I have been gathering information about my family since the early seventies and with the help of many relatives and others bearing the same name however not related to our family.
My family members are the descendants from Hendrik Jans who with his wife Meeke Riewerts lived in Oosterwolde, Friesland, The Netherlands. On March the 6th. 1776 Meeke gave birth to a son whom they named Riewert Hendriks. During those days none of the common folk had a last name and they were usually known by using
the first name of their father as their last name. During the occupation of the Netherlands by the French Emperor Napoleon everyone was required to adopt a last name, Riewert Hendriks adopted the name "Veening". The name "Veening" or "Vening" -in Dutch pronounced the same- was taken after the word "veen" or in english peat. Our first ancestors were lowly peat diggers and made their living by manually digging peat and drying it for the purpose of using it as fuel for heating peoples homes.
There exist 3 separate and unrelated "Ve(e)ning" family trees in The Netherlands and 1 in England. My research has centered exclusively with the Veenings as indicated above. I am always interested in receiving and forwarding any information regarding our family and look forward to your input.

Marginus (Gene) Kornelis Veening
RR # 2
New Hamburg, ON N0B 2G0
Canada
gveening@royceayr.com

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