Before we dive into Willem de Vlamingh's working life as a whaler, as a skipper with the VOC and finally as a commander on his great voyage of discovery in search of the Southland, we would first like to sketch a picture of his family life.

Family life

On November 10, 1668, Willem and Willempie got registered in the marriage records of Amsterdam. The groom is described as Willem Hesselse Vlaming van Vlieland and it says he is living there on the island, assisted by his mother Trijntie Cornelis. About the bride-to-be, the clerk writes she is Willempie Cornelis from Amsterdam, 20 years old. She is assisted by someone called Trijntie Christiaens from the Lindengracht. This is not her mother, as it turned out. See the page we made especially about Willempie.

De ondertrouwakte van Willem en Willempie.

Stadsarchief Amsterdam, archiefnummer 5001, inventarisnummer 492, blad p.460

On November 18, 1668 we come across the registration of their marriage on Vlieland. In Dutch it says: Willem Hesselszoon de Vlamingh "from here" and Willempje Cornelisdaughter from Amsterdam. They have had their three banns in our church and showed us the certificate, so they can get married.

So they signed the announcement of the marriage in the capital, but the marriage itself was concluded on December 2, 1668 in the Reformed Church on Vlieland.

Marriage register Reformed municipality of Oost Vlieland, archive number 28, Tresoar, inventory number 0743, page 313

(On November 18, 1668, it is recorded in the books they will be married on December 2, 1668)

Burghership

Only five months later, on April 3, 1669, Willem obtains the burghership of the city of Amsterdam. This coveted certificate gave him all kinds of privileges, such as the right to assistance if something happened to his ship abroad or exemption from paying tolls (both within Holland and in some other areas outside the country). The orphans of burgesses also had access to the Burgerweeshuis, where living conditions were considerably better than in the other orphanages.

Picture taken from the Poorterboeken in the City Archives of Amsterdam

You could become a burgher of Amsterdam if your parents were burghers or if you married a burgher's daughter. You could also buy the right of citizenship. Willem was a so-called "married burgher", because he married the daughter of Cornelis Albertsz, who had registered as a burgher himself in 1940. On this official occasion in 1669 Willem de Vlamingh took an oath and then received his burgher's cedulle (a sort of pasport).

Many of these types of burgher cedulles have been preserved. That shows how important they were. Unfortunately, we have been unable to find any personal belongings of Willem de Vlamingh (1).

Kids

The couple is blessed with many children. Subsequently, there are, thanks to the preserved baptismal registers on Vlieland:

Hessel

Eeuwertjen

Trijntjen

Trijntjen

Hessel

Cornelis

Pietje

Aefje

In summary:

Hessel (October 6, 1669)

Eeuwertjen (December 6, 1671)

Trijntjen (December 3, 1673)

Trijntjen (January 27, 1675)

Hessel (19 January 1676)

Cornelis (June 12, 1678)

Pietje (January 25, 1680)

Aefje (April 11, 1688)

Eight beautiful children. Three boys and five girls. In naming their children they follow the traditional rules: Their eldest son Hessel is named after Willem's father, their youngest son Cornelis after Willempie's father. Their eldest daughter Evertje is named after her mother's mother and Trijntje after Willem's mother. We cannot identify the names of the other children and have no idea who they are named after.

This list also shows their eldest son Hessel must have died before he was six years old, because their second son was again called Hessel. Their first daughter Trijntje not even lived to the age of two years old. We know for sure these children did not make it, but we think a number of others also died young,  for we don't find their names anywhere anymore. The only ones who seem to have reached adulthood are their eldest daughter Evertje, their youngest son Cornelis and the late arrival Aefje. So only three out of eight children survived...

Another striking point for the observant reader: looking at the dates of birth, one could assume more than half of this rich offspring of De Vlamingh was most likely conceived in the months of March-April (always just before his departure to sea).

Houses

Where did this ever-expanding family actually live? Everyone always seems to simply assume Willem de Vlamingh and his family lived in Amsterdam, but is that really the case? We don't think so!

Much more arguments point at a permanent residence of the De Vlamingh family on Vlieland…

Firstly, Willem still lived on Vlieland during his marriage and the couple also got married there.

Secondly, all their eight children were baptized on Vlieland and not in a church in Amsterdam. How likely is it that each time a new child was born they took the infant on board of a ship and travelled all the way to the island to have it baptized there - hours of sailing away from the capital and often in the middle of winter?

The above consideration could mean the De Vlamingh family lived on Vlieland at least from the birth of their eldest son Hessel in October 1669 until the arrival of their youngest descendant Aefje in April 1688.

