From the instructions for handling the rudder, about 1600.
The Thirty years War (1618-1648) had changed Germany from a prosperous medieval Empire into a chaos of destructed cities, a desolate country-side made un- inhabitable By gangs of hungry discharged soldiers after the war had ended. Almost a third of the entire German population were killed in the process and all this just to proof which sect of Christianity gave the more correct interpretation of the concept of “love thy neighbor” The Catholics or the Lutherans….!
The villages Nord- and Sudkirchen (where our story will take place initially) are located In the Bisdom Munster in Westphalia, where in 1648 finally the peace treaty was signed to end one of the bloodiest, dirtiest and most futile wars ever conducted in history. The two villages date from wll before the year 1200 and are located on fertile soil in wll developed land owned by some nobleman who lived in a castle (called “Wasserschloss”), surrounded by a large chunk of forest and dividing the two villages. The farmers were originally serfs who not only had to pay part of their crop to the land-owners, they also had to perform free services for this “noble” family like cutting wood, repairing roads etc. and even serve in their armies in times of war, and that happened still with great regularity in those days. In the Bishopric Archives in Munster was found that church records of births, marriages-and deaths began to be kept up again after that war in 1678. There are some early records tiut they concern exclusively the family of the Von Plettenbergs, who at that time occupied the “Wasserschloss”.
The oldest records found of the family are marriage certificates between Gerardus Funman and Anna Kaldenser in 1688 in Sudkirchen as well as that of Stephanus Schriver and Anna Dornhegge in the same year. In 1716 Gerardus Herman Funman, “genannt Schriver” (either Gerardus or Stephanus son) married with Catharina Uphoff also in Sudkirchen. The words “genannt Schriver” are important because this is the first time the name Schriver, Schrijver or Schreve has been used both as an altenative to Funman, thus our surname was born. And that of the profession of this ancestor and of his father or uncle was being established as that of being a scribe. In a time when 90 % of the population was illiterate, there was a need for men who could do their reading and writing.
From later records I found that these early ancestors were tradesmen, tailors, who in order to supplement their income had to work as scribes as well or possibly the other way around, they could not make a living being just scribes.! Anyway at that time the name Funman was dropped and Schreve or similar names were borne. Schreve is s.c. “Platt Deutsch” spoken mostly in the Western part of Germany, bordering on the Netherlands. The “High German” word for it is “Schreiber” ,very close to the Dutch word “Schrijver’. But they all mean the same thing.
The marriage of our direct fore-father Johannes Henricus with Elisabeth Huntstrup bas not been found, we did however find that of Ferdinand Schreve with Margaretha Tieman in 1708, Johannes was a witness on that occasion and when Johannes’ son was born he was baptized Ferdinand and Ferdinand Sr. was the god-father there. The younger Ferdinand marries ca. 1734 with Anna Lechtenberg their marriage certificate too was not found. There are several explanations for these disappearances The most likely of them that earlier “genealogists” just swiped whole pages out of the books and out of the archives There was little supervision then. Now you don’t even get to see the original hooks and certificates, everything is on disks or floppy’s. The other is that it was customary at those times for the parties involved to visit the Parish priest to arrange the recording of the events, they were usually accompanied by a neighbor or friend, and brought a bottle of “Schnapps” By the time the trio had finished the bottle they sometimes had forgotten the purpose of their visit !
Our Ferdinand had at least two sisters, Margaret and Geertruy who around 1725 migrated to Rotterdam. Holland. And they were not alone thousands of people in Germany, France, Belgium,
Scotland and even far way Portugal carne to the little” Republic of the Seven Provinces” usually known as Holland, which was really just another province,( but it was the most aggressive and the richest of them). With all the poverty in Western Europe Holland was right in the middle of its “Golden Age” they controlled 80% of all shipping, settled many colonies on all four Continents ad The major Stock-Exchange and a highly powerful navy. Besides that they experienced an art boom as well, many great artists as Vermeer, Rembrandt, Frans Hals etc. made timeless paintings. Architecture, writing the medical science ,map-making and pottery everything was going great.
There was lots of work so most of these immigrants became good hard-working citizens.
By the way Margaret married in Rotterdam with Engelbrecht Lechtenberg a 2nd cousin from back home in Nordkirchen. She died you.ng and Engel marries her sister Geertruy.
