The Caesar family
The Caesar family's relationship with Ugchelen begins in 1880.
G.E. Caesar buys the Geerlingshofstede farm located in the hamlet of Ugchelen on February 23, 1880 for 4,375 guilders from the Amsterdam master bread baker Daniel Schreuder. According to the deed, the transfer consisted of a house, bakery, barn and yards, garden, building and pasture and wood crops, a total of four hectares, eighty ears and three centiares, with the right of sheep drift on the Ugchelse Mark.
The land in Ugchelen was probably purchased as an investment and then G.E. Caesar died in 1892 and the land in Ugchelen was allocated to his son Friedrich Wilhelm.
The G.E. family Caesar lived in Amsterdam at Nieuwendijk 186, where they had a shop that sold stockings, knitwear, lingerie and embroidery. The family also had real estate at Nieuwendijk 195 and Keizersgracht 116. The store at Nieuwendijk 195 was registered in Friedrich's name after the death of his father.
Friedrich is known to have also lived at Sarphatistraat 8 in Amsterdam. He was director of the NV "Ferdinand Veerkamp en Co" Lingerie and Blousenfabriek, which Steam Lingerie Factory was founded in 1885 and was located at Marcusstraat 12. It is not clear to me why FW Caesar has often been described as a toy manufacturer until now. I couldn't find anything in that direction. However, F.W. Caesar was also commissioner of Van de Waal & Co's corset factory until 1926 and G.H. Klatte's trade in Manufactures in Amsterdam.
Plans for building Caesarea
Around 1910 he had the Geerlingshofstede house in Ugchelen rebuilt, so that he could live there himself. He made a design himself and when the house was finished he could often be found in Ugchelen. He then developed plans to build a holiday colony with a chapel on his land for children from the big cities. He also knew the Archbishop of Utrecht, to whom he presented his plans. He saw some merit in it and approved the plans.