Willem Hendrikse van Oosenbruggen

Recorded deeds in Rijswijk

January 14, 1716: Bond of 700 guilders owed by Willem Hendrikse van Osenbruggen and Maeyken Dercks for beneficiary Anna Elisabeth van Deelen, secured by 7 hont farmland at Maurik, a planted field of 5 hont, east of property of Berent en Willem Hendrikse Osenbruggen.
May 3, 1717: Bond of 1500 guilders owed by Willem Hendrikse van Osenbruggen and Maayke Dirckx Kurf (spouses) for beneficiary Judith van Delen, secured by parcels of land on the other side.
March 10, 1719: The van Heteren heirs sell Willem Hendrikse van Oosenbruggen a farm of 3 mergen and 2 hont at Rijswijk for 445 guilders.
May 30, 1719: Mortgage deed of 600 guilders of Willem Hendrikse van Oosenbruggen and Maeyke Dercks Kurff (spouses) for beneficiary Evert Wilbrennick (a minor) at 5% on house and homestead with the orchard there, inclusive of the 4 ackeren arable land at Rijswijk, extending from half of the Heuvel street to the Poldergraaf.
August 1, 1719: Willem Hendriksen van Osenbruggen and Maeyke Dirks Keurf (spouses cum tutore marito) state that they owe Engeltjen van Utrecht the sum of 500 guilders, plus interest at 5% per year, on a special mortgage for a certain homestead of 3 mergen and 2 hont, situated on the Wijfdijk in Rijswijk.

1 mergen = 8400 m^2
1 hont = 1400 m^2
1 hectare = 10.000 m^2 = 2.5 acres

Knoot Family

The Knoot family owe their name to a home on the Dorpsstraat (in Renswoude) that was called De Knoot.
The name first appears in 1664 when Maria, the daughter of Peter Jansen, is born in a house called the Knootwillege (Pollard Willow). Parish church baptize records show the name De Knoot for her sisters and a brother.
Peter Jansen and his family lived in the house until 1682 and then moved to a home a little further down the Dorpsstraat. From then on his name is Peter Jansen Knoot. His children also use that last name.
When his son Dirk and daughter Judith move into the house next door (separated by a fair size of land) they name it De Nieuwe Knoot (The New Pollard).
The Knoot family name developed in an unusual way. Hendrina Jansen Knoot, a grand-daughter of Peter Jansen Knoot, married Hendrik Willemsen van Osnabrugge in 1714. Their children carry the Van Osnabrugge family name, often alternating it with Knoot. Their son Barend Hendriksen Osnabrugge had his children baptized in the Woudenberg Parish under his father's name Berend Hendriksz Knoodt. His son Jelis is the last to carry the Knoot name. The last time it appears is in 1800, when a child of Elis Knoot is buried in Scherpenzeel. Jelis Berendsen Osnabrugge is then still known in the village as Elis Knoot.

Willem Hendrikse van Os(s)enbrugge (1672-1719)

In 1719 Willem buys a large farm named De Hope in Rijswijk
The pic on the right was taken in c. 1900.
We visited the farm in May 2012. There are no van Osnabrugges living there now. It is presently owned by an equestrian school. It has several stables and horses.

I made a slidehow of the farm. Click pic to view

Billion dollar Legacy of the Brederode family.

During the Protestant Reformation in the 16th Century the Van Brederode family (who remained Catholic) left Holland and their properties were confiscated by the government. Their descendants sued the government, but when the decision came in their favor the family line had died out (the last known descendant lived in the 17th century). The debt to the unknown heirs is still on the Netherlands State Budget ("Nederlandse staatsbegroting"). Currently the Dutch monarch is entitled to the interest of the capital (Queen Wilhelmina was the first to be entitled to this money). In 1967 the sum was said to be around 3.000 million Dutch guilders.

---

Brederode castle

Click on pic for a slideshow

Castle Brederode, also called the Ru ns of Brederode, is located near the town of Santpoort (Haarlem). The castle was founded in the second half of the 13th century by William I van Brederode (1215 1285). William was a descendant of the lords van Teylingen, who were related to the counts of Holland. The castle formed part of the high lordship Brederode, which had been given in loan in the 13th century to the lords of Brederode by the count of Holland.

The name Brederode is a reference to a wooded area called Brede Roede (literally: broad wood), that was cleared and on which the castle was built. The castle was at first not more than a tower, but around 1300 Dirk II van Brederode had the tower pulled down and replaced with a proper castle.

During the Hook and Cod wars, the Brederode family stayed loyal to Margaret of Bavaria. In 1351 the castle was besieged by Gijsbrecht van Nijenrode (a cousin), who supported the opposing Cod faction. After the surrender of the castle, it was so badly damaged that it was demolished.

After the reconciliation of the Brederode family and the counts of Holland in 1354, the castle was rebuilt. It was no longer used as living space, but it did remain a base of strategic importance for the Hook faction, led by William van Brederode.

When the Hook faction besieged Haarlem in 1426, the Cod faction destroyed the southern part of the castle. The Brederode family was forbidden to repair or enforce the castle, leaving it in a damaged state. Eventually in 1464 the north part of the castle was allowed to be restored. During the Rise of the Cheese and Bread people in 1492, the castle was plundered by German soldiers. Since then it was no longer inhabited. In 1568 it fell to the States of Holland. During the forming of the Batavian Republic, the property was nationalized. Ever since, the ruins have been property of the State.

Dutch Family Names

Until the 17th and 18th century, last names were not common in the Netherlands, except for nobility who wanted to record who actually belonged to their pedigree.
Since a first name alone was often not enough to distinguish one Peter or Mary from the next one, an additional name was often added. The manner of choosing that second name differed from region to region. Many applied a patronym based on the first name of the father. Mark, the son of Willem became Mark Willem's son, or commonly pronounced and written Mark Willems or Willemsz (the z stands for zoon; the Dutch word for son), Willemse or Willemsen.
In other regions toponyms were used i.e. the name of the farm or home -Oldenhuis (Old Home), Nijenhuis (New Home)- the color of a person's hair (de Rooij= the Red), or their professions or trade (Peter de Bakker=the Baker). If a new person moved into a village, his second name might reflect the name of his previous town or area (Jan van Utrecht= Jan from (or of) Utrecht; Louis van den Berg=Louis from the Mountain).
That is why there are so many Dutch last names starting with de or van or van de and van der.
Most common people were not well educated and names were mostly written phonetically. In our own family the children of Hendrick Berends all take, in c. 1700, the same last name, but it is recorded differently for each of the sons i.e. van Osenbruggen, van Osnabrugge and van Ossenbrugge. Their grandmother's name was recorded as Maeyken Dercks, Maayke Dirckx Kurf, Maeyke Dercks Kurff and Maeyke Dirks Keurf.

A hundred years later, Napoleon invaded Holland and decreed in 1811, that all Dutch citizens needed to be registered with a proper last name. A few people did not take this new law seriously and thought that it might pass soon and therefore took silly names like Naaktgeboren (Born Naked) or Poepjes (Poopies).
A civil registry was soon implemented, which required all citizens to have births, marriages and deaths recorded at the town hall, rather than at the church, which had been the custom until then.