1653-19 Mar- Will

Hi Anne,

It is a mutual will of Nicolaes Jansz van Straeten and his wife Aryaentgen Jansdochter. The document was signed at the home of this couple, because Nicolaes was 'caught with a bodily illness and lying in bed', his wife however still in good health. The end of the will even specifies the location of the signing very detailed: 'before the sickbed of the male testator in  the front part of the house in a small sideroom'.

The will includes arrangements for the inheritance to their 3  children, the legal guardianship over their 2 children who had not yet come of age, and instructions on the administration of the inheritance. In short, after the death of either of the parents, the surviving parent:

- should pay Jannetgen Claesdochter (their daughter), wife of Jacob Mender Hoppesteyn, a sum of 300 Carolus guilders in addition to the sum of 200 Carolus guilders and the trousseau (uitzet) she received at her marriage day

- should pay Johan (also called: Jan) Claesz van Straaten (their son) and Susannetgen Claesdochter (their other daughter) each a sum of 500 guilders in addition to their trousseau on the day each of them would come  of  age (25) or at their day of marriage

The above bequeathed sums would replace the regular legal part the children would otherwise be entitled to.

The will also states that:

- the surviving parent will be obliged to raise the minor children properly and have them schooled and trained adequately

- the surviving parent will become the legal guardian of those children not yet come of age

- the surviving will be exempted from the obligation to produce and deliver a list of goods  and assets (usually required to determine the value of the inheritance and subsequently to conclude to which amount the heirs would be entitled; most likely this obligation was waived in this case because the sums mentioned above were expected to exceed the sums the heirs would otherwise  legally be entitled to)

- any third parties should be excluded from administering or meddling with the inheritance; although not  mentioned explicitly, this implied the exclusion of the Orphans' Chamber as well
 

The other page of the will I will upload in a bit.

Final page

Hi Rene

Many thanks for the first instalment of the Will of Nicholas Jansz van Straeten.

I'm a bit puzzled why Nicholas's children are called 'Clausdr' and 'Clausz' if their father was Nicholas?

Jannetgen is the right women I'm following as she was married to Jacob Hoppesteyn and she ran the 'Moorhead' pottery after her husband's death.

Perhaps the 2nd page of the Will will make things clearer!

warmest best wishes

Anne

Hi Anne,

In Dutch, Claes / Claas / Klaas is short for Nicolaes (and its different spellings).

The summary provided also includes the content of the second and the third (final) page, I added them just for other paleographers to check ;)

Ah that explains it!

Many thanks as always Rene.

best wishes

Anne