I have an ancestor from Venlo, Arnould Seelen (b. 1782 d. 1851). He was married twice, once to my ancestor, Maria Thijssen, and after she died (appears to be in childbirth, 1826), he remarried Petronella Jacobs. I'm very interested in what happened to this family - several members died within about a year of each other, including Petronella, at least four of their children, and at least a couple of children from his first marriage. I'm wondering if there was some historical event (this was around the time of the famine) that might have led to this event, and if there might be historical records anywhere in Venlo/Limburg about it.

Dear Leslie,

Cholera was often the cause of death. There were several local, regional and national outbreaks in the first half of the 1800's.

See e.g. http://www.vankampentree.com/Html_files/Familytree_omstandig... for a list.

But famine (hongersnood in Dutch) was also a much seen cause of death: the potato famine of 1845 is a well-known example.

Very often, one does not need an epidemic to explain a series of death. Poverty, and ill health as a result of that, was widely spread in those days.

Kind regards,

Lars Roobol
http://www.familyaffairs.nl