The crypt of the Martini family
The oldest tomb in Vught on private land that could be built according to the guidelines in 1804, which is the Martini family.
It was far beyond the built-up area at that time, we find the grave at the roundabout at the Martinilaan opposite the numbers 9 and 11.
It is known from literature and drawings that it was originally a magnificent monument.
The description given by the former archivist F. de Bekker of the burial cellar in 1930 shows that there was virtually nothing left of it at that time.
Nevertheless, the burial cellar was designated as a municipal monument in 1998.

Who was he?
The family grave was built around 1813 by Mr. Hendrik Bernhard Martini (1768-1848). Who was he
Before the French Revolution he was councilor, steward-general and receiver-general (taxes) of Brabant and under King Willem I director of direct taxes and the land registry in 's-Hertogenbosch.
Since 1823 he was a member of the Senate of the States General and a member of the Committee on Agriculture.
In 1822 he was raised in the Dutch nobility, the Martinis were Protestant and Hendrik Bernhard was an elder of the Dutch Reformed Church for a long time.

Manor Ouwerkerk and House Piacenza
In 1803, Hendrik Bernard Martini (1768 - 1848) bought the estate, he had the existing country house demolished and a new Italian-style house built.
Through regular purchases, he expanded the estate until it reached a size of over 150 hectares in 1846.     
His son, Mr. Antoni Martini, lord of Geffen, undertook the reclamation of the wasteland, he had a farm-country house built in 1820, he called this farm Piacenza.
A second farm was built in 1852, after the death of Mr. Hendrik Bernard Martini, the mansion was sold and the family withdrew to Piacenza.     
On October 30, 1883, died the last owner living in Vught on Piacenza, Mr. H.B. Martini, childless.
The property was sold and approx. 50 ha. came into the possession of the Worst family, a notary family from 's Hertogenbosch, who further exploited the site.
They had built a small house for hunting and as a summer residence.
In 1920 it was bought by Mr. K.W.F. Scholten van Aschat, he himself lived in Ulvenhout, but his son M.V.E.Ph. settled with his wife on the summer house built by the Worst family, after rebuilding and enlarging it.     
The Ouwerkerk country house was demolished in the 19th century for the construction of the Vught - Boxtel railway.
The Piacenza house was demolished after the Second World War to make way for a modern farm.
Only the farmhouse, built in 1852, still reminds of the Martini family because of its facing brick.   
 
Hendrik Bernhard Martini has been married four times, the first wife, Jacoba Johanna van Hanswijk, was buried in 1797 in Den Bosch.
His second wife, Johanna Maria Catharina van Hanswijk (sister of Jacoba Johanna), died in 1813 at Ouwerkerk and was the first to be buried in the new burial cellar in Vught. In an oval cartouche above the entrance was the text:
 To the loveliest spouse Johanna
Maria Catharina van Hanswijk
Spouse of Hendrik Bernard Martini
Died March 14, 1813, 39 years old.
A facade had been erected as a closing wall against the burial cellar, the upper part has disappeared, unknown since when.
The lower part with main entrance and two blind niches may still lie in the ground, above the locked and arched arched main entrance, MEM [ento] read MORI in a keystone.
Above it was a rectangular stone that now lies crooked and half sunk between tree stumps and ivy, on this stone is the text:
In the grave there is no more tiredness
Once we hear the call again
To our salvation,
On top of that, the arms of the Martini family and Van Hanswijk were mounted in a tapered pediment.

Who is buried in the burial cellar?

According to a 1931 article in The Announcer, almost all members of the Martini family who were born or lived in Vught were buried in the burial cellar.
It would be 29 family members, this claim was not substantiated, but was repeated in publications for decades.
Many Martinis, however, are buried elsewhere and moreover, there would be no room in the burial cellar for so many deceased people.
Only three people are certain to have been buried in this burial cellar.
First of all the already mentioned second wife of Hendrik Bernard Martini, two other family members could be given certainty because something was wrong.
This is daughter Jacoba Petronella Margaretha from the second marriage, born in 1804, she died in Zutphen on July 3, 1829, was transferred two days later in the evening to Vught and the following morning - given the condition of the body- quickly buried into her father's cellar at Ouwerkerk, according to a letter from the mayor to the officer of the court in Den Bosch.

Grave cellar in 't Schoonveld
There is also certainty about the addition of Mr. Nicolaas Johan, son of the first marriage.
In fact, in the council meeting of November 20, 1854, a letter from his brother Antoni Martini van Geffen was treated with his refusal to pay funeral rights for the burial in the family cellar in the 't Schoonveld of the remains of his deceased brother.
Nothing can be said with certainty about the addition of other Martinis, it can be assumed that in 1848 Hendrik Bernard himself was also placed in the "cellar", and possibly five other (unmarried) children from his second marriage.         
He died between 1820 and 1835 and their father survived them all.
The third wife, who died at Ouwerkerk in 1819, Petronella Margaretha Jacoba van Hanswijk (a sister of Johanna Maria Catharina), will probably also have been buried in the burial cellar, as well as her daughter Henriëtte J.M., who died on New Year's Day 1816.
Her birth at the Ouwerkerk country estate was declared on July 12, 1815, when her parents got married a week later, the baby was recognized and legitimized by the marriage certificate.
Hendrik Bernard also has his fourth wife, Sara Johanna, Countess of Hogendorp, Dowager from J.W. Thibault van Aagtekerke, survived, she died in 1840 in Utrecht.
A special case concerns the burial of Sara A. Orth van Nijenrode, who died in Tilburg on December 10, 1853, it would be a temporary funeral, because the corpse could not be transported to Holland because of the rivers. (high tide)

It may be .......
In 1851, Antoni Martini van Geffen offered the Reformed Congregation of Vught a piece of land near the burial cellar to become his own burial place of the Reformed within this congregation.
However, the church council objected to that location and declined the offer.       
It was not until 1947 that a Protestant cemetery was opened, the location? A part of the Ouwerkerk estate on the Ouwerkerklaan! well it can be ............
 
The Ancestor Company
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Sources: Hanneke Das-Horsmeier
De Brabantse Leeuw, J. Belonge, LL.M.: "A distorted memorial in Vught", 1979, p. 62-63
Connected Private Estate "From nothing to something".
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