Batavia's Graveyard - Mike Dash [189]
The life and times of Lucretia Jans Her father was Jan Meynertsz, who was buried on 16 August 1602. City tax records show that at the time of his death he and his wife had only one child, who must have been Lucretia’s elder sister, Sara. Meynertsz’s widow, Steffanie Joostendr, remarried in 1604 after observing an appropriate period of mourning. Her second husband, Dirck Krijnen, was a widower and a captain in the Dutch navy. He brought a daughter, Weijntgen, from his first marriage to join the household. Steffanie died in May 1613 and was buried, like her first husband, in Nieuwe Zijds chapel. She was laid to rest in her own tomb, a sign that she must have possessed considerable wealth. Dirck Krijnen appears to have been dead by 1620, as by that date Creesje’s affairs were in the hands of Amsterdam’s Orphan Chamber, and she had acquired a guardian in the shape of a sexton named Jacob Jacobsz, who also helped to officiate at her marriage. Her sister, Sara, married twice and had five children. Their affairs have been recorded in some detail because the two girls eventually became the heirs of their mother’s uncle, Nicholas van der Leur, and inherited a considerable sum of money. Under Dutch law the inheritance was administered by the Orphan Chamber of the City of Amsterdam. The house in which Creesje was born, then known as The White Angel, still stands and the current address is 113 Nieuwendijk, Amsterdam (Drake-Brockman, op. cit., pp. 63–9, 273). For Creesje’s marriage, see GAA marriage registers 969 (Old Church 1619–20), fol. 433, which also records her current address as the Herenstraat. At this time it was in theory possible for Dutch women to get married at the age of 12, but in practice the average age at which they wed in Amsterdam was 24 to 28 and though half of the city’s brides were aged 20 to 24, 18 was regarded as the age of sexual maturity. Creesje was thus very much a youthful bride. Gabrielle Dorren, Eenheid en Verscheidenheid: De Burgers van Haarlem in de Gouden Eeuw (Amsterdam: Prometheus/Bert Bakker, 2001), p. 41; Simon Schama, The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age (London: Fontana, 1987), p. 436.
“. . . to Arakan . . .” Drake-Brockman, op. cit., p. 65n, citing Coolhaas, op. cit. p. 1186.
Jan Pinten Confession of Allert Janssen, JFP 19 Sep 1629 [DB 196].
Sick bays Bruijn et al., Dutch-Asiatic Shipping, I, p. 161.
Sailors’ attitude to soldiers’ deaths Charles Parr, Jan van Linschoten (New York: Thomas Y. Cromwell, 1964), p. xxxii.
Gabriel Jacobszoon and his wife Confession of Andries Jonas, JFP 24 Sep 1629 [DB 201].
Jacop Pietersz, his origins and nicknames Interrogation of Jeronimus Cornelisz, JFP 19 Sep 1629 [DB 165]; death sentences pronounced 28 Jan 1630, ARA VOC 1099, fol. 49.
Coenraat van Huyssen For his appearance, nobility, and origins in Gelderland, see LGB; for his family background, see W. J. d’Ablaing van Giessenburg, De Ridderschap van de Veluwe (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1859), p. 78 and De Ridderschap van het Kwartier van Nijmegen (The Hague: Van Stockum, 1899), pp. 157, 164; A. P. van Schilfgaarde, Register op de Leenen van her Huis Bergh (Arnhem: Gouda Quint, 1929), pp. 253–4. There is a considerable gap in the Den Werd fief records for the period 1560–1656, which makes it impossible to state with certainty that Coenraat van Huyssen was a member of this family, but it seems likely that he was.
The Van Welderens and Nijmegen The Van Welderens were a distinguished family