Person:Gysbert de Veer (1)

Gysbert was the first Mennonite bearing the surname de Veer. He was most likely baptized a Catholic as an infant, but re-baptized an Anabaptist as an adult, sometime in the 1570s or 1580s, when persecution of Mennonites still existed.^[2]

He was a grain merchant on the North Sea route between the Netherlands (Amsterdam) and Prussia (Danzig)^[4].

Gysbert lived in Amsterdam from 1580 until after 1583, then settled in Danzig sometime between 1583 and 1588, where he was one of the first members of the Danzig church congregation. He moved back to Amsterdam before 1600, where 'he was successful and wealthy enough that he qualified for the rank of citizen (burgher) of Amsterdam in 1601'. He returned to Danzig in 1612.^[4]

It is not certain that he was the son of Janss Gijsbrecht, born Aug 11, 1521 in Veere, but it appears likely, based on his name.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Gysbert Jansz De Veer #12796, in California Mennonite Historical Society. GRANDMA: Genealogical Registry and Database of Mennonite Ancestry.

   Birth: 14 May 1556, Schiedam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands (citing De Nederlandsche Leeuw, page 338, as well as a number of genealogies)
   Death: 17 May 1615, Danzig, Poland (citing De Nederlandsche Leeuw, page 338, as well as a number of genealogies)

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Genealogy of the Manitoba Fehrs and DeFehrs before the Russian Emigration, James Jakob Fehr online (www.philos.

   '... , the very first Mennonite bearing this surname [de Veere], Gysbert Jansz. de Veer, came from Schiedam, where he was born 14 May 1556.'

3. ↑ Genealogy of the Manitoba Fehrs and DeFehrs before the Russian Emigration, James Jakob Fehr online (www.philos.

   'He then moved his residence back to Danzig in 1612, three years before his death 17 May 1615 at the age of 59.'

4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Genealogy of the Manitoba Fehrs and DeFehrs before the Russian Emigration, James Jakob Fehr online (www.philos.