This website is created for my own genealogical research, being the Kurtze family. When I started to trace my paternal ancestry I followed the Van Zomeren surname of my father back in time to about 1810 in Nieuweschans in the Netherlands province of Groningen. Before this date my ancestors came from Zwolle in the province of Overijssel where documents in the city archives show the surname written as Van Someren. I traced my Van Someren ancestors back to a Daniel van Someren living in the early 18th century in Zwolle and then hit the proverbial "brick wall" and could not progress my ancestry any further. Where did Daniel come from and who were his parents? I spent years and years researching all the archives throughout the Netherlands hoping to find a trace of my Daniel van Someren; but nothing. After many years I then reassessed my research and did some lateral thinking which ultimately led to my discovery that Daniel van Someren was born in Zwolle as Daniel Koerts; by this time I had amassed a huge amount of data on the several Van Someren families living in the Netherlands and it would be amiss of me not to briefly mention some of my years and years of redundant research into the Van Somerens of the Netherlands that I latterly discovered are not actually my ancestors (do I sound bitter?).
Van Someren or Van Zomeren are the standard forms of the surname but some of its' variants are: Van Seumeren; Somers; Van Sommeren; Sommers; Van Soomeren; Soomers; Van Summeren; Van Zeumeren; Zomer; Van Zummeren; etc.
Numerous references to Dutch families can be found on the website of the Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie: http://cbg.nl/bronnen/; were you can type in the surname you are studying in the "zoeken in catalogus", which then links to their contents web page for that surname, showing a selection of subject folders in which there are references to the documents that cite the family.
The Van Someren family of The Netherlands:
There are many Van Someren families in the Netherlands and they are not all related with a common ancestor, but have sprung up independently of one another. The oldest and most illustrious of the Van Someren's had their genealogy written into the history of the town of Dordrecht, as shown below. If you are a Van Someren then this is the family from whom you would like to be descended, although they were not a noble family they were of the Patrician class.
The history of the Van Someren family of Dordrecht on pages 1231 to 1242 in the old book "Beschryvinge der stad Dordrecht", by M. Balen. This book covers the history of this dynastic family from spurious origins in 1134 and greater detail from the 14th to the mid 17th century.
Apart from the aforementioned there is another unrelated though equally prestigious family whose progenitor Frederik Jeroense van Someren heer van Vrijenes was raised to the nobility on the 11 October 1521 by King Christiaan of Denmark, as Baron van Someren van Vrijenes. One of its' members was called "Melchior Joost baron van Someren van Vrijenes, Vrijheer van Stiphout en Croy" the castle at Croy in which he lived is still standing and I visited it once many years ago hoping he might turn out to be a relative.
Other Van Somerens have no high status and no titles and sometimes not much history. My own Van Zomerens were working class and originated in Zwolle, where I had thought at one time they were related to a certain a Daniel van Somberen living in Zwolle, but this was proved to be incorrect; and also another Van Somer(en) family also living in that city. Detailed and careful research has allowed me to distinguish between the members of the two Van Somer(en) families in the same city. My Van Somerens were the descendants of Christian Kurtze and Helena Berents and the other Van Someren family took their name from the smallholding [katestede] called "Somerensplaetse" on the estate of Johan van Keppel, Heer van Campherbeek, in the suburbs of Berkum, Zwolle; these Van Somerens were in fact the illegitimate descendants of Baron van Keppel.
{Derk or Derck van Someren is also known as Derck Somers and Derck op Somer, lived at the "katerstede", which was a small farm called "Somerensplaetse", situated opposite to the manor house [havezathe] called Campherbeek at Berkum, Zwolle.
At his first betrothal he was mentioned as living by the Lord Keppel at Campherbeek ["bij de heer Keppel op Camferbeeck"].
Jucicial archive [Rechterlijk Archief], RA 001, Inventory # 613. Deed dated 16 November 1689, pages 271 & 272. Testament of Derk van Someren who leaves an inheritance to six of his seven children, namely: Frederica Sophia, Peter, Hendrik, Anna, Jan and Derk Ludoph van Someren. The eldest son Warner van Someren was excluded from the inheritance; Also mentioned in this testament was the 'heer van Keppel'.
Jucicial archive [Rechterlijk Archief], RA 001, Inventory # 613. Deed dated 16 November 1689, page 364. Testament of Johan van Keppel, Heer van Campherbeek, from the 13 July 1691. He leaves (after his death), to Derck Somer 2000 Guilders and to his grandson (this reference is a clear link to) Coenraat Somer 250 Guilders.}
As the saying goes "better to be illegitimate and descended from a somebody, than legitimate and descended from a nobody"! The vicissitudes of families can be great and the Van Somerens span from nobility centuries ago to obscurity now!
The "Encyclopedie van Namen", by A. Huizinga does not mention Someren but does give a reference for Zomeren v., as category 3a, which refers to its' meaning as a patronymic, this is because Huizinga noted the ending in Zomeren as "en" meaning "son" and links it to the forename "Somer". This is a possible origin, but in most cases wrong and he has ignored the prefix "van" which means "from" or "of". "Van Someren" means "from" or "of" a place called "Someren".
The surname Van Someren takes its' meaning from the original progenitor of the family coming from a place called Someren; there are several places in the Netherlands with this place-name.
17th century map showing the village of Someren located in the Netherlands province of Noord-Brabant.
My own family surname was written as Van Zomeren when living in the northeastern Dutch province of Groningen from the early 19th to the 20th century; but earlier in the 17th and 18th centuries when they were living in Zwolle in the province of Overijssel their surname was written as Van Someren. Different areas of the Netherlands had different dialects and different understandings of how a name should be written and the variations were compounded by the literacy of the scribe.
The Armorial Général, by J.B. Rietstap records the coats of arms of some of the Dutch Van Somerens.
Armorial Général, by J.B. Rietstap. An extract from Page 797 recording in French the entries for the armigerous Van Someren family.
Armorial Général, by J.B. Rietstap. An extract from Page 1148 recording in French the entries for the armigerous Van Zomere(n) family.