"Family Name: The surname of our family
name is common to every nation....
"No other man with this surname, as far as we have
knowledge, arrived in Pennsylvania prior to the coming of the founder of our
family, nor anyone very certainly, for fifty years after his coming, so that
there is no one living among us, probably, with our name, except in our family,
who can trace his line back of 1749. It was as far as the emigration
here is concerned, a singularly exclusive name; among the list of 30,000 German,
Dutch and Huguenots arriving here since 1688, there were but six with the name
and none prior to 1749: Leonard Keyser, September 26, 1749, Joh.
George Keyser, 1750, Johan Jacob Keyser, 1752, Andreas Keyser,
1753, who might be one of our family returning from a voyage, as also Johannes,
1757, and Philip Keyser, 1773.
"The Arms of the Family. -- In connection
with our immediate family the name obtained whatever distinction it had in past
times, in Bavaria whence the family originally came; the arms on the copper
plate of our ancestor used, now over two hundred years ago, certainly, and
beyond of this of a date yet undeterminable, are the arms of the family in
Bavaria.
"The Ancestry of the Family. -- The first one of the
family in the male line of whom we have certain knowledge is Leonhard Keyser
of
Scharding in Bavaria. In the early part of the sixteenth century this
greater ancestor of ours separated from the Catholic Church and identified
himself with the true believers; .... After his death the family went down
into the Netherlands, and prior to the emigration here for a century and longer,
lived and are identified by association and marriage, as a Holland family.
They were manufacturers and business-men in Amsterdam for the four generations
of which we have information -- say a period of a hundred and thirty years.
Dircksz Keyser, the grandfather of the
Dirck Keyser who
emigrated here, and himself one of the sons of a Dirck Keyser living
there, had two children of whom we have an account --
Dirck Gerritsz Keyser,
a morocco leather manufacturer of Amsterdam, and Jannetye Gerritsz Keyser.
Dirck Gerritsz Keyser, the father of the
Dirck Keyser who
emigrated here, married Cornelia, daughter of Tobias Govertz van den
Wyngaert; she was one of a family of three or more children living in
Amsterdam. One of her brothers was Tobias Govertz, Jr., and she had
a sister who married Gerrit Gerritsz Vortgens, who died in Amsterdam and
was buried in the Norder Kerckhof, June 4, 1662. Gerrit Gerritsz
Vortgens' residence at the time of his death was in Korte-lange Street, in
the Emerick Arms; he had a brother, Arent Gerritsz Vortgens.
Direck
Gerritsz Keyser's sister Jannetye married Galenus (Geleyn) Jacobsz,
who survived her husband, and lived in Amsterdam until her death, September 1,
1669. The family were living in 1655 in Elandt Street, opposite the Witte
Beer.
"Dirck Gerritsz Keyser by his marriage had four sons --
Dirck,
Gerritsz,
Dirk,
Tobias
Dircksz, one other, who was the youngest son, whose name is not
given, and one daughter, Anneken.
Dirck, the first son, who
emigrated her, married Elizabet ter Himpel, daughter of Elizabet, nee
van Singhel, the wife of Pieter ter Himpel of Amsterdam. She
had brothers: Pieter ter Himpel, Jr., Aernaut and Dirck ter Himpel.
Pieter ter Himpel, Sr., a woolen draper of Amsterdam, lived in the first
Lelydwars Street, by the Bloemgraft, and died December 10, 1680. Pieter
ter Himpel, Jr., died 23d January, 1681, and was buried January 25 in the
Norden Kerekhof.
"Elizabet ter Himpel, the mother, lived in the Halsteegh, in the
house ter Eimpel, and had two brothers -- Pieter van Singhel and
Jan van Singhel. She died October 14, 1656, and was buried in the
South Church.
"Gerritsz Dircksz,
the second son, married Josyntye van Gestel, daughter of Jan van
Gestel. She died June 27, 1676. He was then living in Blandt
Street, in the Resting Hart.
"Dirk Gerritsz Keyser
was
in 1655 living in Elandt Street, in the Resting Hart. His youngest son was
buried from this house, in the Wester Kerk, July 12, 1655.
"Tobias Dirksz,
his
third son, was buried September 18, 1655, in the Wester Kerk.
"His daughter,
Anneken,
died June 17, 1681. :
TO:
Keyser Bicentennial Reunion Book (Beginning)
TO:
DIRCK KEYSER (Emigrant)
TO:
DIRCK KEYSER, Junior (Son/Emigrant)
TO:
PIETER DIRCK KEYSER, Junior (Son/Emigrant)
TO:
ENDURANCE AND STATURE OF KEYSERS
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