A churning song

Johannes Vermeer, the Milkmaid, c. 1658

On the last day of the last year of her life on Nordstrand, Volkje and her sister Annetje would have gone about their daily tasks, rising to feed the chickens, tend the ducks, milk the cows, wash the clothes, prepare and cook the food. In 1634 a terrific gale hit the island of Nordstrand, causing the sea to break the dykes, flood the island and destroy churches, farms, and homes with great loss of life. Sixteen year old Volkje and her older sister Annetje are the only two in her family who are known to have survived.

We find her, five years later in Amsterdam, marrying Jan Franz Van Husum (Husem), and ready to depart for the New World and New Holland for a new life.

The butter churn surely followed.

‘Apron on and dash in hand
O’er the churn I stand’
Cachug, cachink!
Aching back and arms so weary

We are not so dumb as you might think
It’s just that we have no time
We must work
We milk the cows, we let it sit
While we mend, clean and cook
Then take the cream
And place it in a barrel
From which we churn and turn
Hour after hour
To make our bread and butter

And you my child, the future
You are not so smart
Yes you, who do nothing more than text
You see, oh no you don't
That iPhone in your hand is
But a stratagem to beguile
A clever ruse, a simple trick
A wile they say is free, and
All the while
They charge you out the ass
And turn your brain to mush

Bruegal, Visit to a Farmhouse

Dear Lilith

Reinier Zeeman (ca. 1623–1667 Dutch), Flooded

I often wonder what thoughts they had, what they said to each other, what they felt. They were, after all, no different than you or I, touched by human emotions.

His name was Jan, nothing more. Like all the Biblical characters, like Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, a first name was enough.

He was a 30 year old sailor from Husum.

Volkje was a 20 year old farm girl from Nordstrand, brought together by a terrible storm that took thousands of lives. Her parents killed in the deluge, his occupation as a sailor likely ended with the flooding of Husum, a seaport along the tidal flats and salt marshes of Wadden Sea. Like hundreds, if not thousands, of survivors, making their way to Amsterdam. Then offered a chance to settle in the New World.

Married in Amsterdam's Nieue Kirche, where for the first he took the name Jan Van Husum. They then prepared to set sail across the Atlantic to New Amsterdam and a new life. She would be his guiding life, the mother of his children, the keeper of the house. Together they would share life's journey.

What thoughts had they, we can only imagine...

Dear Lyltsen

Dear Lyltsen, when I am with thee
(My light, my flame, my sun, my eye)
As dark as deep as night may be
When through the sky stars steer their course
No matter how dark it may be
It is light as the daylight sun for me.

But when your flare flares not unto me,
I have no star to steer my turning;
I move then blind as a stick, a stone,
Though mid-day sun is burning.
What use if the sun in my eyes is bright?
Lylts is all, my dark, my light.

Gysbert Japicx (b. 1603)

Lyltsen  (the diminutive and enduring way of referring to Lylt), possibly Lilith. In Jewish mythology, Lilith refers to a demon in the night. Volkje (Volkie and its variants) is the diminutive of  the Dutch word for falcon.

Gysbert Japicx (also Japiks; 1603–66) was a 17th century Dutch poet who wrote in Latin as well as the Frisian dialect, Friesche Rymlerye (1668; “Frisian Verse”). Japicx or Japiks spoke of his beloved Lylt in several verses. Whether she was real or just a vision is uncertain.

Life in the Netherlands

Historically, it is important to know that the nation state of the Netherlands only came into being in 1596 when the kings of France and England arranged a treaty with the Republic of the United Netherlands, giving the fledgling state international recognition. The Kingdom of Spain continued to wage war on the Dutch until 1609 when they too recognized Dutch independence. The North Friesland coast where Jan Fanz Van Husum originated was for the most part a "vast swampy moor." Husum was a seaport and it is likely that Jan, who was a sailor, sailed into the North Atlantic to catch cod. Because of its remoteness from Amsterdam and the major Dutch cities, Husum and the island of Nordstrand escaped the fighting between the Spanish and the Dutch. Dutch engineers had come to the island of Nordstrand to battle the sea and reclaim the land.

It was not a battle they could win.

