Maison VerniersFamily
From patriarch Laurens to the surgeons of Weesp
This family tree is far from finished. I have had to make choices and focused first on the line that leads to Weesp: from progenitor Laurens Verniers to the surgeons and administrators there. I have gathered information on many more family members; I will add them in the coming months and work them out in new stories.
Around 1600 a second Verniers family also fled from Antwerp to Amsterdam: that of Joris Verniers and Maeijken De Windt, with their children and grandchildren. A family tie with this line has not (yet) been demonstrated. Their own family tree is in Story #15 — Joris Verniers: a second Antwerp family in Amsterdam.
Click on a card for that person's biography. Cards with a dotted border are not yet certain and are still being verified.
No portraits exist of these family members. The images on the cards are illustrative: seventeenth- and sixteenth-century portraits (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons) that fit the clothing and period of the person in question — they are therefore not actual images of these ancestors.
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Progenitor
Laurens "Joachim Joesz Vernier" Verniers– 27 dec. 1600
Wife
Grietge Joosten
Cloth merchant and one of the first Mennonite ministers. At his registration in the Citizens' Book of Franeker (3 December 1560) he is recorded as "Lourens Wermer". On 26 November 1569 he was, under the name Joachim Joos Vernier, banished from Franeker by the Sentence of Banishment as "dogmatiseur et ministre" of the Mennonite sect, with confiscation of his goods — he had earlier baptized several people into his faith in Antwerp and 's-Hertogenbosch. Historian K. Vos considered that this sentence might contain a printing error and could actually concern a certain Joachim Vermeren, but ultimately concluded himself that it does concern our Laurens Verniers.
Probable father: Joost Joest Josse Verniers (uncertain). Children from an earlier marriage: Abraham, Pieter, Trijntje. Grietge Joosten was his second or third wife; from her first marriage to Jan she brought the stepchildren Giert(e) Jans and Jannetgen Jansdr — recorded in the 1625 will of Giert(e) Jans, in which Laurens is explicitly named as her stepfather and his son Pieter Verniers is granted an annual annuity.
Family ties have been demonstrated with the Anslo family and with Weesp; possible but unproven connections exist with the painter Rembrandt and the poet Vondel. Laurens lived and traded from "De Oranjeboom" on the Warmoesstraat/corner of the Oudezijds Kerkstraat, until he sold this house on 3 April 1591 to Gerrit Rijckelsma; before that he had also owned a house on the Kalverstraat (1585). On 8 May 1592 he bought "De Witte Voet" on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal, where he lived until his death. He was buried on 27 December 1600 in the Oude Kerk, on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal near the Varkensluis.
Read the full story →
Probable father: Joost Joest Josse Verniers (uncertain). Children from an earlier marriage: Abraham, Pieter, Trijntje. Grietge Joosten was his second or third wife; from her first marriage to Jan she brought the stepchildren Giert(e) Jans and Jannetgen Jansdr — recorded in the 1625 will of Giert(e) Jans, in which Laurens is explicitly named as her stepfather and his son Pieter Verniers is granted an annual annuity.
Family ties have been demonstrated with the Anslo family and with Weesp; possible but unproven connections exist with the painter Rembrandt and the poet Vondel. Laurens lived and traded from "De Oranjeboom" on the Warmoesstraat/corner of the Oudezijds Kerkstraat, until he sold this house on 3 April 1591 to Gerrit Rijckelsma; before that he had also owned a house on the Kalverstraat (1585). On 8 May 1592 he bought "De Witte Voet" on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal, where he lived until his death. He was buried on 27 December 1600 in the Oude Kerk, on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal near the Varkensluis.
Read the full story →
Daughter of Joost. Was the second or third wife of Laurens — he had thus been married before, to the mother of Abraham, Pieter and Trijntje. Before her marriage to Laurens, Grietge herself had earlier been married to Jan (surname unknown). From that first marriage came daughter Giert(e) Jans, born around 1560 and died in 1638 (Amstelodamum, 1969), and daughter Jannetgen Jansdr. After Laurens's death she sold, on 19 April 1601, the house "De Witte Voet" on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal, assisted by her brother-in-law and guardian Claes Claesz Anslo — the son-in-law who, twenty years later, also drew up the will with her daughter Giert(e) Jans.
Read about the sale of De Witte Voet → · Read the 1625 will →
Read about the sale of De Witte Voet → · Read the 1625 will →
Son
Pieter Verniers– 1610
Wife
Stijntgen Willems Verniers– ca. 3 okt. 1611
Son of stamvader Laurens Verniers, brother of Abraham and Trijntgen. Married Stijntgen Willems in 1594. Together they had a son, Lourens Verniers, born between 1 February 1594 and 31 January 1595. Pieter died before 1611.
