Ex-Raja Usmani,on his family history: In Aceh two princes quarreled over religion. The younger brother embraced Islam, and went to live in Ternate. There he married a woman named Lelawangga. One of his sons, Usman, left Ternate with seven sons in a kora-kora. He arrived at Jiku Marasa, Buru, and there died. The seven brothers sailed on to Lesibata, in Seram, where one of them became king. Leaving this brother at Lesibata, the remaining six sailed on, and put in at several places, until they reached Tanjung Kuako, Amahai, where they climbed for green coconuts to quench their thirst. The people of Amahai came out to quarrel with them, and they pled that they had only climbed for nuts to drink because of their great thirst. Because of the quarrel, however,the six brothers refused to drink of the fallen fruit, and thereafter those trees withered,and never bore fruit again. From there they journeyed on, arriving at Tiou, on Saparua, where one of them, Kaisiri, remained behind. His descendents are the Kacili family, who are relatives of the Usmanis. They were all named Kaisiri. They sailed on from Tiou to Paperu, where another brother disembarked,from whom come the Latumahinas. From there they journeyed on to Aboru, where Pusmuni disembarked. The remainder sailed on to Ambon, evidently arriving at Leitimur. 'Pusmuni' is from "pusu", meaning "to part", and "muni", meaning "the heart" (either physical or emotional). (1997 note: Subsequent research indicates that "pusu" almost certainly means "heart," so this part of the tale must have gotten confused--probably because of the sound similarity between old Moluccan "pusu" and Malay "putus" --Joe). King Sinai, of Aboru, held an archery contest. Sinai's daughter's breast was target. Many shot,but only Pusmani's arrow struck her breast,and he was given her hand in marriage. He became son-in-law to Raja Sinai, and stayed at the house of Raja Sinai from then on. At that time Dutch vessels came and anchored at Cape Waelain. "Go down to those cat-eyes," Raja Sinai said to his children. But all his children were afraid to go down. So the raja said, "How about you, Pusmuni?" "I'll go," Pusmuni said. So Pusmuni went,and was well received by the Dutch, who presented him with a silver-headed baton, and told him that he should become king at Aboru,and that the village must be moved to the shore. Pusmani returned to Aboru, where his father-in-law abdicated to him, and the village was moved to the shore. Pusmani was given the Dutch name, Jonas. Here is the Usmani line to Ibrahim, born 1885: pusmani had five sons: Nusahuhu, Simeriak, Ririasa, Sahupou, and Waehura. Waehura had Patihote. Patihote had Patiseke. Patiseke had Patimatara. Patimatara had Sakarias. Sakarias had Korneles. Korneles had Petrus, Isaak, Karel, and Paulus. Isaak had Ibrahim in the year 1885. Ibrahim is my informant, the ex-king of Aboru. This information was originally taken at the home of Oom Hank Risakota, on the hill behind Petak Sepuluh, Ambon, Indonesia, perhaps 1965. I believe Ibrahim Usmani was his father-in-law, but this is not stated in my records. The genealogy needs to be gone over with someone from the Usmani family, because the original was ambiguous). It would be fascinating to correlate this tale with Dutch records of the latter 1600s and early 1700s. Subject: http://chaumontdevin.com/ From: Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 10:59:57 +0200 To: Chaumont Devin * * Good morning Joe I came on your site by accident and read it with much interest! I was looking for some family history .. and was much surprised to find it, written by an American? And apart from the info I serached for (Vigeleyn Nikijuluw) I also found info on my own surname Usmany. Undersigned is the sort of memory of my family, and I am trying to find and save as much as possible on my family history. My maternal grandmother is a Nikijuluw, and was one of the daughters to the Bapak Raja of Ulath. My paternal greatgrandfather was the last Bapak Raja of Aboru in our line. His name was Mezak Usmany. He lived from <> 18** to 1934 (by heart, I am in the office now @work). He had six children: four daughters, two sons. My grandfather was the oldest of his sons, but didn't want to take over and like