island of the Batavians," the Germanic tribe from which the modern name is derived) and indeed it could be considered a large river island, but nowadays it hardly ever is viewed as such. When the Pannerdens Kanaal was dug between 1701 and 1709, the easternmost tip of the Betuwe (including the towns of Pannerden and Lobith) was cut off from the rest of the region. Most river traffic from the Rhine continued downstream on the Waal eventually to Rotterdam.

A late medieval catle (Kasteel Doornenburg) was built nearby prior to the villages getting "city rights". During World War II, the castle, situated near the German border, was turned into a regional Nazi headquarters. It was later bombed by the Allies and rebuilt after the war.. Click this link for more about the castle.

A fort was built at the tip of land where the Rhine and Waal diverge. Fort Pannerden was built in 1869 to guard the strategically important Pannerdens Kanaal. Click this link for more about the fort.

An old map of the area show a ferry crossing across the Waal from Doornenburg to Millingen. The closest bridge across the Waal was in Nijmegen some 15 kilometers to the West. Click on map image for a larger version.

The Ferry House (veerhuis)

The ferry crossing started operation in 1832. It cost around 40 cents in the 30's to cross by ferry and 80 cents during high water. A small ferry for pedestrians and bikers was always available during this time and occasionally a larger steam boat would make stops up to take passengers to Nijmegen . The ferry stopped regular service in 1962 when it closed due to the popularity of motoring. There were still similar ferry's operating in Gendt and Hulhuizen until 1966.

Across the Waal river was the village of Millingen where many residents of Doornenburg worked. There was a large stone works (brick factory) and wharf with shipyard in Millingen as well as relatives homes. Millingen also hosted sporting events and fairs. The stone works has been closed for the last 50-60 years and was probably a factor in stopping ferry service in 1962. When the ferry closed many residents of Doornenburg lost their jobs because the alternative means of transportation was too far to travel.

The veerhuis (ferry house) was built in 1884 to shelter people waiting to cross. It is 29 meters (95') long by 7.5 meters (24') wide. There was no veerhuis on the other side and passengers mostly walked or biked from the bank to their place of work or destination. The ferry boat would stay on the Doornenburg bank of the river when not in use. If someone from the other side needed to cross they would ring a bell. The ferry master would also keep watch with binoculars from the veerhuis to determine if someone needed to be ferried back. There were 6 rooms in the basement the Big room, wash room, stair well and 3 rooms used to store wine, food and potatoes. In the ferry house previously at the front was a café which the guests that regularly crossed over could get something to drink. The veerhuis address is Waaldijk 4, 6686 MS, Doornenburg, The Netherlands.

Jos Banning was born 1943 in Nijmegen, 15 kilometers from Doornenburg. His father, Frans Banning ( Ferry Man), and mother Truus lived in the veerhuis until Sept. 1954. Many residents during WW2 remember the period called "the evacuation". From In October 1944 the occupying Geman army ordered all residents of Doornenburg, Gendt and Hulhuizen to evacuate their cities. Some 50 residents hid in the basement of the veerhuis for several days until everyone at the veerhuis left. Most were relocated to Achterhoek. The residents of Doornenburg returned in May of 1945 near the end of the war. There are now around 2800 people living in this town.

This ferry boat, "Halve Maan", has been used recently in the summer for tourists at this crossing. This year, 2006, the Half Moon will run from Doornenburg near the site of the veerhuis, again only in the summer for the tourist season and it may become more permanent.

This is the image Jos Banning saw on this web site that started this story.

The white building to the right of MeerMarkt (More market) with the roof cropped off is the building that Jos recognized as the residence of the Arnold Milder family. He then e-mailed Christopher about this and the fact that he once lived in the veerhuis himself with his parents from 1903-1954. He even sent some image links to show where the veerhuis was located in Doornenburg. When Jos parents left it was sold to Arnold L. Milder who turned out to be part of our ancestors family.

He has a prominent grave marker in Doornenburg that was photographed by Catherine Milder when she visited the area in 2002.

Arnold Milder's daughter, Els-Liesbeth also came across the milder.org web site and filled us in on some more facts.
She recognized the white house, next to the "Meermarkt" as her home. Els-Liesbeth was born in this house and grew up in the veerhuis with 8 younger brothers and two younger sisters when her family moved there in 1954 until 1979. Her father Arnold, who was born in 1916, died later in 1994. Els-Liesbeth now lives in Elst a city between nijmegen and Arnhem.

A friend of hers has since purchased the veerhuis and Els-Liesbeth stays there at times. Part of the veerhuis was changed from a cafe into residential quarters. Some of Els-Liesbeth's brothers and sisters still live in Doornenburg.

When Jos Banning's father was the ferrymater the veerhuis was known as Millings ferry house. In the late 1950's the veerhuis was nicknamed "Den Hollenoever", by Arnold (Nol) Milder and his son Hans.

The origin went like this, originally it was called De Hollenoever. The passengers would "hollen" (running/walking very fast) when they walked on the path to the ferry.

There was no light or lanterns, and therefore when it was a dark night especially, or foggy, people felt afraid in the dark woods -- so the customers had the tendency to run or "hollen". In the end they got to the shore, which was called "the veer bol", or ferry bowl.

In that time, it was also called "de bol", which was the loading/unloading place for ships as well as the dock for the ferry boat of Nol Milder. "De Bol" was a built up hill where large ships loaded/unloaded, as well as the dock for the ferry boat, it was built up significantly higher than the surrounding land so it could still stay above water even when the river was at its highest levels.

So all of these words together: "hollen" and "de bol" and "oever" (bank/shore) eventually changed to "De Holenoever" (literally, the running bank). They found that the name needed a slight change and then became "Den Holenoever". The letter "n" coming from the local dialect.

Unrelated to the this story of the veerhuis, Christpher Milder found a Milder relation reponsible for painting a a large diorama in the basement of the Market Garden museum in Arnhem during a trip to this area. Market Garden was the battle immortalized in the book/movie A Bridge Too Far and was fought in the area. Huub Milder is the artist who painted the mural. He also has a web site .

Many thanks to Jos Banning for providing this story and the photograph of the veerhuis. Thanks also to Els-Liesbeth and Christopher Milder for additional information and translation.

	1865 map showing the ferry crossing of the Waal as a dotted line. An outline of a boat indicates a ferry crossing. Click on image to see a larger version.
	Halve Maan (Half Moon) ferry boat in service near Doornenburg.
	View of the veerhuis from the riverbank.
	The Milder Bakery delivery bike in Gendt.
	Arnold Milder's grave site and tombstone.

Satellite image of River Waal and Doornenburg area.