My Rusche Family
My father, Johan Albert Rusche and my mother, Constance Anna Rusche (Herrebrugh) were both born in Indonesia, the former Netherlands colony for over 300 years called the Dutch East Indies. They held European legal status and were known as Indo, short for Indonesian-European.
Louis Reynard Herrebrugh was born on October 13, 1890. The son of Andries Michiel Herrebrugh (1860-1922) the owner of the Nutmeg Plantation Matelenco on the island of Ay in the Banda Islands of eastern Indonesia.
- 1908 – Conny’s father and grandparents, Louis, Andries and Anna Constance Herrebrugh moved from the Banda Islands after the Nutmeg plantations went bankrupt in 1904 because of the gradual loss of monopoly of the spice. They moved to the most northwestern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, Banda Ache.
- 1914 – Louis became a customs officer at the port of Banda Ache and marries Anna Minke Teffer.
- December 1915 – Louis Herrebrugh dies of Cholera in Banda Aceh at age 25. Cholera outbreaks were common during this time period.
My mother, Conny parents were
Jacobus Johannes Bernardus Josephus Herrebrugh and Anna Minke (Teffer) Herrebrugh Conny’s sibling was Mattheus Thomas Herrebrugh
More about the Herrebrugh Family…
The Rusches
The Rusche’s were from Solo also known as Surakarta in Central Java. They had built a hotel and operated a premier publishing house, Albert Rusche and Co.
Johan was a Prisoner of War of the Empire of Japan during WWII for 1215 days!
He was onboard the sinking of the Hell Ship called the Junyo Maru.
The worst single shipwreck in the Pacific Theater
Of the 6,500 prisoners, 5,620 lost their lives in the sinking. 723 Survived. The survivors were all taken to work as forced labor on the Pekanbaru Death Railway.
96 Survived WWII
The Herrebrughs
The Herrebrughs went to the Banda Islands, holding the riches from the monopoly of the spice nutmeg. They operated many plantations on the islands for several generations.
Additional Pages:
- Nutmeg & The Banda Islands
- The Teffers
- The Vermeers
- Family Trees
- References
- A pleasant place to stay for Meneer and Mevrouw: Solo 1900-1915