1658- Account of the children's goods

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Interesting Anne.

Any possibility to upload this pages in a way I can increase them more? These scans are just too small to be able to read the text easyly.

If possible, I will make a transcription for you. 

Good day.

Dennis

Dear Anne, a quick summary

The document is that long, because it is an official statement by Cornelia Schoonhoven of the goods and possessions of Maria and Elisabeth Schoonhoven, daughters and heirs of Josina van Ruijven, the widow of Jacob Schoonhoven. Cornelia was administrator of these goods and possessions on behalf of Maria and Elisabeth. It refers to both the inventory deposited at the Orphans' Chamber on 16 October 1653 and the related expenses made since then. 

On the second page it is mentioned that the account only concerns the two-fifth of the inheritance bequeathed to Maria and Elisabeth, as the other three-fifth belonged to Adriaen, Cornelia, and Fredrick Schoonhoven.

From the third page on, a copy of the account was inserted (probably also covering most of the other 83 pages...); this can be deducted from the vertical line in front of the text, which indicates this text has been copied integrally from another source. This other source may have been the inventory of 16 October 1653, or the deposition made by Cornelia and intended for the magistrates of the Orphans' Chamber (weesmeesteren). This deposition was handed over by Cornelia in the presence of the legal guardians Pieter Wolpherts vanden Bergh and Mr. Dirck van Buren, as well of Elijsabet van Schoonhoven, who approved of the deposition. The deposition was handed over on 5 July 1658 by notary Cornelis Georgin on behalf of Cornelia.

Hello Dennis

Sorry I didn't see your first message, but thanks for the summary of the documents.

So is it possible to tell if Josina had died by 1658? I assume that's why Cornelia has to file the copy of goods and possessions of Maria and Elisabeth at that time? But then why was an inventory made in 1653 I wonder? 

Also this suggests to me that Cornelia is an adult,, i.e over 25 years of age in 1658, as is her brother Frederick -( Adriaen Schoonhoven I'm not aware as an offspring of Jacob and Josina,but that doesn't mean he didn't exist).  The problem with the whole family is that as they were Catholics there's no record of their births etc. in Delft reformed churches. It's only through secondary sources like these that I can roughly make out their ages.

I'm grateful as ever for your help Dennis. Very much appreciated :-)

very best wishes

Anne

p.s. do you still want me to try to send a better copy? I'm not sure I'll be able to as the documents were sent through to me from the Delft archivist using a special code. These documents are not on the open website, so the usual links don't work.

I'm very happy with what you've provided if you're happy to leave it there?

Dear Anne,

The summary was made by Rene, so the credits belongs to Rene. Anyway I appreciate that you are grateful for my or other peoples help. If possible I always want to help reading.

It is not stricktly needed to try to send a better copy. ( I think that's difficult with these. ) But with the copy in this post, it is only easy to read for me if I literally keep my face a few centimeters from my screen, and that is not very comfortable sadly.

Greets,

Dennis

O'h dear Rene

A thousand apologies :-(

I read the reply in a rush as we're getting ready to go on holiday and I didn't pay enough attention. Sorry, that's my only excuse!

Many thanks as always for your help. As you (hopefully) know I really appreciate your efforts.

warmest best wishes

Anne

Obviously Dennis I don't want to make your task anymore difficult.

As I said this particular document came via Delft archives special link to my email, with a 24hr access code so it's not possible to pass on the link. I'm also not sure if it's feasible to enlarge what I already have without distorting the image. Also I don't want to ask any more of the archivists in Delft. They are already going above and beyond what they formally should do I think, but they're very kind and seem to appreciate the research I'm doing, so do help me. 

Enjoy your evening.

All best

Anne

No problem at all, Anne :)

When a parent died and there was no will composed, the management of the inheritance of the deceased partner was the responsibility of the local authorities, in cities by the local Orphans' Chamber. Please note that back then a child was also called an orphan, when only one of the parents had died and there still was a surviving parent alive. Although the surviving parent usually had the usufruct of the goods and assets of the deceased parent, children were entitled to their part of the inheritance as prescribed by inheritance legislation (legitieme portie or kindsdeel). 

The inventory in that case was composed to determine the worth of the inheritance for each child. To take good care of the possessions and financial means, the Orphans' Chamber could appoint either a 'professional' administrator or a family member to take care of the administration until the children would have reached the age of 25, or, in case this came earlier, until a child marriage day.

The inventory deposited in 1653 therefore probably was composed shortly after the death of the mother, Josina van Ruyven: Maria and Elisabeth are in the 1658 document mentioned as her heirs, while Josina is mentioned as being the widow of Jacob Schoonhoven.

Although it is not mentioned explicitly, it is probable that:

- Cornelia was already 25 (or married before that age) in 1653, as she needed to be an adult (from a legal point of view) to act as administrator

- Maria and Elisabeth were minors until 1658 from a legal point of view. As the 1658 source states the administration of both sisters' possessions by Cornelia ended then, both will have become adults by then, either by reaching the age of 25 or by marriage

- both brothers (Frederick and Adriaen) as well as Cornelia herself already had received their part of the inheritance, indicating that a) all three of them already were legally adults in 1658 and b) the surviving parent (Josina van Ruyven) already was deceased in 1658

- I think it is safe to assume Josina van Ruyven has died in 1653, more specifically (shortly) before 16 October 1653.

- although the ages of the children are not mentioned, it was costumary to use one of these two systems when mentioning the names:

a) by sex (males first, females second) and per sex by age, the oldest one per sex mentioned first

b) only by age, starting with the oldest

In this case, I think you can assume the following order:

Oldest: Frederick, then: Cornelia, Adriaen, Maria, and Elisabeth

An additional way to check this assumption is the order of naming children after their grandparents: the usual order was (but exceptions were made!):

1st son : named after grandfather from fathers' side

1st daughter: named after grandmother from fathers' side

2nd son : named after grandfather from mothers' side

2nd daughter : named after grandmother from mothers' side

Dear Rene

I'm back from holidays and can now study your reply in more depth.

Thanks for the great explanation about naming patterns. The Irish have something similar!

I've now found Adriaen Schoonhoven, and I think he was the eldest. He's named after Jacob Schoonhoven's father, Adriaen. Frederick was named after Josina's father Frederick van Ruyven.

The daughters are more tricky. I agree Cornelia is the eldest daughter. Her maternal grandmother was Cornelia de Vriese, but her paternal grandmother's name is not known- so I guess it could be coincidence that both grandmother's were called Cornelia?

Maria was possibly named after one of Josina's sisters or maybe named after her paternal grandmother- the one with no name?

Elisabeth was again named after one of Joanna's sisters, but also her great grandmother. It was Elisabeth van Ruyven snr who was present at the premarriage contract of Josina when she married Jacob Schoonhoven in 1635.

I agree that it's probable that Josina died in 1653.  Adriaen Schoonhoven died in 1658 so maybe that's why Cornelia was in charge of sorting out her sister's inheritance.

Anyway many thanks again as always.

very best wishes

Anne