Verduijn
The genus Verduijn (also known as van der Duyn or Duynen) is one of the oldest genera of the village Charlois, nowadays a city district of Rotterdam. But in the past it was different. Charlois already existed in 1462, the very first church of the village was built in that year. In 1632 there were only 137 houses and they called it "a handsomely built village" between a beautiful meadow and wheat fields.
The Verduijn family was an important well-born family in Charlois, directly descending from the Brederode family. They were well-to-do farmers, but were also in daily management as aldermen and in the church administration.
The first person in Charlois, whose name was spelled "Verduijn", was Wouter Cornelisz Verduijn (b. ~1495). He was an alderman of Charlois. His father's name was written as Verduyn, and his grandfather's and before that (until ~1285) as van der Duyn.
Wouter's ancestor,
Willem van der Duyn (b. ~1285) was the bailiff of Zevenhuizen (just West of Gouda). Willem's paternal great-grandfather was
Dirk van Teylingen, lord of Brederode (c. 1180-1236) and landdrost of the counts of Holland. He was the son of Willem van Teylingen.
In 1226 Dirk was appointed drost at the court of the count of Holland. He served under Floris IV of Holland and Willem I of Holland. During the absence of the count, he was the highest official in the county. For a slideshow of the Brederode castle go here and then click on the bottom-right pic.
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The Verduijn family we (Willem and Mark) are closely related to goes back to Harmen Verduijn (b. ~1680), whose decendants lived in the Nieuwkoop (North of Bodegraven) area. That area is not far away from the Verduijn family (in the Rotterdam and Gouda area) mentioned above.
It is likely that the two families were related, because of the proximity and the exact spelling of their last name. In ~1715 Harmen names his son Leendert. Could he be named after Leendert Arijensz Verduijn (b. 1677) from the Rotterdam area? The grandfather or an uncle? Many of the birth dates are guestimates and Leendert as grandfather might fit. Any help in this area is greatly appreciated.
