KIN | Charles Boissevain, Aviva and Her Famly

Three generations of Boissevains. To the left of Charles
 is his daughter Aviva. To his right is granddaughter
Florence.

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, September - I am staying at the Rho Hotel, on Nes off the Dam at the center of old Amsterdam.

The hotel used to be a theater–Nes was once a row of theaters.

Yesterday morning I met in the lobby of the hotel for the first time with two second cousins twice removed–Héloïse and Florence.

Florence is at the head of the table in the photo at left. Across the table from me is Charles Boissevain, my second cousin. Our grandparents include two siblings, i.e., Charles's grandfather Charles E. H.  Boissevain and my grandmother Olga Boissevain van Stockum.

Both my sister and Héloïse are named after the same person – Emily Heéloïse MacDonnell, who married my great-grandfather Charles Boissevain.

Charles was born in 1934 and therefore turned 80 last year - the same age as my sister Olga Emily Marlin, whom I plan to see this weekend in Pamplona.