Born in Breda. Wife of Pieter Verniers (son of stamvader Laurens), whom she married in 1594; together they had a son, Lourens Verniers. Stijntgen died around 3 October 1611 in Haarlem. Her heirs sold, on 23 March 1632, the house "De Kampertoren" on the Schagchelstraat in Haarlem for 1,700 guilders, and on 24 March 1632 a house on the Bisschopstraat in Amsterdam.
Son
Lourens Verniers1594 – 1623
Wife
Sara Stevens Verniers1596 – ?
Born between 1 February 1594 and 31 January 1595, son of Pieter Verniers and Stijntgen Willems. A cloth merchant by trade. Married Sara Stevens Verniers on 31 January 1615; together they had two children: Mr. Pieter Lourens Verniers, surgeon in Weesp, and Sara, married to Claes Willemss. Lourens died before 10 April 1623, at age 28.
Born between 1 February 1596 and 31 January 1597. Married Lourens Verniers, a cloth merchant, son of Pieter Verniers and Stijntgen Willems, on 31 January 1615. Together they had two children: Mr. Pieter Lourens Verniers, surgeon in Weesp, and Sara, married to Claes Willemss.
Son
Mr. Pieter Lourens Verniers1623 – 1673
Wife
Marretje Dircksdr Verniers– 1673
Surgeon and administrator, and the first Verniers to appear by name in Weesp. Probably the son of Louwerens (Laurens) Verniers, the nephew Trijntgen Verniers named as heir in 1622 (read that will →). On 3 March 1648 he passed his master's exam as a surgeon in Amsterdam and paid his guild fee, in the presence of examining masters Mr. Joannes Judocus and Mr. Dirck Jansen, and elders Mr. Cornelis Fredericxsen, Mr. Jacob Colevelt, Mr. Jacob Cruijs and Isaac Lauwerens (Source 70). He married Marretje Dircksdr and settled in Weesp, where he not only worked as a surgeon but also held various administrative posts — including as alderman, as shown by a 1656 deed (read the 1656 deed →). His sons too later worked as surgeons in Weesp, and the family ran an apothecary's shop there — both topics will be further developed here later.
Read the full story of the family in Weesp →
Read the full story of the family in Weesp →
Wife of Mr. Pieter Lourens Verniers, surgeon and administrator in Weesp. More information about her origins and family will be added later. Read the story of the family in Weesp →
Son
Claas Pieters Verniers1647 – 1714
Wife
Grietje Huijgen Verniers1645 – ?
Born around 1647, son of Mr. Pieter Lourens Verniers and Marretje Dircksdr. Had four brothers: Pieter Pietersz, Mr. Lourens, Mr. Cornelis and Mr. Dirck Verniers. Was betrothed in Weesp on 24 September 1672 to Grietje (Geurtje) Huijgen; the marriage took place shortly afterwards. Together they had a son, Lourens. Claes died on 21 August 1714 in Weesp, at age 67.
The betrothal deed itself, in the spelling of the time (shown here in the original Dutch, as a primary source):
The betrothal deed itself, in the spelling of the time (shown here in the original Dutch, as a primary source):
Op huyden so compareerde voor de ondergeschreven commissarissen van de huwelijckse saecken, Claes Pieterszoon, jongman van Weesp, Verniers, tusschen de vijf en twintig jaren oud, geassisteerd met zijn broeder Pieter Verniers, dewelcke zeide, gelijck ook op rapport van de bode gebleken is, last te hebben van zijn moeder ter eenre, ende de eerbare Geurtje Huijgen, jongedochter mede van Weesp, oud ontrent 27 jaren, geassisteerd met haar oudste zuster Hilletje Huijgen, ende versoecken haar drie huwelijcke proclamatiën in de kercke alhier, hetwelck geconsenteerd is.
Actum Weesp, desen 24 september 1672.
Claes Pietersen Verniers · Geurtjen Huijgen · Pieter Pietersen Verniers · geteeckent bij (merk van) Hillitje Huygen
Born around 1645. Named "Geurtje Huijgen" in the betrothal deed of 24 September 1672, aged about 27, unmarried woman of Weesp, assisted by her eldest sister Hilletje Huijgen. Married Claes Pieters Verniers; together they had a son, Lourens.
Son
Lourens Verniersdates unknown
More information about this person will be added soon.
Son
Pieter Verniersdates unknown
More information about this person will be added soon.
Son
Lourens Verniersdates unknown
To be verified.
