A 17th century van Heesen from Diksmuide in service of the VOC

Logo of the VOC

I recently came across a certain Jacob Odent van Heesen from Diksmuide in the records of the so called scheepssoldijboeken (the ship's pay-ledgers for salary administration) of the Dutch East India Company (the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC; Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie in modern spelling), which are stored in the National Archives of the Netherlands in The Hague.

As part of these pay-ledgers there are also verzoekboeken, i.e. books or records that contain the requests of VOC servicemen and seamen to transfer part of their earned pay to close family or other people back home in the Republic. It is in such a verzoekboek, namely the one of the VOC ship Stavenisse (scan 419) that Jacob Odent van Heesen appears.

The Dutch East India Company or VOC

The Dutch East India Company or VOC was founded in 1602, in an attempt to unite the forces of the different Dutch companies that were active until then in the Asian trade and that were in essence short term companies that were incorporated for the purpose of a specific expedition and were liquidated when the journey had finished and the ship or fleet had returned home. These were high risk ventures and joining forces would help to reduce the overall risk level for the individual shareholders. The English had done this in 1600 with the creation of the East India Company. The States-General, the government of the Dutch Republic, had to follow suit to counter the competition of the English but also of the Portuguese.

The VOC received the monopoly for the trade between the Republic and the area east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Strait of Magellan. It had a decentralised organisation and consisted of six Chambers which were based in the cities from where the preceding short term companies were operated: Amsterdam and Zeeland (Middelburg), as the largest and most influential Chambers, and four smaller Chambers in Rotterdam, Delft, Hoorn and Enkhuizen. The VOC became the world's biggest trading company with many settlements across the trading route. At the pinnacle of its power the Company had 25,000 people in its service in Asia. Eventually, almost two centuries after the VOC was founded, it formally ceased to exist on the last day of the year 1799.

The typical voyage of the VOC fleet ships to Asia is shown in the picture below and went all the way along the African coast, passing the Cape, and then setting course to the Dutch East Indies (with capital Batavia, currently Jakarta).

Source: openarchives.

The Stavenisse

From the VOC verzoekboeken we know that Jacob Odent van Heesen came from Diksmuide, in the Spanish Netherlands, and that he had signed on to join the 156-headed crew of the third class VOC ship Stavenisse on the 24th of December 1684. That very same day he already stood out to sea, on the Stavenisse's third voyage ever, first heading for the Cape and ultimately to Batavia. 

The Stavenisse was built in 1681 for the VOC Chamber of Zeeland on its shipyard in Middelburg. It was a fluyt, a ship type the Dutch had designed for low-cost transport of bulk goods and that was deployed on a large scale in the 17th century East India trade. The Stavenisse was 130 ft (about 40 m) long and 31 ft (about 9.5 m) wide, with a depth of 13.5 ft (about 4.1 m). It could load up to 544 tons of cargo and was designed to carry a crew of about 150 people.

A 17th century Dutch fluyt, seen from starboard
(Source: National Maritime Museum of the Netherlands).

Under the command of master Gerrit van Leeuwen, the Stavenisse left on its outward voyage on the 24th of December 1684 in Wielingen (Zeeland), with 156 people on board: 91 seafarers, 61 soldiers and 4 regular passengers. Most likely, Jacob Odent van Heesen was one of the seafarers, and not a soldier, although this is not clear from the Stavenisse's verzoekboek. A look at the list of people that were on board of the ship shows that there were quite some men from the Southern or Spanish Netherlands, including about 20 from present-day West and French Flanders.

Exactly 116 travel days later, on the 19th of April 1685, the ship and its 156 men arrived at the Cape. Two seafarers and five soldiers went ashore and one other soldier came on board. The ship remained moored for about two weeks until it continued its voyage on the 5th of May. By the time the Stavenisse had reached its final destination in Batavia on the 26th of July, eleven of the men on board had died (eight seafarers and three soldiers). Since the departure in Zeeland, 214 days had passed.

What happened to Jacob Odent van Heesen? Was he one of those who went ashore at the Cape or did he continue his voyage to Batavia? Was he one of the unlucky few who had died on board between the Cape and Batavia. Or did he make it to Batavia and kept serving the VOC on the intra-Asia lines? Unfortunately, the VOC documents don't give us any clue that could help us answer these questions. Neither do we know whether Jacob, assuming he had managed to stay alive, eventually returned to his homeland.

If he made it to Batavia, it is possible that he sailed with the Stavenisse from Batavia to Bengal on the 31st of August. But it is not very likely that he joined the ship on the voyage back from Bengal to Zeeland. At the VOC, seamen were mustered for either an outward or a return voyage (either of which could last from 1 up to 1.5 years). Usually they had a multi-year contract, often lasting five years, during which they remained active on the intra-Asian trade. As a result, it is very uncommon to find VOC seamen on both the outward and homebound voyages of the same ship.

