Located on the former ‘t Smees estate at the Nannielaantje is a unique burial mound. The estate was once owned by Christiaan Caspar Stumph and his wife Jeanne Lesturgeon. Stumph served as the first mayor of Aalten from 1811 to 1818. The municipal secretary’s office was also situated on the estate.
It was Stumph’s wish to find his final resting place here. He was frustrated by the poor conditions of burials within or near churches. In 1818, during the Romantic era, he arranged a ‘private outdoor cemetery’ for himself and his relatives.
His last will and testament read as follows:
“After my death, I wish and desire to be of no harm to my fellow man. As our national government remains backward in putting an end to burials inside churches and in churchyards within towns—as is done in France, Germany, Italy, and elsewhere—and in directing them to spacious burial grounds outside, I have (…) caused a site to be prepared in one of the Smees meadows, specifically the one adjacent to Smees Hoflanden. This small plot of land, my property, I will and desire to be respected and honoured as a sanctuary after my passing.”
Those Buried Here
On 28 July 1818, at 5 o’clock in the morning, son Abraham Antonij Stumph was buried at this outdoor cemetery. He was 34 years old and a notary by profession. He had drowned in the Slingebeek stream. Local legend suggested his death was linked to a broken heart. A year later, the 74-year-old Christiaan Caspar Stumph married 30-year-old Caatje Weversborg, the daughter of the tenant farmer at ‘t Smees. In January 1820, eight months after this marriage, Stumph himself was buried at ‘t Smees in accordance with his will.
Following them, several others were interred in this meadow location: friend and VOC (Dutch East India Company) captain Johan Christiaan Rost with his wife (a daughter of Stumph from Bredevoort), their young daughter, and two grandsons. The last known owner of the mound passed away in 1913. The Municipality of Aalten has arranged for the Stichting Vrijwillig Landschapsbeheer Achterhoek (Achterhoek Voluntary Landscape Management Foundation) to maintain the burial mound.