UPDATE 2020: The Pilgrim Archives website is no longer online. I’ve copied the information to the page Pilgrims in Leiden – Pilgrim records.
With Thanksgiving coming up in the US, I thought it would be fun to turn your attention to the website Pilgrim Archives. During their stay in Leiden, the Pilgrims left traces in Leiden records. The archives in Leiden got so many questions about these records that they digitized them and made them available online.
The “Pilgrims in Documents” section contains a search form that allows you to search the Dutch Pilgrim records by name. The documents are available as abstracts and scans that can be viewed for free (downloads are paid). The documents come from a range of record groups: marriage records, notarial records and court records.
The seventeenth century handwriting is hard to read unless you are familiar with Dutch script during that period but the abstracts should give you a good idea of the contents. Pilgrims who went to America are marked in the abstracts by the initial of the ship they travelled on (M for Mayflower, F for Fortune, ALJ for Anne and Little James, M2 for the second Mayflower).
Example: William Brewster
William Brewster was an English official who travelled on the Mayflower. The Pilgrim Archives have several records about him, including:
- 25 June 1609: Witness statement by William Brewster (about 42), his wife Mary Brewster (about 40) and their son Jonathan Brewster (about 16) about a cloth transaction.
- 16 September 1613: William Brewster, elder of the church, witnessed the testamentary disposition by Roger Wilson.
- 7 December 1617: Appointment of William Brewster, printer, as arbiter for a business agreement between Jonathan Brewster, ribbon maker, and Thomas Brewer.
- 7 December 1617: William Brewster witnessed the last will of Thomas Brewer and his wife Ann Brewer (nee Offley).
William Brewster also acted as a witness in several marriage records. As you can see from this example, the records provide interesting details about the Pilgrim’s lives in Leiden, including the type of businesses they were in, business partners they had, their ages and sometimes their place of origin in England.
Do you have ancestors who were on the Mayflower? Please leave a comment if you find any of them in these records.
About Yvette Hoitink
I found Richard Cooke’s marriage banns and Edward Winslow’s marriage banns. Thank you! All Englishmen, apparently.
I am a descendant of William Brewster and three other Mayflower families…so enjoyed these glimpses of life in Leiden….I took my 2 adult sons to Leiden a few years back…finally after younger son had the “brilliant” idea to consult a city map we found the alley like street where WB lived and worked…[williambrewsterstrasse?] took some pictures there as well as the location marked as the debarkation point of the first group of “Pilgrims”…beautiful city….friendly and helpful people – the most bicycles I had ever seen in one spot at train station…that is until we got to Amsterdam…Jerri
I wish my family had thought to visit Leiden when we lived in Europe decades ago. Good for you! What are your Mayflower families? I have Cooke, Warren, Hopkins and Winslow.
Hi Teresa: In addition to Brewster I am descended from Soule, Warren and White……some people include Hopkins in the tree but I know of no proof..I have Winslows through his brother Kenelm who came later..a shame you missed Leiden…we were there 3 days…Jeremy? Bangs had/has a Pilgrim museum there, but unfortunately he was out of town so we could only look through the window at his marvelous collection..where did you live in Europe?..my favorite place to visit…Jerri
I lived in Germany as a child.
Well, we’re related through Richard Warren, anyway! Hi cousin! Also, White’s widow married Winslow, so she is the mother of the White children and the Winslow children. So we’re related there, too!
Well indeed hi cousin…I don’t doubt that we would find numerous connections in later generations as well…I think Germany – at least what I saw – one of the prettiest countries..my late husband and I went by train from Heidelberg to Berlin and then to what is now Poznan Poland to find his Prussian grandfather’s birth village [which we did] then back to Berlin for a few days…Do you have Dutch ancestry as well? My maternal and paternal line goes back to early New Netherlands: De Hooges, Vandervliet, Cranckheyt, Banckert are a few names..Jerri..
Yes, I have Dutch on both sides. On my mother’s side are people from the Achterhoek, like Yvette’s father’s line. On my dad’s side are people from the coast. Van Crijninggen and Collier.
Well no obvious links there…I haven’t spent much time with the Dutch side…but now that I found this blog may be able to trace them…The Van Ettens and some others I believes were from Brabant…but beyond that no little…Nice to chat with you…Jerri
Well no obvious links there…I haven’t spent much time with the Dutch side…but now that I found this blog may be able to trace them…The Van Ettens and some others I believes were from Brabant…but beyond that no little…Nice to chat with you…Jerri
should review before I hit send…beyond that know little…J
Your trip to the American Pilgrim Museum and Jeremey Bangs. It is too bad you missed meeting him and the tour of the two rooms. Very interesting. We met him and went thru the museum in the fall of 2012, about the time we first met with Yvette Hoitink to help us with our Brink family genealogy.
I have some pictures of the inside if you would care to see them that I would certainly shared with you. You can reach me thru my email: DRBpegasos@aol.com
Best Regards,
Dennis Brink
Thanks for the website reference. Those few pilgrims on the Mayflower produced a lot of descendants here in the USA and I am one of them.! Like the Dutch (accordingly to my grandfather) “if you are related to one of them, you are related to all of them”. My grandfather was referring to the Dutch community where I grew up, but his adage refers to the Pilgrims as well. Many of us with one Pilgrim ancestor can find connections to other Pilgrims. Genealogy is a true web.
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I am related to Dr. Samuel Fuller. I am searching for his wife whom her married in 1617. I believe her name was Briget Lee. I think they are the parents of Samuel Fuller Jr. who married Two different Elizabeth’s Brewster and Bowman. Their daughter Mercy Fuller married Daniel Cole. Any help with Briget Lee being Samuel Fuller Jr. would be appreciated. Sarah Howe at. Bloomboxes2@gmail.com
Elizabeth Bowen was second wife. Typo above.
Good day,
Trying to find my Dutch Ancestors.
Willem van Zijl (surname had different spellings)
1. Born 1666-1668
2. Wife Christina van Loveren ( born: 7 Jun 1673 in Amsterdam)
3. Married 28 Nov 1694 in De Oude Kerk (both declared parents were already dead)
4. First Child, Willemina, were baptised in Haarlem plus minus 1695
5. Second Child, Albertus, were baptised in Velsen, just outside Haarlem, in 1697.
6. They then got on a ship De Drie Kronen, 1698 to Cape of Good Hope, after his brother Frans van Zijl, wrote him a letter to come to Cape of Good Hope. Frans was a soldier on the ships of the VOC.
7. 23 Januarie 1699 they landed at Cape of Good Hope with the Willem A. van der Stel who was another ship and was the Governer of The Cape of Good Hope.
I have my line descendants from Willem, but would really like to go further back. We are not really sure who were Willem’s Parents.
On Leon van Zijl webiste his parents are: Willem Willemsz (van Zyl) van Zijl and Aeltgen Pieters (van Adegeest) van Zijl
On other discussions on Geni they are: Willem Dircxz van Zuijlen, residing in Geerweg and Catharina Jans Cortleven, residing in Achterom.
Christina van Loverens Parents were:
Father: Jan Juriaensz van Loveren formerly Juriaensz (Born about 1640)
Mother: Annatjie “Annatje” Jans aka van Loveren (Born about 1643)
Van Zijl and Van Zuijlen sound like different names to me. I recommend you go back to the original sources and make your own interpretations rather than relying on online trees.
As far as I know our surname was spelled van Zijl, different documents also have this spelling. But along the years because we speak Afrikaans the “ij” turned into an “y” and on other death notices and other notices the Zijl/Zyl was also written as Seil, Zejl, Zeil, Zijl and Zijll.