Ferdinand and Anna in Nordkirchen had probably 7 children. the oldest Johnannes, Henricus bap tized in 1735, followed by Anna Elizabeth, Johannes Albertus, Anna Maria and in 1747 Johannes Bemardus (Barend) there were also a Franciscus and a Barbara (no records found). Besides our Ferdinand’s family there were quite a number of other “Schreves” in both Nord- and Sudkirchen many of them moved to Holland, but not all stayed there, some went back after a whi1e In the fall of 1759 Barend traveled with bis older brother Albert from Nordkirchen to Rotterdam, for Albert this was “old hat”, he must have been one of those seasonal workers, who could not find any work in winter at home and had to go outside. Our Barend had made up his mind at the young age of 12 to go to Holland and make “big” money.! He was going to stay with his Aunt Geertruy who by that time was well established there.
Travel in those days was even for the rich discouragingly slow, tiresome and not without danger, On horse-back, in a coach or aboard a canal- or river-boat was somewhat convenient, hotels or inns were dirty, crowded and expensive….. for those without money like Barend and bis brother, it was a long walk and if real lucky a ride now and then on a farmer’s cart. If the weather was half decent they slept in the open or otherwise in a farmer’s hay-stack, where it was nice and warm.
By L.F. Temminck.
It probably took them about 4 or 5 days to reach Rotterdam, where they went directly to the Agterklooster a narrow street in the old center of the city, where their aunt Geertruy lived. Her 4 children were all married so there was some room for the two nephews to be looked after until they could find a job and their own accommodation. Looking back they could consider themselves lucky to have safety completed this journey, after all in 1756 the seven years war had begun and French, German and English armies were making the area of Western Germany quite un-safe for young men to wander around. Impoverished “Barons” with a small band of tough guys rounded up any young man they could find, accused them of being a deserter from some army or other and then enlisted them in new companies and sold these to an army commander who always needed fresh troops. By the way this was the same war that was fought here too and ended in the battle of the “Plains of Abraham” where the French were defeated by the English.
Barend found a job as an apprentice in a tailor’s workplace, because the churches were looking after “their own” he might have had some help there. There still was no freedom of religion in the Republic, the Dutch Reformed Church was the official state church. Non-Protestants could not get good civil service jobs and they had to “rude” their churches, keep the noise level down and pay a bribe to the police to stay out of trouble.!
After ten years of hard work at very low pay, and that meant 12 hours a day and 6 days a week and no holidays…..Barend made it to Master-Tailor and now could start rus own business, wruch he promptly did. He rented some space and worked even harder than he was used to.! In those days he met rus future wife. Anna Lauwaarts, who as a little girl had come with her family from Gangelt in Gulikerland, part of Limburg near Sittard in the Southem part of the Netherlands.
By J. Gudding.
Her father Jacob and mother Barbara (née Rocken) were all born there. They later on were witnesses at the baptisms of some of Barend and Anna’s children but eventually both must have returned to their place of birth because Barbara died there in 1775 and Jacob in ’78. We don’t know what he was doing for a living, probably a tradesman too. The family has been traced back to 1665 when a Anthonius Liwartz was born in Gangelt, the name was later changed to Lowarts followed by Lauwaarts. There were several brothers and sisters of Barbara who later were witnesses at baptisms, and weddings for the family, so some stayed in Rotterdam. It was comparatively easy in those days to move from one country To another, there were no clearly defined borders, no custom-officers to check who was coming or going or what you were trying to bring into the country. The problem of citizenship carne with living in a city. To become a citizen, one had to live there for a certain length of time, have a sponsor, own a sizeable amount of money and preferably a home there.
The interior of the church on Leeuwenstraat.
On April 8111 1770 Barend and Anna were married in the St Rosalia church, “Free of Charge” in other words they were still poor. Then again Barend was still only 23 and had to spend some money on setting up his workshop and buying the odd pieces of furnishing for his home. This Rosalia church was the first R.C. church opened in Rotterdam after the Reformation and the destruction and confiscation of all old Catholic properties. It was established by the Jesuits in total secrecy in a little sort of bam in the center of a block of houses, most of which were occupied by Catholics. Soon as a house in that area carne for sale, some rich parishioner bought it and made sure a Catholic family carne to live there. All this happened around the year 1600. The times at which services were to be held in this little church were irregular (to confuse the authorities) and announced to the parishioners by s.c. “Klopjes” old ladies who knocked on doors. In 1661 the church was re-built and renovated. At the time of Barend’s wedding the parish counted already 4000 members and it was no longer possible to keep it a secret, so the alternative was a 1000 guilder bribe (annually) to a high official in city hall. And 1000 gld. was a princely sum in those days.! In 1772 the Rosalia was demolished and a new beautiful ” baroque” church in the style of the Versailles court chapel was built on the spot after a design by that buildings’ same Italian architect Jan Guidici. This was finance.cl mostly by the inheritance of the widow Christina Osty, a prominent member of the parish.
