Age-at-marriage puzzle: When was Engeltje Mans born?

Question

The editor's note in the passage marked "Page 280" on page 69 of Collections of the New York Historical Society, Vol. 25 (1892), says Engeltje Mans was b 1624. Where did the editor get that birth year, i.e., is it correct? Her marriage banns were recorded 18 Dec 1639 and she baptized a child on 16 Dec 1640, both in New Amsterdam. I had thought Reformed Church policy required women to be at least age 18 unless they were pregnant to marry. But if she was b 1624, she would have been about 15 at marriage, and there was nearly a year between her banns and the baptism, which suggests she wasn't pregnant when married. Were there early exceptions or is there another explanation that can reconcile those seemingly disparate facts?

Chris

Comments

The link I embedded in my question evidently doesn't work properly unless the user is logged in to FamilySearch. I'm new here and don't see how to post a screen-grabbed image--if someone can do that or advise me on how to, I'd appreciate the help!

---

It is very difficult to create followable links to pages in books on FamilySearch. Fortunately, there are other online publishers that allow for stable links to pages. The profile of Engeltje Jans uses an archive.org page link to https://archive.org/details/collectionsofnew25newy/page/69/mode/2up

Answer 1

That editor's note is by Mr. William S. Pelletreau, who must have been immersed in ephemeral information of New Netherland when he was compiling those volumes of wills. I assume he had a basis for that assertion, but unfortunately modern notions about source citations had not been adopted in his era. Maybe there is a court record in which Engeltje testified to her age.

As for the age at marriage: Do not assume that the standard rules of the Dutch church were efficiently enforced in New Amsterdam in 1639. This was a very new mercantile settlement at the frontier of European civilization, not an established city of Dutch burghers. Women of marriageable age seem to have been a scarce commodity, and there were other marriages of girls who were age 15 -- or younger.