MARGETTS

The following notes are an extended version of my article “The Amsterdam years of Joseph Margetts, father-in-law of Adriaen Hegeman of New Netherland,” published in New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 130 (1999):174-80, with a correction at 131 (2000): 297, available online [PDF], and revised here by the kind permission of the copyright-holder, the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. I should like to repeat here the thanks given therein to Harry Macy, Jr., and Henry B. Hoff for their valuable suggestions, and to Dorothy A. Koenig, editor of New Netherland Connections, for reading various drafts of the material and providing valuable commentary and additional documents.

Since the article was originally published, the appearance online of the index to all Amsterdam baptisms, 1564-1811, which is now searchable by the names of the mothers, has been a huge boon, enabling us to extend our account by a generation.^[1] Please note, however, that we have not yet checked the original records for the baptisms in the third generation of our account, which could contain valuable clues in the sponsorships.

Joseph Margetts is best known as the father of Catharina Margetts, wife of Adriaen Hegeman of Flatbush. It is now over a century since proof of this connection first appeared in print, in the form of a notarial record made in New Netherland:

To-day, the 28^th of February 1664, appeared before me, Walewyn van der Veen, Notary Public …, the Worshipful Adriaen Heegeman, Schout of the Villages of Amesfort [Flatlands], Breukelen, Midewout [Flatbush] and Uytrecht on Long Island in this Province, who declared that as husband and guardian of Cathariana [sic] Margits he constitutes and empowers … as his attorney the worthy Sieur Joseph Margits, his father-in-law, living at Amsterdam, Holland, to demand and receive … from the Lords Directors of the Hon^ble East India Company, Department of Amsterdam, such moneys, as are due to his said wife from the estate of her deceased brother Joseph Margits, who died in East India, according to his testament and other vouchers….^[2]

This document has been cited many times, perhaps first by William A. Eardeley, whose 1918 account of Adriaen Hegeman contains what is likely the first mention of Joseph Margetts in a compiled genealogy.^[3] Nothing further in this direction seems to have been found until 1963, when Rosalie Fellows Bailey, in a little-known paper, drew on manuscript collections of John J. DeMott to reveal that “Joseph Margits in 1646 registered in Amsterdam’s poorter boeck as a diamond cutter, from London.”^[4] Apparently unaware of this work, a number of writers on the origins of the Hegeman family have rediscovered the same information.^[5]

In 1997 we began to seek out further traces of Joseph Margetts at Amsterdam, taking advantage of records now available on microfilm. Discussion of the results with Dorothy A. Koenig, a fellow Hegeman descendant, elicited the information that she was engaged in similar research, and had progressed further backward into Joseph Margetts’ years at Utrecht. We hope before too long to see her discoveries in print, and have endeavored not to encroach on the unpublished investigations she has so generously shared with us, except when they are essential to an understanding of the Amsterdam records.

The progenitor of this family, who passed his entire adult life in the Netherlands, was nevertheless of English origin. Although he is called “from London” in the record of his second marriage, searches of the International Genealogical Index (IGI) and of Boyd’s Marriage Index, which together cover a high percentage of the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century population of London, revealed several families named Margetts there at that time but failed to provide any candidate for our Joseph Margetts.

A possibly more relevant clue to his origin comes from a collateral source: a slightly younger man of the same surname whose movements exactly parallel his, “Robert Margetts” (the reading in the signature) “from Narumtesier,” registered at Amsterdam on 2 July 1622, at the age of 23 years, his intention to marry “Marÿa Geloffer^[6] from London in England, aged 23 years, without parents, accompanied by Styntin Gelopfer her … [illegible].”^[7] This couple had only recently been at Utrecht, where, in the Dutch Reformed Church, banns were recorded a few days earlier, on 30 June 1622, for “Robert Margits, of Naranthisier in England, and Maria Geelofsen, also from England, both living in Amsterdam.”^[8] As to the place of his birth, it is hard to imagine what could be meant other than Northamptonshire. Unfortunately that county has received little attention from the LDS Controlled Extraction Program, and there are no Margetts entries therefrom in the IGI or in the Vital Records Index: British Isles CD-ROM. Preliminary investigation of seventeenth-century probate records does however show a number of persons of this name at Towcester, a clue to which we plan to devote further study. But we have failed thus far to establish any definite English origin for Joseph Margetts, nor can we suggest a motive for his removal to Amsterdam beyond the obvious fact that in the early sixteenth century it was a major center of diamond-cutting.

