Nijmegen

Nijmegen is some 16 miles west of Cleves. In old documents it is sometimes also spelled Nymwegen or Nimwegen.

The oldest documents listing Nijmegen and a v. O. is in 1242 when the Count of Cleves gives Cleves city rights and exempts its merchants from paying toll at Huissen and Nijmegen. Daniel de Ossenbroich is mentioned as one of the fourteen noblemen.

In 1473 in a "Leenboek van Gelderland".
Gerit van Ossenbroeck is feoffed with a third of the Tithes of Ewyck and the Boeningen coarse and small.
Tithes were taxes. Ten % of the harvest was to be paid to the Lord of the manor. Great were arable crops like wheat and small were vegetables.
Ewijk and Beuningen are small towns, some 6 miles west of Nijmegen.

After Gerrit's death, his son Herman inherits "die Sende" in Etwick (Ewijk), near Nijmegen in 1484.
We have not (yet) been able to identify what "die Sende" was. Probably a property?

On the studiezaal.nijmegen.nl website we easily identified 25 documents by searching for Ossenbr* and Osenbr* (you must use the asterisk as a "wildcard"). Some of the earliest in Nijmegen are:

• Jacop van Ossenbrugge marrying Gertruid Kapprel van Essen in 1598.
  
• Hendrick van Osenbrugge as a witness at weddings in 1605 and 1616.
• Gerrit van Osenbrugge as a witness at the wedding of Boij Volckers van "Eijderstede" in 1605.
• Fenneke Gerrits van Osenbrugge marrying Louwijs Carroin from Bruges (West Flanders) in 1610. She lived in Nijmegen, but attestation was given to marry in Emmerich.
  Emmerich is where the v. Ossenbruchs lived. Could she be a descendant of Gerit van Ossenbroeck or Gerit van Ossenbruch? Her husband was very likely related to the famous:
  Louis Carrion (Ludovicus Carrio) (1547 - 23 June 1595), a Flemish humanist and classical scholar. He is known for his precocious edition of the Argonautica of Gaius Valerius Flaccus, from 1565/6. This was printed from a manuscript now referred to as the Codex Carrionis which was later lost.
• Louis Caron was also witness at the wedding of Swaentgen Hermans van Osenbrugge in 1613.
• Hendrick van Osenbrugge and his wife Claeske having a son Hendrick in 1611.
• Claes van Osenbrugge and his wife Griet (also Margriet) having daughters in 1611 and 1614.
  Maybe he is the same Claes who marries Metgen Peters in 1625 and has Cornelis Cuilenborch as a witness.
• Trijneken Frerix van Osenbrugh marrying Peter Moncruijff in 1622.
• Gerrit Lucas van Osenbrug marrying Grietgen Hendrix in 1628.
• Lutgert Hendricx van Osenbrughe marrying Eduard Harekan in 1634.
• Jan van Osenbrugh and Anna van der Witlage having a daughter in 1639.
• Berent Henricks van Osenbrugge and his wife Griety Vels having their son Joannes christened in Grave (8 miles S.W. of Nijmegen) in 1639.
• Jan (Johannes) van Osenbrugh and Maria van Alfen having a son named Johannes. Witness is his father Tijmen (Tijmont) Janss. van Osenbrugh in 1675 and 1677.

Conrad (van) Ossenbroeck was an intriguing person, who lived in Nijmegen in the late 1690 and early 1700s. Documents show his name in many different spellings -including Conradus Ossenbruckum (Latin) which shows that he was a learned person, from a well to do family.
He lived in Nijmegen, which is only 16 miles from Cleves. He could very well be a descendant of the v. Ossenbruch family there. He could possibly be a son of Jacobus or his brother Willem, whose father was Caspar v. Ossenbroich.

In 1703 Conrad married Sara van Enschede (Enskede), who also lived at Nijmegen, but probably came from Heesch (S.W. of Eindhoven), where their wedding took place. There were no witnesses mentioned with his family name.
He became a bookkeeper and a deacon at the Evangelical Lutheran Community Organization in Nijmegen.