his younger brother joined the KNIL to create more options for his children. Since non of his children wanted to take over, I reckon "Ibrahim Usmany" took over as Usmany has been the reigning family since long. On his death bed my oyang (great grandfather) asked his oldest daughter to make sure that all his off spring would be treated and regarded one another as one, so up to date his off spring -- despite being shattered over the globe, has been in contact: the six families going back to Mezak Usmany: Timisela, Nahumury, Saya, Malawau, Usmany -- and all that came due to marriages: Ririhena, Sinay, Limahelu, Huwae etc etc According to a book written by Dieter Bartels (a Germany antropologist) Aboru was founded by Nahumury and Saya ... Nahumury's haven always been the Kapitans / "War Lords" (leaders in time of war) while the Usmany were the Bapak Raja's during peace time. It was very interesting to read the history of the Usmany's ... Pusmuni? We ourselves were told that our family name descends from the Middle East .... Result of the spice traders, coming from there, leaving there genes. Some of my cousins told me that it is derived from Osman ... Turkey (the Osman Empire), while I was told by a Danish woman that Usman(y) is a common name in Iran. She used to be married to an Iranian and thought I was an Iranian as well. An Iranian friend confirmed that indeed this is the case. In the book of Dieter Bartels it is written that the moslim people that live in Aboru practize the same shi'it islam as still is practized in Iran. So in the old days the Usmany's used to be moslims, but out of love they switched over to Christianity and are still devoted Christians (protestants): a Christian (Saya? Sinay?) father only allowed his daughter to marry an Usmany, if he converted. Perhaps you can tell me more on Ibrahim Usmany? Are you still in contact with him or do you have names (email addresses) of his ancestors? I would love to know how we are connected as all Usmany's are related. I have an exessive data base of my family and its all tightly mingled. My late aunt was actually the first in my lines to marry a Dutchman (the 1950's) and responsible for the first outcross. Well, not completely true, as of course there had been many foreign interverence in the past. My late father told one of my cousins (half Moluccan (my first cousin), half Dutch) quite white, that his maternal grandfather (Pattiwael) was more white than he is. He had a hooked nose ... influence of the Arabs. In my family there are two types: the traditional short and round faces (Melanesian) and the longer (Arabianlike) faces. I belong to the later version. While the Melanesians are known to live like true islanders (carpe diem ... live life day by day ... don't worry about the future etc etc) my family tend to have good trading skills (lots of tea traders and other merchandise) and are good leaders (Usmany family the reigning family, my grandfather was a union leader in the army, I am a bank manager). My oyang's oldest daughter married to Timisela of Wasu, and my cousins from that part tend to look like people from India (so India, Sri Lanka etc also visited the Moluccans for spice and also leaving genes there). Due to her maternal grandfather my mother is a Nikijuluw descendent. I am researching her part as well. She believes she's descendening from the Chinese traders, while Dieter Bartels wrote that Nikijuluw is derived from Niki Uela (or something like that) .. which according to him is Arabian as well. She's a Takarbessy herself -- also Saparua -- but according to her, Takarbessy was also a dying name, so the family Parinussa was offered the glove gardens only if they would take over the family name Takarbessy (so she believes she is genetically a Takarbessy. Quite complicated... Anyway ... I have to get to work, but I really would like to hear more from you -- if you happen to have the time to write me back. BTW ... some of my relatives live in Orange County: the Limahelu's. They are the descendants to my grandfather's younger brother. My aunt (Usmany married Limahelu) moved to CA in the 1950's. One of her sons (my cousin) died in April -- he was a renowned kicker of the Trojans: http://www.usctrojans.