Signatures of three of Joseph Margetts’ daughters and their husbands,
from marriage intentions:
Johannes Sander & Elisabeth Margetts
Pieter Pietersen & Machteltje Margetts
Adriaen Hegeman & Catharina Margetts
(click for larger image)

Joseph Margetts, of Utrecht and Amsterdam, diamond-cutter, born ca. 1593, presumably in England, died aged 82 years, shortly before 27 May 1675, when he was buried in the yard of the Noorderkerk (North Church), Amsterdam.^[9] He married (1) before 1614, presumably at or near Utrecht, Anna van Weerdenburch,^[10] who died 1630-35, presumably at Amsterdam although we have found no burial record for her. He married (2) by Amsterdam marriage intention dated 31 March 1635,^[11] Geertruijt Jacobs van Drielenburch,^[12] “from Dort” (i.e. Dordrecht), living 15 January 1651, widow of Hendrik Vermarten. She may have been the Geertuij van Drillenburg, buried 27 June 1663 from the Zuider Kerk,^[13] or the Geertruijd Drielenburgh buried 22 August 1680 from the Nieuwe Zijds Kapel.^[14]
    Joseph Margetts was evidently living in Utrecht in 1614-22, when his first five children were born; the records of the English Reformed Church there do not survive before 1632, which probably explains our failure to find baptismal records for them. He took his family to Amsterdam in 1621 or in the first half of 1622, and the first mention we find of him there is in the consistory minutes of the English Reformed Church on the Begijnhof.^[15] His name appears in a list, dated 17 August 1622, of “persons who brought witnesses of their good conversation and desired to be received members of the church” as “Joseph Margates, factour, dwelling by the Lily Sluse; [with] testimony fro[m] the church of Utrecht.”^[16] From this first appearance in 1622 his name occurs in all the membership lists until 1674, in which it was afterward stricken out and the word “obyt” written beside it; in these lists his surname is written Margett, Marget, or Margets with about equal frequency.^[17]
    Although ostensibly offering only an English-language version of Calvinist services, this congregation in fact maintained an unusually strict rule and generally recruited its pastors from among the exiled English Puritan ministers who were always in plentiful supply.^[18] One consequence of its punctiliousness was the keeping of a register of infractions of regulations and of absences from communion; these records make for wearisome reading but a fairly extensive sampling of them failed to locate further references to Joseph Margetts.^[19] Nor was mention found here or elsewhere in the records of his wives or children, who were apparently never members; none of his four children born at Amsterdam were even baptized there. Although the church on the Begijnhof had a burial ground, Joseph Margetts did not buy a plot there, perhaps because the protocols may not have allowed his family to be buried with him.^[20]
    In seventeenth-century Netherlands, widowed parents were required to register with the Orphans’ Chamber, to protect their children’s inheritances from misappropriation by any future step-parent. Joseph Margits, then living “behind” the Westerkerk (West Church), did so on 2 May 1635, listing his children as Joris (21), Lysbeth (19), Maria (17), Machtelt (15), Lambertgen (13), Catrijntgen (10), Anna (7) and Joseph (5). Their inheritance of 500 guilders (a considerable sum) was to be administered by a maternal uncle.^[21]
    Joseph Margetts is called “Joseph Mergis, from London, widower of Annetje Waerdenburgh” in the intention of his second marriage in 1635. Eleven years later he was sufficiently established in Amsterdam to be listed in the Poorter Boeck (Register of Citizens), where, under date of 8 June 1646, he is described as a diamond-cutter (diamantslijper) from London.^[22] (Citizenship was normally required before a person could engage in trade or hold membership in a guild.) The marriage records of his daughters Elisabeth (1647) and Catharina (1649) give their places of residence as the Oudezijds Achterburgwal (to use the modern spelling), which was the second earthen wall on the old (i.e. east) side of the city. On 15 January 1651 Joseph Margits and Gertruit Margits served as baptismal sponsors for his grandson Joseph Hegeman, baptized in the Norder Kerk.^[23] At the time of his death at an advanced age in 1675 Joseph Margetts was of the Nieuwezijds Achterburgwal, “near the Nisel.”
    The relationship of Joseph Margetts to his daughter Catharina as an adult is proven by the notarial document of 1664 cited above, and the inheritance forthcoming to her is also mentioned in other documents of the same year.^[24]
    Joseph Margetts’ enterprising and adventurous spirit appears to have been a family trait. It is noteworthy that at least three of his daughters were well-enough educated to write their names. And not only did his son Joseph Jr. emigrate to the East Indies and his daughter Catharina to New Netherland, but it is practically certain that his eldest son, Joris, was the one of this name who went to Brazil when the Dutch settlement there was still in its infancy.
    Known issue, the first five children born doubtless at Utrecht, birthdates based on the Orphans’ Chamber records:

