Sunday, October 23, 2011

Birthday Bio - Wytse Jacobs (1712 - ca1770)

Well, not exactly a birthday bio, more like a baptism day bio. But when you get this far back there is usually no record of birth, only a baptism. It's pretty much the closest thing you can get to a birthday. So 299 years ago, on 23 October 1712, my 7 Great Grandpa Wytse Jacobs was baptized in Paesens, Oostdongeradeel, Friesland, the Netherlands. Here is the index record for his baptism off of Tresoar.nl:

Paessens_ModdergatOostdongeradeel, doopjaar 1712
Paesens, Doop Herv. gem. 1712-1811
DTB: 543
Dopeling: Wijtse
Gedoopt op 23 oktober 1712 in Paesens
Zoon van Jacob Jans en niet genoemde moeder

Opm.: Jacob," ontvanger" van Paesens.

Gestandaardiseerde namen (voornaam en patroniem):
Dopeling: WIETSE
Vader : JAKOB JANS


He was married to Sieuke Mintjes on 26 April 1734 in the same town he was born in of Paesens. Still a small town today, it was sure to be a pretty small town 300 years ago. The picture above was taken in 2000, and is off of Tresoar's Flickr page.

As I was reviewing Wyste and Sieuke's children, I discovered another one that was baptized that I hadn't seen before. So that brings their total children to at least 8.
1. Jacob Wytses b: bef 23 Jan 1735 in Paesens
2. Jacob Wytses b: bef 13 Jul 1738 in Engwierum
3. Mintje Wytses b: bef 2 Feb 1742 in Engwierum
4. Baukjen Wytses b: bef 20 Sep 1744 in Engwierum
5. Jelle Wytses b: bef 15 Dec 1748 in Engwierum
6. Geertje Wytses b: bef 25 Apr 1751 in Engwierum
7. Trijntje Wytses b: bef 1 Sep 1754 in Engwierum
8. Hans Wytses b: bef 1 Sep 1754 in Engwierum

It appears that Wytse spent the rest of his life farming in Engwierum, which is in the south side of the same municipality of Oostdongeradeel.

OostDongeradeel

There is not much other information on Wytse that I have been able to find online. There may be a few other mentions of him in documents that are in the archives there in the Netherlands. But there is a mention of him in the quotisatie of 1749, which gave an assessment of the wealth of people for tax purposes. Basically this says that in 1749 Wytse lived in Enwierum, was a farmer (boer), had 4 adults and 4 kids living at his house. I'm not quite sure what the other categories with the numbers mean.

Quotisatiekohieren 1749
Wytse Jacobs, Oostdongeradeel
           Plaats: Engwierum
  Omschrijving: boer
    Gezin volw: 4 en kind: 4
        Aanslag: 49-12-0
     Verhoging: 8
     Vermogen:
             Bron: Oostdongeradeel, fol. 24

Gestandaardiseerde naam: WIETSE JAKOBS


Some of his children later used the family name of Holwerda. I don't know when they started to use that name, but it would have been at least by 1811 when the Netherlands required everyone to register a family name. I had thought that Wytse's parents were Jacob Jans and Grietje Jacobs Bontekoe, however according to this website: Stamboom van de familie Jacob HOLWERDA, he descends from Jacob Jans and Geertje Hanses. That website says that Jacob was born in Holwerd, which would totally fit with the last name Holwerda. But as I was verifying his info and mine, there seem to be some holes. I'll have to do some more research.

I haven't found a record of Wytse's death or burial, but according to Albert van het Hof, Wyste died in Engwierum in 1770, at the age of 57 or 58. On his page he doesn't source where he found Wytse's death.

For more info on Wytse's descendants and ascendants, check out my stuff on World Connect on Rootsweb.com.

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