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/040710aaa.html * regards Fitzgerald Usmany Walenburgerweg | Rotterdam | the Netherlands [image: skype] haroekoe | Meet Me @ [image: Facebook] [image: HYVES] [image: LinkedIn] To: "Fitzgerald Usmany" Subject: Re: http://chaumontdevin.com/ From: "Chaumont Devin" Dear Fitzgerald, ... Yes, I am an American, but I spent so many years in Maluku that I seem to be Moluccan as well. My skin is European white, and it always surprises Moluccans who don't know me when I open my mouth and start speaking Ambon Malay with no noticeable accent whatsoever. >According to a book written by Dieter Bartels I have known him for many years. Most Moluccan origin tales are shrouded in mists and cannot be trusted as 100% reliable. People are apt to alter them to suit their own goals or because they simply can't remember how they really go. I suppose the best ones are those providing clear genealogies showing how the personal names changed gradually from Alfur to Moslem or Christian. The unfortunate truth is that many Moluccans have been brainwashed by outsiders into believing that their culture, language, and/or family histories are not important, and so people have grown careless in recording these things. I am aiming to rectify this problem somewhat by means of a new book I am writing about Buru. It will be a large volume full of translations of the oral literature of Buru, and it is my hope that it will speak for itself, or rather that the oral literature of Buru will speak for itself, to shame those who have trivialized Maluku. Yes, in Maluku, a "kapitan" or "kapitang" is in general a fighting man who knows the arts of traditional weaponry and traditional warfare. It is also an office held in Moluccan "negri" village states, in which case it means the person responsible fore village defense. The word is evidently a borrowing from Portuguese. As you have probably noticed, I tend to dispense with the fanciful Dutch spellings of Moluccan names in favor of purely phonetic renditions. Thus I spell Nikijuluw as simply Nikiulu. And yes, the name may come from Arabic, but it also might just be the name of some village situated at the headwaters of a stream called the Wai Niki or Wae Niki that existed somewhere in Maluku in the past. Spelling names phonetically has several advantages: (1) it makes the old meanings of many names immediately obvious, (2) it helps people to be able to pronounce names right on the first try, and (3) it enables people to associate their family names with family names spread all across the vast East African - South American region. As an example, the name, "Latu," apparently occurs all the way to Tonga, but people might not immediately see this if "Latu" were spelled something like "Latoe" or "Latuw," etc. >We ourselves were told that our family name descends from the Middle East .... I would also imagine that it does, and that the tale of shooting the girl's breast is pure myth. In fact, if I recall correctly, this story motif occurs elsewhere, but I can't immediately remember just where, and it may be distantly related to the story of William Tell. The history books tell us that there were Turks and people from the Middle East in Ternate from earliest periods of Western contact. During earliest European contact with Maluku, people were slipping back and forth with ease between Christianity and Islam, so it is no wonder that many Christian people have Moslem surnames or corruptions of Moslem surnames. It was only after the Christians and Moslems brought in many religious teachers that the Moslem - Christian distinction became sharp and clear as it is now. The Moluccans had the original religion of the Austronesians, and took up the veneer of foreign religions mostly for economic and political reasons or else just to keep from getting killed. >Perhaps you can tell me more on Ibrahim Usmany? Are you still in contact >with him or do you have names (email addresses) of his ancestors? I would >love to know how we are connected as all Usmany's are related. I have an >exessive data base of my family and its all tightly mingled. My late aunt >was actually the first in my lines to marry a Dutchman (the 1950's) and >responsible for the first