Advice before editing this pre-1700 van Harlingen profile?

Question

I just adopted this prof ile. I have edited this question which was about spouse Stryker -293 now that I realize my mistake.  I am still weeding through sources. I believe this profile should be managed by New Netherlands Settlers Project, along with son, Van Harlingen -5.

Comments

I think you had a handle on it, why must they use the same names?! Crazy making!  great profiles, need to add those family members - definitely qualify to be in the NNS project- but you can go ahead and add the parents and children indicated by the sources - the son would be a New Netherland descendant

Answer 1

Thanks for working on this profile, Laurie. I've added it into the New Netherland project.

This man's life story is unusual. It's not common for people born in the Netherlands in 1684 (10 years after the end of the Dutch role in New Netherland governance) to have emigrated to the former New Netherland area. He seems to have come from a wealthy Dutch family. Did his family have landowning or financial interests in New Netherland? I'd like him to have a biography!

Comments

Was he a clergyman, like his son?

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I am sorry, have found much about son, but not much about father. Probably much more on Ancestry, to which I do not subscribe. One source is 826 page Manual of the Reformed Church, but I haven't finished looking through for reference to him. Maybe someone on Ancestry could find more? Should the son also be managed by New Netherland Project?

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@Ellen

I don't think so. There is a 1709 notary deed in Utrecht (the Netherlands) assigning procuration to Johannes Martinus van Harlingen, merchant, resident in Amsterdam) to handle the financial affairs of his mother, Johanna de Cerff, widow of Ernestus van Harlingen who was reverend in Westbroeck.

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Thanks, Jan. That deed makes a significant addition to his biography.

I suggested that he might be a clergyman because (1) his son studied for the clergy, (2) clergymen are a category of Dutch men who immigrated to the former New Netherland area after it stopped being a Dutch colony, and (3) clergymen typically came from well-to-do families (and their families typically used family surnames). If I had realized that his father was a clergyman, that would have been additional evidence.

I'm still wondering what led to his emigration!

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Maybe related in some way:

• Baptism Nieuw Amsterdam, 1682-03-03, Abraham, son of Jan Janszen van Harlingen and Jannetie François.
• Baptism Nieuw Amsterdam, 1682-09-27, witness Joost van Harlingen

So there were "Harlingens" in New Netherland in 1682 already.

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Of course the fact that Harlingen is a toponymic complicates things further. Like this post suggests origin in that town.