Dutch, Danish, or Friesii

[Previously discussed in May of this year.]

Joyce Lindstom in her history of the family, VAN HOOSE VAN HOOSER VAN HUSS FAMILY IN AMERICA has identified Jan Fransse Van Husum as the first ancestor of all the Van Hoosers, Van Husses, Van Hoesens, Van Hooesrs, Hoosers in America as well as some thirty variations of the surname.

She explains that Jan was born in 1608 in the city of Husum on the Jutland Peninsula, in the Duchy of Schleswig, then part of Denmark. She goes on saying that Jan was not Dutch as most of us think. Neither was he German, for Husum and the once Duchy of Schleswig and Schleswig-Holstein now finds itself in Germany, even though not by much. He was a Schleswigan, under Danish rule.

 Joyce surmises that, "He spoke low German, probably with a Frisian or Danish dialect."

We shall never rightly know if Joyce was correct. A DNA test of family members might give us some statistical evidence, but Joyce points out that living in Amsterdam, then New Holland and marriage certainly clouds the question. Then too, his wife, Volkje Jurrianse Van Nordstrand was most likely Dutch. Her parents were farmers who settled on the island of Nordstrand. It was an island under the supervision of Dutch hydraulic engineer Jan Adriaanszoon Leeghwater.

What about Danish?

In 1252, King Abel of Denmark took an  army to Husum on account of the fact that the local population refused to pay taxes and recognize Danish authority. A battle took place on the bridge at Husum (Husembro) and King Abel was killed. Old history yes, but it was a long way to Copenhagen from Husum then and now.

[There is no historically old image of King Abel's death, but we have an old sketch of Count Willem II In Hoogwoud, Falls Through The Ice, and killed by West Frisians in 1256.]

Who are these Frisians Joyce talks about?

The Frisians are an ancient people whose existence goes back to Roman times. They inhabited the low lands and marshes along the North Sea coast from the Sheldt River in present day Belgium, along the coast of The Netherlands, and up the western coast of the Jutland Peninsula. These ‘barbarians’ chose to live on the border between land and sea, probably as a means of protection against the Romans and other tribes. To protected themselves against floods they built hills (Dutch and Frisian, halligen) buttressed by logs. Besides farming, they raised cattle and sheep, and no doubt engaged in trade and fishing on the sea. By the time of Caser Augustus, the Frisii seemed to have gathered around the Zuider Zee and east, just outside the reach of Roman authority which ended at the Rhine.

The Frisii reach some form of accommodations with the Romans. Don't bother us, we won't bother you. Then seeing an opportunity for plunder, Frisians joined up as legionnaires to fight in the Roman army. Traces of the Frisian legionnaires have been found at the English towns of Bicester, Burgh-by-Sands, Carrawburgh, Cirencester, Glossop, Hexham, Manchester and Papcastle. note 1

The Roman Empire finally fell in the Fifth Century. The Frisians still lived along the coast. From the fifth century on, it seems the Frisians took part in a general migration to Britain along with the Saxons and Angles. This fact is born out linguistically, as English and the Frisian language are similar. By the seventh and eighth century the Kingdom of Frisia existed along the coast, succumbing for a time to Charlemagne, then battling Vikings, then regaining their independence.

Frisia would fade in time as Holland blossomed. Today the Frisian dialect is spoken in a few areas near the island of Nordstrand and that is all.

I suppose this leaves us with the adage, that history is written by the victors. Jan might have been Frisian or not. He was certainly Dutch (his descendants look Dutch, like those in this painting by Jan Van Husum's contemporary, Rembrandt), he migrated to Amsterdam after the Great Flood of 1634, married, and sailed to New Holland in 1639 where he began a new life as an American.

From Husum to Helsinore

Jacob Knijff - National Maritime Museum, London (c.1670), image Wikipedia

 

 

Husum to Helsinore

Today, the trip from Husum Germany to Helsinore Denmark takes 4 hours by car, longer if one goes by boat since one must travel north along the Jutland peninsula, past Fredrikshaven and on to the northern point of the island of Zealand. Here is Hamlet's imposing castle overlooking the sea where Denmark and the rest of Scandinavia are separated by a channel of water called Öresund (the Sound) which is no more than two and a half miles.

