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G e n e a l o
g y The Roskott story The family is now traced back to the beginning of the 18th century
in Gildeshaus, a small German town just across
the Dutch border today but in those days part of the French empire The
main occupation of the Roskott-men was vicar
and thus also JWE Roskott from which we only
know because he is mentioned in the Gildeshaus
marriage register related to the marriage of this his daughter Henriette
Anne Margarethe in 1768, was described as a reformed vicar emeritus. JWE
had two daughters and two sons who both followed their father and became
vicar as well. One son, Eberhard Wilhelm, worked most of his life in a
small reformed church in Gross Wolde (north-west Germany, near the border
with the Dutch province of Groningen). His church is still there today
and totally renovated, I visited the place in 1997 (The picture gallery
shows a drawing as well as a photo of the church). Eberhard Wilhelm had two daughters and one son, August Ernst, who
decided not to follow the family tradition and became a watchmaker (since
we are talking late 1700’s or so, being a watch maker could certainly be
considered as a career in the ‘advanced technology sector’ of that time).
His son, Bernard Nicolaas Johan Roskott,
devoted himself to the church again and is one of the most remarkable
family members so far. As a missionary he went to Indonesia, then a Dutch
colony, to run a teacher school in Ambon. Numerous publications were made
regarding his efforts and achievements and apart from a church also a
street was named after him. His
grave in Ambon is still maintained by relatives today. BNJ had many children and after his
first wife Sara Twijsel died, he married again
with Johanna Luijke which was the start of the Luijke Roskott branch of
which I got an update from the UK quite recently. From BNJ onwards there are many names from the king Arthur saga.
The story goes that Sara Twijsel read Ivanhoe,
a book written around 1830 by Walter Scott during her pregnancy she would
not survive. She was so impressed by the story she named her son, my
great-grandfather, Arthur Edmund Ivanhoe. Around the second world war when the Dutch government lost her
grip on the Indonesia-colony she ruled for many centuries, most of the Roskott’s wandered to other continents, to Europe but
also to North America. The ultimate origin of the Roskott-family
is still to be revealed. The most striking anecdote is from the late
Eleonor Constanie who shared her memories with
me in the 1980’s. Her grand father used to tell her stories at the
fireplace when she was a child. One of them went that one of her Roskott-predecessors was a nobleman from Poland who
killed his opponent during a duel in the 18th century. Since dueling was
strictly forbidden at that time, the nobleman had to flee and went to
what is now called Germany. His name was Roskoff
and in order to do a better job integrating and looking more German, he
changed his name in 'Roskott'. Other stories mention the existence of a Roskott-castle
and a family weapon but no further details are known so far. STORY ROSKOTT |