(by first wife)

1. Joris Margetts, born ca. 1614, living May 1635, when his father registered with the Orphan’s Chamber. Given his unusual surname, he was pretty surely the Joris Margets who on 15 August 1636 witnessed a baptism in the Dutch Reformed Church of Recife, Brazil, an important export point for sugar cane which had been captured by the Dutch only six years earlier.^[25] Likewise, he was presumably the Joris Margits who was at Batavia (now Jakarta) on the island of Java (now Indonesia) in October 1648, when he was one of the signers of a petition addressed to the Governor-General Cornelis van der Lijn.^[26]
2. Elisabeth Margetts, born ca. 1616, died between 4 March 1662 (when a child was baptized) and 11 December 1694 (when her “heirs” are mentioned, as below). She married by Amsterdam marriage intention dated 19 September 1647,^[27] Johannes Sander, “from London, merchant (coopman), aged 30 years, without parents, residing on the Oudezyts Achterburgwall.” She is described as “Elisabeth Margitss, from Uytrecht, aged 27 years [a rather bold understatement], accompanied by her father Joseph Margits, of the same place.” He signs as Johannes Sander and she as Elisabedt Margist (sic). A power of attorney dated 11 December 1694, mentions “a parcel of land with house and homestead, named De Meerman, in the jurisdiction of Broekermeer [near Landseer in Nord-Holland], to be conveyed to the children and heirs of Elisabeth Margits” (een perceel land en een met huis en hofstede, genaamd de Meerman, onder Broekermeer te transporteren aan de kinderen en erfgenamen van Elisabeth Margits).^[28] Known issue, all baptisms at Amsterdam (surname presumably Jans or Sanders):
   1. (probably) Joseph, baptized 8 July 1648 in the English Presbyterian Church, as a child of John Sanders (mother not named).^[29]
   2. (probably) Thomas, baptized 4 May 1650 in the English Presbyterian Church, as a child of John Sanders (mother not named).^[30]
   3. Anna, baptized 16 April 1651 in the Nieuwe Kerk.^[31]
   4. Ester, baptized 14 September 1653 in the Nieuwe Kerk.^[32]
   5. (probably) Johanna, baptized 2 May 1655 in the English Presbyterian Church, as a child of John Sanders (mother not named).^[33]
   6. (probably) Elizabeth, baptized 15 July 1657 in the English Presbyterian Church, as a child of John Sanders (mother not named).^[34]
   7. Maria, baptized 4 March 1662 in the Wester Kerk.^[35]
3. Maria Margetts, born ca. 1618, living 1635.
4. Machtelje Margetts, born ca. 1620, died shortly before 3 May 1681, when (as Maghteltie Margits) she was buried from the Noorder Kerk.^[36] She married (1) 19 April 1648 at Sloterdyk (a suburb of Amsterdam), by Amsterdam marriage intention dated 4 April 1648 preceding,^[37] Pieter Pieters, “from Amsterdam, diamond-cutter (diamant snyder), aged 22 years, residing on … [illegible].” She is described as “Machtelgen Margits, from Uytrecht and residing there, aged 25 years [an understatement], accompanied by her father Joseph Margits.” He signs as Pieter Pietersen and she as Mechtel Marget. In the baptismal records of their three youngest children he is called Pieter Pietersz. van Lieven. He died some time in 1656-62, and she married (2) Gerrit Hendricx. Known issue, all baptisms at Amsterdam:

   (by first husband:)

   1. Sophia Pieters, baptized (as “Fijte”) 27 May 1649 in the Nieuwe Kerk.^[38]
   2. Anna Pieters, baptized 29 May 1650 in the Nieuwe Kerk.^[39]
   3. Ida Pieters, baptized (as “Eijda”) 29 September 1652 in the Nieuwe Kerk.^[40]
   4. Elisabeth Pieters, baptized (as “Lijsbet”) 17 January 1655 in the Zuider Kerk.^[41]
   5. Pieternella Pieters, baptized 2 August 1656 in the Zuider Kerk.^[42]

   (by second husband; surname presumably Gerrits or Hendricx:)

   5. Maria, baptized 22 October 1662 in the Nieuwe Kerk.^[43]
5. Lambertje Margetts, born ca. 1622. She married (int. 27 August 1644),^[44] Cornelis Willemse Hospronck, “from Alckmaer [modern Alkmaar], oil-crusher (olj slaeger), aged 30 years, residing on … [illegible].” She is described as “Lambertie Margits, from Uytrecht, aged 22 years, accompanied by Josep [sic] Margits her father.” His signature is not very legible but seems to read “Cors. Willemsz.,” while she subscribes with a mark. No children of this couple appear in the index to Amsterdam baptisms.
6. Catharina Margetts, baptized (as “Catelyn, daughter of Joseph & Anna Margitts”) 4 February 1625 in the New Church, Amsterdam, with sponsor Niclaus Jacob,^[45] died 1690, before 16 April, and buried from the Dutch Church of Midwout (now Flatbush), Kings Co., Long Island, N.Y.^[46] She married 7 March 1649 at Sloten, near Amsterdam, by Amsterdam marriage intention dated 29 Jan. preceding,^[47] Adriaen Hegeman, born ca. 1624 at Elburg in Gelderland, living 27 September 1671 (when he was confirmed as an executor of the will of Jan Everts Bout, of Brooklyn),^[48] but died, presumably in the province of New York, by 28 May 1672.^[49] Proven by previous writers to have been a son of the late Rev. Hendrick Hegeman, Dutch Reformed Minister at Vorchten, Gelderland, by his first wife (name unknown),^[50] he is described in the marriage intention as “Adriaen Hegeman, of Elburgh, silk-worker (syreder),^[51] aged 25 years, having no parents, [living] in Egelantier Straet.” She is recorded as “Catharina Margits, of Amsterdam, aged 21 years [an understatement], living on the Oudesyts Achterburgwall, accompanied by Joseph Margits, her father.” He signs as Adriaen Hegeman and she as Katarina Mairgist (sic). Following the births of their first two children they left for New Netherland in 1652, settling at Midwout (modern Flatbush), on the west end of Long Island, where her husband was (as we have seen) appointed Schout of four of the “five Dutch towns” (Flatlands, Brooklyn, Flatbush, and New Utrecht) in Kings County.^[52] They are the ancestors of most of the Hegemans of New York and New Jersey.^[53] We list here the two children born in Europe, both baptized at Amsterdam:
   1. Hendrick Hegeman, baptized 13 April 1649 in the Oude Kerk, as a son of Adriaen Hegeman (no mother named), with sponsors Sara Margers (sic) and Gualterus Hegeman.^[54]
   2. Joseph Hegeman, baptized 15 January 1651 in the Noorder Kerk, with sponsors Joseph Margits and Gertruit Margits.
7. Anna Margetts, baptized (as “Anna, daughter of Joseph Margeth”) 16 January 1628 in the English Presbyterian Church, Amsterdam,^[55] died by 1639, when another daughter was given the same name.
8. Joseph Margetts, Jr., baptized (as “Joseph, son of Joseph Marget”) 20 January 1630 in the English Presbyterian Church, Amsterdam,^[56] died v.p., and apparently unmarried or at least without issue, in or shortly before 1664, in the “East Indies,” as shown by the notarial document cited above. He entered the employ of the Dutch East India Company, and by 16 December 1659 was stationed as Director (Opperhoofd) at Timor.^[57] In a modern index to the records of commissioned officers of the company, Joseph Margits is listed under date of 6 February 1660, as “Director at Timor, on leave,” and precisely one year later, as “Sub-merchant [acting] as head near Bima.”^[58] Timor was an important source of sandalwood, while Bima, lying on the island of Sumbawa, was noted for its teak and tamarinds. The following year he was stationed at the Castle of Batavia, Java, and is mentioned several times in the company daybooks of 1661 as a sub-merchant (onderkoopman) in charge of a yacht (jacht) called De Haes and later of flutes (fluyten) called De Zeeridder and Emeloort.^[59]