Hamlet

The closeness sets the political stage for Shakespeare’s play Hamlet in which the underlying fear of a Norwegian invasion is the backdrop for Hamlet’s conflict with his uncle, the new King of Denmark and the king’s wife, Hamlet’s mother.

I mention this purely because Shakespeare’s play may give us insight into the life and times of the Danish people, and, our progenitor, Jan Franz Van Husum (Husum then Danish and the people a mixture of Danes, Dutch, and Frisians). Too disturbing you say, too psychological, too royal for a common sailor like our Jan and his father Franz. Perhaps.

Still, it demonstrates that our ancestors were like us, subject to human passions, to anger, to love, to jealousy and revenge. And life does not always turn out well.

Varengezel 

The marriage certificate of Jan and Volkje
in which he describes himself as a "varengezel"

 

A “varensgezel,” as Jan would later describe himself, is a sailor, a shipmate, a wayfaring journeyman. Such a sailor makes a brier appearance addressing Hamlet’s best friend Horatio:

“Ere we were two days old at sea, a pirate of very warlike appointment gave us chase. Finding ourselves too slow of sail, we put on a compelled valour, and in the grapple I boarded them. On the instant they got clear of our ship; so I alone became their prisoner. They have dealt with me like thieves of mercy; but they knew what they did: I am to do a good turn for them.”

Scholars of Shakespeare have determined that Hamlet was written sometime between 1599 and 1602. This would be a few years before Jan’s birth in 1608 and at time when Jan’s father Franz was of a similar age to Hamlet himself.

Shakespeare speaks

We are all familiar with Hamlet’s soliloquy, “To be or not to be…” It dominates our understanding of the play, but there is much, much more that reveals the everyday thinking of the late 16th century and early 17th century Dane. I will give you two and suggest that you read the play.

“Brevity is the soul of wit.” And, “Listen to many, speak to a few.”

And close with, “Good-night, sweet prince; and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”

Settling down in America

Most genealogists of the family Van Huss (Van Husum, Van Hoesen, etc.) report that Jan and Volkje Van Husum were married in Amsterdam's Nieu Kirke on on April 30, 1639, then soon set sail on the ship Den Herring, arriving in Rensselaerswyck on 12 July 1639.

Fort Orange, Renssalaerwyck

Renssalaerwyck was a feudal estate owned by Killiaen Van Rensselaer and his family. The Rensselaer family provided passage to Dutch immigrants to the plantation in exchange for work. The original settlement called Fort Orange was located at the juncture of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers in the area that now includes the capital city of Albany. As settlers arrived, a new settlement called Beverwyck was built outside Fort Orange.

The settlers swore an oath of fealty to Renssalaer as follows:

I, [name], promise and swear that I shall be true and faithful to the noble Patroon and Co-directors, or those Commissioners and Council, subjecting myself to the good and faithful inhabitant or Burgher, without exciting any opposition, tumult, or noise; but on the contrary, as a loyal inhabitant, to maintain and support offensively and of the Colonie. And with reverence and fear of the Lord, and uplifting of both the first fingers of the right hand, I say — SO TRULY HELP ME GOD ALMIGHTY.

The industrious Jan Van Husum and his wife Volkje set about making a living with Jan working as a clerk for the estate. The couple are reported to have opened a bakery. It is also likely that Jan engaged in the lucrative beaver trade with the Indians. Eventually, Jan and Volkje were able to buy their own land as the Dutch Government recorded the following land grants in the Books of Patents and Town Records:

Van Hoesen, Jan Frs. a lot Beverwyck 25 October 1653
Van Hoesen, Jan Jansen An Indian tract Claverack 05 June 1662

The lot containing a garden where they built their home was on the corner of Broadway and State Street. The tract of land at Claverack included included what is now the city of Hudson from Stockport Creek south along the river to Kishna's Kil at South Bay and east beyond Claverack Creek.

Who's who in Husum

Who’s Who in Husum: 

Husum, formerly part of Friesland, homeland of the Frisians and a mixture of Angles and Saxons and Dutch, later the Duchy of Schleswig, sometimes Danish and this and that, and now a seaport in northern Germany.

Husum, Google earth, North Sea

Abel, Duke of Schleswig and King of Denmark

He was the son of Valdemar II and brother to Eric IV. In 1250, Eric was murdered while a guest at Duke Abel's residence at Schleswig. Abel took his Eric’s throne after swearing an oath he had nothing to do with the death.

