Vlieland, Netherlands

The following is the transcription of the Dutch document with reference to the Zeebrieven for July 17, 1709 at http://home.hccnet.nl/mwk/zb/1709.html where it lists two for the date 17.7.1709 

• • • a)schipper Adriaen Koe, Amsterdam, "de David en Abigael", 30

    • b)schipper Claas Brandaris, Vlieland, "de Agneta galleij", 85

• • The information on the posting for the Brandaris "de Agneta galleij"  is athttp://home.hccnet.nl/mwk/zb/agneta.html and is repeated here:

    "Schipper Claas Brandaris van Vlieland liet op 17 juli 1709 een zeebrief maken voor het schip "d' Agneta Galleij". Op dezelfde dag begaf hij zich ook naar de Amsterdamse notaris Pieter van der Meulen, om zijn vrouw Jannetje Jans Brouwer te machtigen tijdens zijn uitlandigheid. Hij had daar een speciale reden voor: er moest namelijk een erfenis afgehandeld worden in haar familie. Claas Brandaris was voogd over de kinderen van zijn overleden zwager Dirk Jansz Brouwer. Deze kinderen stond een erfenis te wachten van ene Tietske Adams.

Nadat hij zijn zaakjes geregeld aldus geregeld had, vertrok hij naar Livorno. Daar werden in december 1709 en januari 1710 verschillende goederen en koopmanschappen geladen. Om de lading optimaal te beschermen tegen mogelijke schade door ratten waren er drie katten aan boord. Daarnaast bestond de bemanning onder meer uit de 26-jarige stuurman Jurriaan Willemsz van Vlieland, de 53-jarige hoogbootsman David Thomas uit Ierland en de 40-jarige constapel Sijbrand Gerritsz uit Amsterdam.  Bron: Notarieel archief Amsterdam."

Could the Dirck Jansz Brouwer and Jannetje Brouwer mentioned in the Sea Brief be the children of Johannes Brouwer of Flatlands? The following is the basis of these speculations:

First, the translation of the above Dutch transcription:

    "Skipper Claas Brandaris from Vlieland had made, on July 17, 1709, a seabrief for the ship "d'Agneta Galleij." On that same day he went to the Amsterdam Notary Pieter Van der Meulen to authorize his wife Jannetje Jans Brouwer during his absence (from the country). He had a specific reason for doing so: There was an inheritance to be taken care of in her family. Claas Brandaris was the legal guardian for the children of his deceased brother-in-law Dirk Jansz Brouwer.These children awaited an inheritance from a certain Tietske Adams."

[It appears that the inheritance from the estate of (a female) Tietske Adams and was to be delivered to the children soon (1709) and since Claas, their conservator and legal representative, was going to be away on a voyage, he wanted his wife Jannetje to be able to collect and handle the legal aspects in his absence. That this is taking place in Amsterdam implies that the children and Jannetje are at that time in the Netherlands.]

    The rest of the story in the document doesn't really concern us, but here is the translation anyway: "After he had taken care of his business this way, he left for Livorno [Italy]. There, in December 1709 and January 1710, several trading goods and merchandise were loaded onto the ship. To optimally protect the load against possible damage by rats, three cats were on board. Apart from that, the crew consisted of, amongst others, the 26 year old steersman Jurriaan Willemsz from Vlieland, the 53 year old high-boatsman David Thomas from Ireland, and the 40 year old constable Sijbrand Gerritsz from Amsterdam.  Source: Notarial archives, Amsterdam."

Note: The notarial archives of Amsterdam contain 28,000 books. The records of 737 notaries are kept in the municipal archives of Amsterdam, and there is no index! Luckily there were only a few of them who were specialized in sailing matters.

The information appeared to me to possibly shed new light on Jan Brouwer’s children. I inferred the following possibilities based on the record from the Dutch notary archives in Amsterdam, Netherlands:

• • • 1) In 1709 Jannetje Jans Brouwer was apparently married to a Claas Brandaris, a ships captain from Vlieland, Netherlands.

