The Beijen/Beyen Family Site
by Laurens Beijen

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The Johan Franco branch of the IJsselstein family Johan Franco Beijen from the Dutch East Indies

This page is still under construction


Johan Franco Beijen (12.6) was born in 1885. He did not belong to the continuous series of the Johan Franco's I to VI that is discussed on the previous pages, as his father had another given name.
For many years Johan Franco was an superintendent of the governmental Forestry. In 1907 he married Susanna Rosalie Martherus. They had four children. After the marriage was dissolved by divorce, he married Nji Mas Soehaemi (Imik) in 1926. With her he had one son.
In the fifties Johan Franco's children and grandchildren moved to the Netherlands. He himself stayed with his wife in Indonesia. In 1958 however Johan Franco decided to come to the Netherlands, but his wife remained in her homeland. Johan Franco, who had opted in 1951 for the Indonesian citizenship, got his Dutch citizenship back in 1960. At the left is a picture of him from 1962.
Johan Franco died in 1969 in Bergen op Zoom.

Here is some more information about Johan Franco's five children:

  • Eduard (13.6) was born in 1909 in Soekaboemi. He died in 1932, only 23 years old.
  • Henriėtte (Jet, 13.7) was born in 1910 in Tjiandjoer on West Java. In 1936 she married Christiaan (Chris) Smith. After the war they came to the Netherlands with their children. Chris died in 1996, Jet in 2007, both in Zaandam.
  • Rudolph (13.8) was born in 1912 in Tegal on Central Java. He married Margaretha Jeanne (Greet) Rijnenberg in 1938. Rudolph died in 1944 in the disaster with the Junyo Maru. More about this can be found on the page Victims of the Japanese occupation. His widow Greet and their three children came to the Netherlands after the war. Greet died in 1988 in Bergen op Zoom.
  • Christiaan (13.9) was born in 1914 in Tegal. He married Jenny Boogaard in 1942. Shortly afterwards he was taken prisoner by the Japanese. After the war, Christiaan and his family remained in Indonesia and Dutch New Guinea for a number of years. They came to the Netherlands around 1962. More about Christiaan can also be found on the page Victims of the war with Japan.
  • Willem (13.10), the only child of Johan Franco's second wife, was born in 1919 in Poerwakarta on West Java. He married Luci Angelique Pitton in 1947 in Djakarta. They had four children, the first of whom died young. Around 1952 Willem and his family came to the Netherlands and in 1960 they emigrated to America, first to California and later to Missouri. Willem died in 2001, his wife in 2004.

    Family visit from America

    In September 2024, Eduard Beijen and his wife Kathy from Kansas City and Nancy Burkett Beijen and her husband Robert from St. Louis visited family members in the Netherlands for a few days. Eduard (born in Bandung in 1950) and his sister Nancy (born in Vlissingen in 1958) are a son and a daughter of the aforementioned Willem Beijen.
    Eduard had last met some of the members of the Beijen family in 1956. He could only remember his grandfather Johan Franco, who was very strict. Nancy had last visited the Beijen family in Bergen op Zoom in the mid-1970s.
    On September 7, there was a meeting in Bergen op Zoom where many of their Dutch relatives were present. The photo below was taken there.


    The members of the Beijen family are indicated in the photo with a letter.
    A en B: Eduard (14.15) and Nancy (14.16) from America.
    C: Ron (14.7), a son of Rudolph who was born in 1912.
    D, E, F, G en H: Ron's children Paula, Frank, Jeffrey, Roy and Cindy (15.4-15.8).
    I: Henk (officially Rudolph Hendrik, 14.8), another son of Rudolph.
    J en K: Henk's children Danny and Femke (15.9-15.10).
    L en M: Frouke (14.11) and Raymond (15.11), a daughter and a grandson of Christiaan who was born in 1914.
    The others in the photo are partners, children and grandchildren.

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