UPDATE: Citation

My previous post was about the gravestone of Grietje de Graaf - Kroeze, with the quote Wat gij nu bent - ben ik geweest / Wat ik nu ben - zult gij eens worden (As you are now - so once was I / As I am now - so will you be), incorrectly attributed on the stone to Psalm 103.

I asked what the origin of this quote could have been, and footnoteMaven, author of the Western Washington Graveyard Rabbit, took up the challenge in her article And The Answer Is! Apparently, the oldest reference is an epitaph in 14th century French on the tomb of Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales (known as Edward the Black Prince). Though not from biblical times, the epitaph is still considerably older than I expected!

I also have a few biographical updates, based on Grietje's birth act and the marriage act of Grietje and her husband Roelof de Graaf (in Genlias, the online index to Dutch BMD acts). Grietje Kroeze, daughter of Hendrik Kroeze and Kornelisje Vos, was born on 14 September 1894 in Amsterdamscheveld (municipality Emmen). Her father was a 41 year old labourer at the time. On 31 August 1916, when Grietje was 21 years old, she married 19 year old Roelof de Graaf, son of Jan de Graaf and Grietje de Vries. The wedding lasted over 60 years, until Grietje died on 20 June 1977. Her husband Roelof passed away on 4 December 1991, 94 years old. [Sources: Genlias, tombstones of Roelof and Grietje de Graaf.]

Further reading:

• And The Answer Is! , by footnoteMaven
• Using Genlias to find your Dutch ancestors, by Henk van Kampen
• The BMD records of the civil register, by Henk van Kampen
• Chronicles Of The Tombs: A Select Collection Of Epitaphs, by Thomas Joseph Pettigrew

Image credits: Tomb of Edward the Black Prince, photo by Carl Norman and Co., from the book The Cathedral Church of Canterbury by Hartley Withers (available online thanks to Project Gutenberg). Tomb of Grietje de Graaf, cemetery Oud-Zuilen, taken on 25 October 2008 by the author.