But, if he had been on the Stavenisse's return voyage from the Dutch East Indies back to Europe, then there was also a good chance that he would not make it after all. About two months after it had departed from Bengal on the 18th of December with a valuable load of textile, the Stavenisse was approaching the Cape. But during the night of the 16th of February 1686, in overcast weather and after a warning shout by the lookouts that they could see land, was ignored by the mate and officer of the watch (who insisted that they were 'fully 200 miles from the coast'), the ship ran aground and was wrecked just off the South African coast, south of the Bay of Natal and the mouth of the Utamvuna river. Only 60 castaways managed to survive and swim ashore.

Soon after, 47 of the survivors, including the ship's master Willem Knyff, set out to reach the Cape overland on foot. They were mostly treated kindly by the locals, except by a tribe they called Bushmen, who had murdered 17 of the castaways. The fate of 9 others remained unknown, and only 21 of them made it to the Cape. The 13 other survivors who had chosen to remain behind near the shipwreck were found by two English sailors from the English vessel Good Hope that was wrecked about 9 months earlier and about 20 miles further north. They took Stavenisse men to the settlement of the English survivors at Bay of Natal. Only 11 out of the 13 made it through this journey.

Meanwhile, the survivors who had made it to the Cape had testified to their superiors about Natal, where their ship was stranded, as a land of friendly and hospitable people, with an abundance of wealth and gold. Following these testimonials, the Dutch ship Noord became the first one ever to moor in the Bay of Natal in January 1689, on a mission to search and rescue any remaining survivors of the Stavenisse shipwreck, but also to enter into a deal with the local people to buy Terra Natal, the land of Natal, and the wealth it included, from them.

Jacob Odent van Heesen

Who was Jacob Odent van Heesen? The VOC records do not give us a lot of information, except that he came from Diksmuide. Diksmuide is right in the center of the ancestral cradle of the family Van Eessen/Vaneessen/Vanheessen. It seems, therefore, not unlikely that Jacob is a descendant of this family.

Jacob signed on for service in the VOC in the Chamber of Zeeland on the 24th of December 1684. Assuming that he was a young man at the time, let's say at least 20 years old, he must have been born certainly before 1665. Unfortunately many of the old archive records of Diksmuide and other locations on the World War I frontline have gone lost forever. Also the parish registers of Diksmuide for the period before 1671 are no longer available, so I could not find any Jacob Odent van Heesen being baptised so far. Maybe other sources could bring relief in the future and show us who his parents and maybe further ancestors were.

Moreover, if he survived and either returned home or remained in Asia, there could be people that descend from him, maybe even in a direct male line. I wonder how the surname could have been corrupted into an Asian variant. Who knows, maybe future Y-DNA testing could bring a surprise.

The van Eessen DNA project is now open for participation!

I am glad to announce that the van Eessen DNA project has now gone live on the platform of Family Tree DNA! 

Please do visit the project site and have a look around at the different pages to get yourself acquainted. The project's first focus is the van Eessen surname including its many potential variants (see below) and the way it is inherited along the patrilineal or direct male line (your father’s father’s etcetera line).

We need people to participate! 

Right now the challenge is to recruit male volunteers to participate and have themselves tested. presumably, we will find them primarily in Belgium and the Netherlands, but any male around the world with a surname that is within the project scope is welcome: i.e. surnames like Van Eessen, Vaneessen, Vanheessen, but also de Heese, Hees, Heese, Heesen, Heeze, Heezen, Hese, Hesen, van der Esch, van Ees, van Es, van Esch, Van Essche, Van Esschen, van Essen, van Hees, van Heesch, van Heese, van Heesen, van Heessch, van Heeze, Van Heezen, van Hes, van Hese, Van Hessche, van Hesse, van Hessen, van Nes, Vaneesche, Vanesch, Vanesche, Vanese, Vanessche, Vanesse, Vanhees, Vanheesche, Vanheessche, Vanhese, Vanhessche, Vanhesschen, Vanhesse, Vanhessen, Vannes, Vannesche, Vannessche, Vannesse, as well as any other possible variant or similar surname that may exist.

Therefore, I am doing a warm appeal: if you have one of the surnames above or a similar one, please do get in touch and participate. We can only achieve results and learn more about our surname history possible shared ancestry if we have a sufficient number or people in the project. If you have one of the above surnames but are female, please persuade you father, brother, paternal uncle, cousin, etc. to participate on your behalf (see next for the reason why).

What kind of DNA test?

For the DNA project we focus on testing Y-DNA, which only males have and which is passed on from father to son, just like the surname. You'll find more info on the Overview page of the DNA project site. The 37 marker Y-DNA test of FTDNA is recommended as a minimum to start the testing process and to enable us to reliably confirm or rule out a genetic match with other project members within the genealogical timeframe (i.e. the historical period for which genealogical archive records are available). If you have done a test with fewer markers, you are encouraged to upgrade to at least 37 markers. Of course the Y-DNA tests with 67 or 111 markers will give you test results at a higher resolution, which is helpful when going beyond this genealogical timeframe, and trying to find matches with other surnames and gain insight in your deep ancestry (on the condition that other members have also tested with 67 or 111 markers). Of course upgrading to more markers is always possible.

