Auke Wiggerts

Name

Auke Wiggerts. Wiggerts could be a hereditary surname or a patronymic, meaning son of Wiggert. He was also known as Jan Bloem[1] and Aucke Wijbens.[2]

Origin

Auke was originally from Kollum, Friesland, Netherlands.[3]

Migration

Auke Wiggerts sailed to New Netherland on the Drie Koningen [Three Magi].[4] The ship departed from Texel on 23 January 1628.[5]

Biographical Details

Auke Wiggerts was born in Kollum between say 1588 and 1616. He was probably no more than twenty years older than his youngest known brother, who was born in 1608–1609.[6] He was probably at least twelve years old when he went out to sea in 1628.[7] His parents died before 1627.[8]

Auke Wiggerts died in the Delaware Bay in 1635 or 1636. On 12 January 1639, six acquaintances of Auke Wiggerts gave a deposition about his death at the request of Metske Wiggers and Witske Wiggers. Jan Lucassen from Esens, 37, Jan Jacobssen from Stavoren, 28, Klaas Franssen from Straalsont, 38, Sander Lenertsen from Schotland, 35, Jan Jacobssen from Haarlem, 27, and Hillebrand Pieterssen from Amsterdam, 24, declared that they had all been in different places in New Netherland for several years. In that colony they got to know Auke Wiggerts from Kollum well. Among themselves, they also called him Jan Bloem. Jan Jacobssen had sailed with Auke Wiggerts to New Netherland on the Drie Koningen eleven years earlier. They declared that Auke Wiggerts had died on board of a sloop in the “Zuidbaai” [South Bay, present-day Delaware Bay] three years ago.[9] 

Education

Born in Friesland, Auke Wiggerts probably spoke Frisian.

Occupation

Auke Wiggerts worked for the West India Company. The six men who gave a deposition about his death testified that they had met him in various places in New Netherland, suggesting he was probably a tradesman.[10] 

After Auke’s death, his brothers Lieuwe and Metsche Wiggers tried to collect his earned wages from the company. On 25 November 1637, Lieuwe Wiggers, a sailor and burgher of Amsterdam, gave power of attorney to Gerrijt Eevertsen, house carpenter in Amsterdam, to go with Metsche Wiggers to collect Auke’s wages.[11] On 11 November 1638, Lieuwe Wiggers gave a power of attorney to his wife Dorothea Sijmens to collect his share of Auke’s wages.[12] 

The West India Company would have refused to release the wages without proof of Auke Wiggerts’s death, which explains the 12 January 1639 deposition.[13] It would also require bondsmen, who could have counterbondsmen to mitigate their risk. On 31 January 1639, Evert Opkes, sailmaker, pledged his person and goods for the bond of Harmen Meijndertsen and Jacob Jacobsen, who had in turn pledged themselves as security to the West India Company for the payment of 1521 guilders in back wages earned by Aucke Wijbens from Amsterdam, also known as Auck Wiggers from Collum, who died in New Netherland.[14] If Auke Wiggerts ever turned up to claim his own wages, the West India Company could recoup the payment from Meijndertsen and Jacobsen, who in turn could call upon Opkes to reimburse them.

Associations

Auke Wiggerts had brothers Lieuwe and Metsche Wiggers. Lieuwe was born in Kollum about 1600–1601 and worked as a sailor when he married in Amsterdam in 1627.[15] Metsche was born in Kollum around 1608–1609 and worked as a mason’s apprentice when he married in Amsterdam in 1637.[16] 

Auke Wiggerts knew the six men who gave a deposition about his death: Jan Lucassen, Jan Jacobssen, Klaas Franssen, Sander Lenertsen [better known as Alexander Glen], Jan Jacobssen, and Hillebrand Pieterssen.[17]

Literature

Adrian Burke. “A Note on the Origins of Alexander Glen, Alias Snder Leendertz Glen, of Schenectady, New York.” New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 148 (2017): 129–37. P. 133 has an abstract of the 12 January 1639 record in which Auke Wiggerts is called Jan Bloem.