Go stroll along the sandy dunes and march through the muddy marshes. See the world the way they saw it. For a good article on Dutch life in the 16th and 17th century with images go to the following link:

Nederland naar ’t leven: Een inleiding

Making Dough in America

Introduction

Our cast of characters came by ship from Holland to America, from Amsterdam to Fort Orange, up the Hudson River. They had signed on for four years as indentured farmers and laborers, to work for the wealthy Dutchman, Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, lord of the manor, in a settlement called Rensselaerswyck.

The story could be titled -  What becomes of an old sea captain? And it goes something like this.

Being a blasphemer, a street-scold, a murderer, a contemner of laws and justice, and disturber of the peace, the bakker, Willem Juriaensz is hereby banished, to leave by the first vessel ...

 

The Baker, Willem Juriaensz

Our first character is Willem Juriaensz (Jeuriaens), commonly called Willem the Baker (Bakker). Once upon a time, Capitaijn, sea captain in 1646 and again in 1650, and likely before. Arriving in the colony in 1638, he worked for Lord Van Rensselaer as a baker, but miscreant that he was, beginning in 1644, sentenced to banishment for misdeeds and then reprieved.

The Chicken Keeper, Jochem Becker

In 1644, Jochem Becker accused the old captain of stealing his hens.

The Witness,  Jacob Willemz

Jacob Willemz took up the captain's side in this story, saying,

"What do you mean? They are the old captain's hens!" 

This he said from the safety of his house. Becker called to Willemz to come out. Willemz wisely refused; Becker rushed in, giving him a sound beating, and grabbing him by the throat, calling him an "old dog".

Defending himself as best that an old dog could, Willemz fought back and called Becker "a dog and a son of a bitch".

The question of whether anyone stole the Becker's chickens, was not, at this time, a question for the court. Nor do we know the outcome of this case, or how the court dealt with the baker.

Once more

In 1647, the old captain was sentenced to banishment to "the Manhattans" for attacking with a knife and murdering one, de Hooges (Antony de Hooges, business manager of Rensselaer's colony.).

Enter the picture Jan Franz Van Husum, aka Jan Van Hoesen

Reprieved, the captain struck up a relationship with Jan van Hoesen, who saw the merit in learning the skill of the baker. So, they entered into a contract dated January 30, 1650 allowing the old captain to live on Van Hoesen's property in exchange for lessons in baking, and a donut or two.

A captain takes no orders.

By November of 1651, the old captain (now 72 years of age) refused to bake, and in consequence, the court gave Jan van Hoesen "permission to occupy the erf" (lot, or bakery) on the condition that the Old Man could live in the adjoining house "ofte de gelegenheijt," as long as he lived.

We must assume that Jan and  his wife Volkje had learned the trade by now, and were busy selling bread and donuts to the other settlers and to the Indians in trade for beaver pelts.

Presumably, Jan and Volkje tolerated the old captain since we do not see Captain Willem Juriaensz appearing in court again. And Jan and Volkje profited from the captain, earning money enough from the bakery to purchase land from the Indians, but that is another story.

Banishment

O'Callaghan, History of New Netherland, 1, pages 437 and 438;
Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, page 820.

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

Nordstrand

Nordstrand, an island in the North Sea of the Frisian coast

Image from Wikipedia

1634

Nordstrand, the home of Volkje Jurriaens, was once a much larger island encompassing many villages and thousands of people. In 1634 a great flood (Burchardi) swept the island destroying many of the villages and killing thousands.

Nordstrand sits off the western coast of the Jutland peninsula, near the port of Husum. Historically, it and the other islands and marshes in the area were called Uthlande (Utlande). They were identified as such because the islands and marches were inhabited by Frisians, a distinct ethnic group.

The island and city are located in the province of Schleswig, which can be imagined as that slice of the southern Jutland peninsula that separates Denmark from Germany. Schleswig has always been a melting pot of Danes, Germans, and Frisians. Today, Schleswig is divided between Germany and Denmark, Germany possessing both Nordstrand and Husum.

So, the question arises, "Who do the inhabitants of Nordstrand come from - Vikings, Danes, Saxons, Jutes, Frisian or Dutch?"

Roman History

The Eider River is the longest river in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Roman history places the Jute tribe to the north of the Eider River, Angles to the south, with Saxons in territory adjoining the Angles.