Do you have questions?

Please do ask any questions you might have about the DNA project. You are encouraged to post them below or in the van Eessen Genealogy Group on Facebook. This way the answers to your questions will be public and accessible to everyone. Of course, you are free to write me an e-mail as well. As a project administrator I will do my best to reply to your questions within a reasonable timeframe.

van Eessen etymology (2), surname variants and distribution

In a previous post, we concluded that the West Flemish van Eessen surname, together with its related variants Vaneessen en Vanheessen, is a locative surname referring to the toponym of Esen (previously Eessen), an old village now administratively part of Dixmude. The name Esen may originate from the old 'hees' or 'hese' meaning 'young beech forest' or 'bushes', but it most likely refers to a pre-medieval hydronym (M. Gysseling).

The -a ending of the earliest record Esna (10th century) is likely a remnant of an ancient Celtic language that was spoken in this region during the pre-Roman era and that increasingly came under pressure as a result of the expansion of the Roman empire, eventually leading to its extinction by the year 50 AD and replacement by Latin and later by Germanic (approx. 5th and 6th centuries AD). This remnant -a ending is believed to refer to an ancient Celtic word for water. Other early records of such pre-medieval hydronyms near Esen with the -a ending are Werckina (currently Werken) and Sarra (currently Zarren), and maybe also Lecca (currently Leke). Long before settlements were founded in these locations, the only possible travel routes in these densely forested area were often rivers, brooks, creeks and other water courses, which as a result of their importance had already received a name from the Celtic inhabitants. The meaning of these names often remains unclear. When a settlement was founded on the banks of a smaller water course (such as the early Esen), the name of the water course was often passed on to the settlement (in the beginning usually by means of a suffix), after which the original hydronym disappeared and the river itself received another, younger and more banal name.

The Flemish surnames that certainly have a link to the toponym of Esen are listed in the table below, together with their geographical distribution in Belgium. These surnames have a proven genealogical paper trail that traces back to the same ancestor in Slijpe in the 17th century: every single living person with one of these three surnames descends from that ancestor. There are not that many of them: the big majority lives in Belgium (in 2008 only 91 people).

	Surname	Geographic distribution (2007-2008)
1	Van Eessen	Middelkerke (7), Oudenburg (5), Koekelare (3), Kortemark (2), Torhout (2), Bredene (1), Ostend (1), Gistel (1), Jabbeke (1), Ichtegem (1), Koksijde (1), Veurne (1), Schilde (1) - 27 people in total
2	Vaneessen	Middelkerke (15), Aalst (10), Ostend (8), Bredene (1), Gistel (1), Jabbeke (1), Diksmuide (1), Wevelgem (1), Erpe-Mere (1), Zemst (1), Malle (1) - 41 people in total
3	Vanheessen	Ostend (5), Gistel (3), Aalter (3), Torhout (2), Merbes-le-Château (2), Middelkerke (1), Brugge (1), Moorslede (1), Gent (1), Merksem (1), Leuven (1), Binche (1), Erquelinnes (1) - 23 people in total
Total:		91 people in Belgium

The geographical distribution of surnames can easily be checked using familienaam.be (incl. the old site) for surnames in Belgium, the Dutch family name database for surnames in the Netherlands and geopatronyme.com for surnames in France.

The original ancestor of the people above in the time of surname adoption could have been a man that immigrated from Esen to a nearby location. If that was the case, he must have been very unique: the surnames above with a clear geographical signature in the relative vicinity of Esen (in the 17th century) are not only rare today. Also four to five centuries ago the surname was rather uncommon. What are the odds that only one man at the time of surname adoption emigrated from Esen and settled in a not so far away place (or some men, of whom only one lineage survived a couple of centuries later) where he was named after his place of origin? Could there be another explanation? There was a noble family van Eessen in the 11th century (see earlier post) and, possibly related to this ancient family, also a more recent noble family van Eessen counting among its members many magistrates (schepenen) of the Franc of Bruges in the 13th to 15th centuries. Could it be, given the rarity of the surname, that the present-day families Van Eessen, Vaneessen en Vanheessen descend from these early noble families?

Another question is whether these three related surname variants are the only ones remaining today that originate from the toponym Esen near Dixmude. There currently still are many other surnames that do show a degree of similarity with the three variants above. Of course the old toponymic word stem 'hees' or 'hese' appears plenty of times as a toponym or place-name in Belgium, the Netherlands and even Germany. Some examples of surnames that are derived from this old word stem are: Van Heesen, Van Hees, Van Heesch, Van Hese, Van Ees, Verhees(en), Verhesen, Verhe(e)zen, Verrees, Verresen or Verrezen.