(by second wife)

9. Sara Margetts, baptized (as a daughter of “Joseph Margitts & Geertruÿt J. van Drillenburg”) 22 May 1635 in the Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam, with sponsor Vincent Jacobss,^[60] only two months after her parents’ marriage; died some time between September 1661 (birth of last child) and June 1673 (remarriage of husband). She married (as his first wife) (betrothal 2 November 1656 at Amsterdam),^[61] Jacob de Meijne, born 1633-34, apparently at Kampen in Overijssel; possibly the Jacob de Meijne buried 29 January 1707 from the Nieuwe Zijds Kapel.^[62] Their marriage intention calls him Jacob de Meine, from Campen and residing there, aged 22 years, and her Sara Margits, from Amsterdam, aged 20 years, accompanied by Josep (sic) Margits her father. As Jacob de Meijna [sic], widower of Sara Margits, he married secondly (as her second husband) (civil betrothal 9 June 1673),^[63] Eva Pieters van Santen, died by 1680, widower of Corn[elis] Pietersz Duijts. As Jacob de Meija [sic], widower of Aefje Pieters van ’t Sant, he married thirdly (as her second husband) (betrothal 10 May 1680),^[64] Margrieta van der Kleij, widow of Daniel Fideon. Sara Margetts and Jacob de Meijne had the following children, all baptized at Amsterdam, for whom no marriages can be assigned with confidence:
   1. Jan de Meijne, baptized 15 August 1657 in the Nieuwe Kerk.^[65]
   2. Joanna Jacoba de Meijne, baptized 5 January 1658 in the Oude Kerk.^[66]
   3. Catrina de Meijne, baptized 22 August 1660 in the Nieuwe Kerk,^[67] probably the “child” Catarina Jacobsz. de Meijne who was buried 22 March 1661 from the Nieuwe Zijds Kapel.^[68]
   4. Anna de Meijne, baptized 28 September 1661 in the Noorder Kerk.^[69]
10. Anne Margetts, baptized (as “Anne, daughter of Joseph Margets”) 23 February 1639 in the English Presbyterian Church, Amsterdam;^[70] we have found no further record of her.

Notes

From the Genealogy Page of John Blythe Dobson
URL = johnblythedobson.org/genealogy/ff/Margetts.cfm
This page first appeared 15 June 2002
Last revised 16 June 2019