1638- Orphan chamber, Delft

For additional info, see below

Hendrick Hendricxzen Verhaer LXVI

Opten 3en december 1638 compareerde voor
weesmeesteren Hendrick Kittesteyn ende vertoonde
van wegen Josyntge Aelbrechts weduwe van
Hendrick Henricxzen Verhaer seecker testa-
ment bijde voornoemde Josyntge ende haren zaliger man
opten 26en september 1624 voor Willem de
Langue notaris ende getuygen gepasseert ende
bij hem metter doot geconfirmeert, bij t'welcke
bevonden is de weescamer uytgesloten te wesen.
Actum voor alle drie de weesmeesteren

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Hendrick Hendricxzen Verhaer 66

On the 3rd of December 1638 appeared before
the governors of the Orphans' Chamber Hendrick Kittesteyn and he showed
on behalf of Josyntge Aelbrechts, the widow of
Hendrick Henricxzen Verhaer a certain will
drawn up by the aforementioned Josyntge and her late husband,
which will was passed on the 26th of September 1624 before notary Willem de
Langue and witnesses and to be
confirmed [=put into effect] by his [= Hendrick Hendricxzen Verhaer's] death, in which will it was
found that the Orphans' Chamber should be excluded.
Done before all three governors of the Orphans' Chamber.

Hi Anne,

This is an example of the Orphans' Chamber being excluded by will from meddling with the inheritance for and legal guardianship over children. If a married couple had children and one of both parents died, all children were entitled to their childs' part of the inheritance of the deceased parents. The surviving parent then needed to make arrangements for the children who were offspring of their marriage. The surviving parent needed to make sure that the children would receive their childs' part of the inheritance once these children would come of age (children alread come fo age were immediately entitled to their part of the inheritance, but in many cases allowed the surviving parents to make use of their part (granting the surviving parent the usufructus of the inheritance) and to assure legal guardians were appointed for in case the surviving oparent would also die before children would have come of age. There were several ways:
1. not arranging anything: in that case the (governors of) the local Orphans' Chamber would take action (as the city's government formally acted as 'supreme guardian' over orphans; please note that back then one was also called an orphan when onl one of both parents had died)
2. making an arrangement with the Orphans' Chamber, usually existing of a deposit in cash or valuables and naming the intended legal guardians
3. excluding the Orphans' Chamber: in that case, the surviving parent (or her representative, as women were not entitled to make formal arrangements back then) had to prove that measures were taken to guarantee the inheritance to and assure legal guardianship over those children whon had not come of age yet; usually this was done by will or another agreement certified by a notary and witnesses present; the document then would explicitly state that the (governors of) the Orphans' Chamber in the town the surviving parent would die in had to be excluded from making any arrangements for the inheritance and/or the guardianship.
Option 3 often was used when the parents had considerable assets and would like to prevent any third external party being involved...
 

Superb Rene- as always :-)

Thank you so much for the very full explanation of how the Orphan Chamber worked.

This system of inheritance to all the children, including the girls I assume meant that when women married they could possibly bring quite a large inheritance with them? I guess that's why there were pre-marriage contracts?

Would Hendrick Kittesteyn be Josyntge's lawyer or perhaps a friend/relative?

warmest best wishes

Anne

I think I've found out the relationship between Hendrick Kittensteyn  and Josyntge's. He was her brother in law. He married Petronella Aelbrechts, who I'm guessing was Josyntge's sister in 1637 (his 3rd wife).

Hi Anne,

As there is no special desciption of Hendrick Kittesteyn in this text, I think it is safe to assume he was closely connected to Josyntge, either as close friend or relative (by blood or by marriage). In case he acted as professional relative (lawyer or notary), I would expect that would be mentioned, either as occupation or as title (magister), however I cannot exclude that. You may consider looking at other entries in the same source, if he is mentioned quite often it is more likely he acted out of his profession.

Despite the fact that women weren't allowed to perform formal transactions on their own (until 1956 (!!) married women in the Netherlands were not even allowed to perform some transactions like opening a bank account or arranging an insurance, they required the assistance or written permission from their husband...), they were entitled to amass wealth via inheritances or earnings. A famous story on this issue is the case of Neeltje Pater, wife and later widow of the merchant Cornelis Schoon, living in the village of Waterland, just north of Amsterdam. She had inherited large sums from her parents and also from her late husband. When she died herself in 1789, aged 59, part of her assets, worth about 4.1 million guilders back then(!; the average annual wage back then was between 175 and 250 guilders per year), she had no children and no direct heirs. On the day she died, she had a statement written down with some instructions how to deal with her inheritance . Partly this was clear: a part of her inheritance was bequeathed to the poor of her home village of Waterland via a special fund, that was continued until the third quarter of the 20th century, the remaining amount then was transferred to the local Social Services Department. The other part of the inheritance kept people busy until deep in the 20th century. In her last will she instructed the remainder of the inheritance should be bequeathed to 'the heirs who would be found to be her heirs'. Because of this vague formula and the fact she had no close relatives at all, it took local authorities about a year to determine who would be entitled to her inheritance, eventually being two distant relatives (7th and 8th-grade kinship). This also led to rumours that there were still some parts of the inheritance kept outside of the inheritance; until way in the 20th century people were claiming to be heirs to Neeltje Pater and entitled to (part of) her in coheritance. In the 1980's research finally concluded there was nothing left to inherit.

The amount of 4.1 million in 1789 would be worth a manyfold now; she might have been a billionaire (miljardair) today. To get an impression: the inheritance amount was based on an inventory of 57(!) pages, mentioning English bank bonds, certificates of participation in the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC), money in the bank worth 600,000 guilders, a stable with a luxurious sled, and three houses in the village of in Broek in Waterland, all filled with furniture, porcelain, linen ware, jewelry, and paintings.

Source: https://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/Pater

Hi Rene

I’ve done as you suggested. It seems Hendrick Kittensteyn was recorded as a vinegar maker in 1621, then a brewer/wine merchant in 1646.
He had interests (although I’m not sure he lived there) at No.1 Kornmarkt at the brewery “Inde Weerelt’.
So I think we can assume my guess was right that he was the (new) brother in law of Josyntge.

It also seems that Josyntge had interesting parents. Her father Aelbrecht Hendricxz was a printer in Delft and at one time the mayor.

What a story about Neeltje Pater! I’d love to know what sort of ‘porcelain’ she had in her houses-maybe Delftware?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I really enjoyed the story :-)

Posted on behalf of  Anne