While in most cases these and other similar names will have originated independently from other similar toponyms, rather than from the toponym Esen, it cannot be excluded that the surname van Eessen was brought to other regions further away from the surname cradle of Esen by male descendants who decided to emigrate in a time when the fixed surname was already more or less established. In the place where they started their new lives the link between the surname and the toponym of origin (Esen) was less obvious and as a result the surname could have undergone a spelling metamorphosis, potentially changing it into a variety of options. One emigration example already mentioned in a previous post is the case of Joannes van Eessene, born in 1600 in Reninge between Furnes and Ypres, who emigrated to Leiden in the Netherlands around 1620 to work there in the booming textile industry. He married (two times) and had plenty of offspring. The surname was passed on to the next generations, but could have assumed another, more localised, spelling over time. Genealogical research in Leiden and environment should point out whether there still are living patrilineal descendants and, if that is the case, reveal how their surname is spelled.

Below is an attempt at listing up as many as possible existing surnames that show a certain degree of similarity with the van Eessen surname. I have grouped them according to the areas where they are geographically most common. Some surnames will appear in more than one group. This is a very rough exercise, but it gives an indication of the surname variety out there.

The following table contains surnames that look in one way or another similar to the van Eessen surname and that occur in that part of the former County of Flanders that comprises present-day West Flanders in Belgium and French Flanders in the north of France. Most likely these surnames are not related to the van Eessen surname, but given the vicinity to the surname's place of origin, there may be instances of these surnames that are modern spelling variants and that may therefore be related.

Former County of Flanders (West & French Flanders)
	Surname	Geographic distribution (2007-2008)
1	Van Ees	Occurrence in the department Nord (FR)
2	Van Es	Occurrence in the department Nord (FR)
3	Van Essche	Common in the western part of West Flanders and the region of Tournai (BE), occurrence in the department Nord (FR)
4	Van Esschen	Occurrence in the departments Nord, Pas de Calais (FR)
5	Van Heessch	Occurrence in the department Nord (FR)
6	Van Hessche	Most common in West Flanders (around Bruges and the coast, and around Kortrijk), East Flanders (south of Ghent toward Kortrijk) (BE), occurrence in the departments Nord, Pas de Calais (FR)
7	Vaneesche	Occurrence in the departments Nord, Pas de Calais (FR)
8	Vanesch	Occurrence in the department Nord (FR)
9	Vanesche	Occurrence in the area of Kortrijk (BE) and the department Nord (FR)
10	Vanese	Occurrence in Hainaut (BE) and the department Nord (FR)
11	Vanessche	Most common in the area of Kortrijk (BE), occurrence in the departments Nord, Pas de Calais (FR)
12	Vanesse	Most common in Hainaut (around Tournai) (BE), occurrence in the departments Nord, Pas-de-Calais, Aisne (FR)
13	Vanheesche	Occurrence in the department Nord (FR)
14	Vanheessche	Occurrence in the department Nord (FR)
15	Vanhessche	Most common in West Flanders (in the area of Kortrijk toward Tournai and the south of East Flanders; near the coast around Oudenburg and Jabbeke) (BE), occurrence in the department Nord (FR)
16	Vanhesschen	Occurrence in the area of Kortrijk in West Flanders (BE) and the department Nord (FR)
17	Vanhesse	Occurrence in the department Nord (FR)
18	Vanhessen	Occurrence in the area of Oostende, Koekelare in West Flanders (BE)
19	Vannes	Occurrence in the departments Nord, Aisne (FR)
20	Vannesche	Occurrence in the area of Kortrijk in West Flanders, along the border with France (BE)
21	Vannessche	Occurrence in the department Aisne (FR)
22	Vannesse	Occurrence in the area of Kortrijk in West Flanders (BE)
23	Van Neste	Most common in West Flanders (mainly Bruges, Roulers, Kortrijk) (BE), occurrence in the departments Nord, Pas de Calais, Aisne (FR)
24	Vannest	Occurrence in Hainaut (BE)
25	Vanneste	Most common in West Flanders (mainly area of Kortrijk, then in area of Bruges) (BE), occurrence in the departments Nord, Pas de Calais, Aisne (FR)

The surname variants in the table below show a high concentration in the Waasland area in the Belgian province of East Flanders close to the Dutch border (once also part of the County of Flanders), with some presence as well in the nearby Dutch province of Zeeland.

Former County of Flanders (Waasland in East Flanders)
	Surname	Geographic distribution (2007-2008)
1	Van Heese	Most common in Zeeland (Hulst, Terneuzen, Sluis) (NL)
2	Van Heesch	Most common in Antwerp (BE); in Zeeland (Hulst), North Brabant (NL); some occurrence in Nord (FR)
3	Van Hese	Very common in East Flanders (area around Waasmunster and Sint-Niklaas), in Antwerp (BE), Zeeland (NL), some occurrence in the department Nord (FR)
4	Vanhees	Common in Zeeland (NL), some occurrence in the departments Nord, Pas de Calais (FR)
5	Vanhese	Most common in East Flanders (around Waasmunster and Sint-Niklaas) (BE)

In the text above I mentioned the Joannes van Eessen who emigrated to Leiden in the present-day Dutch province of South Holland. The following table includes surname variants occurring more or less in the vicinity of Leiden, i.e. South Holland and North Holland. Some of these might therefore potentially be modern spelling variants of the original van Eessene surname that came from Flanders and could be related. Genealogical research in Leiden and surroundings can give a decisive answer.