outcross. Well, not completely true, as of course >there had been many foreign interverence in the past. I am sure the old raja Usmany is long dead by this time, and I have no other information that I know of except for that which I have already posted. But it may interest you to know the following: A Vigeleyn Nikijuluw girl from Banda got pregnant by a Dutch or else a Eurasian seaman (a navigational officer or "steerman," I believe), and gave birth to Albert Nikijuluw, who was probably the smartest man in Ambon for a long time. He ended up as a professor at IKIP university, and finally died of a heart attack. He married the daughter of Oom Henk Risakota, at whose home it was that I met the raja Usmany of Aboru. I think the raja was Oom Henk's father in law. Henk was also a university professor, and a rather colorful personality. He wore a beard, through which he rather mumbled his words, and liked to wear colorful sport shirts with the top unbuttoned to show his ample chest. Albert had at least three children. The oldest, I believe, was Heidy, then came her brother, Reynold. Last I knew, Reynold was living in Australia, and pretty bitter about what had happened to Maluku. I don't think he followed in the academic footsteps of his father. The last e-mail address I have for him is rvnikijuluw@yahoo.com.au. Yes, Maluku has a mixture of many races, and even the identity of the first Moluccans is uncertain. I say more about this in my http://chaumontdevin.com/nonfiction/origins.txt. >BTW ... some of my relatives live in Orange County: the Limahelu's. If I am not mistaken, it was my own mother who sponsored them to come to the United States a very long time ago, but I am not 100% certain. >Limahelu) moved to CA in the 1950's. Yes, that would be the time frame. >One of her sons (my cousin) died in April -- he was a renowned kicker of the >Trojans: Wow! This is the first time I heard about him. how did he die? Best regards, Joe Devin. From: Fitzgerald Usmany Date: Sun, 01 Aug 2010 13:16:44 +0200 To: Chaumont Devin Subject: Re: http://chaumontdevin.com/ Dear Joe How exciting to see your reply! I assume the site was probably ancient and not visited by the owner (many ghosts sites on www) I want to answer in length, but do not have the time currently. So I will start with stuff I can easily provide..... BTW you can use my info whenever it is of help to you and your site. Hereunder my family tree, as far as I know it. The last Bapak Radja in my paternal line is Mezak (Metja) Usmany, my oyang, who must have died around 1934 - accordign to the stories of my late father. This picture is cherished by many cousins all over the world. Some elder Moluccans here in the Netherlands still seem to remember him, as they would ask me ... "Wasn't that the man with the shacking (trembling?) hands?". It is believed that he had Parkinson disease so he couldn't keep his hands still. They had seen him as children in Aboru. Four daughters, married to: Dinah (Ding) Timisela-Usmany, Rolina (Olien) Saija-Usmany, Helena (Leen) Malawau-Usmany, Lephina Nahumury-Usmany. Two sons: Arnoldus (Nol) and Alphons (Pong) Usmany. The pedigree was also construed by my uncle: Daniel (Dang) Saija ... the oldest person in my family, residing in the East of the Netherlands. He was married to my late aunt Johanna Jomima (Bongso) Saija-Timisela (the daughter to the eldest daughter Dinah (Ding) of Mezak Usmany). My uncle was related through my aunt, but he was also a cousin to oyang Helena Tuankotta, the wife to Mezak Usmany. +--* USMANY Zacharias +--* USMANY Matheus | +-- +--* USMANY Mezak 'Metjah' | | +--SAYA unknown | +--* SAYA Martha | +-- +--* USMANY Arnoldus 'Nol' | | +-- | | +--TUANKOTTA unknown | | | +-- | +--* TUANKOTTA Helena | | +-- | +-- | +-- +--* USMANY Thomas 'Thom' | | +-- | | +-- | | | +-- | | +--* PATTIWAEL Thomas | | | | +-- | | | +-- | | | +-- | +--* PATTIWAEL Johanna 'Jo' | | +-- | | +-- | | | +-- | +--* TOMASOA (Thomas' wife) | | +-- | +-- | +-- +--* USMANY Fitzgerald 'Fitz' | +-- | +-- | | +-- | +--TAKARBESSY | | | +-- | | +-- | | +-- | +--* TAKARBESSY Petrus Penechas | | | +-- | | | +-- | | | | +-- | | +-- | | | +-- | | +-- | | +-- +--* TAKARBESSY Carolien Francien 'Corrie' | +-- | +-- | | +-- | +--NIKIJULUW Selfanus | | | +-- | | +-- | | +-- +--* NIKIJULUW Anthonia Petronella 'Antho' | +-- | +-- | | +-- +--* NOYA Francine | +-- +-- +-- Dang Saija, is he's referred to, was also helpful to an Australian woman who tried to documentate ancient Moluccan languages. He and my late father's cousins, who remained at Haruku, were capable of speaking a.o. Haruku. I will send you a PDF of his contribution separately- what I got from my late cousin, his second daughter. Beginning of November, begining of December my mother, brother and a cousin will leave for Indonesia, to scatter my father's ashes. I will join them end of November. We will go from Jakarta to Surabaya, to Amboina and from there to Haruku (Aboru) and Saparua (Ullath). It'll be approximately 100 years ago that my tete Arnoldus (Nol) Usmany left his parental Island to join the KNIL on Java. I was doing some scanning of old pix the other day. Here a picture of my parents wedding on 21 July 1961 ... About your question re Chris Limahelu in Orange County: he died of cancer. His mother Juliana (Juul) - my aunt - is an Usmany, the cousin of my father, the daughter to Alphons (Pong) Usmany - the younger brother to my tete. So my aunt's half Moluccan, half Javanese (her mother is displaid in the pic) Coincidentally yesterday I got an email of a friend (remote relative ;-) who can help me with the Vigeleyn Nikiulu (I like the original spelling too). His mother is Pelupessy his maternal grandmother a Nikiulu. This is just a quick response. I still have to read all the info in the link you sent. I will call my mother and other relatives to ask if the names you mention sound familiar. Take Care! * Fitzgerald Usmany Walenburgerweg | Rotterdam | the Netherlands skype* *haroekoe | *Meet Me @ **Facebook* * **HYVES* * **LinkedIn* ** Subject: Re: New Material on oldmaluku.com From: Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2010 14:11:46 +0200 To: Chaumont Devin ... I noticed I made an error .... I wrote that my mother believes herself to be a genetically Takarbessy ... this should have been "a genetically Parinussa" ... Subject: Story raja Ibrahim From: Diny Vos Date: Sat, 2 Oct 2010 09:17:21 +0200 To: devin@witchit.com, Dear Joe, dear Fitzgerald, I' m glad to have found your writings about raja Ibrahim Usmany on the internet, just after my father died. My name is Diny Fien Vos-Usmany. I' m 50 years old and I live in Houten (near Utrecht), Holland. My father was Pieter Abraham Usmany, born 23-5-1924, died 20-8-2010. His father was Cornelis Wilhelmus Usmany (opa Emus). He died in Aboru 1963 at the age of 76. His father was Karel Usmany, married to Elzeba Saija. I think this Karel is the son of Corneles mentioned in the story. So my grandfather, opa Emus, must have been a nephew of raja Ibrahim. I have asked my mother and she confirmed. I knew my father was a descendant of a raja but he never told us story's about his ancestors. In 1951 he went to Holland (KNIL soldier) with my mother and my two eldest brothers (Petrus Cornelis and Wilhelmus) I think it must be very hard for my parents to abandon their homeland, break ties and later hear from other people that their parent has died in a place far away. It's funny but when i' m getting older, have children of my own, I become more curious of my origin. My husband has traced his origin. His genealogy goes back to the 14th century. I was very jealous but not anymore. So thank you for placing our history on internet. By the way Fitzgerald, my father like your ojang Metja has had a hand tremor (parkinson) also. Verstuurd vanaf mijn iPad To: "Diny Vos" Subject: Thanks From: "Chaumont Devin" Dear Diny, Thanks for sharing what you know about the Usmany family. Maluku needs written records, else we eventually forget everything and become nothing. --Joe Devin. Subject: Re: Story raja Ibrahim From: Fitzgerald Usmany Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2010 17:15:04 +0200 To: Diny Vos Dear Diny, dear Joe, Sorry for the delay in answering. Weekend is when I have to do the household chores, to take care of my mother etc etc. Being in the office again at work... I can do some private emails ;-) Nice meeting you! We live not that far apart. I live in Rotterdam. My father -- Thomas Usmany -- was