Hendrik Van Cooten’s early years

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I’ve been trying to think about what is knowable about Hendrik Van Cooten’s early years. I know that he was christened in Doorn Reformed Church on 5 Jul 1750. He was the son of a carpenter, and had six living brothers and sisters. He was the second child of the family, and the eldest son.

I don’t know where he lived, or where he was educated. I do know that by 26 April 1771 Hendrik van Cooten was officially recognized as a chartered land surveyor (“landmeter”) by the provincial government of Utrecht. In his testimony at the John Smith trial he indicates that he arrived in the colony in February, 1773. By 1775 he has assisted in the production of a map of the plantations lying along the west bank of the Demerara River. How did he get to Demerara? What was his motivation?

Utrecht Archives

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The Utrecht Archives contains many online resources. In particular is the database of extracts and digitised images of certificates of notaries who resided in the city Utrecht. The database contains over 167,500 extracts for the period 1663-1783, all having digitised images.

As Utrecht was the base of much commerce with the Demerara colony, many contracts are contained in this archive relating to families in Utrecht with connections to Demerara. Searching for ‘Demerarij’ and variants results in 62 hits covering the period 13-10-1750 to 15-03-1809. I wish my Nederlands was sufficient to let me make more sense of these. For me, the most significant of these is the the document that links Hendrik Van Cooten of Demerara with his family in Doorn. I have put up a transcript and translation of this document.

Goals

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When I started family history research I just wanted to find out as much as I could, in a fairly vague sense. As time went on, three main goals materialised. They were:

  • Finding Hendrik Van Cootens origin in the Netherlands
  • Establishing contact with the descendants, if any, of Margaret Hughes Van Cooten
  • Establishing contact with the descendants, if any, of John Rodolphus Van Cooten

Over the past few years all of the goals have been met, largely as a result of people contacting me after finding information on my web site! So, I need some new goals. I’ll be working on:

  • Who was John Hughes Van Cooten’s mother? It looks as though it was Emona Hughes, but where did she come from? And what was her story?
  • John Hughes Van Cooten’s birth certificate.
  • Margaret Hughes Van Cooten’s birth certificate.
  • Do any descendants of Hendrik Van Cooten exist in Guyana? What happened to Hendrik’s other children and their descendants?
  • Are any of the Van Cootens living in and around Vryheids Lust in Guyana descendants of Hendrik, and what do they know of their history?

London Gazette

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Sources for British Guiana research are rather hard to come by. I’ve just (re)discovered the London Gazette archives. The London, Edinburgh, and Belfast Gazettes are the official newspapers of record in the United Kingdom and include notices relating to State, Parliament, Planning, Transport, Public Finance.

A large proportion of notices published in the London, Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes are mandatory, including Insolvency and Bankruptcy notices. Clicking on Archive>Full Search allows search of archives that cover most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and seem to go back as far as back as 1752.

Searching for British Guiana as of 24-July-2007 brings up 2264 entries, the oldest being from 18-February-1831:

The King has been pleased to appoint Major-General Sir Benjamin D’Urban, K. C. B. to be Governor and Commander in Chief of British Guiana, comprehending the Colonies of Demerary, Essequibo, and Berbice.

Searching for “Van Cooten” and variations brings up 20 entries, many from the Demerara colony in the 1820’s. Searching for “Demerary” results in 1002 gazettes dating back to 27-November-1784.

NOTICE is hereby given to tbe Officers and Seamen who were actually on Board His Majesty’s Sloop Fly, Milham Ponsonby, Esq; Commander, at the Capture of the Cargo of the Brigantine Hope, Hans Pieter Fynboe, Master, from Demerary to Amsterdam, condemned in the Court of Vice Admiralty of Tobago, and sold there, that the Shares of Prize Money due to the said Officers and Seamen shall be paid unto them on Monday the 6th Day of December next, at the French Horn, in Crutched-fryars; and the Shares remaining undemanded will be recalled the First Monday in every Month for Three Years to come.

More research in this resource is needed.