South Holland and North Holland
	Surname	Geographic distribution (2007-2008)
1	van Ees	Common along the axis Amsterdam, Leiden, The Hague
2	van Es	Most common along the axis Amsterdam, Haarlemmermeer, Haarlem, Leiden, The Hague, Rotterdam
3	van Hees	Most common in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and somewhat less in between
4	van Heese	Common in the area of Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam
5	van Heesen	Occurrences in the area of Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam
6	van Heijzen/van Heyzen	Some occurrence in the area of Rotterdam
7	van Hesse	Rare, but some occurrence in the area of Rotterdam
8	van Hessen	Rare, but some occurrence in the area of Rotterdam and Amsterdam
9	van Nes	Most common in Amsterdam, Leiden, The Hague, Rotterdam

The surnames in the table below are also variants but are most common in the area covered by the former Duchy of Brabant and the Prince-Bishopric of Liège. It is very unlikely that some of these surnames would be related to the van Eessen surname.

Former Duchy of Brabant and Prince-Bishopric of Liège
	Surname	Geographic distribution (2007-2008)
1	Van Es	More common in Flemish Brabant, Antwerp, Limburg (BE); widespread in the Netherlands
2	Van Esch	More common in Flemish Brabant, Antwerp (BE) and in North Brabant (NL)
3	Van Essche	More common in Antwerp, Flemish Brabant (BE)
4	Van Esse	More common in Flemish Brabant, Hainaut (BE) and Utrecht (NL)
5	Van Essen	More common in Antwerp, the north of Limburg (BE) and in Utrecht and Gelderland (NL)
6	Vanes	More common in Flemish Brabant and Antwerp (BE)
7	Vanesch	More common in Limburg, and somewhat less in Antwerp and Namur (BE)
8	Vanesche	More common in Antwerp and Flemish Brabant (BE)
9	Vanessche	More common in Flemish Brabant (BE)
10	Vanesse	More common in Brussels, Walloon Brabant, Namur, Liege (BE)
11	Van Hees	More common in the north of Antwerp, the north of Limburg (BE); widespread in the Netherlands, but more common in North Brabant
12	Vanhees	More common in Limburg, the north of Antwerp (BE) and North Brabant (NL)
13	Vanhessen	Some occurrence in Flemish Brabant (BE)
14	Van Nes	More common in Flemish Brabant, Antwerp (BE)
15	Vannes	More common in Limburg, Flemish Brabant, Antwerp (BE)

In order to conclude, I had a look at Maurits Gysseling's 1960 toponymic dictionary Toponymisch Woordenboek van België, Nederland, Luxemburg, Noord-Frankrijk en West-Duitsland (vóór 1226) from which I took all toponyms that show a certain degree of similarity with the toponym Esen. I have listed them in the below table together with their earliest reference and the most likely etymological meaning. The table is not exhaustive, as it is not difficult to find 'hees' or 'hese' or similar looking/sounding toponyms in Belgium and the Netherlands via Google Maps etc. that are not included here. But it clearly shows the wide variety of these toponyms, which could all have been the origin of one or multiple geographical surnames listed above.

Toponym	Location	Earliest reference	Etymology
Esen	near Dixmude (West Flanders, BE)	Esna (961)	pre-medieval hydronym
Esnes	near Cambrai (Nord, FR)	Aesna (1133)	pre-medieval hydronym
Sint-Lievens-Esse	near Aalst (East Flanders, BE)	Esca (1041)	proto-germanic Askja-, settlement name derived from the hydronym Asko-
Essen	near Antwerp (Antwerp, BE)	Esschen (1159)	proto-germanic Askja-, settlement name derived from the hydronym Asko-
Essen	near Düsseldorf (Nordrhein-Westfalen, DE)	Astnide (874)	Germanic astanipja-, apparently forest name
Essen	near Diepenveen (Overijssel, NL)	Esnen (1206)	-
Essene	near Brussels (Brabant, BE)	Eschen (1148)	proto-germanic Askinja- or Celtic Askinio-, settlement name derived from the hydronym Asko resp. Aska
Hées	near Achicourt (Arras, Pas-de-Calais, FR)	Hadas (869)	-
Hees	near Tongeren (Limburg, BE)	Hese (1062)	Germanic haisjo-, "young beech forest", later "bushes"
Hees	near Düsseldorf (Nordrhein-Westfalen, DE)	Hesim (828)	Germanic haisjo-, "beech forest", later "bushes"
Hees	near Ruinen (Drente, NL)	Hes (1181)	-
Hees	near Soest (Utrecht, NL)	Hesi (838)	-
Heessen	near Münster (Nordrhein-Westfalen, DE)	Hesnen (1200)	-
Hese	Forest near Xanten (Düsseldorf, DE)	Hese (1119)	Germanic haisjo-, "beech forest", later "bushes"
Heze	Northern Brabant (NL)	Hezia (784-85)	Germanic haisjo-, "beech forest", later "bushes"

Etymology of the van Eessen surname

As discussed in the previous blog post, the oldest known references to the van Eessen surname (as a byname in the 11th century), show that the most logic explanation for the surname is a geographical one: it is a toponymic surname referring to the toponym Esen (Eessen in the old spelling), now part of Dixmude (Diksmuide) in West Flanders, but previously an independent municipality.