Citations

[1] Deposition about death of Auke Wiggerts, 12 January 1639, in Pieter Carelsz, notary (Amsterdam), minutes, 1639, document; imaged, Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/inventarissen/file/0658886d-fcec-361e-07a9-309b645e80e5), image 30 of 577; citing call no. 731A, Record Group [RG] 5075: Archief van de Notarissen ter Standplaats Amsterdam [Records of the Notaries Residing in Amsterdam], Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Abstracted in Adrian Burke, "A Note on the Origins of Alexander Glen, Alias Sander Leendertz Glen, of Schenectady, New York," New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 148 (2017): 129–37 (p. 133).

[2] Counterbond by Evert Opkes on behalf of Harmen Meijndertsen and Jacob Jacobsen, 31 January 1639, in Hendrick Schaef, notary (Amsterdam), minutes of conveyances, contracts and other records, 1639, fol. 11v; imaged, Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/inventarissen/file/333e0c16-8eb3-f1e8-a1ba-0ef00fd5b699), image 13 of 157; citing call no. 1332, RG 5075, Stadsarchief Amsterdam.

[3] Deposition about death of Auke Wiggerts, 12 January 1639.

[4] Deposition about death of Auke Wiggerts, 12 January 1639.

[5] Nicolaas Jansz van van Wassenaer, Historisch verhael aller gedenckwaerdiger geschiedeniss[en]. . ., vol. 14, October 1627–April 1628 (Amsterdam, Netherlands: Jan Janssen, 1628), 75v.

[6] Marriage intentions of Metsgie Wiggers and Marritie Rems, 12 September 1637, in Amsterdam, marriage intentions of the church, 1637, p. 407; imaged, “Indexen,” Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/indexen/deeds/11f36044-3502-49f4-a2d7-28a72acc9766); citing call no. 446, 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.

[7] Deposition about death of Auke Wiggerts, 12 January 1639.

[8] Marriage intentions of Lieuwe Wiggers and Dorothea Sijmons, 16 October 1627, in Amsterdam, marriage intentions of the church, 1627–1628, p. 412; imaged, “Indexen,” Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/indexen/deeds/799576a1-9f20-4a02-adee-396b78c5edd7); citing call no. 432, RG 5001, Stadsarchief Amsterdam.

[9] Deposition about death of Auke Wiggerts, 12 January 1639.

[10] Deposition about death of Auke Wiggerts, 12 January 1639.

[11] Power of attorney from Liewe Wiggers to Gerrijt Eevertsen, 25 November 1637, in Jacob Jansz Westfrisius, notary (Amsterdam), bound copies of notarial records, 1 May 1637–29 October 1638, fol. 128v–129r; imaged, “Indexen,” Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/indexen/deeds/9d6d21df-9bf0-666d-e053-b784100a1840), image 129 of 292; citing call no. 522, RG 5075, Stadsarchief Amsterdam.

[12] Power of attorney from Lieuwe Wiggers to Dorothea Sijmens, 11 November 1638, in Jacob Jansz Westfrisius, notary (Amsterdam), bound copies of notarial records, 2 September 1638–11 May 1640, fol. 17v; imaged, Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/indexen/deeds/9d6d21e3-441c-666d-e053-b784100a1840), image 18 of 273; citing call no. 523, RG 5075, Stadsarchief Amsterdam.

[13] Deposition about death of Auke Wiggerts, 12 January 1639.

[14] Counterbond by Evert Opkes on behalf of Harmen Meijndertsen and Jacob Jacobsen, 31 January 1639, in Hendrick Schaef, notary (Amsterdam), minuetts of conveyances, contracts and other records, 1639, fol. 11v; imaged, Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/inventarissen/file/333e0c16-8eb3-f1e8-a1ba-0ef00fd5b699), image 13 of 157; citing call no. 1332, RG 5075, Stadsarchief Amsterdam.

[15] Marriage intentions of Lieuwe Wiggers and Dorothea Sijmons, 16 October 1627.

[16] Marriage intentions of Metsgie Wiggers and Marritie Rems, 12 September 1637.

[17] Deposition about death of Auke Wiggerts, 12 January 1639.

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