born on 14 Sep 1922 and died 17 Dec 2008. The Usmanys have been the "royal family" of Aburo since long. At least, this is what one of my cousins emailed me. She"s Ririhena (Wasu), descendant to the oldest daughter to my oyang Mezak (Etja) Usmany who married to Timisela of Wasu. Since oyang Mezak"s two sons (Arnoldus -- my tete and Alphons) did not want to become Bapa Raja, this was passed on to Ibrahim. If you look in the pedigree as given by Joe, you see "Sakarias". This must be the same person as "Zacharias" in my family tree -- this Zacharia was given to me by my oom Daan Saija (married to the youngest (Bongso) daughter of oyang Dien usmany-Timisela. Zacharias Usmany is probably where we are linked? I always joke to people that Usmany"s are always related: if not in this century then in a previous one. Tete Alphons Usmany died at the Junyo Maru on 18 Sep 1944, together with my tete Pen Takarbessy, my mother"s father: http://members.iinet.net.au/~vanderkp/junyopg8.html Tete Arnoldus Usmany died somewhere in the mid 80"s in Jakarta. We left in 1969 and I had no recollection of him as I was a toddler at that time. For decades I dreamt about an elder man who waived for my attention. Only recently (one or two years ago) I realized it was my grand father I dreamt about, when my mother told me about him. Oyang Mezak must have died around 1933 or so. This is exactly in line with tete Ibrahim"s life span. Tete Ibrahim was of the same generation of my tete Arnoldus (1890-ish?), but slightly older. They appear to be cousins. So when Oyang Mezak died, tete Ibrahim must have been <> 49 years old (born 1985) BTW in November I will go to Indonesia, and I will visit Haroekoe and Saparoea, the islands where our ancestors came from. I reckon tete Arnoldus Usmany must have left around 1910-ish -- so it will be =C2=B1100 years after he left, that his "genes" return to Aboru. Anyway. Would love to hear more from your tribe of the Usmany"s. Amato! Fitz Usmany Subject: Re: Story raja Ibrahim From: Fitzgerald Usmany Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2010 17:19:05 +0200 To: Chaumont Devin ... My cousin (daughter to oom Daan Saija) told me the house of her father (where he lived as a youngster) is across the house where my oyang Mezak lived. The reason why he knew so much on my ancestry. I probably have to search for that, to be able to complete this sentimental journey. As I do not speak Malayu nor any other local languages nor dialects, I hope I will be able to find people that are able to speak (ancient) Dutch. Subject: Re: Story raja Ibrahim From: Fitzgerald Usmany Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2010 07:59:52 +0200 To: Chaumont Devin ... Unfortunately my father was born in Malang, as my tete fled the Maluku's and joined the KNIL on Java. My father could not speak the ancient languages, but his father Nol and his cousins (mostly gone now) could, ofcourse. He told me that, whenever his father did not want his wife (who also did not speak haruku) to know, switched to haruku to communicate with his cousins. So sad that all these ancient cultures now have to subside for McDonalds, cell phones and i-Pods... We all become uniform sausages..... Subject: Usmany From: Diny Vos Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2010 17:27:46 +0200 To: "haroekoe@gmail.com" Hello Fitzgerald and Joe, You don't have to apologize, else I have to apologize too. I also think Raja Zacharias must be the link between us. It looks as if Zacharius has had another son, Matheus, who probably was older then Korneles. This is what I know about my greatgrandfather, grandfather and father: Karel Usmany who married Elzeba Saija had 4 sons. 1. Matheus 2. Cornelis Wilhelmus, my opa Emus, Born: 1887 Died: 1963. 3. Hein, married to someone with the lastname Nurimarna. 4. Donatus, he died young at age. My opa Emus, so I was told, was a military, korporaal brigadier. He was married to Hanna Nahumury, my oma Na. They had 7 children. 