Kerkstraat 12, Aalten

Jan ten Dam, who married Anna Catharina Evers in 1742, bought the old Evershuis on Kerkstraat. The next owner was their son, the tanner Harmen Jan senior, born in 1744, whose tannery stood on the south side of the Slingebeek between Dijksbrug and Koembrug. In 1811, late in life, he became involved in a dispute with a neighbour whose alterations blocked his view, leading to a court case. His son Derk Willem (1771-1813) also had a tannery beside the Slingebeek, near Stationsstraat opposite the formerdairy factory.

Derk Willem’s son Harmen Jan junior inherited the house on Kerkstraat, was orphaned at an early age and, as a foster child, was apprenticed to the Aalten gold- and silversmith G.A. Manschot. He therefore did not take over the tannery. The wars had created strong military demand for leather, but by around 1817 the tanning trade had passed its peak. In 1827, Harmen Jan moved to Kampen as an apprentice gold- and silversmith. There he met Petronella Johanna Gerber, a descendant of Swiss Mennonite refugees, whom he married in 1833. A gold pendant and a silver needle case bearing Harmen Jan’s maker’s mark have survived.

Their son Abraham (born 1834) continued the business on Kerkstraat after the early death of his parents, but not for long. Purchasing power in Aalten probably declined sharply around the middle of the 19th century, reducing demand for precious-metal work. In 1855, Abraham went to Deventer to train as a draper. Abraham and his sister Annigje suffered from the contagious scalp disease favus, which caused hair loss. Annigje later wore wigs. After her death, the family did not know what to do with them; in the end the wigs were put in a box and set adrift on the Slingebeek. From 1850 to 1876, Abraham, his sister Annigje and his wife Elisabeth Manschot ran a drapery business in the Kerkstraat house. Through Annigje’s marriage, the business later passed to the Leerink family.

In 1871, Abraham and his brother-in-law Barend Johannes Manschot had meanwhile taken over Vaags s horn-processing business in Aalten, which made a range of horn objects and later specialised mainly in combs.