The Genealogist's Pub: Ancestral Discoveries: The Origins of Jan Wilmers and Grietje Kijfs of Groningen

One of my newest ancestral discoveries has been one of my most enjoyable ones, as it all began with a theory of mine, and then finding proof for it within days. And this theory discovered two new ancestors! My 6th great grandmother, Isabellina Jans Wilmers, the mother of my immigrant ancestor Jan Derks Harkema, died on February 19, 1826 according to her death record in the Civil Registration. The document shows that Isebellina Jans Wilmers, dagloonersche (day laborer), wife of Derk Berends Harkema, the daughter of Jan Wilmers, wever (weaver) and Grietje Kijfs, weversche (weaver), aged 51 (so born circa 1775), born at Ulrum, Province of Groningen, died on that day in 1826.

The original Civil Registration death record

After finding this death record, the next objective is to research her parents. While trying to discover their marriage record, I found three records related to their marriage on OpenArch. All were hard to understand, but a Reddit comment from u/19november helped me decipher the information in the records.

First, on October 12, 1771, is a marriage registratie (registration).

The transcription provided by u/19november: "Jan Wilmers van Burgsteinfurt in het Graafschap Bentheim (Ps? Probably stands for Pruisen); en Grietje Kijf van Groningen, pro qua Hendrik Jan Kijf als Vader.Cop??? Van ad??ie gepasseert.

Sidenote: met belastinge te Alrum en Vierhuisen"

What does this mean? "Jan Wilmers from Burgsteinfurt in the County of Bentheim (Prussia) and Grietje Kijf from Groningen, pro qua (Latin for "for who stands", might be who’s giving her away/who is her legal guardian cause women’s rights in the 1700s) Hendrik Jan Kijf as father. As for the last sentence, all of the other records have the date on which it was written here, but this one doesn’t. I think it may be copied from another book of records, like the second one is as well. The sidenote is: with taxes in Alrum and Vierhuisen"

Basically, Jan Wilmers of Burgsteinfurt and Grietje Kijfs from Groningen registered to marry on October 12, 1771, with her being given away/or allowed to marry by her father, Hendrik Jan Kijf.

On to the second record: a marriage contract from 13 days later, October 25th, 1771.

According to u/19november, this record was "long and prosaic" so he didn't transcribe it, although he did translate the bullet points for us. It shows:

"* Henricus Cleveringa (lotta titles) was the (possibly mayor?) who wrote the record/did the marriage

* Jan Wilmert is the groom, Grietje Kijff (with two ff’s!) is the bride

* Friends and witnesses (dedigslieden, had to google that one) were present and agreed to it all.

* There’s goods that both bring into the marriage, which will belong to both of them and will become part of the inheritance “na de egte beslaping”

* So I did some googling on that last phrase, and I found it in more old records. I think it may mean after consummation of the marriage, but I’m not 100% confident on that. Will search on later.

* Inheritance stuff: if there’s no children, the surviving spouse gets everything. If the deceased still owes anyone anything, the surviving spouse will pay them back. Any children born in the marriage will get equal parts.

* Witnesses for the groom: Lammer Classen and Hindericus Pieter(s?) Vriessen. It says “als dedigslieden” which means as witnesses, with no mention of the relationship.

* Witnesses for the bride: Hindrik Jan Kijff en Willemtje Hindriks als vader en moeder. “as father and mother”

* In the year of our lord 1771, October 25th

* Interesting info from the side note: this is a copy of the original, which was written in French and confirmed with a seal of green wax"

This is a fascinating discovery! This record is extremely important, because not only does it name her father (like in the preceding document), it names her mother! This allowed me to find Grietje's baptism, which I will get back to later. It is also just fascinating to find a marriage contract like this!

And on to the third and final of the marriage records: their actual marriage, on December 1, 1771.

The transcription and translation provided by u/19november: "*Den 2 november hebben haar huwlijks proclamatie laten aanteikene Jan Wilemer(s/t) van hier en Grietje Kijf(f/s) van Groningen en zijn alhier getrouwt den 1 december.*

On the 2nd of November, Jan Wilemer(s/t) (those two letters are remarkably similar and also spelling was iffy) from here and Grietje Kijf(f/s) from Groningen and were married here on December 1st.

Since Jan was noted on the third record as being "from here", he probably did move there before the wedding, since the "from" part in this type of record would usually be where you lived, not where you were born."

Thanks to these three marriage records and the excellent analysis from Reddit, we are now able to show that Jan Wilmers, originally from Burgsteinfurt, Germany (part of the County of Bentheim-Steinfurt, Holy Roman Empire), and Grietje Kijfs, from Groningen, daughter of Hendrik Jan Kijfs and Willemtje Hindriks, married in Ulrum, Province of Groningen, on December 1, 1771, preceded by a marriage contract.

Is there more that can be discovered on this family? While I haven't found any more information on Jan Wilmers or his origins in the Holy Roman Empire yet, I have discovered the baptism of Grietje Kijfs, thanks to the marriage contract naming both her parents and her city of origin!

According to this record, Grietien, daughter of Hindrik Kijff and Willemina Hindrix, born in Groningen (with a reference to the Poelestraat, likely the street her family lived on) was baptized on November 19, 1748 in Groningen, at the Martinikerk, or Martin's Church, the oldest church in Groningen. Further searching also yielded the baptism of a sister Cornelia on July 26, 1747 at the same church.