I hope you find these images a nice addition.
The interior of the church on Leeuwenstraat.
The rear facade and three entrances of the Rosalia Church on a picture postcard.
In 1771 Barend and Anna had their first son, baptized Jacobus after Anna’s father. In 1773 the second son Franciscus. A Franciscus Schrijver was the witness and god-father on that occasion he must have been the brother of Barend, of whom no birth records have been found in Nordkirchen. In this same year Barend received his citizenship papers from the city, even though he did not own his house yet, but it turned out you could not operate your own business either without those papers. Church members must have helped him to obtain this under these circumstances.
In ’75 another boy, Albertus after a brother of Barend and in ’77 Barbara, Anna’s mother was the god-mother there. In 1780 another son Johannes, Henricus, called after the oldest of Barend’s brothers. He became the forefather of the “Venlo branch” of the family, we will hear about that later
1782 was a good year for Barend, The college in aid of the poor of the parish sold to him a house on the Zandstraat for 5100 gld. With 1700 cash and the balance with a promissory note.
Six days later he sells the property again to a Jan van Vechelen for 5325 gld paid for, with 1925
cash and transfer of the note for the balance. He made himself a “cool” 225 gld in a few days hut above all he got a taste for real-estate.! A year later he bought the house across the street for his own use for 5000 gld. With 1000 cash and a note for 4000. It was a pretty good size house, 4 stories high. The main floor was for the business, upstairs living quarters and quite a bit of room left to rent out, with the return of it he paid off the mortgage.! One year later he buys a second house in the same Zandstraat and in ’86 a third one for 2974 gld paid in full. He must have been doing pretty good, demand for housing was steadily growing and the interest rate varied from 3 to 4 %! Barend and his family lived in the house for the rest of his life and many of his children lived there even after they were married. In 1786 he also received a license to act as a receiver for the Dutch East India Company. He describes himself in this document as a Master-Tailor and Merchant.
In the Church too, Barend was quite active. He was now a member of the committee in aid of the poor and thus gave back what he had received when he came to this city. He was in charge of realestate owned by the parish .a.o. he was involved in the purchase of some houses to be used fora future orphanage. In a time, we would have called boring and dull without movies, sports events, theatre, concerts, radio or T.V. the only thing these people had was the church with its colorful ceremonies, its organ music and choir. So no wonder they were all quite involved in it.
Of course there were taverns, dancehalls and brothels but in a busy port city like Rotterdam that was the domain of sailors and other foreigners. For the rich, things were a bit different again, they did have some theatre and they had musical evenings at home and at fiends’ houses.
Class differences were still enormous. The ordinary Joe had to address the rich as “Your Honour” while the upper classes addressed them as “Kerel” meaning a worker, a nobody.!
But the masses were becoming restless, the influence of French revolutionary thinkers was slowly penetrating here. Among the “loud-mouths” who were making trouble sometimes was a Kaat Mussel, so called because she sold mussels (in season of course) She lived in the Agterklooster where Barend used to stay with his aunt Geertruy. He must have known her well.!
A real strange case is recorded in the notarial archives in Rotterdam, On Sept.16 1785 Barend is named as the sole heir to all of the earthly belongings of a certain Engelbrecht Glüchau from Hannover, who in the service of the Dutch East India Co. was about to leave for China. Since the man also came from Germany, Barend might have assisted him in getting the job with the Company or he might have been a distant relative, we do not know. But anyway nothing much came of it Barend or his dependents never got a penny out of it.
In 1789 the French revolution broke out and the Bastillle was stormed and taken. As a result the working classes became even more daring and the “Patriciers” were running scared.
Barend and Anna had now 6 surviving children, he is 52 years old and the older kids all worked in the tailor shop. Barend’s oldest boy, Jacob causes a bit of a problem. There are no records about him since his birth certificate. No marriage, no death, never as a witness, no trace at all..! One possibility is that he just disappeared, in itself not uncommon in those days for a young man to do. There are cases known where young men were fed enough gin to knock them out and then sign on as a sailor in the merchant marine or even in the navy. Many of those kids did not survive for long or ran off in a foreign country never to be heard off again.! It is also possible that nothing this dramatic happened and that Jacob turned out to be just as adventurous as his dad and moved away to greener pastures, like America.!
Our direct forefather, Franciscus was now 22 yrs. old, almost ready to become a “Master Tailor” to, and he had found himself a future wife in Elizabeth Wijtenburgh, the only daughter of Jan Wijtenburgh, a bread baker on the Schiedamschedijk, and Christina Melchers.
