Flakkee & Zeeland
Zeeland
The first van O-s we have been able to identify in Zeeland are:
- in 1636 Heijndrick Janssen van Osenbrugge was a witness at the christening of Grietien Oldenburgh in fort St. Anna.
- in 1648 (widower) Gerrit Janss van Osenbrug marries Willemintjen Cornelis in Hulst and in 1653 he marries Lijsbeth Heindriksx. We do not know where he came from.
Almost 150 years later, on 26 July 1798, The Dordrechtsche Courant announces the wedding of Charles Jansen Ritter and Loise Conradine Philippine van Ossenbroech in Middelburg. She was born in Bedburg-Hau (next to the Ossenbruch castle) in 1773 and a descendant of the Ossenbruch zu Wiesche branch. She raised her children in Middelburg.
Her brother Carl August Johan von Ossenbruch probably visited her shortly after her wedding, because a few years later he is married to Adriana Henrietta de Jonge and their daughter is born in Delft in 1803. Unfortunately this did not last long, because two years later he is back in the Bedburg-Hau area and married to Eva Catharina Kielman.
Breda area
Although technically this area is not Zeeland, it is close enough for our listing purpose.
The first van O. we have identified is Jacobus Jan Jacobs Ossenbrock, who died in 1641 and was buried in Rijsbergen, near Breda. His daughter Maria Jacob Jansen Ossenbrock died there in 1656.
Goeree-Overflakkee
A very large group of van O-s develop form Dirksland in the mid 1700s to all the neighboring towns on the island. It started in 1764 with Matthijs van Oostenbrugge, from Ochten in de Betuwe, marrying a girl from Dirksland and becoming the elders of over 130 van Oostenbrugges. View their descendants chart here.
Matthijs was the son of an interesting family. His great great grandfather (Matthijs van Osenbrugge) was the captain of Willem van Nassau's army. In 1672 he gained notoriety in the bloody battle at Lobith against the army of Louis XIV.
He signed his letters with a seal showing a tree on the shield and a rose as crest. Click images on the right to enlarge and view his actual stamped seal and a clearer worked-out graphic.
All the van Oostenbruggens descending from Dirksland may carry his coat of arms. Read more about him under the "1600-present, Towns, Arnhem" tab.
