Name
Hieronijmus Sperandeus, also spelled as Jeronimus Sperandeus[1] or Speerenteewis.[2]
Origin
Hieronijmus Sperandeus was from Vienna, Austria.[3]
Migration
Hieronijmus Sperandeus was in New Netherland in 1633. He served as gunner on the Walvis on its return journey to the Netherlands.[4] The ship had arrived in New Netherland on 3 December 1632 and departed on 15 June 1633.[5] It is uncertain whether Hieronijmus was already serving on the Walvis when it arrived in New Netherland.
Settlement
Hieronijmus lived at the Keizersdwarsgracht in Amsterdam in 1632.[6]
Biographical Details
Hieronijmus Sperandeus was born between say 1599 and 1602 in Vienna, Austria. He claimed to be 30 years old when he married in 1632 [7] and 33 years old when he gave a deposition in 1633.[8] He died at an unknown date after 1633.
Marriage and Children
Jeronimus Sperandeus, a 30-year-old sailor, having no parents, living at the Keizersdwarsgracht, registered his intentions to marry Marritie Jans from Bergen in Norway, the widow of Dirck Janssen, living at the Beulingstraet, in the Dutch Reformed Church of Amsterdam on 3 April 1632. The groom signed his name as “Hieronijmus Sperandeus”; the bride did not sign.[9] The registration of their intentions contains no provision for orphans of her late husband, indicating that Marritie Jans had no minor children when she married. She may have been the 22-year-old Maritje Jans who registered her intentions to marry Dirck Jansz, a bombazine worker, in the Dutch Reformed Church of Amsterdam on 12 June 1627. She was assisted by her mother, Maijke Hoofs.[10] The common names of Marritje Jans and her first husband complicate identification.
Child of Hieronijmus Sperandeus and Marritje Jans:
- Trijntje, daughter of Jeronimus Speerenteeuwis and Marritje Jans, baptized in the Dutch Reformed Nieuwe Kerk [New Church] of Amsterdam on 21 May 1634 (witness: Wijbrich Jansdr.).[11]
Education
Originally from Austria, Hieronijmus would have spoken German. As a sailor in Amsterdam, he probably also learned Dutch. He also had at least minimal knowledge of Latin.
As “Hieronijmus Sperandeus,” he signed an Album Amicorum, or friends album, of Andreas Knappe von Erbach. Hieronijmus wrote a Latin phrase, “In de Domine Speravi, Non Confundor inneternum”; a slightly misspelled version of Psalm 31:1: “In you, Lord, I have taken refuge, let me never be put to shame.” The entry is undated but other entries in the book date from 1612 to 1627.[12] The signature is consistent with those on his marriage intentions and depositions in Amsterdam.[13]
Andreas Knappe von Erbach kept the album during a grand tour of various cities in Europe, including Strasbourg (1612–1614), Geneva (1614–1615), and Lyon (1615–1617).[14] It is uncertain where he met Hieronijmus. Hieronijmus’s signing of the album and use of Latin—though imperfectly—suggests he had a classical education, which is unusual for a man who later worked as a sailor and gunner. His last name, Sperandeus, means “the hopeful one” in Latin. Many students at universities Latinized their names. Hieronijmus may have attended a university in one of the cities Andreas Knappe von Erbach visited.
Occupation
Early in his career, Hieronijmus Sperandeus worked for the Dutch East India Company. In 1628, he was stationed in Banda in the Dutch East Indies [present-day Indonesia]. The company paid Jeronimus Sperandus 16 guilders, 11 stivers, and 8 pennies in cash for his post as corporal of ensigns.[15]
Hieronijmus Sperandeus was a sailor when he registered his marriage intentions on 3 April 1632.[16] A few weeks later, on 7 May 1632, he gave a deposition about a man he had served with, at the request of Dirckgen Thijsen, the wife of Artus Melisz. Hieronijmus declared that he had last seen Jan Egbertsz Pijl in October 1631 at the island of “Tortoeves” [probably Tortuga in Haiti].[17]
Hieronijmus Sperandeus worked as a gunner on the ship Walvis [Whale] under captain David Pieters de Vries in 1633. On 29 July 1633, he was back in Amsterdam when he gave a deposition about the return voyage from New Netherland at the request of Samuel Godin and Samuel Blommert, two investors in the voyage. He testified that the captain had loaded eight packages of beaver and otter pelts in the constable’s cargo hold, and another hundred loose pelts in the cabin. Sperandeus saw the pelts being aired. Once the ship arrived at Texel, the packages and loose pelts were transferred to a smaller vessel. Also on board was an Englishman, Mr. Klaaks, who had loaded about one thousand pounds of tobacco in New Netherland, which was transferred to a fishing boat in Vaelmuijen [Falmouth].[18] The deposition only discusses the return voyage, and it is unclear when Sperandeus joined the crew. The ship left in May 1632, six weeks after Hieronijmus’s marriage intentions, so he may have been part of the crew for the entire voyage.