Abel ruled for a year and a half. Hearing that the peasants in Frisia, led by Sicko Sjaerdema, refused to pay the tax levy, he led a punitive expedition and was killed by a wheelwright named Henner on Husum Bridge.

People said, "Abel af navn, Kain af gavn" Abel by name, Cain by claim.

Jan Franz Van Husum

Jan was born in 1608. We may assume that for most of his life, he simply went by the name of Jan, or if further clarification was necessary, Jan, son of Franz. Jancalled himself as a seafaring man. We do not know for certain what fish he caught, but we can guess. As early as 1610, there  were reports of whales off the coast of Spitsbergen. Russians, Basque, French, English, and Dutch ships all vied for the trade. English and Dutch ships were often made up of North Frisians, who were known for their skills at sea.

The whale they hunted for was the bowhead whale, one that yielded large quantities of oil and baleen.

But this is idle thought, what we do know is this.

In 1634, a devastating flood, known as the second Grote Mandränke struck the Frisian coast, destroying the island of Nordstrand and much of Husum. After the flood, Jan would depart for Amsterdam. We know that he married his wife Volkjie there. She too was caught up in the devastaition of the flood, as she lived on the island of Nordstrand with her parents and sister.

Once married, Jan and Volkjie sailed for America.

Theodor Storm

 
Theodor Storm, a 19th century writer who called Husum, “the grey town by the sea.”

Die Stadt (1851)

Am grauen Strand, am grauen Meer Und seitab liegt die Stadt; Der Nebel drückt die Dächer schwer, Und durch die Stille braust das Meer, Eintönig um die Stadt.

On the grey sand, on the grey sea, Besides which lies the city, Press the mists heavy on the roofs, And in the stillness the sea roars, With one sound around tow.

The Dutch in America

Jan Franz Van Husum arrived in America in July of 1639, settling down in the newly established colony of Fort Orange on the Hudson River with his wife Volkje. They raised a family of nine children. Jan engaged in the beaver trade with the Mohawk Indians, bought land, and prospered. Jan died at the age of 61 in 1669. Volkje lived on until 1703.

New Netherlands, titled New Belgi, original map 1665 Wikipedia

See another map of New Netherlands, 1665.

During this time the Dutch colony of New Netherlands came and went. The earliest Dutch settlement was in 1613. Recognizing a lucrative fur trade with the Indians, the Dutch chartered the Dutch West Indies Company to establish colonies and bring over settlers.

In 1617 the Dutch established Fort Orange at the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers where the city of Albany is now found. By 1629, Kiliaen van Rensselaer, a charter member of the Dutch West Indies Company, established Rensselaerswyck, surrounding Fort Orange. Van Rensselaer chartered several ships to bring in settlers for the new colony. This likely included the ship Den Harinck, which arrived in July of 1639 carrying Jan and Volkje.

detail, Rembrandt's The Night Watch, 1642

The colony prospered. During the 1640s, Beverwijck, (beaver village) a settlement of fur traders north of the fort, was established. Beaver pelts were bought from the Mohawk Indians and shipped back to Holland where they were made into hats worn by the rich. (See the gentleman in the center of Rembrandt's painting The Night Watch). As I noted, Jan and Volkje prospered. Jan bought for the price of 500 guilders, about 70 beaver, his own land in June of 1662 from the Indians, calling it Claverack, (field of clovers). Van Rensselaer, who was not a man to be trifled with, sued Jan over the question of title.

Call it a stroke of luck or the fortunes of history.

In 1664 King Charles II of England turned his eye to the Dutch colony in America. James, Duke of York and brother to King Charles II, chartered four English frigates. They sailed into the port of New Amsterdam and achieved a surrender of the Dutch colonies without firing a shot. The Dutch colonies officially became English three years later with the Treaty of Breda.

This was fortunate for the Van Husum claim, for the new English courts sided with Jan and his heirs. And the first English colonial Governor Richard Nicolls granted the land patent at the colonial capital of Albany on May 14, 1667.

Notes.

1. Jan and Volkje were a part of a large group of emigrants from Schleswig. This emigration took place after the terrible flood of 1634 and was also a result of the religious wars that shook northern Europe. Schleswig-Holstein Immigrants in New Amsterdam/New York,1636 - 1667.