In the 11th century the toponym Esen was already well established. It first appears in 961 in a charter of Count Arnulf I of Flanders, in the phrase "ecclesia de Esna cum capellis suis Diccamutha et Clarc". In those early times Dixmude ("Diccamutha") and Klerken ("Clarc", near Houthulst) still were subsidiary chapels of the mother parish Esen. Over the coming decades Esen would become the center of a real shire, Esen-Ambacht, within the Franc of Bruges, an administrative circumscription headed by a sheriff (schout). Its jurisdiction covered Esen, Klerken (Houthulst) and initially also Woumen. Back then this was all together a sizeable forested region on the southern shore of a big tidal cove with creek system flowing out into the North Sea, the Yser river estuary (see map below).

Foundation of parishes on the tidal border land between the Franc of Bruges (west of the thick quasi vertical dark grey solid line) and the shire of Furnes (Veurne-Ambacht, east of that line) during the 12th century. The mother parishes are underlined and connected with red lines to their daughter parishes. The thin horizontal solid black line on top is the current coast line, while the thin fanciful and irregular solid black lines to the left and right depict the 10th-11th-12th century coast line. In between them is the big tidal channel that flows out in the North Sea and that would later evolve into the current Yser river, which is also depicted on the map with a blue solid line. Esen as well as Diksmuide were on the southern shore of the channel and looked out on the sea (source: A. Verhulst, Historische ontwikkeling van het kustlandschap, 2000).

Together with Torhout, the shire of Esen was the only one in the Franc of Bruges known to have had only hereditary sheriffs, and no council of Aldermen (schepenbank) for judicial matter. According to E. Warlop, the first castellan of Dixmude (around 1088), the Ingran (or Ingelram) mentioned in the previous blogpost, was probably already hereditary sheriff of Esen-Ambacht by the time he was appointed castellan of Dixmude by the Count of Flanders, something he deducts from the fact that Ingran had assumed the byname van Eessen.

During the past one thousand years, the toponym of Esen has been spelled in quite a number of different ways. Some other references are Esnes (1066, 1096, 1106, 1208), Hesnes (1088), Hesna (1089, 1146), Esne (1100), Esna (1110, ±1115, 1127, 1161), Esene (1112, 1296, 1744), Esne (1225), Essen (1266), Essine (1292), Eessine (1368), Essenes (1419), Eessene (1512), Eessen (1903), and finally the current official spelling Esen (as of 1946).

But what exactly is the origin of the name Esen? There are diverging etymological explanations, of which the most recent ones are believed to be more plausible.

The 19th century West Flemish chronicler Pieter Lansens speculated that the name originated from the old verb eeschen (eisen in modern Dutch), which means to sue for something as a plaintiff in court. He refers to the old jurisdiction of Esen-Ambacht which according to him must have had its roots way back before the Middle Ages.

Later, around WWII, the Belgian toponymist Albert Carnoy thought that the actual word stem of the name Esen(e) was hees- or heis- which etymologically means undergrowth (kreupelhout), coppice (hakhout) or light woods (licht bos), combined with the word end -ene which etymologically means a collection. Together this meant wood of  undergrowth (bos van kreupelhout).

Finally, after WWII, the Belgian historical linguist Maurits Gysseling explained the name Esen as a pre-medieval hydronym, a water related name, based on the earliest reference and name variant Esna, without further specifying the meaning of the rather broad term 'pre-medieval'.

Given that Esen in the 10th century was located at the coast line, on the border land between a tidal area and a vast forest, it is reasonable to assume that the name refers to both a pre-medieval water related name, as well as a forest of undergrowth and coppice.



Sources:

• Lansens, P. Alouden staet van Vlaenderen. Brugge, 1841.
• Koch, A. C. F. De rechterlijke organisatie van het graafschap Vlaanderen tot in de 13e eeuw. Antwerpen-Amsterdam, 1951.
• Warlop, E. De vorming van de grote schepenbank van het Brugse Vrije (11e-13e eeuw). Standen en Landen, vol. 44, 1968.
• Warlop, E. The Flemish nobility before 1300. Kortrijk, 1975, 4 volumes.
• Verhulst, A. Historische ontwikkeling van het kustlandschap. Vlaanderen, jg. 49, 2000.
• Gysseling, M. Toponymisch woordenboek van België, Nederland, Luxemburg, Noord-Frankrijk en West-Duitsland (vóór 1226). z.p. (Leuven), 1960.
• Carnoy, A. Origines des noms des communes de Belgique (y compris les noms des rivieres et principaux hameaux). Louvain, 1948 (vol. I), 1949 (vol. II)

Origin of the van Eessen surname

The adoption of fixed surnames that were passed on from father to children, in an environment where until then people had been used to a single name system, was a gradual process. In the Low Countries, surnames were first adopted in the Southern Netherlands (which flourished quite a bit sooner than the North, with cities that were thriving from the High Middle Ages onward), especially the County of Flanders, and also in the cities and by the higher classes. Then, with time, the custom moved up north, and also to the rural areas, with the lower classes following suit.

