Aunts Antje, Doortje and Mietje were not the first Van Goghs to settle in Helvoirt after the vicarage. About a year after their registration in the community, a sister of Theodorus, Geertruida Johanna ("Truitje", 1826-1891) van Gogh moved to the village. On April 29, 1872, she and her husband Abraham Anthonie 's Graeuwen, a retired Captain-Lieutenant at Sea, moved into the house Molenhuize (later called Huize Rozen-Haeghe) on Molenstraat. This stately "manufacturers' villa" was demolished in 1960.
In 1883, uncle Johannes (Jan) van Gogh (1817-1885) would also move to Helvoirt. In his working life he rose in the Dutch navy to vice-admiral and rear admiral. For his merits he receives the highest decoration, the Militaire Willems-Orde. From his distant travels he brings back gifts for the children of his brother Theodorus, with whom he has a close relationship. For example, the family receives a Makassar dog, named Fédor, from the East Indies. As director of the Amsterdam Naval Dockyard in 1877-1878, he provides lodging for his nephew Vincent, who is studying preliminary theology in the capital. Thus, he plays an important role in Vincent's life. After his retirement, he retires to Helvoirt with his sister Truitje in the Rozen-Haege home. Uncle Jan is friends with her husband Bram 's Graeuwen, who also worked at sea in high office. Two years after moving to Helvoirt, Uncle Jan dies. In 1886, on the initiative of his brother-in-law and naval friends, he receives a rich tombstone in the cemetery of the Reformed Church, where Aunt Doortje and Aunt Antje are also buried.
As more and more relatives come to live in Helvoirt, Pastor Van Gogh receives an attractive request to come and work in Etten. The family accepts; the offer is better and the way of life there is cheaper and easier, says mother Van Gogh. On October 17, 1875, Theodorus delivers his farewell sermon, after which the family leaves Helvoirt. In October 1884 father would be asked again as pastor in Helvoirt, but despite the memory of his pleasant stay, he decides not to return.
