Maria Bruijn (1765- )

Maria Bruijn (dutch link) was baptized 29 Dec 1765, 252 years ago, in Amsterdam. She was the daughter of Lucas Bruijn and Sara Portielje, and my husband’s 4th great-grandmother. Contrary to her husband’s family, who were German immigrants, Maria’s family had been in the Netherlands for generations, although not in Amsterdam; her father’s family came from Wijhe in Overijssel, her mother’s from Oud-Beyerland and Alphen in Zuid-Holland; but all had been in Amsterdam for several generations.

She married Gerrit Hendrik Broekman, an Lutheran immigrant from Melle, Germany in 1786. She was Dutch Reformed, but she must have converted, because all her children are baptized Lutheran.

Maria’s father was also a baker, and the couple continues the store, with her second husband taking over after Gerrit Hendrik’s death; they pass it on to her son Gerrit Lucas (see: the bakery in the Gasthuismolensteeg)

Maria died between 1811 and 1816: she is present at the marriage of her daughter Johanna Margaretha in 1811 (she married a widower, and had at least one child with him), but is deceased when her son Gerrit Lucas marries in 1816. Her second husband probably survived her, he is a witness at the birth of Johanna’s child in 1813, but she is not.

It seems to me, she lived a full but too short life, she saw her eldest daughter married, but did not see any grandchildren; she had a successful business. But her husband died early, and three of her daughters probably died young, so she had her share of loss.