1. Karel, oom Ka who used to live in Jakarta 2. Pieter Abraham, my dad, 3. Fien 4. Jan 5. Josina 6. Johanna 7. Hermina Only Fien, Johanna and Hermina are still alive. They all live(d) in Indonesia except for my dad. My father married my mother Alberthina Malawau. They had 11 children. It's a pity I cannot ask my dad if he knew your dad. My mother don' t recognize your father's name. Soon I will see her. Maybe she will recognize some other names you've mentioned. Oh, I've found this site on internet http://members.home.nl/cgf.de.jong/bijbelmol.pdf Look at page 10 of 12. (Lijst 4. De regenten onder Saparoea en Haroekoe) You can find raja of Aboro, Z. Usmany ( must be Zacharias) but also a patty of Ouw and a radja of Ulath with the name Nikijuluw. Fitzgerald, I hope you will have a nice vacation in Indonesia. Take care. Amato! Diny. P.S. Don't mind my lousy english. (my daughter, 15 yrs, thinks it's awfull, main thing is we understand each other.) Verstuurd vanaf mijn iPad Subject: RE: Usmany From: "Fitzgerald" Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2010 21:01:08 +0200 To: "'Diny Vos'" http://lh5.ggpht.com/_eslDq54D6YU/TI_mAwtmQTI/AAAAAAAAIb0/Cy29dXneJFA/Shalom Vrede.png Hi Joe, hi Diny, ... Of course Zacharias would have had more children, but in Joe's scheme the early generations Is seen from the perspective of Ibrahim Usmany. My uncle Daan Saija, told it from `our' perspective and only mentions Matheus, then Zacharias. Both my father (11, of which 3 parished at young ages) and my mother (7) came from large families. I reckon your mother must know my oom Daan Saija, since he was also one on the boats in the 50's. They have lived in a camp in Zeeland and from there moved to Vaassen. I can imagine your mother does not know my father, as we came in the 60's and my parents only were visitors in the Moluccan quarters, when my father went to see his cousins. I reckon you probably also know my father's cousin late oom Nelis Malawau, who lived in Moordrecht. His wife is tante Magda Malawau-Maimoena (originating from Bima?) who is still living there. You mention `oom Ka Usmany' -- I happened to have had an `oom Ka Usmany' who lived in Jakarta. He was the sort of `partner' to my tante Leen (Helena) Usmany, the adik to my father. Tante Leen took care of my tete Nol (Arnoldus) Usmany and nene Jo (Johanna) Usmany-Pattiwael till their deaths in the 1980's. I knew oom Ka was a remote cousin of my aunt =96 I knew they were not allowed to marry because of that. I reckon it's the same oom Ka? I will forward you some old pictures, I already sent to Joe. What a finding these biblical PDF! I found it while googling -- but since it contained too much text, I have never read it. Z. Usmanij must indeed be Zacharias -- it fits in the time frame: beginning of 19th century .. so 18-- something. This (M Nikijuluw) will then probably be the grandfather of my oyang Selphanus Nikijuluw, the grandfather to my mother? I obtained some photo's from my aunt and mother, on which he and his wife (Noya) are portraited. My mother's uncle is Jozef Nikijuluw (so a son of Selphanus Nikijuluw, a friend to ir Manusama. He is mentioned in the archives, as he was active during the period of the proclamation: http://www.nationaalarchief.nl/aankomst/achtergrondinformatie/anderegroepen/ voorlopers.asp Subject: Some Ancient Names. From: "Chaumont Devin" Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:41:17 -1000 (HST) To: , Dear Fitzgerald and Diny, Exactly where the name, "Haruku," comes from, I don't know. Here in Hawai'i there is a Wailuku, which means "Luku Stream," or "Luku River," so I suppose there must be some connection. In Buru, an "emloko" is an eel, but this word seems to come from the same root as "Maluku." There are legends of exploding eels in both Buru and Polynesia, so the old name for Maluku may in fact have arisen from an ancient legend about a great eel that exploded, the pieces of which are the many islands of Maluku. The names, "Pelau" and "Aboru" are probably related to "Palau" in Micronesia, and "Upolu" in Polynesia. As I remember it, Upolu is an important name in Polynesian origin tales, but I can't recall the details. Just thought you might be interested, and if so, then you can look these names up for yourselves using Google or some other Internet search engine. "Tulehu" is an interesting name because the Maori people of New Zeeland used to tell of a people called the "Turehu" people, which would be how "Tulehu" would be pronounced in their