Tuinstraat 1639

 

The Arrival

Jan Franz Van Husum arrived in Amsterdam sometime between October of 1634 and May of 1639. These two dates separate the Grote Mandrenke, the Great Man Drowning flood and the departure the ship Den Harinck for America with Jan and Volkje aboard. 

During that time Jan and Franz lived on Tuinstraat.

It was the Dutch Golden Age, an era of political, economic, and cultural greatness when the little nation facing the North Sea ranked among the most powerful in the world, sending ships to explore and settle the New World and bring back silks from exotic Japan.

 

Tuinstraat, Amsterdam, Google Earth, 2021

 

Tuinstraat, Jordaan District

Tuinstraat, in Amsterdam's Jordaan district, lies between Lijnbaansgracht and Prinsengracht, running roughly northeast, 500 meters long. Nearby was the new Dutch Reformed Westerkirche (1620-1631) situated between the Prinsengracht and Keizersgracht. Today, Tuinstraat is noted for its proximity to the Anne Frank House on Prinsengracht. 

 

Now considered central Amsterdam, then, in the 17th century, the Jordaan District was new, reclaimed by windmills and canals from the soggy marshlands, a place for immigrants searching for low rents. Rembrandt Van Rijn (1606-1609), moved to a house on Rozengracht when he could no longer afford to live in the city center. Bloemgracht where Joan Blaeu (1596 –1673) and his father had their bookshop is a few streets south. And not far away were the great merchants’ new and opulent homes on the Herengracht Canal.

 

By the mid-1600s when Jan Franz Van Husum moved to Tuinstraat along with Volkje Van Nordstrand, Amsterdam was lit by a series of lanterns on every bridge and in front of every twelfth house. The Night Watchman, famously painted by Rembrandt, patrolled the streets and canals with his lantern, sword and rattle, with which to sound the alarm. Amsterdam had by now some 400 book shops and people were clamoring for books on travel, like those by Jacob Cats, which added a touch of morality.

In 1688, almost 50 years after Jan and Volkje departed for America, William of Orange and his wife Mary, sister of England’s King James, would embark on a ship headed for England and a Glorious Revolution.

 

Dutch, Danish, or Frisian?

A rose is a rose is a rose, or is it?

The question is often asked, what nationality were Jan Franz Van Husum and Volkje Jurians Nordstrand?

Joyce Lindstrom in her biography of the progenitor of the Van Huss (Van Hoesen, Van Hooser, etc.) family notes:

"Jan Fransse was born in Husum ... in 1608. Husum lies in the northern duchy of Schleswig, which was once an independent duchy ruled by princes of the old Roman empire. A ducal portion was ruled by the dukes of Holstein and a common portion was ruled jointly by the kings and dukes."

Danish

The self-same duke and King of Denmark was Christian IV, who has come down in history as a sagacious fellow who ruled his kingdom with a level of stability and wealth unmatched elsewhere in Europe. This is not saying much for a Europe in the midst of the Thirty Years War, Dutch struggles for independence, religious conflict, the plague, and the simple daily struggle to survive.


This might settle the question of nationality in favor of the Danish, but not so quick.

Frisian

The western coastline of the Jutland peninsula where Husum and Nordstrand are found is historically part of North Frisia. The North Frisians settled on the coast and in the marshes on tiny islets called “halligs” shored up by wooden posts barely peeking out above Wadden Sea. Frisians are identified by dialect, speaking Low German, a dialect most closely identified with English. Thus, we may conclude that these were part of the Anglo Saxon raiders who invaded England between the 5th and 9th centuries and gave us their language.

Again, not so quick.

Dutch

The Dutch, great hydrologists that they were, moved into Nordstrand. They battled with the sea, attempting to hold back the water with dycks and windmills. The task was given to Jan Leeghwater, who met his match with the Great Flood of 1634.

Jan and Volkje did move to Amsterdam which counts for something.

Conclusion

Joyce concludes:

"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 Fisian 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."

To the mixture we can add the many German immigrants who arrived in America and added to the melting pot. In time Jan became Johannes, then John.

In the end, we conclude that Jan Franz Van Husum was American.

Franz

We know him by no other name than Franz, father to Jan Franz Van Husum (the first Van Huss, Van Hoesen to come to America). He possessed no last name. None was needed and if further distinction was required, he might be addressed as Blackbeard, or Red Franz or Tall Franz, or whatever distinguishing characteristic he might have possessed.

He was of the late 16th century (Jan was born in 1608) and was likely a seaman, for two reasons: first, this was the primary occupation of those living along the North Sea coast and second, his son was also a "sea-going" man.

We know that his name is Franz because of the marriage certificate which gives Jan's first name, his father's name Franz, and his place of origin, Van Husum. We do not know if he was Dutch or Frisian or Danish. Modern DNA tests might answer this question with some statistical probability. If we go simply by place of origin, then we would say that he was Danish or at least a subject of the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein. Then again, the ancient North Frisians had inhabited the coastline of the Jutland Peninsula for millennia. The Dutch also have a claim on our Franz, for the name screams Dutch, but that is not to say that the Danish and the Frisians did not use similar names. Moreover, it was the Dutch who came to the island of Nordstrand and with their technical know-how, attempted, poorly as it turned out, to reclaim the land from the fierce North Sea.

What he looked like is anyone's guess, but we can imagine that he might have been a character out of Isack van Ostade painting, Workmen before the Inn, 1645, National Gallery of Art.