Middle Ages

During the Middle Ages, the population was a mixture of Danes, Saxons, and Northern Frisians. The Frisians inhabited the coastal areas. From the 8th to 13th centuries, Vikings in their longboats ranged throughout Europe. King Canute of Denmark even launched a successful invasion of England in 1016.

Schleswig

Schleswig is both a city and province in Germany. The Duchy of Schleswig appears as a political entity sometime around the 12th century.

detail Danorum Marca, 1588 by Mark Jorden

The detail of the map of Jutland highlights the island of Nordstrand, identified as De Strant and neighboring Husum (Husem). For reference, the Eider River flows to the south of Nordstrand and Husum. The river is the dividing line between Schleswig and Holstein, a province often associated with Schleswig.

The map of 1588 identifies at least 18 small villages on the island. Johannes Blaeu's later map of 1688 reveals the damage to the island, the flood destroying all but four of the villages, leaving only the villages of Pilworm (Pellwurm), Gpell, Gaickebull and Odenbull.

The question remains as to whether Jan Franz Van Husum and Volkje Jurriaens were Dutch or Frisian. That question probably can't be answered. But what is known is that the Frisian dialect was spoken throughout Nordstrand before the flood. Afterwards, the dialect was kept intact only on the small remaining island of Pellwurm where industrious farmers quickly rebuilt the dikes after the flood.

Detail, Johannes Blaeu's 1662 map of the Duchy of Schleswig

Detail from Johannes Blaeu's,  Ducatus Sleswicum sive Iutia Australis, 1662. Original image, Wikipedia.

Now look at a modern view of Nordstrand from Google maps.

Nordstrand, Google Maps 2013

Volkje and Annetje Jurriaens are both identified in later documents as coming from Nordstrand. What they or their parents did is lost to history, but reference is made to the fact that their parents died in the flood of 1634. In 1639, Volkje married Jan Franz Van Husum. Je is identified as coming from the neighboring town of Husum, but again there is little detail, other than a reference to his occupation as seafaring man in his marriage certificate to Volkje. A month after thier marriage, they sailed across the Atlantic in the ship Den Harinck, arriving in the port of New Amsterdam. Annetje also married and emigrated to the New Netherlands.

While the article is being written, you can visit the island in photos.

[Note about Spellings. The spelling of names vary for many reasons. Language differences account for many of the differences. Maps may contain Latin words, a marriage license might be in Dutch, and German, and Flemish might also enter into the equation. Then there is the lack of a uniform code of spelling that existed at the time. The first English dictionary was drafted in 1604, and Samuel Johnson's more famous Dictionary was not published until 1755. The first known Dutch dictionary was published by Cornelius Kiliaan in 1599.]

Marriage Certificate

The journey

On the 15th of May, 1639, my wife and I, newly-married in Amsterdam's Nieuwe Kerk, walked up the gangplank on the ship Den Harinck, prepared to set sail from Amsterdam for America, from the Old World to the New. With us we carried our worldly possessions, a bible, a spare shirt and pants for me, a dress and chemise for Volkjie, and the little bit of food the captain allowed us, otherwise our provisions were to be provided for by the ship's steward on the journey that was expected to take two months.

One does not wish to remember the journey. I was a seagoing man who had sailed the North Atlantic for its fish, but my wife was unfamiliar with the waves, the storms, the motion of the ship that left her sick for most of the journey. Thus, it was relief that we arrived in New Amsterdam early in July. Compared to Old Amsterdam with its population of 200,000, its busy port, many beautiful homes, tall churches, and bustling markets, this New Amsterdam was disappointing. This place of perhaps a 100 souls was founded no more than 15 years earlier. All that it had to show for itself were a few cabins constructed of logs, and a wharf where beaver pelts were gathered, having been traded with the local Algonquian Indians in exchange for paltry items of not much value. The city, if I may call it that, was at the far end of New Netherlands Bay where the Hudson River emptied into the Atlantic.

Thank God we did not intend to stay here with the miserable souls who were left to contend with the rain, the mud, general gloom that was so unlike the city of Amsterdam we had left.  Our destination was up the Hudson River to Ft. Orange, an outpost of the Dutch West Indies Company, where the patroon, Kiliaen van Rensselaer established his colony and would give us land in exchange for work..