Jan is identified "Hans Fransen", number 24 on the list of immigrants.

2. Beaver pelts trading took place from May to November, a time called the Handelstijd (trading time). The Mowhawk Indians would bring their pelts to town and the townspeople would all engage in "earning a pelt". At its height, the Handelstijd took in 50,000 beaver pelts. these pelts were then shipped to European markets. See Rituals of the Handelstijd at Beverwijck, by Donna Merwick. Beaver pelts fluctuated in price between 6 and 8 guilders a pelt. See Money Substitutes.

3. For more information about early Dutch history, read A Tour of New Netherlands.

Stille Nacht

I often remind myself that though we are different in many ways, we are one family sharing a belief in a greater goodness.

Johannes Van Husum and his wife Volkie, spoke either Dutch or German. They came from the Cimbrian Peninsula, now called Jutland, an area inhabited by the ancient tribes of Cimbri and Jutes. Johannes lived in the coastal town of Husum. It is for this reason, that the name Van Huss and Van Hoesen and all the other variations owes its existance. Volkie Van Nordstrand grew up on the adjacent island of Nordstrand.

Tragedies are both devastating and uplifting. They define the human spirit, for no matter how deep and difficult the loss, it is the human spirit to rise above difficulties and persevere. So it was on the night of October 11, 1634, when a devastating flood swept over the island of Nordstrand and much of the coast, killing thousands and rendering many thousands more homeless as winter approached.

The story of  the flood and its aftermath is best told by Cor Snabel.

But what Cor Snabel doesn't tell us is that a young Volkie and her sister survived the storm, even though they lost their parents. Volkie and Jan would meet, move to Amsterdam. They fell in love, married and set sail to the New World two years later.

The German language and its Dutch variation lingered on in America for well over two centuries. And it is known that many of the descendants of Jan and Volkie spoke German in their homes. This was true at least until the lives of  Valentine Van Huss and his son Mathias, who lived in Tennessee. This became known when a modern descendent discovered hidden in a barn two religious books written in German.

It is to Valentine and Mathias, to Jan and Volkie and to all those who have suffered tragedy in life that I dedicated this beautiful rendition of Silent Night in the original German.

May you know the peace of God's mercy.

 

Van Hoesen House

Go to the site for the Van Hoesen House in New York.

Dutch or Deutsch

This article should be revised over time.

In her history of  the VAN HOOSE VAN HOOSER VAN HUSS FAMILY IN AMERICA, Joyce Lindstrom states:

Jan Frantz Van Husum wasn't Dutch as many people have supposed. Neither was he German. He was a Schleswigan subjected to Danish rule. He spoke low German, probably with a Frisian or Danish dialect. However, after three generations of living among the Dutch settlers in New Netherlands, his descendants gradually became Dutch by association. There were also more emigrants in New Netherlands who were Danish, Frisian and Schleswigan than Dutch.

At a gut level, I have doubted this thought primarily because the strong Dutch characteristics prominent in any of the paintings by Rembrandt, Hals, or Vermeer, are also visible in the facial features of my wife's father and the other ancient images of Van Husses, Vanhoosers, and Van Hoesens that have been saved over the years.These features include the angular nose, the sharp chin, the brown eyes and hair, and, over time, the silver hair that comes with age. To walk among the paintings of the great Dutch masters in the Rijksmuseum, one sees the merry and sometimes somber faces of the Van Huss men and women. Rijksmuseum.

Then as now, populations were constantly on the move and the peninsula now called Jutland, where the province of Schleswig and the town of Husum are located, was no exception to the forces of history and events. As pointed out in Cor Snabel's story of the Nordstrand flood of 1634, the area was ravaged by the bubonic plague in 1603, then thrown into the turmoil of the Thirty Years War in 1613, and, worst of all, subjected to a catastrophic flood in 1634 that forever altered the landscape and the lives of the Jan Van Husum and his bride to be Volkje Juriens.

Frisia from Wikipedia

A broad historical overview of the area give us the impression that the people who lived in the area were like the tides of the ocean subject to the forces of nature. The Romans called the tribes who inhabited the area Jutes, hence the name Jutland. The area's geographical significance was in the fact that the peninsula was a conduit for the transfer of goods between the Baltic and Russia to the east with the Rhine River valley and the Atlantic to the west. During the Middle Ages, the Danes established Viking control of the area. And even today, the northern part of Jutland remains Danish territory.

