Marritje Claes

Name

Marritje Claes (wife of Claes Haijen).[1] Her common name complicates identification except where she is recorded together with her husband.

Origin

Marritje Claes was originally from Amsterdam, Holland.[2]

Migration

Marritje Claes, also called Maria Claes, sailed to New Netherland on 19 June 1658 on the ship Bruijnvisch [Brown Fish, or Harbor Porpoise]. Her passage fee was 36 guilders, the normal rate for a person over twelve years old.[3]

Settlement

Marritje Claes probably lived in New Amsterdam, where she married and had children.[4] 

Biographical Details

Marritje Claes was probably born between say 1618 (age 45 or less at birth of last child in 1663)[5] and 1633 (of age when she owed passage fees in 1658).[6] Her patronymic indicates her father’s first name was Claes. Maria died at an unknown date after 23 February 1664, when her husband took over her debt.[7]

Marriage and Children

Marritje Claes was single when she travelled to New Netherland in 1658.[8] She married shortly after 12 February 1661, when Claes Haijen, a single man from “Beeren” [Bremen in modern-day Germany] registered his intentions to marry Marritje Claes, a single woman from Amsterdam, in the Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam.[9] Claes Haijen was a midshipman (adelborst) from Bremen who had come over on the Bonte Koe [Brindled Cow] on 15 April 1660.[10] On 23 February 1664, he took on his wife’s debt of 36 guilders for passage fees, which was transferred to his account with the West India Company.[11]

Children of Marritje Claes and Claes Haijen, also known as Heijnen and Heijn, baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam:

1. Gerrit, son of Claes Heijnen and Marritie Claes, baptized on 4 December 1661. Witnesses: Fredrick Hendrickszen, Annetie Hendricks.[12]
2. Maria Cathrijn, daughter of Claes Heijn and Marritie Claes, baptized 7 January 1663. Witnesses: Otto Kimme, Claertie Ebels.[13]

Education

Born in the Netherlands, Marritje Claes would have spoken Dutch.[14]

Church Membership

Marritje married and had her children baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam.[15] It is unclear if she was the Marritje Claes who was a member of that church by January 1660.[16]

Associations

Marritje Claes would have gotten to know the other passengers on the Bruijnvisch: Jannetie Volckerse and her daughter, Douwe Harmensen with his wife and three children, Michiel Ples with his wife and two children, Adriaen Jansen, Francoijs Abrahamsen, Joris Jansen, Jan Arensen, Jan Isbrantsen, Huijbert de Bruijn, Machtelt Stoffelse, Jannetie Hermans, Dirck Smith and child, Francisco de Gordosa, Charel Garet, Jan Lequie, Dingeman Jansen, Claes Wolf, and Harmen Dircksen. She would also have known the skipper, Cornelis Maerssen.[17]

Marritje Claes and her husband also closely associated with Fredrick Hendrickszen, Annetie Hendricks, Otto Kimme, and Claertie Ebels, who witnessed the baptisms of their children.[18]

Literature

Riker, David M. Genealogical and Biographical Directory to Persons in New Netherland, from 1613 to 1674. 4 vols. Higginson Book Company, 1999. Vol. 2 contains an entry for Claes Hayen that mentions Marritje Claes as his wife.

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. Marriage intentions (p. 505), baptisms of children (pp. 121, 130).

Van Laer, A.J.F. “Passengers to New Netherland.” Year Book of the Holland Society of New York. 1902. Pages 1–37. Contains a summary of the passenger list, with a transcription and translation for Maria Claes’s entry on p. 4.

Citations

[1] Marriage intentions of Claes Haijen and Marritje Claes, 12 February 1661, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, marriage register, 1639–1701, p. 605; 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 494 of 1410; citing The Archives of the Reformed Church in America, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

[2] Marriage intentions of Claes Haijen and Marritje Claes, 12 February 1661, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, marriage register, 1639–1701, p. 605; 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 494 of 1410; citing The Archives of the Reformed Church in America, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

[3] List of passage fees from Holland to New Netherland from 1654 to 1664, folio 10, entry for Maria Claes, in New Netherland Council, Dutch colonial administrative correspondence, vol. 14, 1661–1662; imaged, “Digital Collections,” New York State Archives (URL), identifier https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/54615), images 20–21 of 180; citing series A1810-78, New York State Archives, Albany, New York.

[4] Marriage intentions of Claes Haijen and Marritje Claes, 12 February 1661. Baptism of Gerrit Heijnen, 4 December 1661, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, baptismal register, 1639–1697, p. 316; image 218 of 1410. Baptism of Maria Cathrijn Heijn, 7 January 1663, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, baptismal register, 1639–1697, p. 321; image 223 of 1410.

[5] Baptism of Maria Cathrijn Heijn, 7 January 1663.

[6] List of passage fees from Holland to New Netherland from 1654 to 1664, folio 10, entry for Maria Claes.

[7] List of passage fees from Holland to New Netherland from 1654 to 1664, folio 10, entry for Maria Claes.

[8] List of passage fees from Holland to New Netherland from 1654 to 1664, folio 10, entry for Maria Claes.

[9] Marriage intentions of Claes Haijen and Marritje Claes, 12 February 1661.

[10] List of soldiers to come over on the Brindled Cow, 15 April 1660, in New Netherland Council, Dutch colonial administrative correspondence, vol. 13, 1659–1660, p. 88; imaged, “Digital Collections,” New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/54472), image 3 of 6, identifier NYSA_A1810-78_V13_0088; citing series A1810-78, New York State Archives, Albany, New York.

[11] List of passage fees from Holland to New Netherland from 1654 to 1664, folio 10, entry for Maria Claes.

[12] Baptism of Gerrit Heijnen, 4 December 1661.

[13] Baptism of Maria Cathrijn Heijn, 7 January 1663.

[14] Marriage intentions of Claes Haijen and Marritje Claes, 12 February 1661.

[15] Marriage intentions of Claes Haijen and Marritje Claes, 12 February 1661. Baptism of Gerrit Heijnen, 4 December 1661. Baptism of Maria Cathrijn Heijn, 7 January 1663.

[16] Church membership registration of Marritje Claes, original list of members before January 1660, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, membership register, 1649–1701, p. 500; image 402 of 1410.

[17] List of passage fees from Holland to New Netherland from 1654 to 1664, folios 8–12, passengers on the Bruijnvisch.

[18] Baptism of Gerrit Heijnen, 4 December 1661. Baptism of Maria Cathrijn Heijn, 7 January 1663.

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