    • 2)By at least 17 July 1709, Dirck Brouwer was already dead, and possibly his wife Hannah Daws was also dead.

    • 3)Dirck and Hannah's children, including their son Elias (the father of the Elias who married Pheobe Lucas) may have been put in the care of Dirck's sister Jannetje, and her (2d) husband, Claas Brandaris, was made the children's conservator/legal guardian to handle their finances, including an expected inheritance from a certain Tietske Adams, (female), possibly a close relation of Dirck or Hannah. All the above was tentative and conflicts with the information claiming Hannah Daws remarried after Dircks death a Joseph Goulder and had another 4-5 children with Joseph. It would seem doubtful that Dirck and Hannah's children would have been placed under the conservatorship of Jannetje's husband Claas Brandaris if Hannah was still living in 1709, but it is possible and we have no direct information regarding the children, Elias and Jan, for example, who may have been sent to Amsterdam with their Aunt Jannetje only to return to New Jersey when grown, and when the historical records in New Jersey pick them up. This would provide a likely reason for Hannah and Joseph Golder to proceed to name their son Elias Golder -- Hannah’s son Elias Brouwer may not have been there to confuse the two names in the same household.

    • 4)It would also, by inference, indicate that Jannetje's first husband, Theunis Janzen, for whom no death date is as yet known, must have died before 1709.

    • 5)The clues this new information provided, if true, indicated another avenue for researching Dirck and his son Elias. i.e. the conservator/guardianship may have been recorded in New Jersey or New York records under the name of Claas Brandaris. Also the distribution of any inheritance, which should be specified in a New Jersey Will, should name Brandaris as legal guardian. Somewhat further afield, Jannetje and Dirck's children may have departed prior to 1709 on a ship back to Vlieland or Amsterdam, Netherlands (where, just maybe, Elias grew up and then returned to New Jersey as an adult). A Tietske Adams may have named Dirck's children in a New Jersey will for distribution of her estate in 1709.

Warning -- I have led you down what has turned out to be a false trail as far as identifying the children of Johannes of Flatlands with the Dirck and Jannetje  Brouwer of Vlieland.  But it still leads to some interesting speculation for locating the origin of Johannes Brouwer.  I asked William Bogardus to check his records of the New Jersey archives for any mention of Tietske Adams or Claas Brandaris but he found nothing. Because it had such far reaching implications I continued to pursue research into the possible Netherlands connection to Derck Jansz Brouwer, Jannetje Jans Brouwer, Class Brandaris, and Tietske Adams suggested above. I located the following:

• • • 1)A marriage documented for a Tieetske Adams 11 Jan 1710 to Minck Douwes in Burgerlijke Administratie, Leeuwarden, Friesland, Netherlands. Note that Vlieland is a part of Friesland and the date is good, following the July 1709 date given in the Brandaris document.

    • 2)A reference to a record of inheritance for a Tijetske Adams that may be the source of the subsequent inheritance by the children of Derck -- IF these people are the same. The reference was found at: www.gemeentearchief.nl/boedels/overzicht/y66.htm#n2658 

• •             Boedelinventarissen:  -----[Boedel means inheritance/inventaris = inventory]

            Inventarisatieboeken, y66 Nummer: 2658  Signatuur: y66; 194 

            Datum (Date): 1689/02/29 

            Inventarisant: Tijetske Adams -------[ the inheritor or person of record]  

            Eerste echtgenoot: Wijbe Jansen ------[means First husband or spouse]

• • • 3)I found a child, Stijntje Brandaris, christened 9 Nov 1714 Oude Kerk Nederlands, Amsterdam, Noord Holland. Father: Claas Brandaris, Mother: Albertje Willems.