But, as Joyce Lindstrom observes there was one other group that figured predominantly in the region, the Frisians. Roman history records that the Frisii began settling the area along the northern coast of present day Netherlands and northwestern Germany around 400 B.C.. Ethnically, they were a Germanic people who spoke Frisian, a language related to the English. Like those who live in the area today, the Frisians struggled with the North Sea, constructing their homes on terps, man-made hills. They gained their living both from the sea, but also from the small farms they built where they kept their cattle and sheep.

There is a good discussion of  the Frisian language, still spoken by a few people on North Frisian Language,Wikipedia.

The Netherlands and the people we call the Dutch includes a much larger area than that indicated on the map. Instead, today's Netherlands are what was known as the United Provinces who rose in revolt against their Spanish overlords during the Eighty Years War.

Joyce Lindstrom is likely correct that Jan and his wife Volkje spoke a form of German. But, the distinction between German and Dutch is more one of dialect than distinct linguistic differences. In any event, the people who lived and worked along the North Frisian islands that included Nordstrand and the town of Husum, likely thought of themselves more as Dutch than German.

We know this for many reasons. First, name spellings of Jan and Volkje are common Dutch spellings and not German. The German spelling is typically Johann, but sometimes Jan or even Hans. Moreover, Jan Fransse Van Husum is the Dutch spelling. Even more telling is the name Volkje, which in Dutch means folk or common people. The German spelling is "volk" as in Volkswagen. Volkje family name Juriens, sometimes spelled "Juriaens", is often found in Holland, less so among Germans.

Other evidence of the Dutch association comes from the excellent historical article of the Flood of 1634 by
Cor Snabel, mentioned above. The flood of which Cor Snabel speaks must rank as one of the most catastrophic of that century. More than 15,000 people lost their lives, and on the island of Norstrand, where Volkje lived with her parents and sister, more than 6,000 died. Whole cities were washed away, the island of Norstrand was inundated and broken up into three smaller islands. Farm lands, which were covered by sea water, were ruined, with the result that many farmers packed up and left.

map of Nordstrand by Johannes Blaeu 1652

What Cor Snabel tells us is that four years prior to the flood, the German prince then ruling (he replaced a Danish ruler in 1627 during the Thirty Years War), hired a Dutch overseer, Jan Adriaansz Leegwater, who lived in the town of  Dagebull, a few miles north of Husum. His recounting of the terrible details of the flood and the names of the victims indicates that most if not all of the victims were Dutch in ancestry.

On the day before All Saint’s in the year 1634, when I was working as an engineer and a surveyor in the Bottschloter project, a big southwesterly storm came from the sea. At seven or eight in the evening, I visited the house of master carpenter Pieter Jansz, who was from Friesland, and who worked on a big new sluice in the project I was supervising.

Leeghwater continues, describing the aftermath of the flood.

Next morning, we saw and heard that all 37 houses of the workers were washed away, including all the people therein. Dikes, which had held up for more than 100 years, were destroyed. That day I took a boat and sailed to the village Dagebüll. The priest told me that the water had reached the level of almost five feet within the church, where people had found shelter. The house of master carpenter Pieter Jansz and the house of Pauwels Harmensz, where I had been before the storm, were vanished. Pieter Jansz and his wife and children had drowned, as had Pauwels Harmensz and his servant, who had accompanied me to my house. And there is more: early in the morning, my house was washed from the dike. The mansion was severely damaged, the cellar was like a ruin, and all the wine and beer had washed away. Big sea ships were stranded on high dikes, as I have seen myself. Several ships were stranded in the higher streets of Husum. I’ve been on the beaches, where I have seen horrible things. Countless dead bodies of people and animals, along with beams of houses, smashed wagons and lots of wood, straw and rubbish.

Aside from these few facts, we know that after the flood Volke was taken to the city of Husum. She met Jan, they moved to Tuinstraat in the city of Amsterdam.  The word "corte" is Spanish for court or section - not unusual since the Spanish had ruled the area for years. Tuijnstraat or Tuinstraat, as it is now spelled, is still to be found in Amsterdam, close to Anne Frank's House.

