Person:Evertje Bekenkamp (1)

The Keuzenkamp family are members of the Reformed Church. The church books of Diepenheim (baptism, marriage, membership; no death records) start in 1683 and do not mention the baptism of Teunis or Evertje. We conclude that they were born before 1683, probably about 1680. The consequence is that we do not know the names of their parents and, therefore, Teunis is our "earliest" Keuzenkamp.

Teunis is not mentioned in the membership of Diepenheim, but in the list of Velsen I found that on March 31, 1703, he became a member by confirmation. And on October 7, 1703, he got attestation to Honselersdijk (a village near Kethel). It is not clear when he moved from Honselersdijk to Kethel.

From the membership list of the Delft church it appears that Teunis and Evertje came from Kethel to Delft in May 1719. Moreover, in the old days, Delft had a so-called "admission register" in which persons are mentioned who got permission to come and live in Delft or to leave Delft. According to this register Teunis got permission on April 4, 1718, to come to Delft with wife and children and the actual move took place May 1719.

There is a last will of Teunis and Evertje drawn up at Delft on July 17, 1721. It is present in the Delft municipal archive under inv. no. 2613, folio: 132. It is a simple last will in favour of the survivor. It does not appear that the couple had any particular wealth. Children are not mentioned.

According to Abraham Keuzenkamp, researcher of the Keuzenkamp name who is responsible for the collection held by the Centraal Bureau Voor Genealogie in Den Haag, Netherlands, the word "keuz" means pebbles or stones and "kamp" means farm. He believes that it is likely that today's Keuzenkamp family comes from the Nijenhuis estate near Diepenheim, Netherlands. Diepenheim is a small village in the Twente region of the Netherlands. About one mile east of Diepenheim is the estate Nijenhuis. This estate is mentioned in archives in about 1380. The first house of the estate owner was built in 1491.

A vast area of land belongs to Nijenhuis, including a tenant farm called Keuzenkamp. There is a land-tax register of Twente of 1601. This register was published again in 1985 in the form of a book. The original inscription for the tenant farm has the date 1602 and the name of the farm was then Kosencamp. In 1980 the name was Keuzenkamp and the address is Nijenhuiserlaan 1, Diepenheim.

A cadastral map of 1825 shows a tenant farm named Keuzenkamp on the Nijenhuis estate. According to Abraham's research, many people in the Netherlands in the 1600's did not have surnames. At about the time of Napoleon, people were required to have a last name and many simply adopted the name from the area in which they lived and worked. Abraham believes that the tenant farmers working the Keuzenkamp tenant farm adopted the name and that they are the earliest "Keuzenkamps" -- the earliest known to be Teunis Keuzenkamp (born about 1680).

13 July 2000 Abraham Keuzenkamp, The Hague, Netherlands

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Keuzenkamp, Abraham, Keuzenkamp Family Genealogy, in Archives of the Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie, Den Haag, Netherlands.

   Evertje Bekenkamp is mentioned in the membership list of Diepenheim. On March 23, 1701, she became a member by confirmation. On February 18, 1703, she got attestation to Velsen on the basis of which she became a member of the Velsen church on March 31, 1703. On February 3, 1704, she got attestation to Haarlem and she became a member of the Haarlem church on October 10, 1704.