60
4 Observator and Professor
indeed seems a bit much). But there must be a garden. Kapteyn also notes in
his letter: ‘I have not yet found the constellation M.G. because it has not been
clear yet. Tonight I will look for it again.’ I think the handwritten letter has
‘M.Q.’ (rather than M.G.), indicating the constellation ‘Muur Quadrant’ (wall
quadrant) that is no longer in use. Indeed in October (the date of the letter) it
would be in the evening above the horizon from Groningen.
Eventually he found and rented a house that was still under construction, on
the Winschoterkade (2 in Fig. 4.7), away from the center of the town, where
professors normally lived. That location would have a lower rent, although
it was still considerable: 500 guilders per year for both floors (comparable to
about 11,500 e purchasing power now), on an annual salary of 4,000 guilders.
The house no longer exists; the address would now have been Winschoterdiep,
along the canal that runs out of the city to the southeast. Elise Kalshoven
visited Groningen (Kapteyn had to spend the night elsewhere, because at that
time fiancés were not allowed to sleep under one roof ) and they made all the
preparations for their wedding. Figures 4.9 and 4.10 show Kapteyn and his
fiancée not long before their marriage; this picture of Kapteyn is the only one
I know of where he does not wear a mustache.
And that brings us to the third theme: the permission of Kapteyn’s parents for
the marriage. At that time, such permission was required until one had reached
the age of 30. Jacobus Kapteyn and Elise Kalshoven had intended to marry
only in a civil ceremony and would not marry in church; this was reason for
the parents Kapteyn to announce that they would refuse their permission. This
important issue takes up a large proportion of the letters. The parents Kapteyn
felt that their presence at the marriage would implicitly endorse their son’s
principles. Kapteyn refused to renounce these principles, and found that his
parents could simply make their disapproval known to everyone. He suggested
that they could give their consent and stay away from the actual wedding
ceremony. The mediation of brothers and sisters, who (just like the sister ‘Cor’
living with Kapteyn) partly chose the side of the parents, was of no avail, nor
a personal visit by Elise Kalshoven to the parents Kapteyn in Barneveld.
Eventually the Kapteyns did marry in church. Father Kapteyn died ten days
after the wedding, so maybe his health played a role in this decision. The letters
mention the name ‘Trenité’. 2 This was the priest of the Église Wallonne in
Utrecht, Jean Gédéon Lambertus Nolst Trenité. This Calvinist church, which
was visited by people from the southern Netherlands and France, and in which
French was the official language, had at the time no more than about ten
thousand members in the Netherlands. Perhaps the choice of this church was
also part of some kind of compromise.
2 The first acute accent on the surname ‘Trénité’ as spelled in Kapteyn’s letters is incorrect.
4 Observator and Professor
indeed seems a bit much). But there must be a garden. Kapteyn also notes in
his letter: ‘I have not yet found the constellation M.G. because it has not been
clear yet. Tonight I will look for it again.’ I think the handwritten letter has
‘M.Q.’ (rather than M.G.), indicating the constellation ‘Muur Quadrant’ (wall
quadrant) that is no longer in use. Indeed in October (the date of the letter) it
would be in the evening above the horizon from Groningen.
Eventually he found and rented a house that was still under construction, on
the Winschoterkade (2 in Fig. 4.7), away from the center of the town, where
professors normally lived. That location would have a lower rent, although
it was still considerable: 500 guilders per year for both floors (comparable to
about 11,500 e purchasing power now), on an annual salary of 4,000 guilders.
The house no longer exists; the address would now have been Winschoterdiep,
along the canal that runs out of the city to the southeast. Elise Kalshoven
visited Groningen (Kapteyn had to spend the night elsewhere, because at that
time fiancés were not allowed to sleep under one roof ) and they made all the
preparations for their wedding. Figures 4.9 and 4.10 show Kapteyn and his
fiancée not long before their marriage; this picture of Kapteyn is the only one
I know of where he does not wear a mustache.
And that brings us to the third theme: the permission of Kapteyn’s parents for
the marriage. At that time, such permission was required until one had reached
the age of 30. Jacobus Kapteyn and Elise Kalshoven had intended to marry
only in a civil ceremony and would not marry in church; this was reason for
the parents Kapteyn to announce that they would refuse their permission. This
important issue takes up a large proportion of the letters. The parents Kapteyn
felt that their presence at the marriage would implicitly endorse their son’s
principles. Kapteyn refused to renounce these principles, and found that his
parents could simply make their disapproval known to everyone. He suggested
that they could give their consent and stay away from the actual wedding
ceremony. The mediation of brothers and sisters, who (just like the sister ‘Cor’
living with Kapteyn) partly chose the side of the parents, was of no avail, nor
a personal visit by Elise Kalshoven to the parents Kapteyn in Barneveld.
Eventually the Kapteyns did marry in church. Father Kapteyn died ten days
after the wedding, so maybe his health played a role in this decision. The letters
mention the name ‘Trenité’. 2 This was the priest of the Église Wallonne in
Utrecht, Jean Gédéon Lambertus Nolst Trenité. This Calvinist church, which
was visited by people from the southern Netherlands and France, and in which
French was the official language, had at the time no more than about ten
thousand members in the Netherlands. Perhaps the choice of this church was
also part of some kind of compromise.
2 The first acute accent on the surname ‘Trénité’ as spelled in Kapteyn’s letters is incorrect.