The future

Jan and Volkje settled down, went to work, raised a family, and prospered. They are the progenitors of the tens of thousands of individuals in the Unites States with the surnames Van Husum, Van Hoesen, Van Huss, and with other minor variations.

Dam Platz Amsterdam 1659, by Jacob van der Ulft, Musee Conde, Chantilly

The marriage of Jan and Volkje

Jan and Volkje married a month before sailing for America. The marriage took place in Amsterdam's Nieuwe Kerk on the Dam Platz.*

Some say they were Dutch, others say Frisian, an ancient tribe of people who lived along the coast and were first mentioned by the Romans. What we do know is that Jan came from Husum and Volkje from the island of Nordstrand.

Both city and island were part of ancient North Frisia.

Korte Tuinstraat

Korte Tuinstraat,** where they lived in Amsterdam, can still be located on Google Maps. It is a short walk from Tuinstraat to the Dam Platz and the New Church. It is also a short walk to the house of Rembrandt van Rijn, Holland's most famous painter of the same period.

 [Note. This is a draft article that concerns the marriage of Jan and Volkje Van Husum. The original working image of the marriage certificate comes from jeanhounshellpeppers.com. I have included her translation below with some minor changes.]

Marriage Certificate of Jan Van Husum and Volkje Nordstrand

The image is not original. It is a digital recreation of the marriage certificate of Jan Van Husum and Volkje Nordstrand.

                                                          The 30th of April 1639

Present for signing "Jan Franz van Housum, varensgezel", seafaring man, age 30 years, living in "Cortetuijnstraat," having no parents but assisted by his cousin Anna Jans, of the same (street) and Volckje Juriaens "dr von" (from) Noortstrant, age about 21 years,  same address, having no parents, but assisted by Isaack Pietersen, acquaintence.

Requesting their three Sundays' proclamation, in order to have the before mentioned marriage  solemnized and consummated, in so far as there are no lawful objections, and if fully that they are free persons, not related by blood, whereby a Christian marriage could be prevented, such grounds do not exist, their banns are allowed.

* The Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) was destroyed by fire in 1645 and rebuilt in its present day Gothic style. The New Church was new, even in 1639, at the time of Jan and Volkje's marriage, because the Oude Kirk (Old Church) in Amsterdam had become too small for the growing congregation. Today, the former church is operated as a museum.

**Tuinstraat translates as "Garden Street." It is located in the Jordaan District just off of central Amsterdam. Corte is not Dutch, it may be Spanish, translating as "court."  One looking for the address where Jan and Volkje lived would be advised to look for a courtyard on Tuinstraat, assuming that a 17th century courtyard still exists.

Jan Van Husum - sailing man

It is not entirely clear what Jan Franz Van Husum did in the city of Husum before leaving for Amsterdam. One would suspect that he was a sailor for Husum was a seaport. And those who lived along the North Sea often earned their living catching herring along the Dogger Bank near the English coast and whaling in the frigid waters off Spitzbergen.

We do know that Jan arrived in Amsterdam sometime after 1634 when a great flood devastated the city of Husum and the nearby island of Nordstrand where his wife to be, Volkje Juriaens lived. Both Jan and Volkje were living on Tuinstraat in Amsterdam in 1639, when they applied for a marriage license. On the marriage certificate, available online from Jeanshoundshellpeppers.com, Jan lists his occupation as "varensgezel," or seafaring man.

Detail Marriage Certificate Jan and Volkje Van Husum

In the 17th century, most sailing on Dutch ships was done on a Dutch flyboat or fluyt. This was a sturdy, round-sided ship with great carrying capacity that operated with fewer crew than other boats. While sizes varied, a ship of 150 to 200 tons, might use a crew of seven or eight, whereas the English and French used a crew of ten or twelve. And again, while sizes might vary greatly, the ship might measure no more than 60 feet from stem to stern, and 13 feet in width.

The Fluyt, by Charlotte Wilcoxen, from Selected Papers of Rennselaerswijck Seminar.

Dutch Flyboat from KingsAcademy

 Seafaring.