Stapels with the police

Jan Willem Carel Stapel 1830 - 1920
County Constable in Afferden (L), Heijen (L) and Steenbergen (NB)

The entries concerning my greatgrandfather in the Algemeen Politieblad (Police Chronicle) run through his biography like a continuous thread. They tell how he started in Gendt as a laborer, leaving open whether he worked on the farm, at the brick-yard or by the river. He served as a gunner in the 2nd regiment fortress-artillery, after which he married Elisabeth Ederveen. Having passed his military duties he could apply at the national police force and so became the first county constable in the family, with the formal title: "County Constable, hunt and fishery inspector".
The entries about Jan Willem Carel's occupation in Limburg show that from 1859 onwards his first three years in Bergen and especially the next nine years in Afferden he worked very deservingly and got permission to accept as many as nine gratuities, from the Bergen council, the count of Hoensbroeck and thankful citizens for his zeal to protect them from thievery. He must have settled in Limburg quite well, considering the number of times he was asked to witness the birth registration of their children, the last time of the Mulders twins late 1877. The family spoke with affection about him as a county constable in Afferden and it sounded as if he and his family had been happy there, even though we heard no details. Their familycard in the Bergen civil registry mentions C138 Afferden (L) as their address, renumbered in 1955 into 5 Julianastraat, NW of the village centre.
There they got 10 children: Elisabeth (Lies), Hendrina Alijda (Alijda), Hendrik Willem Frederik (Jan), Jan Willem Karel, a stillborn, Johanna Suzanna, Johannes (Johan), Jan Willem Karel, Willem Carel and young Johannes Bernardus (Bernard) my grandfather. Those names were familiar for Gendt, except Suzanna perhaps. The children named in italics did not even reach their second year, not uncommon in those days, and were burried in the nearby DR church of Gennep where they went to church. At least, the DR churchbook of Gendt confirms their transfer "to Bergen under Gennep Oct. 9, 1859". The eldest daughter Lies got her training in well off housekeepings in Vierlingsbeek and Boxmeer at the Brabant side of the Meuse and in Guelders Nijmegen. Alijda was still to young to leave.

In 1877 changes were setting in. 47 Year old Jan Willem Carel was to work in Heijen near Afferden. Spring 1879 another transfer followed, this time far away to Steenbergen, west Brabant. There he was dogged by malicious gossip that he spent too much time in taverns and drank. That is to say, Feb. 1880 the county constabulary Brigadier Sinjoor in 's-Hertogenbosch asked the public prosecutor in Breda to have the conduct and zeal of county constable Stapel in Steenbergen investigated. The town major of Steenbergen, after some research, considered it nonsense and answered "that the man fulfilled his duties loyally and did not drink to excess". A year or so later Steenbergen had a new major and he was asked the same question. This town major had "the honour to state that, although gossip says that the county constable Stapel of Kruisland often drinks in excess, personally I have never met or seen him in a drunken state. Moreover, I have received no complaints concerning his further conduct.". That concluded the correspondence about this subject, but not the gossip. His last entry in the General Police Chronicle in 1882 concerns the appointment of Van Dijk, "instead of J.W.C Stapel, dismissed". No adjectives added. June 1883 the family moved to Roosendaal where Jan Willem Carel was registered as a workman and was living in the Vughtstraat, Kalsdonk, the Turfberg, Moleneind and later Badhuisstraat and Grindweg respectively. Heijen or Steenbergen vanished from the family memory.

Eldest daughter Lies had been working in Steenbergen and Oudenbosch before she came to the Veemarktstraat 15 in Breda in 1882 and married segeant Pieter Wennips in 1885. After the death of their firstborn child they went to settle in Amsterdam, where quite some family members moved in with them for a shorter or longer stay.

Eldest son Hendrik Willem Frederik, called Jan, was working in the candy factory Castelot & Co. in Roosendaal. There, February 1886 Jan was seized by a driving belt and died as a consequence after 10 days of grievous pain, as reported in the Roosendaal newspaper De Grondwet (The Constitution).

Daughter Alijda worked in Steenbergen, Bergen op Zoom, Oudenbosch and finally in Breda too, 6 Kasteelplein. Aug. 1886 she married in Roosendaal with conductor Cornelis Zoetekouw, with whom she later moved to Den Bosch and Utrecht.
Details about Johan and Bernard are given in "on the railways".

Jan Willem Carel and his wife Elisabeth could not attend the 1904 wedding in Zwollerkerspel of their youngest son Bernard with Bet Hintzen. Instead they gave their blessing a week before the marriage at the Roosendaal notary Van der Kun, as attached to the marriage certificate.
Jan Willem Carel Stapel died in 1920 at the advanced age of ninety years. Apparently a healthy lifestile! Elisabeth then moved in at her son Johan for a year or so before she died as well, 88 years of age. Her sister Willemine, image on the right, survived her almost three years to pass away 75 years of age.

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