Franz likely visited an alehouse and drank ale to while away the time. While drinking he most likely broke out in song:

Come all you young Maidens & lend an ear
Come listen awhile and you shall hear,
How the Keepers did sport with the fallow deer
Amongst the leaves so green ah
Hey down derry derry down,
Hey down down, ho down down,
Het down ho down derry derry down
Amongst the leaves so green ah...
The Huntsmans Delight, Or, The Foresters Pleasure.

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

Jan meets Volkjie for the first time

Really, I don’t know how it happened, but it happened on the morning of 12 October 1634, I like to think.

Husum and Nordstrand, map of 1650

I like to imagine that he came to her rescue, rowing out to sea in a small fishing boat, his sturdy arms pulling the oars against the breaking waves, spotting Volkie and her sister floating in the churning waters, clinging to a fallen tree or a piece of a house, destroyed by the storm.

Jan

His name was Jan. He lived in coastal port called Husum. Brown eyes, a sharp nose, and a chin that has that distinctive cleft. He is of average height, but above-average in intelligence, for he is a survivor.

He was a seafaring man, like many from the North Frisian coast who sailed the North Sea bringing in mackerel that was salted and sold in marketplace in cities everywhere in Holland. Mackerel are a fast predatory fish, closely related to tuna. They have no swim bladder which means they can change direction rapidly and dive quickly. A successful sailor must keep his wits about him.

Our hero was just 26.

Volkje

Volkie, our heroine, just 18. She and her sister Annetje, Jurriens lived with their parents on land reclaimed from the sea. It was called Nordstrand, “strand” meaning sand or beach. It was located in Wadden Sea, a small bit of the much larger North Sea. The creative Dutch had built dikes and seawalls to contain the ocean’s fury and windmills to pump out the salt water from the soil. Out of this small speck of sand several communities were built. Pellwurm, Gaikebull, Rungeholt, and so on, each with its church and scattering of farms.

In my mind’s eye, our hero was alone in his boat. He wore a blue waistcoat and gray pantaloons, cut off at the knee, for freedom of movement and because, if thrown into the sea, short pant legs would allow him to float to the surface rather than being dragged down by water-soaked clothing. Every sailor wore a hat or a cap, and our hero’s was a tri-corner hat, or a sailor’s cap with a bill, or a simple knit stocking to keep out the cold and the wind.  

The Great Flood of 1634

The Storm

The sea was full of white caps, the wind blew to shore, making the journey more difficult for Jan was the fact that the sea was also full of bits and pieces of homes and churches broke apart by the storm. And yet, he rowed on, boat against the tide, rowing ceaselessly in the hope of finding her against all odds. Find her he did, and so the story continues. Or, perhaps, he was not looking for Volkjie, perhaps it was circumstance and coincidence that brought them together. Divine intervention in the midst of destruction and loss of life.

Volkjie and her sister had clung to the tree for hours, through the night, when the storm had done its worst, rising to a height of 15 meters and sweeping over the land until the north coast was reclaimed by the sea. It is estimated that upwards of 15,000 people lost their lives that night. A fortunate few fled to the highest spot on the island of Nordstrand where they where joined other refugees fleeing the rising waters.

The recollection of one survivor went like this:

“In the evening a great storm and bad weather rose from the southwest out of the sea. ... The wind began to blow so hard that no sleep could touch our eyes. When we had been lying in bed for about an hour my son said to me, 'Father, I feel water dripping into my face'. The waves were rising up at the sea dike and onto the roof of the house. It was a very frightening sound.”

Those in the lower lying areas were less fortunate and houses were carried away by the surging waters.

The storm’s destructive force was compounded by its timing, coming as darkness settled in and night came.

“...at six o'clock at night the Lord God began to fulminate with wind and rain from the east, at seven He turned the wind to the southwest and let it blow so strong that hardly any man could walk or stand, at eight and nine all dikes were already smitten... The Lord God [sent] thunder, rain, hail lightning and such a powerful wind that the Earth's foundation was shaken... at ten o'clock everything was over.”

Rescue

In the pitch black of night, rescue was impossible. So, it was that Jan set our at break of day, at first light. So it was that in the gray morning and the howl of the wind, he found Volkjie and her sister, desperately clinging to a tree. Their parents were gone, and their despair was great. We do not even know if they could swim, but I imagine that a Dutch girl who grew up along the Wadden Sea collecting the eggs of gulls and terns, in the marshes had learned to fend for herself when a wave caught her by surprise.

I imagine few words were spoken, as Jan hauled first one girl in the boat then the other. Exhausted they were and grateful to God for their salvation. The girls’ clothing was soaked in brine, the skirt and bodice, once white, now dark brown, the color of mud that mixed with sea. Their brown hair hung straight, their skin white and red, chaffed by the cold water and the tree bark that they clung to.
With foresight, Jan brought fresh water and bread, and dry blankets.

Once fed and warmed, the trio made the journey back to Husum.

The Autobiography of Jan Franz Van Husum

Tuinstraat Today

As I closed the door of our home for the last time, Volkjie, my wife of two weeks said, “Goodbye sweet life.” “What?” I replied, for it had not been sweet or easy. Amsterdam is a city reclaimed from the sea, each day new people arrive, competing for the few scarce jobs and fewer places to live.

I am a seagoing man, able to eke out a living catching mackerel in the cold waters of the North Atlantic, but the catches are fewer and further away. It is not an easy life. Volkje, who once gathered Eider eggs in the marshes of the North Strand and drove geese to the city markets, now sells tulips for farthings in the local market. It is not an easy life.

Hand in hand we left Tuinstraat, and the place we called home.