Venray arose at the beginning of the 13th century on an open plot of field surrounded by a huge wilderness. In the west there was the marsh of the Peel, in the north and east there was barren ground and in the south there were swampy stream lands. Veulen arose here sometime in the 15th century. The farmers worked and developed these tracts of land as needed.

The government consisted of scholtis, aldermen and neighbours. The scholtis represented the count or lord, also the prosecutor in the aldermen bank. The aldermen dealt with law and the government. The neighbours were jurymen and less important owners of a courtyard or piece of land. They were involved in important financial business.

Venray was situated in the “Overkwartier van Gelre”, that area was not geographically connected with the other overkwartieren in Gelderland. This area has seen several Lords, among which, the Duke of Gelre in the present Gelderland. In the 16th century the overkwartier came into Spanish hands and their King became Duke of Gelre. The kerspel “de heerlijkheid Venray” was sold by the King of Spain to an important family and so that area had a local Lord. When Napoleonic forces conquored in 1794 the area became ruled by the French. A few years later this government was overthrown. In 1839 the Netherlands were separated to become North and South Netherlands and Venray became an official Dutch area.
 

Picture of area the Peel in 1692.

The present Veulen appears the first time in the name of Goert van Voerloe in 1322. In that year Goert, together with his friend Sibbe Henselmans, established a convent, later the monastery Jerusalem.
Veulen was also mentioned in an invoice from the commissioner to the Duke of Gelre in 1531.
In the same year Hendrik Verberckt rented “Voerloe and Voerloeberch” for 23 malder rye and 4 barrels herenpacht. A malder is half a mud (50 litres). He collected the rent for the rent master and in this manner earned a percentage.
In the schatcedulen (real estate tax lists) of Venray, Veulen is first mentioned in 1638 as "aen 't Vaerloe". In that year there were only 8 farms in Veulen. It stayed that way until the first half of the 18th century. Concerning the amount of taxes the “Volleberg plâts" was a farm of medium size.

 

 

The family name.

The family name Volle(n)berg(h) was developed at a time when only a few people could read or write. For that reason the name was written in as many ways as there were clerks. The name Vollenberg is, a so called, fieldname, in this case a surname to show that you were situated on the Vaerloeberch. The first time this piece of land (hill) is mentioned, was between 1531 and 1534 in a number of invoices. Rent was raised in Voerloe toe Voerloebergh. Theuken and his family members were the only inhabitants of Vaerloeberch. In the 17th century the Vaerloeberch was no longer mentioned separately. Only Veurlo was mentioned. Voerlo became via Vaerlo, surname Voerloeberch / Vaerloeberch became Voerloeberch, Voirleberch, Vollenberch and so on until at last it became Vollenbergh. The ancient writing of Veulen was equal on the first part of our surname. If we follow the entomology the name means Veulenberg.
The farm received the same name as the land; therefore it became a house name for Peter van Heijster.
On the 11th November 1726 Peter van Heijster came to live on the "Volleberg plâts". He was married to Elisabetha Vollebergh who inherited the farm from her parents. Peter chose to use the name Vollenbergh. The offspring of Elisabetha and Peter - and the children from his second marriage with Elisabeth Hebben - are mentioned in the books of baptism as van Heijster, but they have used the name Vollenbergh.
When Elisabetha Vollebergh died, in approximately 1729 on the "Volleberg plâts", the last descendent disappeared from Theucken toe / van Vaerloeberch. Nevertheless, their decedents kept on using the name Vollenbergh.

In the beginning of the 16th century the prefix 'Toe' and 'To' were used. With that you could determine where you came from. At the end of the 16th beginning 17th century the Vollenberghs got the prefix ‘On’ for their name. After all they lived on the "Volleberg plâts". The ones that moved away were given the prefix 'From', because they were originated on the "Volleberg plâts".
Between 1700 and 1750 the prefixes disappeared so only the name Vollenbergh stayed.
"Van den Vollenbergh" appears only once. This name died out after three generations.

Changes in surnames were normal, especially around 1700. In 1642 Peter op Volleberch married Heiken Broex. He decided to live at the farm of her parents, the "Broex plats" and affiliated the name Broex. His offspring kept on using the name Broex.

In 1796 Napoleon introduced the registry office. In the northern part of the Netherlands this was done only in 1811. From then on he kept this family name. Since then the three names Volleberg, Vollebergh and Vollenberg were officially established.