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Tuesday, July 28, 2015

WW2 | Tilly den Tex van Hall (1907-1988)

Tilly and Wally van Hall at their marriage,
1932. Wally was shot by the Nazis
 in 1945. Tilly lived on to 1988.
July 28, 2015–My Dutch relatives love to talk about Anna Matilde (Tilly) den Tex van Hall, because she was so lovely and so brave. Wally van Hall could never have been the hero he was without her full support.

In the hyphenated Dutch format, which puts the husband's surname first, that would be Tilly van Hall-den Tex.

She was the wife of Walrave (Wally) van Hall, the "Banker to the Dutch Resistance."

The following post is an addition to my original one on Wally van Hall, which includes a tribute to Tilly in a letter in Dutch to my grandmother Olga Boissevain van Stockum. It was sent by Attie Engelberts den Tex, granddaughter of Hester Boissevain den Tex (1842-1914, NP 49), twin sister of Charles Boissevain, the newspaper publisher, my grandmother Olga Boissevain's father.

The letter was translated from the Dutch by my late mother, Hilda van Stockum. Tilly van Hall was Attie's first cousin–their shared grandparents were Nicolaas Jacob and Hester Boissevain den Tex (Hester being the the twin sister of Charles Boissevain of the Handelsblad).

Ms. Chickie Massa wrote to me a few days ago:
My late mother, Elsie Engelbert, was Tilly’s cousin and I remember well staying with her in Amsterdam as a child in 1966. I had heard the stories of Tilly’s late husband being a member of the Dutch Resistance and spent time on that visit with Mary-Ann and her husband, Drea, who, at the time, were a very hip young couple and a lot of fun for a 12-year-old to be around. Unfortunately, after Tilly’s death [in 1988] there seemed to be little contact between my mother and her Dutch relatives, so my brothers and first cousins know very little about them. My first cousin, John Engelberts, was just in Holland trying to track down family history and had delved into Wally’s story, thus leading me to your article on him. Very moving. And, it looks like, from your article, that perhaps you’re a distant relative of ours as well since a lot of the family seems to circle back to the Boissevain family, a name I’m not actually familiar with. Derek Engelbert – who was my grandfather, as well as John and Derck Engelbert’s – came to the US as a young man seeking his fortune (and redemption, I think, since he was kind of the black sheep in the family). I believe he and Tilly were first cousins, but I’m not sure. Any more info you can provide would be greatly appreciated. I’m copying this to my cousin, my brother and my daughter, since we’re all interested in finding out what we can about our Dutch family.
I forwarded her email to Charles Leidschendam Boissevain, father of Aviva Boissevain, with whom I visited in April 2018. He lived outside of the Hague (he has alas passed in 2018). At my request, he prepared and sent me a detailed genealogy for Tilly van Hall, making the connection to the Boissevain and Engelberts families. I have edited it slightly to conform more to the style I am using for other family trees. I have checked it against the Nederland's Patriciaat of 1988 (NP), which is the Boissevain-den Tex family reference book. I am not sure whether the latest generations of Engelberts in the United States have dropped the "s" at the end.

Relatives of Anna Mathilde (Tilly) den Tex van Hall

Tilly's father was Paul den Tex (NP 457, 1871-1958), the fourth child and third son of Hester Boissevain (1842-1914, twin sister of Charles Handelsblad Boissevain) and Nicolaas Jacob den Tex (1836-1899). 

Tilly's mother was Abramina Adriana Engelberts, b. Voorschoten (near Leiden) Dec. 4, 1877, d. Sept. 1962. She married Paul on  February 15, 1900. 

Paul and Abramina den Tex had two children (NP 464-5)
- Jules den Tex
- Anna Mathilde ("Tilly") den Tex

Jules den Tex, 1900-1977, m. Maria Elisabeth Waller, 1905-1978. 
They had three children:
1 Paul, 1931-2006,  m. Olga Constance van Eeghen, b. 1933. 4 children:
   1a Catharina Margaretha den Tex, b. 1960, m. Maarten Wolf.
   1b Theodoor den Tex, b. 1962, 1987 m. Cornelia Anna Elisabeth van Giffen, b. 1952, at least 2 children:
       1b1 Maria Janna Henriëtte ("Mariëtte") den Tex, b. 1988.
       1b2 Paul den Tex
   1c Jeroen den Tex b. 1962 (twins with Theodoor), m. Tanya Peshkova, at least 2 children:
       1c1 Nika
       1c2 Ella
   1d Robert-Jan den Tex, b. 1969, m. Kathelijn Balfoort, at least 1 child:
       1d1 Josephine
2 Helena den Tex, b. 1934.
3 Anna Mathilde den Tex, b. 1938.

Anna Mathilde ("Tilly")  den Tex, 1907-1988, m. 1932 Walraven ("Wally") van Hall, b. Feb. 10, 1906, d. Feb. 12, 1945.
Wally was a Resistance hero, about whom a book has been written (in Dutch) and a movie has been made in Dutch (PS October 21, 2018: It has been dubbed in English and is available through Netflix.) He was the son of Adriaan Floris ("Aat")  van Hall, 1870-1959 m. Petronella Johanna ("Nella")  Boissevain, 1873-1970. Aat and Nella had 10 children – 3 daughters, then 3 sons, 3 daughters, then 1 son. Charles knew all of them quite well, except Wally. Charles and his wife visited "Aunt" Tilly not long before her death. "She was such a nice person," Charles said. 
Wally and Tilly had three children:
1) Attie b. 1933, living in Leiden, m. Jongenelen (ex). 3 daughters, 2 alive, 8 grandchildren. Charles has met them all.
2) Aad b. 1936, married etc. [Interviewed about his father in Dutch here: https://alchetron.com/Walraven-van-Hall-1345486-W.] (PS: I visited with Aad and his wife in April 2018.)
3) Mary-Ann, b. 1940, m. Dré Boon. (I had a meeting with her in 2016 and earlier - JTM.)


