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The longest Chain Marriage in Dutch history

Dutch law is very simple about how a marriage can end: either by divorce, or by death. This is not the case for a chain marriage. 

A chain marriage always starts as a normal marriage, where 2 people (let's call them A and B) who have not been married previously, are joined. Suppose now that A dies, and B re-marries C. If then B dies, and C re-marries D, then we have the following chain of marriages: (AB)-(BC)-(CD). C and D have no relationship with A and B whatsoever, but they are linked through the previous marriage(s) of their partners.

These chain marriages can in principle go on forever, but the longest known in Dutch history is over a century old, and my direct ancestor Jan Cornelisz Roobol was quite involved in it:

  1. Arij Eliasz. Speelman (1672 - 1717) married (banns in Pernis on 13 Apr 1703 Maartje Janse Burger (1678 - before 1712).
  2. Arij Elisaz. Speelman (1672 - 1717) re-married (banns in Pernis on 1 Jan 1712) Neeltje Bastiaanse de Ruijter (1688 - 1744).
  3. Neeltje Bastiaanse de Ruijter (1688 - 1744) re-married in Pernis on 4 Dec 1718 Jan Cornelisz. Roobol (about 1690 - 1755).
  4. Jan Cornelisz. Roobol (about 1690 - 1755) re-married in Pernis on 17 May 1748 Annetje Maartensdr. Vermaat (1718 - before 1779).
  5. Annetje Maartensdr. Vermaat (1718 - before 1779) re-married (banns in Pernis on 26 Mar 1756) Jan Huibregtse Kock (1718 - about 1758).
  6. Annetje Maartensdr. Vermaat (1718 - before 1779) re-married (banns in Pernis on 12 Jul 1759) Heijndrik Reijerse van Eijk (1731 - 1817).
  7. Heijndrik Reijerse van Eijk (1731 - 1817) re-married in Barendrecht on 9 Jan 1780 Ariaantje Pieters Groeneweg (1734 - 1820).

This chain is 7 marriages long, and started on 13 April 1703, as Arij Speelman published the banns in Pernis with Maartje Burger. It ended on 2 January 1817 in 's-Gravenambacht, with the death of Heijndrik van Eijk, thus ending his marriages with Ariaantje Groeneweg. Because she did not get married again, and died in 1820, the chain, which had lasted for almost 117 years, was broken.

 

©1998-2009 Family Affairs. First version: 18 okt 1998.  Last changed on 21 okt 2009.