Aegje Portielje (1676-)

Aegje Portielje was baptized in Amsterdam on 10 Feb 1676. She was the first child of Gerrit Pieterse Portielje (dutch link) and his first wife Annetie Pieters. She probably died young, as a child with the same name is baptized in 1684, but no death record or burial record seems to exist. Burial records of children mostly don’t give the name of the child anyway. She was my husband’s first cousin 8x removed.

Her father Gerrit was an import into Amsterdam, he was born in Rotterdam, according to his marriage certificate, but I have not found his baptism there. His family came from Oud-Beijerland, on the island of Hoekse Waard in the province South Holland, south of the Meuse and Rotterdam. His baptism is not found there either, but the baptisms of his younger siblings are found there starting in 1662. There is however a hiatus from 1648-1661.

Most of Gerrit’s younger siblings, who were baptized in Oud Beijerland probably died young, there are three Maria’s and a Maarten. However, going over the baptisms again, I found two more siblings, who married in 1687 and had children in Oud Beijerland.⁽¹⁾ They are all half-brothers of Gerrit, children of Pieter and his third wife Maartje Jans.

Why do I think Gerrit is a son of Pieter and his first unknown wife, and a half-brother of the children of Pieter and Maritie Jans? First there is Gerrit’s patronymic Pieters. Second, both brothers Johannes and Arij end up in Amsterdam. I have a baptism for Arij with mother mentioned, and banns registrations for Johannes. While the banns in Amsterdam do not list his mother, there is also a registration in Oud Beijerland, which does list his mother Maertje Jans as a witness. So we know Arij and Johannes are brothers. Johannes (with or without his wife) is a frequent sponsor of Gerrit’s children; and even Pieter (who married in Oud Beyerland) shows up as a sponsor of one of Gerrit’s children with his wife. So, while the identity of Gerrit’s mother is still a mystery, he is definitely a half-brother of Johannes.

From the fact that the father Pieter Pieters names a child Gerrit, we could infer that either the mother was Gerritje, of the mother’s father was Gerrit. From Gerrit’s children we can’t say much, as I don’t have Annetie’s parents either. More research needs to be done.

(1) The webpage of the Dutch Reformed Church has a lot of indexes, and the scans are available through FamilySearch