Also found was a marriage of Claas Cornelisz Brandaris who md. in Vlieland, 30 Dec 1714, Aaltjen Pitters. -- clearly one needs to distinguish some of the contenders for being THE Claas Brandaris involved with Jannetje/Derck.  To that end, I was given a pedigree for the Bandaris family of Vlieland beginning ca. 1607 by Wibo G. Boswijk courtesy of Kees Stada, a Dutch genealogist from Terschelling, the island north of Vlieland, who has a web site at www.stada.nl/terschelling .  Kees also has a large database  on all the inhabitants of the Wadden Islands.  He informs me that the name Brouwer appears on the pedigree list from Ameland, Borkum, Terschelling, Texel, Urk and Vlieland. These will be discussed below in section 4.0 Frisian Genealogical Archives search.

To complete this section let me add that I was able to contact the Dutch researcher that originally posted the information, Miriam Klassman of Utrecht, Netherlands. She has a very nice website on genealogies from the island of Texel at http://home.hccnet.nl/mwk/index.html Texel is the larger island at the end of the archipelago of islands on the Wadden sea.  She was kind enough to do some further research for me providing critical information that now makes it clear that the Derck Brouwer and Jannetje Jans Brouwer of Vlieland, are not the Derck Brouwer and Jannetje Jans Brouwer of Flatlands. She was able to provide me with a summary of the will of Claas Brandaris and Jannetje Jans living in Vlieland, dated July 21, 1708 ( notary Pieter van der Meulen, inv.nr. 6747). It was a "langstlevende testament", (a will in the favor of the surviving spouse). Trijntje Cornelis, widow of Jan Dirks Brouwer, was mentioned in the will as the mother of Jannetje Jans (Brouwer). In an act of August 19, 1709, (notary Pieter van der Meulen, inv.nr. 6784), Cornelis Jansz Brouwer, former mayor of Vlieland, and Claas Brandaris as joint guardians of the children of his brother Dirk Jansz Brouwer, delegated the power of signature to Pleuntje IJsbrands, the wife of Cornelis Jansz Brouwer, specifically concerning the will of Tietske Adams, widow of Wijbe Jansen (See item 2 above).

Summary: So this is what was found regarding this particular lead on Brouwer/Bandaris family of Vlieland, Netherlands:

    A. Dirck Brouwer and Jannetje Jans Brouwer of Vlieland, are not the Derck Brouwer and Jannetje Jans Brouwer of Flatlands.  They are, instead, the children of a Jan Dirks Brouwer of Vlieland.

    B. Jan Dirks Brouwer was married 2d to Trijntje Cornelis [1st wife was Antije Jans]. They lived in Vlieland. He had the following children [and more that are identified in section 4.4 where a pedigree list of the Vlieland Brouwers is provided.]: 

        1. Dirk Jans Brouwer, b. 1657 who died before July 1709, and had additional children [unnamed]

        2. Cornelis Jansz Brouwer, is Dirck’s brother and was a mayor of Vlieland before 1709, and a skipper. He married Pleuntje IJsbrands.

        3. Jannetje Jans Brouwer,  b. 1678, daughter of Trinttje and Jan Dirks Brouwer, married Claas Brandaris, a skipper, and lived in Vlieland

        4. Both Claas Branderis and Cornelis Jansz Brouwer were named as joint guardians of the children of his brother Dirck Janz Brouwer. 

This information is helpful even if disappointing. I had, of course, hoped that the Dirk Jansz Brouwer mentioned in the Notary was the Dirk Jansz Brouwer son of Johannes Brouwer of Flatlands, and that the Tietske Adams inheritance record would list his children. However, with the supplemental information retrieved, I am forced to conclude that there is no immediate definitive connection between our ancestors Dirck or Jan Brouwer of Flatlands and this Vlieland Brouwer family. Too bad!   However, I explore the potential relationship further in the next section and it does seem to me a promising lead that, given such Brouwer families in early 18th century Vlieland, our Johannes Brouwer might have come from the Frisian Islands and that leads to searching the databases of the Frisian Archives to see if any connection can be made. 

(Go to Section 4.0 Frisian Genealogical  Archives Search) As will become apparent, the records are scarce and the forenames much too similar to positively identify Jan Brouwer of Flatlands so that any definitive statement will require DNA evidence. The search for such matching DNA in living Brouwer families in the Netherlands is discussed in section 5.0 “DNA Assessment.”

Return to Outline