language. For family names related to Moluccan family names, look to Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga. I believe I have seen the name, "Latu," in relation to fiji and Tonga, and Wakolo "a Buru name" is found in Fiji. There are probably many more, but not easily found on the Web. Of course white people are lazy about writing local family names down, and probably wish they would just go away because they are a bother to pronounce. So I would like to take this opportunity once again to emphasize the importance of even getting Moluccan family names out there on the web before they disappear forever without a trace. I write this because I am Hell-bent on preserving the Moluccan identityÀcome Hell or high water. In doing research on these subjects, however, it is important to remember that the separation between Maluku and people now living in Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia may have taken place more than 3,000 years ago. Thus it is to be expected that many old names will have changed slightly in sound or been completely forgotten. --Joe. Subject: usmani/usmany family tree From: Louise Collins Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2011 11:30:46 +0000 (GMT) To: "haroekoe@gmail.com" , Hi Joe, Diny , and Fitzgerald i came acrross you lovely people on http://oldmaluku.com/haruku/aboru/ibrahim_usmany.txti was trying to find my family tree roots, trying to see if any of my distant relatives had uploaded any information on our history, i am also usmani (we write it with a I at the end ,but its the same pronunciation, some people also write it as uthmani, othmani, osmani).All i know is that my forefathers claim to be from an arabian at the time of Muhammad, he is called uthman ibn affan..you can read a wikipedia bit about him if you have time.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uthman_ibn_Affan... and i was told the surname usmany/i comes because of his name.i have a family tree at home, it is a paper version it goes like this, the names of the males are only written unfortunately, 33)Hadrat uthman ib affan (RA) {who had many children but from his wife Umm'Amr bint Jandab..he had a son called umar mentioned as (32) in thelist below..and we are from his children .. allegedly)32)umar31)ahmad30)hashim29) qasim28) ilyaas27) mahmood26) abdur rahman25) hamid24) muhammad23) ismail22) yusuf21) hashim20) abu bakr19) salman18) musa17) ibrahim azeez16) yunus15) ayyub14) ahmad13) sheikh sayid kamilul wasil Adam chishti uthmani al jonpuri12) musa11) fadhlullah10)mahmood9)jalaluddin8)abdul lateef arf dawson jalal7) fadhlullah6) qadhi abdul mu'min5) mahmood4) Shaikh ush shareef wa qutub ul haneef sultan ul aarifeen sayyidus shaikh Jalal (quds sarah asl maskanah fi balad karnal panipat) / aka shaike jalal karnalwi3)sayyidus shaikh muhammad saeedudin2) azeezullah1) sayidus shaik al mashaaiq ul kutubuzamaan FADhlullah quds sarh al maruf bafjumiya sahib marqadahu fi mawda dabel gujarat (he is the one that moved to gujarat dabel)after this.. theres like a whole family brances that i cant type ..too long.. but between number 1) and me there are 6 more generationsi know that somewhere along the line,, we had loads of land, oil wells in Burma , rangoon. and we still have relatives there (distant ones) that only my eldest uncle wrote to, because he was curious like me lol, we were part of the royal family in Burma, my cousin brother who went to india a couple years back, saw photos of our burmese forefathers, and their wives who were all dressed like kings and queens, princesses.also i know that at number 4) we were in panipat, india..a village called karnal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karnaland at number 1) the guy moved to dabel, gujarat, India (a different state in india)at present im in the UK (born and bred here, im 24) but my family, dads brothers and sisters are in navsari ,india http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navsariso this family tree that i have , the names go back 1400 years ago.. we should have some link when the arabs came to your district in Indonesia.can you please shed some light on where your clan started from back in arabia/iran? looking forward to hearing from you.Adrian Usmani