More information about this person will be added soon.Son
Pieter Pietersz Verniersca. 1650 – ?
1st Wife
Heijndrickje Eemen Geijn Verniers– ?
2nd Wife
Aaltje Geijn Verniers– ?
Born around 1650, son of Mr. Pieter Lourens Verniers and Marretje Dircksdr. Had four brothers: Claes Pieters, Mr. Lourens, Mr. Cornelis and Mr. Dirck Verniers. Married twice: first, around 1673, at age 23, to Heijndrickje (Hendrickje) Eemen Geijn; and later, after her death, to Aaltje Geijn — herself the widow of Ment Dircxsz Witteveenen. Much about his death is still unclear — to be added later.
In a notarial deed of 1688 (notary Jacob de Winter, Amsterdam) he is recorded as "Pieter Verniers, schepen tot Weesp" (alderman of Weesp), acting together with mayor Cornelis van Marcken as testamentary guardian of Claes and Johannes van der Aarden, and further as someone who had been married to Hendrickje Geijn (Amsterdam City Archives/Transkribus, 2332_NOTD00214). The same deed names, as co-heir to the same share, "Ment Dircxsz Witteveenen, woonachtig tot Weesp", at that time married to Aaltje Geijn — so Ment was Aaltje's earlier husband, not Pieter's. Pieter and Aaltje only married each other later, after Ment's death.
Transcript of the deed, in the spelling of the time (shown here in the original Dutch, as a primary source):
In a notarial deed of 1688 (notary Jacob de Winter, Amsterdam) he is recorded as "Pieter Verniers, schepen tot Weesp" (alderman of Weesp), acting together with mayor Cornelis van Marcken as testamentary guardian of Claes and Johannes van der Aarden, and further as someone who had been married to Hendrickje Geijn (Amsterdam City Archives/Transkribus, 2332_NOTD00214). The same deed names, as co-heir to the same share, "Ment Dircxsz Witteveenen, woonachtig tot Weesp", at that time married to Aaltje Geijn — so Ment was Aaltje's earlier husband, not Pieter's. Pieter and Aaltje only married each other later, after Ment's death.
Transcript of the deed, in the spelling of the time (shown here in the original Dutch, as a primary source):
Compareerden voor mij, Jacob de Winter, tot Amstelredam residerende openbaer notaris: ter eenre Harmtje Jacobs van Dijck, weduwe van Cornelis van Aarden, woonachtigh tot Muijden, voor haarselven, voor een derdepart; Jan Dircxsz Middagh, woonachtigh binnen deser stede, als in huwelijck hebbende Geertje van Aarden; item de voornoemde [erffgenamen van] Cornelis van Aarden, nogh beneffens d'heeren Cornelis van Marcken, burgermeester, ende Pieter Verniers, schepen, respective tot Weesp (beijde in desen mede compareerende), als testamentaire vooghden van Claes ende Johannes vande Aarden, tesamen mede voor een derdepart; mitsgaders Thimon Geijn, woonachtigh aende Vinckebrugh bij Diemen; item de voornoemde Pieter Verniers, nogh als getrouwt geweest hebbende Hendrickje Geijn, ende Ment Dircxsz Witteveenen, woonachtigh tot Weesp, in huwelijck hebbende Aaltje Geijn, tesamen voor het resterende derdepart, geïnstitueerde erffgenamen van zaliger …
First wife of Pieter Pietersz Verniers; married him around 1673, when he was 23 years old. According to the 1688 deed, Pieter was by then no longer married to her ("getrouwt geweest hebbende", i.e. "having been married to") — she had apparently already died by then.
Second wife of Pieter Pietersz Verniers, after Heijndrickje Eemen Geijn. Had previously been married to Ment Dircxsz Witteveenen, living in Weesp — in a notarial deed of 1688 still named alongside him as co-heir in the Van Aarden inheritance matter (Amsterdam City Archives/Transkribus, 2332_NOTD00214). After Ment's death she married Pieter Pietersz Verniers.
Son
Mr. Lourens Verniers1651 – ?
Wife
Lijsbet Jans Garst Verniers– ?
Born before 1652, son of Mr. Pieter Lourens Verniers and Marretje Dircksdr. Had four brothers: Claes Pieters, Pieter Pietersz, Mr. Cornelis and Mr. Dirck Verniers. Town surgeon and alderman. Married Lijsbet Jans Garst around 1671, at age 19; together they had a son, Aeltien. Much about his death is still unclear.
His name appears in a letter from the Ministry (Admiralty), concerning the voyage to Chatham on "De Vreede" in 1667 — during the famous raid on Chatham in the Second Anglo-Dutch War — in which the treatment of two people wounded during that voyage is discussed. This letter will be worked out later into its own Hidden Story.
