1659 Church confession

I read:
Ariaantje Jans van Dijssel & haar dogter
Jannetje van Straten J.D. op 't hoekje van de Langedijk.

AJvD and her daughter

JvS unmarried woman (jonge dochter, literally: young daughter) on the corner of the Langedijk.

And regarding the age of confession: in the 17th century this was much lower than nowadays: 18 or even 15-16.On the other hand: Ariaantje Jans van Dijssel must have been a lot older, since her daughter did her confession simultaneously.

Dear Anton

Many thanks for your input.

The mystery is that Jannetje van Straten was a married women by 1659. Her mother was Ariaantje Jans married to Claes van Straten. After Claes died she remarried in 1655 Jan Hermansz van Dijssel and seems to have used his surname after her marriage. (There's a legal document in Rotterdam which names her as Ariaantje Jans van Dijssel- wife of Jans Harmensz, previous wife of Claes van Straten).

The other mystery is why these 2 women at much older ages made their confessions at all?

best wishes

Anne

What went on in the minds of these long dead persons is bound to remain an eternal mystery. On the other hand, an educated guess (or rather: guesses) can easily be made.

1) In the seventeenth century lots op people were 'in between' religions / denominations. They often attended services of the Dutch Reformed Church, which was the only officially recognized denomination, without binding themselves more thoroughly by a 'belijdenis'. This rather large group is known in dutch as 'liefhebbers', 'amateurs' in the litteral sense of the word.

2) next to the officially recognized church there were lots of other denominations, ranging from 'remonstranten', to 'doopsgezinden' (baptists) and catholics.

Your guess (in the other thread) that both women originally were catholics is therefore certainly a possibility, next to the other options mentioned above.

As to why they made the move to officially enter the Dutch Reformed Church, that remains a mystery: was the motiviation of a religious nature, or economical, political, social?

In addition to Anton's explanation: becoming an official member of the Dutch Reformed Church had its advantages, especially for men: to be appointed in governmental jobs/positions, men were required to be of Dutch Reformed conviction; men with other convictions were not eligible for those positions. As Anton already indicated: the true reasons may not be discovered in the end, as it is known that sometimes people 'converted' to the Dutch Reformed conviction mainly out of pragmatism.

Dear Anton and Rene

Thanks for further suggestions and information about why people became a member of the Dutch Reformed Church in the 17th Century.

I agree we'll never know the true reason but maybe it had something to do with Jannetgen van Straten's husband Jacob Wemmersz Hoppesteyn buying the Het Moriaanshooft pottery factory in 1658/59. There's speculation that Adriaantge Jansdr , Jacob's mother in law was part owner and she was certainly the manager of the factory from that period (having continued to run De Lamptekan factory after her husband Claes Jansz van Straten died in 1653). 

best wishes

Anne