LL-L "History" 2009.08.22 (03) [EN]

Sat Aug 22 22:13:34 UTC 2009

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L O W L A N D S - L - 22 August 2009 - Volume 03
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From: Hellinckx Luc <luc.hellinckx at gmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Names"

Beste Ron,

The VOC (Dutch East India Company) kept track of all their logistics during
the 17th and 18th century, including passengers on the way to South-Africa
and Asia. This resulted in a huge database that you can now consult at:

http://vocopvarenden.nationaalarchief.nl/Search.aspx

Not all data have been processed yet, but in the 18th century, seventeen
people with surname "Hahn" have boarded their ships. Sorry if this
information has already been published on the list.

Kind greetings,

Luc Hellinckx, Halle, Belgium

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Names

Thanks, Luc. That's a terrific resource.

And you didn't count the 500 persons named Haan and the 242 persons called
Hagen, all being versions of the same name.

>From what I understand from the introduction, these are not passengers but
VOC *employees*:

   1. The essential crewmen necessary to sail the ship. Following arrival in
   Asia some of them are enlisted for inter-Asian trade routes.
   2. Craftsmen for the settlements in Asia.
   3. Soldiers.
   4. The rest, for example junior merchants, preachers, surgeons etc.

Yes, in a way they are passengers since they are not mariners, but the VOC
was not only a shipping line but essentially a colonial enterprise with
varying interests and powers, and these employees were sent overseas to run
the enormous operation. Since these are persons in the employ of this
concern, and considering the times, this explains why relatively few women
are listed.

The time period is within the 18th century: 1700-1794.

The list contains more than 655.000 employees of Dutch East India Company
(VOC) ships.

I see that a lot of people from Northern Germany took those voyages.

Sample numbers of North German places from which people came:

   - Altona (now part of Hamburg): 500+
   - Berlin: 263
   ~ Berlijn: 500+
   - Bielefeld: 1
   ~ Bieleveld: 13
   ~ Bijleveld: 474
   - Bremen: 500+
   - Brunswick (Braunschweig):
   ~ Brunswijk: 271
   - BÃ¼sum:
   ~ Busum: 5
   - Celle: 119
   - Cloppenburg: 38
   ~ Cloppenburgh: 14
   - Flensburg: 500+
   ~ Flensburgh: 307
   - GÃ¶ttingen:
   ~ Gottingen: 126
   - Greifswald:
   ~ Grijpswolt: 8
   - Hamburg: 500+
   ~ Hamborg: 55
   ~ Hamborgh: 41
   ~ Hamburgh: 500+
   - Hanover: 500+
   ~ Hannover: 238
   - Harburg (now part of Hamburg): 11
   ~ Harborg: 1
   ~ Harborgh: 1
   ~ Harburgh: 2
   - Husum: 18
   - Kiel: 277
   ~ Kijl: 1
   - Lauenburg: 17
   ~ Lauenburgh: 8
   - Leer: 79
   - LÃ¼beck:
   ~ Lubek: 358
   ~ Lubeck: 227
   - LÃ¼neburg:
   ~ Luneburg: 27
   ~ Luneburgh: 2
   - LÃ¼tjenburg:
   ~ Lutjenburg: 2
   - Magdeburg: 123
   ~ Magdeburgh: 20
   - OsnabrÃ¼ck: 8
   ~ Ossenbrugge: 3
   - Paderborn: 226
   - Rostock: 58
   ~ Rostok: 500+
   - Rugia (RÃ¼gen):
   ~ Rugen: 8
   - Schwerin:
   ~ Swerin: 60
   - Soltau: 2
   - Stade: 237
   - Stralsund: 6
   ~ Straalsund: 31
   ~ Straalzung: 3
   - Winsen: 30
   ~ Winzen: 2
   - Wismar: 236
   ~ Wismer: 121
   - Verden: 10

("500+" can mean *any* number above 500 and asks for search refinement.)

There were persons from Britain and Ireland as well; e.g.

   - Bristol: 25
   - Dublin: 63
   - Edinburgh: 1
   ~ Edinburg: 2
   - Hull: 4
   - London:
   ~ Londen: 174

As you can see, there was no spelling standard and place names tended to be
written hollandized. The same went for personal names.

For instance, Jan Elis of Edinburgh must have been John Ellis, similarly
Frans Michielsz (Glasgow) = *Francis Michaels, Willem Kerbij (Bristol) =
*William Kerby, Johan Matthijs (Bristol) = *John Matthews, Jan Keulij
(Dublin) = *John Kelly, Franscois Maikenna = *Francis McKenna, Denijs Obrijn
(Dublin) = Dennis O'Brian; similarly Low Saxon names of Germany; e.g. Pieter
Woutersz (Hamburg) = Peter *Wolters, Gerrit Meijer (Kiel) = *Gerd (Gerhard)
Meier, David Gotlip (LÃ¼beck) = *David Gottlieb (German, perhaps Jewish),
Pieter Wagenaar (LÃ¼beck) = *Peter Wagner, Jan Mulder (Brunswick) = *Jan
(Johannes) MÃ¶ller.

As for my mother's maiden name, there were 21 persons called Brookman (~
Brookmann) and one called Braukman. They came from both the Netherlands and
Northern Germany.

32 persons, mostly from Northern Germany, are called Hins (~ Hinz).

Thanks and regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

•

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