Still, if we look even further into this matter, the information we found on Willempie shows she worked as a middleman for beer on Vlieland. In any case, she worked on the island around 1690, as can be concluded from the deed of the drunken sailor who retracted his statement. In addition, the church members already announced in 1692 it will be her turn in three years (so in 1695) to deliver beer to the old men's house. It seems very strange to us if Willempie would have had her permanent base in Amsterdam in those years.

In short, during her motherhood and her working life (which covers no less than the most important period of her married life) it seems at least Willempie resided on the island. And where she was, Willem was, for how else could they have had children?!

Furthermore, we did not find any deregistration in the books of Vlieland, like the certificate their eldest daughter Evertje will later receive when she leaves for Amsterdam. Although Evertje still owned a house on the island at her death (see the chapter about Evertje).

In addition, we can conclude from everything we read about Willem he has done well during his career, yet in the Kohier van de 200ste penning (that is the Kohler of the 200th penny) from 1674 he is not mentioned as a taxpayer in the capital. While everyone with a certain wealth had to participate in this extra tax (2).

In addition, there is a deed from Cornelis (their youngest son) from 1702 in which he authorizes his mother to manage his affairs on the island. This seems most logical to us if she also lived on Vlieland at that time (3).

The most important point though, that made us believe the whole family was permanently housed on Vlieland are the notaries Willem visited in Amsterdam. People did not have a permanent notary in those days. Anyone who needed one just walked into the first office they came across. One look at the map of Amsterdam (in that period) shows all the offices Willem attended were close to a mooring place. Especially when you consider that in those days the IJ still continued to the current Prins Hendrikkade and the Rokin up to the Dam also consisted of water in open connection with the Zuiderzee. It was precisely on those places Willem visited many notaries, such as in Nieuwebrugsteeg, Kalverstraat, on Oudezijds and Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal and at various locations around the Rokin. So this is why we think Willem de Vlamingh simply came from Vlieland every time he appeared at a notary.

What has put us all on the wrong track for all these years was the fact that Willem and Willempie sold a third part of a house on the Lindengracht in June 1686. So they owned a house in the capital, was the logical train of thought, and so they must have lived in Amsterdam. However, if you look closely at the marriage certificate of the couple, you will see Willempie was already accompanied by Trijntje of the same Lindengracht during the period of their banns. Therefore, it makes much more sense to assume the property they sold in 1686 was her parental home. Willempie's father had already died earlier and we assume the apartment became vacant because Willempie's mother also went to heaven in that period.

On June 6, 1686, when the house on the Lindengracht was sold, Willem Hessels Vlaming and his housewife Willemptje Cornelis appeared together before the notary. The deed states Willempie was being assisted and authorized by her husband. Which suggests Willempie inherited the house instead of jointly owning it.

Yet it is very likely the de Vlamingh family did own a house somewhere in the city, because a burgess lost his burgessship if he was away for a few years. Unfortunately, we have not (yet) been able to find their address. Knowing this it is not surprising some deeds at various notaries state that Willem de Vlamingh is living in this city. 

All in all, sufficient reason for us to make a challenging proposition here: we think Willem de Vlamingh lived on Vlieland throughout his whole life - so during his youth, his family life and in his old age. This makes him a Vlielander in heart and soul from cradle to grave!

The family owned another house with a yard, back house and a barn at number 186 Groote Straat and this territory extended all the way to the Achterom (the street behind it). The property was well maintained. Moreover, the house on the other side of the Groote Straat at number 165 also belonged to them and a little further on the family owned yet another building in the Koeglop. In 1693 Willem also bought a large building in the Achteromstraat for 219 guilders. Perhaps part of these extra buildings served as a warehouse for Willempie, who had to store her goods somewhere as a beer supplier, and perhaps Willem's pilot boat was also stored dry in one of these buildings.

Willem's mother, Trijntje Cornelis, widow of Hessel Dircks, lived diagonally opposite them at number 185 (5) and later their eldest daughter Evertje bought the adjacent buildings on either side of number 186. This leads us to suspect this was the house where the De Vlamingh family lived the longest, or at least the last.

After the death of Willem and Willempie, their children inherited all their possessions. In the end, Evertje was the last living survivor. Her daughter Maria inherited many houses on Vlieland, but immediately after her mother's death had everything sold through an intermediary on the island. Unfortunately, all buildings have now perished and have been replaced by new ones. There is nothing left to find. Not even Willem's birthplace. On the other hand, the Dorpsstraat still looks about the same, with many old houses, and the island still exudes a special atmosphere.