Person:Wilhelm De Duyster (1)

Remembering that Roelof is stated to be "van Heerden," it is just possible that Wilhelm may be the Willem Janszen "van Heerden," who 18 Dec., 1654, m. Leentje Martens, the widow of the patriotic Jochem Pieterszen Kuyter. Kuyter was slain by the Indians, March, 1654, and his widow, probably for protection in those troublous times, re-married without delay, and was herself massacred 15 Sept., 1655; her husband by some means escaping (Riker’s Harlem, 92, 160, 162, etc.). As Leentje Martens appears as early as 20 Oct., 1639 (N. Y. D., 2-10), she was probably a matured woman at her remarriage, and the entry gives no information whether Willem Janszen was a widower or single. Heerden was a very small village, about 30 miles N. N. E. from Arnheim in Gelderland, Holland. But the matter is pure conjecture, and Willem’s issue, if any, must have been by an assumed prior marriage.

1.   The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ancestral File (R) (2). (Copyright (c) 1987, June 1998, data as of 5 January 1998).