Name
Swaentie Gijsberts,[1] also spelled Swaantjen Ghijsberts.[2]
Origin
Her Dutch name and membership in the Dutch Reformed Church suggest that Swaentie Gijsberts was Dutch.[3]
Migration
It is unknown whether Swaentie Gijsberts was born in New Netherland or came to the colony from elsewhere.
Settlement
Swaentie Gijsberts probably lived in New Amsterdam, where she was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church by 1660.[4] Around February 1660, she moved to Curaçao.[5] Curaçao was another colony in the control of the West India Company, which had close ties with New Netherland.
Biographical Details
Swaentie Gijsberts was probably at least 18 years old in 1660, when she was a confessed member of the Dutch Reformed Church in New Amsterdam.[6] It seems unlikely she was more than 60 years old when she moved to Curaçao. This gives an estimated birth year between say 1600 and 1642. Based on her patronymic, she was probably the daughter of a man named Gijsbert. Swaentie died at an unknown date after 25 December 1661, when she witnessed a baptism in Curaçao.[7]
Marriage and Children
Swaentie Gijsberts was not listed with a husband in the membership registers of the Dutch Reformed Churches of New Amsterdam or of Fort Amsterdam, Curaçao. Husbands and wives were usually listed together. The absence of a husband suggests she was either unmarried, or her husband was not a member of the church.
Education
As a confessed church member, Swaentie Gijsberts would have been examined about her knowledge of Dutch Reformed Church doctrine. This suggests she spoke Dutch.
Church Membership
Swaentie Gijsberts was one of the people in the undated list of existing church members of the Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam. The membership register started registering new members from January 1660, indicating Swaentie and the other people on the list had been church members before that time.[8]
On 3 February 1660, the church at New Amsterdam gave Swaentie Gijsberts an attestation of church membership, which she presented to the Dutch Reformed Church of Fort Amsterdam on the island of Curaçao to become a member there between 18 February 1660 and 26 March 1661.[9] This attestation proved she had been a confessed member of the Dutch Reformed Church in good standing, which the church in her new place of residence accepted.
On 25 December 1661 Swaentje Gijsberts witnessed the baptism of Marritje, daughter of Frans Willems van Wouden and Marritje Gerbrandts, in the Dutch Reformed Church of Fort Amsterdam, Curaçao. The other witness was Jan Dircken.[10]
Associations
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In Curaçao, Swaentje Gijsberts was acquainted with Frans Willems van Wouden and Marritje Gerbrandts. She witnessed their daughter Marritje’s baptism.[11]
Source Editions
Sypher, Francis J., ed. Liber A of the Collegiate Churches of New York, Part 2: Baptisms 1639 to 1697, Members 1649 to 1701, Marriages 1639 to 1701. Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015. Page 416 has the membership registration.
Literature Not Seen
Include here any seemingly pertinent literature for which the citation has been confirmed, but which has not been seen directly. (If there is doubt about the accuracy of the citation or the existence the material cited, place it under the next heading.)
Citations
[1] Church membership registration of Swaentie Gijsberts in New Amsterdam, bef. January 1660, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, membership register, 1649–1701, p. 508; imaged, “U.S., Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639–1989,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6961) > New York > Manhattan > Collegiate Church . . . > image 410 of 1410; citing The Archives of the Reformed Church in America, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
[2] Church membership registration of Swaantjen Ghijsberts in Curaçao, attestation 3 February 1660, in Classis of the Dutch Reformed Church (Amsterdam), incoming correspondence regarding religious matters in Curaçao, 1640–1740, item 8, Dutch Reformed Church (Fort Amsterdam, Curaçao), list of baptized children and church members, 1659–1662; imaged, Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/inventarissen/file/1ccf608a-e779-ed62-a870-060af2c89068), image 20 of 191; citing call no. 224, Record Group 379: Archief van de Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk; Classis Amsterdam [Archive of the Dutch Reformed Church; Classis Amsterdam], Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
[3] Church membership registration of Swaentie Gijsberts in New Amsterdam, bef. January 1660.
[4] Church membership registration of Swaentie Gijsberts in New Amsterdam, bef. January 1660.
[5] Church membership registration of Swaantjen Ghijsberts in Curaçao, attestation 3 February 1660.
[6] Church membership registration of Swaentie Gijsberts in New Amsterdam, bef. January 1660.
[7] Baptism of Marritje van Wouden, 25 December 1661, in Classis of the Dutch Reformed Church (Amsterdam), incoming correspondence regarding religious matters in Curaçao, 1640–1740, item 8, Dutch Reformed Church (Fort Amsterdam, Curaçao), list of baptized children and church members, 1659–1662; image 19 of 191.
[8] Church membership registration of Swaentie Gijsberts, bef. January 1660.
[9] Church membership registration of Swaantjen Ghijsberts in Curaçao, attestation 3 February 1660.
[10] Baptism of Marritje van Wouden, 25 December 1661.
[11] Baptism of Marritje van Wouden, 25 December 1661.
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