In 1639 Jan and Volkje embarked on a voyage to the New World. Whether Jan Fransse Van Husum was Dutch or Deutsch by birth, he certainly became Dutch by association, and to anyone who knows Bob Van Huss, it is the Dutch in him that we see.

Disaster - the Flood of 1634

If you are looking for the event that brought Jan Fransse Van Husum and Volkje Juriens together than it is surely the flood of October 11, 1634. This flood was one for the history books. It struck the island of Nordstrand and the neighboring coastal town of Husum on the night. Thousands of lives were lost.

Hardest hit were the North Frisian Islands off the western coast of Schleswig. Among these was the island of Nordstrand where Volkje lived with her parents and sister Annetje. Jan live in the neighboring port city of Husum.

Much has been written by Joyce Lindstrom and others as to whether Jan and Volkje were Frisians, Dutch, German, or even Danish. I doubt there is a simple answer. Originally, the area was settled by the ancient Frisians who were know as far back as Roman times. Then again, by 1634, the area had been settled by numerous Dutch immigrants who were in the process of reclaiming land from the sea with the use of dykes and windmills. After the flood of 1634, hundreds, if not thousands, of survivors made their way to Amsterdam. A number of these emigrated to America.

The storm was intense. Dikes, which had held up for more than 100 years, were destroyed. Over 6,000 people died, dozens of towns were washed away. The island of Nordstand, where 16 year old Volkje lived with her parents and sister, was inundated and broken up into several smaller islands.The town of Husum, just to the east of Nordstrand, was likewise devastated. Farms were rendered useless by the salt water that covered the fields and saturated the ground.

Volkje parents did not survive the storm. Afterwards, she was taken to the neighboring town of Husum. There she met Jan Fransse Van Husum.

The map, dated 1652, to the left is by Johannes Blaeu. The large island of Nordstrand was submerged and broken up into several smaller islands. Blaeu's map shows the majority of the island still underwater in 1652. Those who survived went back to the ancient custom of building houses on a hillock as a defense against the floods.

A chilling eye-witness account of the storm exists. Cor Snabel's story of the Nordstrand flood of 1634.

There was nothing left in Husum and Nordstrand for Jan and Volkje. Later records would reveal that land reclaimed by the sea not recovered by owners reverted to the state. Other settlers were brought in in order to reclaim former lands.

At some point, Jan and Volkje would move to Corte Tuijnstraat in Amsterdam. The word "corte" is Spanish for court or section, and the street (straat) Tuijnstraat still can be found in Amsterdam. The street is just around the corner from the Anne Frank House. It is a little further to the house of  Rembrandt van Rijn, who was then an up and coming painter. Rembrandt married his bride Saskia in the same year as the flood.And in 1639, bride and groom purchased a house on the Jodenbreestraat. Unhappily, Saskia would die two years later.

Jan and Volkje's marriage fared better. In 1639, they would marry in the Nieuwe Kirk of the Dutch Reformed Church. Within months, Jan and Volkje were on their way to New Amsterdam, then to Upstate New York.

There are thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people living in the United States who owe their lives to the flood of 1634. My father in law and wife are among the group. Interestingly, Gary Boyd Roberts in Ancestors of American Presidents, p. 13, 269, lists Jan Fransse Van Husum as the sixth great-grandfather of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., 26th President of the United States of America.

The Beginning - Holland and Husum

How much can be learned about Jan Fransse Van Husum, the first Van Huss in America?

Four centuries have erased any images, personal letters, and artifacts that might give us an insight into Jan's life. Still, a few historical records have survived since 1639 when Jan and his new wife Volkje Juriens sailed from Amsterdam in the Old World for New Amsterdam in the New.

One, we do know that on March 28, 1639, Jan and six others signed on with Killiaen VanRenssalear to serve with the West India Company in New Amsterdam for four years.

Van Hooze History and Court Records Page

Holland

The Amsterdam that Jan and Volkje lived in before departing for the New World was a commercial hub. The United Provinces of which Amsterdam was the principal city, was engaged in a decades long struggle with Spain for political control. In 1639, a Dutch fleet convincingly defeated a larger Spanish fleet at the Battle of the Downs and ended Spanish interference in Dutch political affairs.