The higher classes and nobility, especially in the County of Flanders, were the early adopters of the fixed surname custom, mostly driven by a desire to distinguish themselves from the common people. In the early times they often had a byname, rather than a hereditary family name: a so called epithet (and in certain cases an epitheton ornans). A byname could be ethnic, locative, occupational, or characteristic, but it was rarely passed on from the father to his children except maybe as a kind of patronymic. This way, in time, a byname could become a hereditary family name. In the County of Flanders, there were already hereditary surnames in the 13th century, and in its cities like Bruges or Ghent most citizens had fixed surnames by the 14th-15th century.

Similarly, also the surname van Eessen first appeared as a locative byname of an ancient noble family. As of the year 1088 a certain Ingerranus d'Hesnes (Ingelram van Esen, also referred to as Ingran of Esen in English works), castellan of Dixmude, appears as a signatory in the Flemish diplomatic sources. According to Dr. Ernest Warlop in his historical study The Flemish Nobility before 1300, Ingran was a member of the ancient noble House of Menen (a term coined by Warlop), a powerful clan in the 11th century County of Flanders. Before 1088 he was probably already sheriff (schout in Dutch, scaltetus in latinised form) of the shire of Esen (Esen-Ambacht), a hereditary office, and the highest administrative and judicial representative of the Count of Flanders in that shire.

When Dixmude was split off from the parish and the shire of Esen to form a separate parish and castellany, the Count of Flanders appointed Ingran as viscount (castellan) of the new castellany of Dixmude. This was common practice in the context of administrative reforms, used as a compensation for the loss suffered as a result of the creation of a new administrative circumscription that was taken from one's district. As a consequence, Ingran was both sheriff of the shire of Esen, as well as viscount of the new castellany of Dixmude.

It is very well possible that, in the course of the 12th century, this ancient noble byname developed into a hereditary surname, most probably along the lineage of the hereditary office of sheriff of the shire of Esen.

van Eessen in Camerlinckx-Ambacht and Gistel

As a general background, I'll list here my paternal lineage, starting from my grandfather (nr. 9 below) all the way back to my most distant known ancestor (MDKA) Nicolaas van Eessen (sometimes mentioned as van Eessenseune):

1. Nicolaas van Eessen (b. ca. 1610 p.o.b. unknown - d. 1669 Slijpe) x 1655 Janneken de Ruysschere (3rd marriage)
2. Joos van Eessen (b. 1664 Slijpe - d. 1730 Slijpe) x 1703 Arnolda de Pottere (2nd marriage)
3. Nicolaas van Eessen (b. 1713 Slijpe - d. 1772 Leffinge) x 1742 Joanna Verscheure
4. Pieter Vaneessen (b. 1742 Leffinge - d. 1818 Gistel) x 1769 Maria Goethals
5. Francis Van Eessen (b. 1780 Gistel - d. 1864 Gistel) x 1804 Cecilia Mestdagh
6. Francis Van Eessen (b. 1805 Gistel - d. 1855 Gistel) x 1839 Maria Devos
7. Karel Vanheessen (b. 1849 Gistel - d. 1919 Gistel) x 1879 Pauline Vanmaele
8. Emiel Vanheessen (b. 1880 Gistel - d. 1957 Gistel) x 1912 Clotilde Lingier
9. Maurits Vanheessen (b. 1921 Gistel - d. 2010 Ostend) x 1950 Margariet Knockaert

The map below shows the 3 locations (numbered in blue) where my known paternal ancestors were born and have lived: Slijpe (1), Leffinge (2) and Gistel (3). During the Ancien Régime (until the French Revolution), both Slijpe and Leffinge were part of the shire of Camerlinckx (Camerlinckx-Ambacht), with Leffinge being the main parish of the shire. Gistel was a town and centre of the neighbouring shire of Gistel (Gistel-Ambacht). Both shires were part of the Franc of Bruges (Brugse Vrije), a castellany of the County of Flanders.

It was Nicolaas, grandson of the old Nicolaas and youngest child of Joos in his second marriage, who brought the family to nearby Leffinge, when he married Joanna Verscheure in 1742. His eldest son Pieter married in 1769 in nearby Wilskerke (also Camerlinckx-Ambacht). After a short stay there, he settled in 1770 with wife and first child in Gistel, and started what was to become the branch with surname variant Vanheessen, inseparably connected with the town of Gistel (as the majority of its members have been living there for more than two centuries).

