Antonie Arnoldus Vreede

Tanner on Hogestraat

Antonie Arnoldus Vreede was born in Aalten on 28 April 1796, the son of Roelof Vreede and Hendrica Elisabeth Vaags. Three days later, on 1 May, he was baptised in Aalten’s Dutch Reformed church. Historical sources spell his first name in several different ways, including Antoni, Antonie, Antonij and Antony Arnoldus.

Vreede earned his living working with leather. Genealogical records describe him as both a shoemaker and a tanner; in Aalten’s population register his occupation is explicitly recorded as leerloyer or leerlooyer — tanner. He was therefore one of the craftsmen who lived and worked in Aalten’s old village centre.

On Hogestraat

Vreede lived on what is now Hogestraat. In the population register for 1823–1837 he is listed at house number Aalten 122. After the houses were renumbered, the register for 1838–1851 records him at Aalten 125, again with the occupation of tanner. In the following population register, number 125 is for the first time explicitly associated with the street name Hoogestraat. The old house number can be linked to the present-day address Hogestraat 6.

The 1832 Land Registry points to the same location. Vreede then owned plot Aalten I-1391, a house and yard covering 157 square metres. In the historical address reconstruction, this plot has been linked to Hogestraat 6. The old building that stood here later became known as Ark van Noach and De Olde Kaste.

It is less easy to determine exactly where the tannery itself was located. The Land Registry lists only a ‘house and yard’ on Vreede’s plot and no separate tannery. Nor has another business plot registered in his name yet been found. It therefore seems likely that Vreede practised his trade from his home and adjoining yard on Hogestraat, perhaps in a workshop or on the rear part of the plot. So far, however, there is no direct evidence for a separate tannery with tanning pits.

A tanner would not have been out of place in the street at the time. Hogestraat was an old and busy village street where craftsmen both lived and worked. Historical descriptions mention, in addition to a tanner, shoemakers, a coppersmith, brush-makers and bakers.

Two marriages

On 7 July 1820, Vreede married Aafke Radsma in Aalten. She was the daughter of Aalten minister Tjeerd Radsma. The young family even appeared in the national press. In June 1822, Vreede announced in the Opregte Haarlemsche Courant that his wife had given birth to a son.

The marriage was short-lived. Aafke Radsma died on 23 July 1824, aged only 22.

A year later, on 25 July 1825, Vreede remarried, this time to Isabella ten Dam of Aalten. Significantly, tanning was also practised in her family. Her father, Derk Willem ten Dam, who had died in 1813, was recorded as a looier — tanner — in 1812. Vreede’s second marriage therefore connected him with a family involved in the same trade. Whether he learned the craft from the Ten Dam family or continued part of their business is not known and cannot be established from the sources currently available.

Several children were born from his two marriages, including Tjeerd, Johannes, Derk Willem, Hendrikus Engelbertus, Antonij Arnoldus, Roelof and Aafke. The family was also affected several times by the death of young children. His son Johannes Vreede, born in 1830, later became a joiner and publican and eventually lived on Landstraat. As far as is known, none of Vreede’s children continued his tanning business.

Death

Antonie Arnoldus Vreede died in Aalten on 29 June 1845. He was 49 years old. After his death, his widow Isabella ten Dam initially remained at number Aalten 125 on Hogestraat. She later moved to Landstraat, where her son Johannes also lived. Isabella died in 1870.