His name appears in a letter from the Ministry (Admiralty), concerning the voyage to Chatham on "De Vreede" in 1667 — during the famous raid on Chatham in the Second Anglo-Dutch War — in which the treatment of two people wounded during that voyage is discussed. This letter will be worked out later into its own Hidden Story.
First married Arend de Nooij in 1670; widowed shortly afterwards. Then married Mr. Lourens Verniers, town surgeon and alderman, around 1671; together they had a son, Aeltien.
Son
Aeltien Verniersbap. 9 Apr. 1672
Baptized on 9 April 1672, son of Mr. Lourens Verniers and Lijsbet Jans Garst.
Son
Mr. Cornelis Verniers1652 – 1719
Wife
Grietje Pieters de Gooijer Verniers– ?
Born in 1652, son of Mr. Pieter Lourens Verniers and Marretje Dircksdr. Had four brothers: Claes Pieters, Pieter Pietersz, Mr. Lourens and Mr. Dirck Verniers. Married Grietje Pieters de Gooijer. Died on 18 April 1719, at age 67. Much more material about him is available and will be added later.
Wife of Mr. Cornelis Verniers. Further details to follow later.
Son
Dirck Verniers– ?
Wife
Marritye Jans Garst Verniers– ?
Son of Mr. Pieter Lourens Verniers and Marretje Dircksdr. Had four brothers: Claes Pieters, Pieter Pietersz, Mr. Lourens and Mr. Cornelis Verniers. A shoemaker by trade — unlike his brothers, therefore, not a surgeon, alderman or administrator. Married Marritye Jans Garst on 6 September 1673. Nothing is yet known of his death.
Wife of Dirck Verniers, shoemaker; married him on 6 September 1673. Bears the same surname "Jans Garst" as Lijsbet Jans Garst, the wife of his brother Mr. Lourens Verniers — possibly sisters, still to be confirmed.
Daughter
Sara Verniers– ca. 17 apr. 1674
Husband
Claes Willemssca. 1620 – ?
Daughter of Lourens Verniers and Sara Stevens Verniers, and thus sister of Mr. Pieter Lourens Verniers, surgeon in Weesp. After her marriage also known as Sara Willemss. Married Claes Willemss; the marriage took place after 21 January 1645. On 4 May 1656 a deed was executed in Weesp, before notary Rombout Noordingh, in which her brother Pieter renounced his claim to the money of their deceased "oude moeije" (great-aunt) Trijntje Verniers — money that was at that time in Sara's own keeping, and which eventually went to the Flemish Mennonites in Amsterdam (Amsterdam Archives, KLAG06408000001/2). Sara died around 17 April 1674.
Husband of Sara Verniers, daughter of Lourens Verniers and Sara Stevens Verniers. Born around 1620; the marriage to Sara took place after 21 January 1645. His date of death has not yet been researched.
Son
Mr. Abraham Verniersca. 1573 – 5 nov. 1627
Wife
Geertje (Guijrt) Jans
Born around 1573, died on 5 November 1627. Son of stamvader Laurens Verniers. Probably from Ghent or Antwerp, like the rest of the family — though this is hard to reconcile with the fact that Laurens himself no longer lived in Antwerp by then (he had already been banished in absentia in 1567); possibly his wife Grietge Joosten stayed on in the north while Laurens himself travelled. What recurs more often in the sources is Emden as his last place of residence before the Republic — for now a hypothesis, not an established fact. Fleeing the Spanish Inquisition, he travelled via Emden, a safe haven for Mennonites after the fall of Antwerp, to the Republic. In 1603 he wrote his well-known Almanach in Middelburg. Afterwards he became a pedlar in Amsterdam (1606) and a distiller and citizen of Leiden (1608), where he also owned land until he sold it in March 1613, already living in Haarlem by then (Rechterlijk Archief Leiderdorp). What he did between 1613 and his appearance in Enkhuizen is still unknown. In Enkhuizen he held the title Mr. and was teacher of ocean navigation — in 1621 he appeared together with Jacob Ysbrantsz. Bontekoe as an expert witness for the VOC in Amsterdam (RGP, 1621). He was also weesmeester (regent of the Orphans' Chamber) and weesvader (live-in head of the orphanage), and lived there himself. He married at a later age, on 30 April 1626 in the Westerkerk in Enkhuizen, Geertje (Guijrt) Jans (Westfries Archief). The couple had no children, and in his will (29 June, probably 1627, before notary Olbrant Smetius) he explicitly named Geertge Jans as his sole and universal heir — confirmed by several notarial records from Enkhuizen (record 1) (record 2) (will).
