Samuel van West, the second of the nine children of Salomon van West and Sophia Hen, was born in Amsterdam on 14 February 1881. He was a commercial assistant, salesman and commercial traveller by profession. On 12 Februry 1908 he married in Antwerp Blondina Maria Joanna Heckmans, a daughter of Jan Alfons Heckmans and Philippina Lowies Tambuyser. Blondina was born on 2 March 1888 in Mechelen. The c…