For a brief time Holland and the Provinces bloomed. Its commercial success was undoubtedly the result of many factors including its tolerance of differing religious views, its openness to immigrants, and the free-spirit of its capitalism. Success can be measured in many ways. Amsterdam transformed from a city of 50,000 in 1600 to 200,000 in 1700. Its harbor contained thousands of ships. And these ships sailed to the four corners of the earth, establishing commercial ventures and new colonies everywhere. The East Indies Company was perhaps the most successful of these ventures, but lesser known was the West Indies Company with which Jan signed up.

It is tempting to set sail for the New World with Jan and Volkje. But we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves. From Joyce Lindstrom's History detailing the marriage record of Jan and Volkje:

The church banns of April 30, 1639 are translated thus: "Appeared as before, Jan Franz from Housum, sailor, age 30 years, living in the Corte Tuijnstraat, having no parents but assisted by his cousin, Anna Jans, and Volckje Juriaens (daughter?) from Noorstrant, age about 21 years , of the same (street), having no parents, but assisted by her acquaintance, Isaack Pietersen. " They were married in the Dutch Reformed Church at Nieuwe Kerk at Amsterdam, Holland on May 15, 1639.

Tuijnstraat still exists on the map of the city of Amsterdam and can be found intersecting with the canal Prinsengracht, near the Anne Frank House. Tuinstraat, as it is spelled now, is still a residential area where an apartment can be found for 1750 euros a month.

Likewise, the Dutch Reformed Church at Nieuwe Kerk can still be found a short distance away at 17 Gravenstraat, next to the Royal Palace. Today, the church is no longer used as a church, but is now an exhibition space. Learn more about the Nieuwe Kerk.



Husum

Husum North Sea by Anne VanHoozer Burke

Jan had a father named Frances or Franz, or Fransse, depending on the language one uses. He was born about 1582, probably in Husum, Schleswig-Holstein, now part of Germany.

Husum is a seaport as far north in Germany as one can go. The city is described as the "Grey City" which is accurate as a description of any city on the North Sea in winter. A stiff breeze blows often making the area a center of wind power. The buildings are often pained in gay colors to offset the greyness of the sky.

http://www.deutschland-reise.de/stadt/husum/

I have not been there, but Anne VanHoozer Burke has.Click on her web page above and you will see several images of the city in winter.

It is likely that the landscape of the coast of Schleswig has not changed much in the intervening years since Jan lived in Husum. A description of Holland's north coast by one of Louis XIV's ambassador's in 1699 would probably fit the coastline of Schleswig as well. It is "...taken up on the seaward side with barren sand-dunes, subject ... to frequent flooding, and fit only for the grazing which is the country's sole wealth..."

View a 360 degree panorama of Nordstrand.

map of Johannes Blaeu, 1652

The flooding came from the cruel North Sea.

In 1634 a terrific gale hit Nordstrand, an island just off the coast where Husum is located. The sea swallowed more than half of the island, breaking it up into three smaller islands. More than 6,000 people drowned, over a thousand farms and houses were washed away, as were 28 windmills and 6 clock towers.

Among the dead were Volkje's parents. After the storm Volkje and her sister moved to Husum, where no doubt Volkje met Jan. The flood devastated the entire area. The salt from the sea covered the fields, rendering them useless. No doubt, this was the reason why Jan and Volkje moved to Amsterdam.

"The Van Hoose, Van Hooser, Van Huss Family in the United States", by Joyce Lindstrom

Jan Fransse VanHoesen

It all begins with JAN Fransse VAN HUSUM who was the first Van Hoesen, Vanhooser, Van Huss that came to America.

He was born about 1608/9 in the city of Husum in the province of Schleswig in northern Germany, now called Schleswig-Holstein (image of Husum harbor from Wikipedia Commons).

In May of 1639 he married Volkje Jurisens and the two of them set sail for the New World. Two months later on  July 7, 1639, the couple arrived in New Amsterdam, now New York City, and settled at Fort Orange, Beverwyck, now Albany, New York.

He was not Dutch as the name supposes. Rather, he was a Schleswigan subjected to Danish rule.He spoke low German, probably with a Fisian or Danish dialect. It is after three generations of living among the Dutch settlers in New Netherlands and New York, that his descendants became Dutch by association.

A good summary of  Jan's history and some court records can be found at Welcome to the Van Hoesen/ Van Hoozer/ Van Hoose History&Court Records Page.