It is 1795 now and the French revolutionary armies “liberate” the Republic…. The Oranges and
many of the high ranking “Patriciers” fled to England. In Rotterdam, as in other cities, they were dancing around the “Freedom-Tree” which they had placed here on the Nieuwe Markt. Most likely Frans and his girlfriend joined the crowd there. Elizabeth’s uncle Hernan owned the two houses there on the left of the “Zakkendragers’ Huis” (the bag-carriers guild house).
We leave ” the Schrijvers” now for a while and find out who the Wijtenburgs and Melchers are.
Back harbor from the south. On the right the warehouse of the VOC.
To the right of this is the entrance from the Achterhaven (also called Nieuwehaven at the time)
to the Buizenwaal on which the ramp of the VOC yard was situated.
THE BUTCHERS, THE BAKERS, and THE BUTTER-COOKIE-MAKERS
Jan Wijtenburgh was a baker, hut he must have learned this trade after be carne to Rotterdam, as a young man from his native Leiden. His grandfather Michael Weitenburg came from a farming community just Noord of Maastricht in Limburg to Leiden around the year 1700 and became a wool carder in this city famous for its top quality blankets and fine woolen fabrics.
He married there in 1704 with Gertrude Mantz and the couple had at least ten children among them Jan Wijtenburg bom in 1710 who also worked as a carder and was married to Petronella Welters, she came from Aachen., also close to Maastricht. This couple again had 8 or ten children, both parents died young and the kids went to an orphanage.
Our Jan was born in 1747 and he went with his ten year older brother Pieter to Rotterdam somewhere around 1760. Found a job as a helper in a bakery and gradually learned the trade.
These bakers too made long hours and worked pretty hard. Starting at about 3 AM in the morning baking bread and then the younger guys were send out with little carts for home-delivery. One of his customers was a Christina Melchers a well-to-do widow with 4 children, she had been married twice before, both from fairly prominent families. Christina was then 38 yrs. old and Jan was 25.
Her latest husband, Pieter van Rooyen had died a little more than a year ago and Christina must have felt rather lonely so she fell for the happy, young baker and the couple married in 1772. Much to the chagrin of her family…..!! She was the youngest daughter of Stephanus Melgers and Margaretha Leenderts (a.k.a. “Grietie van Maastrigt”), she had one brother Johannes who was a ” Medicinale Doctor” and a younger one Herman who was a prominent merchánt. Only one other sister Elisabeth, married to a Mr. van Nistelrooyen, who claimed to belong to the nobility..!
Stephen Melgers carme from Beckum in Munsterland, 40 KM East of Nordkirchen and arrived in 1700 with several brothers in Rotterdam where he had already 2 uncles, who must have encouraged them to come there too. All 5 boys married between 1715 and 1718 in Rotterdam with loc.al girls. Stephan’s brother Jacob married Margareths’ sister Petronella.
Schiedamsepoort on the mainland and the bridge on the left to Zalmhaven.
View of the Zeevisch market on the north side of the Blaak.
With the Soetenbrug on the left, and the Blaak and the Luthersekerk on the Wolfshoek on the right.
Seen from the west from the Leuvehaven.
Margaretha’s father was Jan Leenderts who came from Maastrigt as a young boy in 1675 and found himself a job as deliveryman in the “Blue Mill” where they ground fine flour for the local bakeries. (The mill was still standing when I was living there and still producing top grade flour) One of his clients was the bakery of Quirijn van Biesen on the Botersloot, his bakery’ was widely known at the time as one of the best. One fine day when Jan made a delivery he noticed this lovely young girl in the store who turned out to be Liesje van Biesen, a niece of Quirijn who was helping out there. The two hit it off real fast and when the “Kermis,., (a sort of annual fàir) came to town he found the courage to ask her for a date and pretty soon the two were making big plans…..!
There were however a few problems, he was a Catholic and she carne from a Protestant family, a family that was very well to do. He was a pauper……but pauper or not he was persistent, smart and he must have been a charmer because eventually the family gave in and let the two get married.