In his journal about the voyage, captain David Pieters de Vries noted that they left from Texel on 24 May 1632 and arrived in New Netherland on 3 December of that year. After visiting several places in New Netherland, they embarked on the return journey to the Netherlands on 15 June 1633. They encountered several corsairs, and debated capturing a “Turck”—a Muslim corsair ship. De Vries felt that the Walvis, with only fourteen cannon and thirty men, was not up to the challenge of capturing the ship, so they continued their journey. On 11 July, they pulled into the port of Falmouth in England for replenishments, and finally arrived at the roads of Texel on 21 July 1633. Upon their return, the investors were upset that De Vries had privately traded in beavers, though De Vries claimed this was a trivial complaint since he had only sold two or four beavers.[19]
The disagreement explains why the investors asked Sperandeus to give a deposition about captain De Vries’s pelt trade, which was apparently far more substantial than the two or four beavers De Vries admitted to having sold. A few weeks later, the chief boatswain, the helmsman, and another gunner who had served on the Walvis gave similar depositions about the captain’s substantial smuggling.[20]
Hieronijmus Sperandeus later served the West India Company in Brazil. On 3 October 1645 the war council of Brazil appointed sergeant Jeronimus de Sperandus as commander of the castle to oversee the men stationed there. He served under captain Pistor.[21]
Church Membership
Hieronijmus declared his marriage intentions before the Dutch Reformed Church of Amsterdam[22] and had his daughter baptized there.[23]
Associations
Support New Netherland Settlers
Help us support New Netherland Settlers and further more research and additional sketches.
Do you have a New Netherland ancestor that should be included or other information to contribute to the initiative? Please email development@nygbs.org with the subject line "NNS Information," and we will follow up with you.
Hieronijmus Sperandeus would have known the captain and crew of the Walvis, with whom he served in 1633: captain David Pieters de Vries,[24] chief boatswain Pieter Janssen Konink, helmsman Henrick Jeuriaens,[25] and gunner Dirck Fredrixsen Koornhart,[26] He also would have met Andreas Knappe von Erbach, whose album he signed.[27]
Citations
[1] Marriage intentions of Jeronimus Sperandeus and Marritie Jans, 3 April 1632, in Amsterdam, marriage intentions of the church, 1632, p. 8; imaged, “Indexen,” Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/indexen/deeds/bc97788f-9cb1-434e-a7f3-d3975cf9c34f); citing call no. 439, Record Group [RG] 5001: Archief van de Burgerlijke Stand: doop-, trouw- en begraafboeken van Amsterdam (retroacta van de Burgerlijke Stand) [Archives of the Civil Registration: baptismal, marriage, and burial books of Amsterdam (predecessors of the civil registration)], Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
[2] Baptism of Trijntje Speerenteeuwis, 21 May 1634, in Nieuwe Kerk (Amsterdam), baptismal register 1628–1638, p. 316; imaged, “Indexen,” Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/indexen/deeds/a5c8aded-c4a2-4598-98a3-d29018e1c5ed); citing call no. 41, RG 5001, Stadsarchief Amsterdam.
[3] Marriage intentions of Jeronimus Sperandeus and Marritie Jans, 3 April 1632. Deposition by Jeronimus Sperandeus about return voyage of the Walvis, 29 July 1633, in Pieter Carelsz, notary (Amsterdam), minutes, 1633, record 315; imaged, Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/inventarissen/file/684872b5-7126-69d9-9fa7-7f6152e20354), image 378 of 629; citing call no. 727, RG 5075: Archief van de Notarissen ter Standplaats Amsterdam [Records of the Notaries Residing in Amsterdam], Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
[4] Deposition by Jeronimus Sperandeus about return voyage of the Walvis, 29 July 1633.
[5] David Pietersz de Vries, Korte historiael: ende journaels aenteyckeninge van verscheyden voyagiens in de vier deelen des wereldts-ronde, als Europa, Africa, Asia, ende Amerika gedaen (Alkmaar, Netherlands: S.C. Brekegeest, 1655), 94–120.