Read the full story → · The Middelburg Almanac of 1603 →
Read the full story → · The Middelburg Almanac of 1603 →
Also known as Guijrt Jans. Lived on the Keizerstraat in Enkhuizen. Married Mr. Abraham Verniers, who was weesvader there, on 30 April 1626 in the Westerkerk in Enkhuizen — the marriage was performed by Frans Esausz. Source: Westfries Archief. The couple had no children; in Abraham's will (29 June, probably 1627) she is explicitly named as his sole and universal heir, on condition that she survived him (will) (Enkhuizen notarial archive).
Daughter
Trijntje Verniers
Husband 1David Langedul
Husband 2
Mr. Claes Dircksz Berckman
Husband 3
Dirck Dirckss
Daughter of stamvader Laurens Verniers, sister of Pieter and Abraham Verniers; Amsterdam citizen (poortersche) (source still to be added). Was married three times in her life: first, on 4 October 1592 in Amsterdam, to David Langedul — a marriage only formally registered on 17 November 1621, by which time David had already died (Source 71). Then, on 11 August 1618, she was betrothed to Mr. Claes Dircksz Berckman, a surgeon, with whom she lived on the Gasthuissteeg in Amsterdam; the marriage itself followed on 26 August 1618 (Source 72). And finally, on 3 April 1627, after Claes's death, to Dirck Dirckss (Source 73). On 22 October 1622, between her second and third marriages, she had a will drawn up naming her nephew Louwerens Verniers as heir — the link to the later family branch in Weesp.
Read the full story →
Read the full story →
First husband of Trijntje Verniers; married on 4 October 1592 in Amsterdam. The marriage was only formally registered with the Amsterdam aldermen on 17 November 1621, by which time David had already died — a late, as yet unexplained registration (Source 71). Read the full story →
Surgeon in Amsterdam, living on the Gasthuissteeg. Second husband of Trijntje Verniers; was betrothed to her on 11 August 1618 and married her on 26 August 1618 — his third marriage, after Marijtgen (mother of his sons Nathanael and Dirck Claesz Berckman) and Trijn Jacobs Clonck (mother of daughter Trijntgen Claes) (Source 72). On 28 October 1624 Claes and Trijntje had a joint marriage will drawn up (Source 51). Read the full story →
Third husband of Trijntje Verniers, widower of Griet Jans. Was betrothed to her on 3 April 1627, after the death of her previous husband, Claes Dircksz Berckman (Source 73). Read the full story →
Stepdaughter
Giert(e) Jansca. 1560 – 20 dec. 1639
Husband
Claes Claesz Anslo1555 – ca. 1632
Stepdaughter of Laurens Verniers, daughter of Grietge Joosten from her first marriage to Jan — recorded in the betrothal registration itself as "Griet Hans dr", later also called Griet(je)/Geertgen Jansdr. Anslo. Was betrothed to Claes Claesz Anslo on 19 December 1582 (DTB 402, p. 149) — this is how the family tie with the Anslos arose. Source: Amstelodamum, 1969. In their joint will of 1625 she explicitly calls Laurens her stepfather. She died on 20 December 1639 in Amsterdam (biografischportaal.nl). Read about her and her mother → · Read the will →
Husband of Giert(e) Jans, laeckencooper (cloth merchant) in Amsterdam, on the Nieuwendijk; connected to the Anslo family through this marriage. At the betrothal on 19 December 1582 he was recorded as "oudt omtrent 33 jaer" (aged about 33) (DTB 402, p. 149) — suggesting a birth year around 1549, while another source puts his birth year at 1555 (the exact year is therefore not yet settled). According to that latter source he was born in Anslo — the old name for Oslo, Norway — and came to Amsterdam around 1580; his surname thus refers to his birth city. He was a "dienaar" (a ministerial office) among the Waterland Mennonites, and founded and maintained, during his life, the still-existing Anslo almshouse. The couple had five sons: Claes, Joost, Cornelis, Reijer and Jan; three of them — Claes, Jan and Reyer — later became overlieden (board members) of the cloth-dressers' guild, and Cornelis was later painted by Rembrandt. Claes Claesz Anslo died around 1632 (biografischportaal.nl) (Lars Roede, 2015). Read the 1625 will → · Read about Cornelis, Rembrandt and Vondel →
Stepdaughter
Jannetgen Jansdr.
Stepdaughter of stamvader Laurens Verniers, daughter of Grietge Joosten from her first marriage to Jan — sister of Giert(e) Jans.