Liesbeth lived originally in Arnhem where she claimed to have been born. ( but no birth recorded there) In 1672 when Louis XIV with his “grande armée” invaded Holland she fled with her family West and behind the “Water-Linie” a proven line of defense to protect the Province of Holland at the time. Her father died, either during or shortly after this voyage and her uncle Quirijn decided to look after her. Those were tumultuous years, when not just France but also England and Sweden and the Bishops of Munster and Cologne declared war on the Republic. But luckily we had great Admirals like Tromp and de Ruyter and the most powerful navy in the world so they defeated the British and French fleets combined in the sea battle of Solebay where de Ruyter was in charge while Tromp with another part of the fleet blockaded the Sont and thus keeping the Swedes locked up in the Baltic sea. The Water-Linie worked fine and the Great French army sunk to its knees in the mud and had to go home in a bit of a hurry. Peace was restored and the Great King Louis mad as hell !!!!
This Quirijn van Biesen was not just a friendly pastry baker who sold butter-cookies on the “Botersloot” (The Butter-Canal-street) by a lovely girl called Liesje and thus created the name “Boterbiesje” he was also a great art collector. Art lovers from all over Europe came to his house to see his collection. After bis death the collection was auctioned off and it contained works by David Teniers, Jan Breughel, Hans Holbein and Antonie van Dijk and many other famous painters, truly unbelievable but recorded in the Municipal archives of the city of Rotterdam.
Elisabeth and Jan’s marriage took place on the 2nd of November 1687. In a big civil ceremony at City Hall followed by a modest church wedding in the tiny RC. chapel on the Slijkvaart. The church was named ” ‘t Paradijs” it means the same in Dutch as in English and we think these two found their real Paradise and a pleasant house on the Vissersdijk where they spent most of their lives to boot. The couple had 8 children of whom only 4 survived. Pietenella, married to Jacob Melgers (Steven’s brother), Margeretha (Grietje), Jan and Christina. Jan Leenderts died at age 50 and Liesje lives to the ripe old age of 76, just before her death she makes a new will and leaves everything to her daughters Grietje and Christina. The other kids get wind of this and make a big stink, threatening with a law-suite. A month later the will was voided and a new will left the estate in equaJ parts to all the surviving children.!
Elisabeth never did convert to Catholicism, she was buried in the Scottish church in Rotterdam.
Stephen Melgers and his wife Grietje van Mastrigt did quite well in the pork butcher business,. the man could not read or write but was smart enough to make a lot of money (the odd inheritance did not do any harm either) They owned several houses a.o. the two of them on the Nieuwe Markt, (later left to Herman).
At the time of Stepban’s death the family lived in the big house next to the Guildhouse, called “de Beer”. The main floor of which was a coffee-house. He leaves everything to his wife and Grietje, just like her mother Liesje, makes the same mistake, she too makes a new will and leaves everything to her daughter Christina (our great-great grandmother) The family comes in uproar, a new will is made, everyone shares equally again…. and the peace in the family is restored.!
In 1773 Margaret dies and even on her death certificate she is still called “Grietje van Mastrigt”.
In the background the town hall at the Cheese Market.
THE MELGERS CLAN TAKES REVENGE.!
In the meantime Christina and her husband Jan Wijtenburg still had a very difficult time. Jan was still employed in the bakery and did not make enough money to look after Christina and her three children from her two previous marriages and the new baby Elizabeth born in 1775. She was called after her aunt Elizabeth van der Broek, a daughter of Grietje’s older sister Pieternella.
Now it became clear that the dislike for Jan by the Melgers family was much more than that, they must have hated this guy. They appointed Bernard van Nistelrooyen as the guardian over the three girts ,the only boy had died earlier. This van Nistelrooyen later married the oldest of the three girts, Margaretha de Beyer in 1790, even though they were first cousins.!
In 1776 Hennan Melgers sells Jan a house on the Schiedamschedijk for 4000 gld. Payable with
an obligation for this full amount, Jan only had to pay cash for the 125 gld. administration fee. He now could operate bis own bakery and they lived there for the following 30 years.
Shortly after that the other two girls marry, Agatha de Beyer with Everardus van den Berg and Maria van Rooyen with Gerrit Stukart
When Johannes Melgers ( the doctor) died in 1786 ,he left some real estate to brother Herman and the balance of his estate to the three girls of Christina, while Elisabeth was excluded from the will.! Luckily for Elisabeth she had her aunt Elisabeth van den Broek who left her all her possessions when she died in 1797. It consisted of her personal jewelry and some furniture and possibly real-estate. But that was not defined in the will.
In 1797 Franciscus Schrijver and Elisabeth married in the Rosalia church, more likely than not, both parties figured they were marrying into money ……. Barend was well known by now and had several properties in his name and the Melchers family was considered wealthy by many people. For the time being they moved in with the rest of the family in Barend’s house on the Zandstraat.
In the Lange Torenstraat, with the Laurenskerk in the background.
By Jakob Kortebrant ca. 1752.