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Douwe's migration

Sylvia Binch-Talma wrote:

"The records for Buitenpost (Douwe's birthplace) only go back till 1645 unfortunately, therefore I have not been able to find Douwe's parents (yet). At some point he moved to Breukelen, province of Utrecht,"

Looking at Google Maps, this looks to be quite a migration for what I think of 17th century travel. Can you shed any light on what would have motivated moving from Buitenpost to Harlingen, then to Breukelen? What were the economics like at the time? Harlingen, I assume, would have been a seaport at the time. I'd bet there were jobs to be found there. Because Buitenpost was inland, was it a farming village? Does a trip to Breukelen get Douwe closer to the seaports that would have left for the New World?

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Permalink Reply by Sylvia Binch-Talma on July 19, 2009 at 9:49am

Any thoughts on why Douwe emigrated from The Netherlands to the New World can only be speculation of course.

Early 1600s, Buitenpost was a small, poor, farming village, situated in the municipality of Achtkarspelen, close to the border of the province of Groningen. A good map of the area of around 1720 can be found on the website of Tresoar, The Frisian Historical and Literary Centre, at
http://images.tresoar.nl/kaarten/index.php?doc=atlassen/3225%20G%20... .

In an article called "Excerpts from our family roots, branches & twigs" by Marion Wood Otis, 1973, published in the Greater Tallman Family Newsletter of 1 December 1993, page 4, Marion states that Douwe arrived in New Netherland "carrying a pod augur, indicating that he was a carpenter". I can imagine that, in looking for jobs as a carpenter, Douwe could end up in the town of Harlingen. Harlingen was an important seaport at the time, so there would be plenty of work building ships.
However, Douwe can't have stayed in Harlingen for long, if at all, because for him to marry Dirckje in Breukelen (near Utrecht) in 1649, he must have lived in that area for a few years already.
He must have seen the big ships leave for all these different destinations and decided to try his luck somewhere else. First port of call would have been Amsterdam.
At the time of his marriage, Douwe was 24 years old. I don't think he ever lived in Breukelen; he only got married there because Dirckje came from that town. Their marriage intention states that, at the time of their marriage, both (!) Douwe and Dirckje lived in the Boomstraat in Amsterdam.
Also, four of their children were baptized in Amsterdam: daughter Dirckje in 1650 in the Nieuwe Kerk, Annetjen in 1654 in the Nieuwe zijdskapel, Harmanes in 1656 in the Noorderkerk and Theunis in 1658 also in the Noorderkerk.

I wonder as well, whether Douwe came to Amsterdam on his own. The marriage intention (again) states that Douwe was assisted by his godmother Annetie Tjeers. Surely in those days, his godmother wouldn't come all the way from Buitenpost (or somewhere in that area) to attend the marriage of her godson ? It is more likely, that she was already living in the area, which makes me think that perhaps Douwe didn't come to Amsterdam on his own as a young man, but maybe came with his parents as a boy. I think this needs further research.

Douwe's migration

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