Van Huss, time passes

It has been three years since I posted. So, like the ancient Jewish custom of placing a stone in a cemetery, I write this blog as reminder of how the name of Van Huss came to America.

What does one say of Jan Franz Van Husum and his wife Vokje, who met as a result of a terrible flood. A flood so devastating they gave it a name, the Buchardi Flood. Named for Johann Burchardi, a German Lutheran pastor, and historian, who chronicled the death and destruction of the flood that occurred on the night of October 11th and lasted well into the following morning. The cold waters of the North Sea overwhelmed the North Frisian islands and the coast of Schleswig. It caused widespread destruction. It drowned entire villages taking upwards of 15,000 lives. It changed the face of the maps. 

But it brought together two survivors, Jan, a sea going man and Volkje, the daughter of a farmer who lived on Norstrand island.

We are all the offspring of catastrophes, of wars and natural disasters, of calamities, one and all.

Volkje Juriaens van Noorstrant

Volkje Juriaens "Volkie" van Nordstrand van Husum (1618 - 1703)

"My name is Volkje.

If the spelling is unfamiliar to you it is because it has been spelled many ways. Coming from the island of Nordstrand in the Wadden Sea, the language we spoke was a combination of Dutch, Frisian, Danish and German. I am Frisian, my parents told me. For most of my life, I could neither read nor write. If asked to sign my name I did so with an X."

I was well-named by my mother and father, who called me their little falcon, the wandering one who searches the coastline with keen eyes looking for the eggs of seagulls and terns. My sister Annetje  prefers to stay at home and tend the geese.

It is the falcon for whom I am named, to be more precise, the little falcon.

The autobiography of Volkje Van Husum 

What she looked like

She was little she was pert, and had soft grey eyes the color of the winter sky. In the mornings in the mudflats along the banks of the Wadden Sea, she could be found gathering eggs from the nests of the waders, geese, ducks and gulls that nest in the marshes. From time to time, she would stop to watch the grey seals swimming in the dark blue-green water or resting on the sand, but more often she could be seen gazing into the grey sky watching the falcon soaring overhead and plummeting to earth in pursuit of their prey.

The painting

The painting is signed "IVMeer" but not dated. It is estimated to have been painted around 1665.

That is all wrong, if one is to suppose that Volkje was the subject of the painting, The Girl with the Pearl Earing by Johannes Vermeer. First, Volkje spent time in Amsterdam, living on Tuinstraat, close to the home and studio of the great painter Rembrandt von Rijn. Vermeer, the painter, lived out his life in the Dutch city of Delft. Lastly, we can guess that Volkje was born in the year 1615, or thereabouts, making her too old for the young girl in the painting.

The girl with the pearl earing, by Johannes Vermeer

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.