Can we break beyond the paper trail brick wall?

The key question with this lineage is of course whether we can trace it back even further than our most distant known ancestor Nicolaas. In a 1645 review list of able-bodied men of Slijpe (monsteringslijst van weerbare mannen), who had to help and defend the area against all kinds of pillagers in turbulent times of war, Nicolaas is mentioned as being 35 years old. Hence, we do know that Nicolaas must have been born around 1610.

Unfortunately, it so far remains unclear where exactly he was born. Still, we can safely assume that it was not in Slijpe. After the Battle of Nieuwpoort (2 July 1600), which actually was fought in Leffinge, and the subsequent three-year Siege of Ostend (1601-1604), the surrounding area and the Camerlinckx-Ambacht were completely devastated and depopulated. The original inhabitants had abandoned the place to seek refuge from the war violence. When the Twelve Year's Truce brought a period of relative peace and stability from 1609 to 1621, some of the original inhabitants returned to their villages to restore the ruins and reorganise their lives. In the subsequent years, many others followed in their footsteps, attracted by the available space and fertile soil (incl. families from the south of present-day West Flanders, and also from French Flanders and North Holland). Most likely there was also a family van Eessen among them, who came to settle in Slijpe in the 1620s together with their children, among whom was also our Nicolaas.

The question then is: where did they come from? We don't really know for sure, but there are clues and they have to do with the red dots in the above map. These red dots indicate places where we find references to people with the surname van Eessen, throughout the 16th century and in the beginning of the 17th century. At the time, these places were part of the shire of Furnes (Veurne-Ambacht), another castellany of the County of Flanders. One of these places was Reninge, where the early parish registers (beginning 17th century) even allow us to reconstruct a complete family. Given the rather small distance between this area and Slijpe (about 20 km), it would not be very unlikely if our family van Eessen that settled in Slijpe was related to this van Eessen family of Reninge.

As far as I know, the Reninge family does not have any living descendants via male lineages in Belgium. However, one of the sons of this family, Joannes van Eessene (born in 1600), migrated to Leiden in the Netherlands to work in the textile industry (Flemish textile workers were very much in demand then and were actively attracted by a number of cities, incl. Leiden). He married there in 1623 and started a family with several offspring, incl. male lines. This means that there could still be living male descendants of this Joannes in the Netherlands or elsewhere with a variant of the van Eessen surname. In such case and if we can identify these people (or if they happen to read this blog and get in touch) it would be possible to confirm or disprove a possible common ancestry in the area of Reninge, by carrying out a simple Y-DNA test.

There is also a green dot on the map, which represents the village of Esen, near Dixmude (Diksmuide). The van Eessen surname (as well as its variants) is derived from a toponym, and, again given the small distances, it likely refers to an early namesake who must have come from Esen, being in the period that fixed surnames were first adopted in our regions (12th-13th century). I also have some hypotheses here, but let's keep that for another post.

Welcome

Welcome to The van Eessen DNA blog! The starting point for this blog is my own paper trail genealogical research that traces my direct paternal lineage back to the polder village of Slijpe, now part of Middelkerke at the Flemish North Sea coast, where the parish registers of 1634 provide the earliest known record so far of Nicolaas van Eessen(seune). Nicolaas is the most distant known paternal ancestor (MDKA) of all currently living Flemish people with the surnames Van Eessen, Vaneessen en Vanheessen.

Within a genealogical timeframe, this blog will therefore - until further research breakthroughs - only be able to provide meaningful information to direct descendants of Nicolaas. However, between 1088 and 1634 there are plenty of mentions of the surname van Eessen (and variants) in diverse records. One of the challenges is to understand how these relate to our Nicolaas.

Beyond the genealogical timeframe, another important goal of this blog is to:

• bring together and inform all people with one of the many variants of the van Eessen surname, regardless of their country of origin (e.g. Van Eessen, Vaneessen, Vanheessen, Vanes(s)che, Van Essche, Vanhessche, Van Hessche, Van Hese, Vanhese, Van Essen, Vanhessen, ... in Flanders; van Heesen, van Heezen, van Hees, van Essen, van Hessen, van Hesse, ... in the Netherlands; other variants in other countries, possibly unknown to me at present); 
• eventually reveal or disprove possible kinship between these different namesakes (which can be done using genetic genealogy, a quickly developing and very promising approach to try to move beyond the brick wall of classical genealogy), something for which a Surname DNA Project can be set up;
• understand how the different surname variant groups fit into the big patrilineal human family tree;
• develop a broader one-name study of the different surname variants.

Although most people with a variant of the surname presumably live in the Low Countries and therefore speak native Dutch, I have decided to keep this blog in English in order to maximise the odds of reaching and involving all relevant people. 

The site is currently very much 'under construction' and I intend to feed it with regular updates. I hope you'll find something of interest. Feel free to engage, comment, ask questions, get in touch!