Source of photo: Philip Stoffels,  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Stoffels-29

Walraven van Hall, also called "the Banker of the Resistance", was one of the greatest Dutch resistance fighters during World War II. With inventiveness …

Hall, Walraven "Wally" van, born 10-02-1906 in Amsterdam into an influential Dutch family, as the third child of the banker Adriaan Floris van Hall and Petronella ...

1945: Walraven van Hall, banker to the Resistance. February 12th, 2019 Headsman. Wally van Hall, the Dutch banker, fraudster, and national hero, was ...

Oct 23, 2018 - Barry Atsma, left, and Jacob Derwig portray Walraven and Gijs van Hall respectively in 'The Resistance Banker.' (Dutch FilmWorks/via JTA).

Oct 18, 2018 - Actors Barry Atsma, left, and Jacob Derwig play Walraven and Gijs van Hall, respectively, in “The Resistance Banker.” (Dutch FilmWorks).

Oct 10, 2018 - Because of his banking experience, van Hall was able to provide funding with the help of guarantees by the Dutch government in London.

Rating: 4 - 7 reviews

Sort this monument out after watching the movie of the same name. Located in Frederiksplein Square this fallen life size tree is dedicated to Walraven van Hall.

Sunday, July 5, 2015

July 2 - Amelia Earhart Lost (+ The Flying Flapper)

Amelia Earhart in the year she died. This photo is displayed
 in the small Air Museum in the Melbourne, Fla. airport.
This day in 1937, Amelia Earhart's plane disappeared.

Earhart  first learned to fly in 1921, at the age of 23. Although she had a passion for flying, it was largely a hobby until 1928, when she gained fame as the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean while a passenger aboard the plane Friendship.

After this, flying became Earhart’s career, promoted by her publicist and, later, husband G. P. Putnam.

First Woman to Fly Solo Across Two Oceans

When she was 34, in 1932, she became the first  woman to fly the Atlantic solo.

She took off from Newfoundland and landed in County Derry in Ireland. A puzzled farmer went out to see who it was and asked: "Have you come far?" She answered: "From America."

Then she was the first person to fly the Pacific solo, from Honolulu to Oakland. Her flight on a single-engine Lockheed Vega was routine - on her way in to Oakland she was listening on her radio to the broadcast of an opera from the Met in New York. She was called the female Lindy or "Queen of the Air".

National Woman's Party Member

Amelia Mary Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas, daughter of Samuel "Edwin" Stanton Earhart (1867-1930) and Amelia "Amy" Otis Earhart (1869-1962). She was married twice but did not take either husband's name. She was a member of the National Woman's Party.

Her plane disappeared in 1937 while she and a navigator were trying to circumnavigate the globe at the equator in an airplane with new equipment.

They were both assumed to be lost at sea. At the time of her disappearance, the 39-year-old Earhart was the most famous female pilot of her day.

Postscript on the Flying Flapper

Elinor Smith, the Flying Flapper.
Someone who read my post above on Amelia Earhart's disappearance alerted me to another famous early female aviator,  Elinor Smith Sullivan. She was known as the Flying Flapper of Freeport.

In 1927 she was the youngest U.S. Government certified pilot on record.

In 1928 she flew in one fell swoop under all four bridges on New York City's East River. Newsreel film documents her feat. No one apparently has ever duplicated it since.

The official reprimand from the Federal Government for her action was accompanied by a request for her autograph. (Mayor Jimmy Walker had sent a letter asking for lenience.)

She was a friend of Jimmy Doolittle, leader of the 1942 raid on Tokyo. Elinor Smith did the commentary on the famous Bendix Air Races.

She reportedly said that Earhart was a lousy pilot but a master of publicity. Watch a YouTube clip on the Flying Flapper and you will see why I am impressed with the FF.



Wednesday, July 1, 2015

At the Creation of the U.N., 70 Years Ago

The U.N. Conference, San Francisco, 1945
The conference in San Francisco to create the United Nations convened in San Francisco in April 1945, 75 years ago. 

My Dad was there at the creation, as an employee of the U.S. Budget Bureau, where he had worked before World War II. During the war he worked for the O.S.S.

The conference concluded its work of creating the Charter on June 26, 1945. The U.N. opened in October 1945. Steve Schlesinger noted the anniversary of the Charter; he has devoted much of his life to studying the genesis of the U.N. 

My Dad's job at the San Francisco conference was to assess the reasonableness of the U.N. budget figures and the U.N. contribution. The League of Nations had a rule that no country could contribute more than 25 percent of the League's budget. That rule resurfaced in 1945 but was set aside for the time being. My Dad told me that everyone knew in 1945 that the only country with adequate resources to fund the U.N. was the United States. 

Once the U.N. Charter was completed, my Dad (E. R. "Spike" Marlin) was picked to be the Secretary of the (then-Provisional) International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), with the goal of overseeing the rapid growth of civil aviation after the war through creation of international traffic control rules and assistance to those developing new airports.

He worked for the U.N. for the next 20 years, first as ICAO’s Director of Technical Assistance. By the time he left after 17 years, 1,500 of the 1,700 ICAO employees reported to him. He then was appointed Senior Director of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, following which he went to work for the State Department, recruiting Americans for the U.N. We were both in Washington, D.C. in 1964-69.