[6] Marriage intentions of Jeronimus Sperandeus and Marritie Jans, 3 April 1632.
[7] Marriage intentions of Jeronimus Sperandeus and Marritie Jans, 3 April 1632.
[8] Deposition by Jeronimus Sperandeus about return voyage of the Walvis, 29 July 1633.
[9] Marriage intentions of Jeronimus Sperandeus and Marritie Jans, 3 April 1632.
[10] Marriage intentions of Dirck Jansz and Maritie Jans, 12 June 1627, in Amsterdam, marriage intentions of the church, 1627, p. 227; imaged, “Indexen,” Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/indexen/deeds/061bf63d-9eac-477f-bc28-4405181eea38); citing call no. 432, RG 5001, Stadsarchief Amsterdam.
[11] Baptism of Trijntje Speerenteeuwis, 21 May 1634.
[12] Stammbuch Andreas Knappe von Erbach, fol. 217v, entry for Hieronijmus Sperandeus; imaged, “Digitale Sammlungen der Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek,” Klassik Stiftung Weimar (https://haab-digital.klassik-stiftung.de/viewer/image/4499004667/451/); citing shelfmark Stb 1931, Stammbuchsammlung, Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek, Weimar, Germany. For background information about the album see Wilfried Buß, “1612 a Andreas Knappe von Erbach,” Libri Amicorum: Denkmal der Freundschaft (https://www.libri-amicorum.de/?p=768).
[13] Marriage intentions of Jeronimus Sperandeus and Marritie Jans, 3 April 1632. Deposition by Jeronimus Sperandeus about Jan Egbertsz Pijl, 7 May 1632, in Laurens Lamberti, notary (Amsterdam), minutes, 1613–1633, fol. 112r–113v; imaged, “Indexen,” Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/indexen/deeds/9d6d21e1-951c-666d-e053-b784100a1840); citing call no. 594, RG 5075, Stadsarchief Amsterdam. Deposition by Jeronimus Sperandeus about return voyage of the Walvis, 29 July 1633.
[14] Stammbuch Andreas Knappe von Erbach.
[15] Account of payments in Banda, forwarded to Ambojna [Ambon], 1 June 1628, in West India Company, resolutions of the governor and council of the Indies, 27 January 1625–26 January 1626, fol. 22r; imaged, Nationaal Archief (https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/archief/1.04.02/invnr/1086/), image 347 of 646; citing call no. 1086, RG 1.04.02: Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie [United East-Indies Company], Nationaal Archief, The Hague, Netherlands.
[16] Marriage intentions of Jeronimus Sperandeus and Marritie Jans, 3 April 1632.
[17] Deposition by Jeronimus Sperandeus about Jan Egbertsz Pijl, 7 May 1632.
[18] Deposition by Jeronimus Sperandeus about return voyage of the Walvis, 29 July 1633.
[19] David Pietersz de Vries, Korte historiael, 94–120.
[20] Declaration by Dirck Fredrixsen Koornhart about return voyage of the Walvis, 13 August 1633, in Pieter Carelsz, notary (Amsterdam), minutes, 1633, record 337; images 402–03 of 629. Declaration by Pieter Janssen Konink and Henrick Jeuriaens van Veuren about return voyage of the Walvis, 30 August 1633, in Pieter Carelsz, notary (Amsterdam), minutes, 1633, record 356; image 425 of 629.
[21] Appointment of Jeronimus de Sperandus as commander of the castle, 3 October 1645, in West India Company, high council and government of Brazil, minutes, 8 September 1645–22 August 1647, fol. 53v; imaged, Nationaal Archief (https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/archief/1.05.01.01/invnr/71/), image 57 of 1313; citing call no. 71, RG 1.05.01.01: Oud West-Indische Compagnie [Old West India Company], Nationaal Archief.
[22] Marriage intentions of Jeronimus Sperandeus and Marritie Jans, 3 April 1632.
[23] Baptism of Trijntje Speerenteeuwis, 21 May 1634.
[24] Deposition by Jeronimus Sperandeus about return voyage of the Walvis, 29 July 1633.
[25] Deposition by Pieter Janssen Konink and Henrick Jeuriaens van Veuren about return voyage of the Walvis, 30 August 1633.
[26] Declaration by Dirck Fredrixsen Koornhart about return voyage of the Walvis, 13 August 1633.
[27] Stammbuch Andreas Knappe von Erbach, fol. 217v, entry for Hieronijmus Sperandeus.
New Netherland Settlers is made possible by donations from organizations and individuals. For more information on how to support the project, email development@nygbs.org.