Mertz Genealogy - Person Sheet
Mertz Genealogy - Person Sheet
Name8G GM Elizabeth Ter Himpel 
Birth12 November 1637
Death12 May 1681
Spouses
Birth12 November 1635, Holland
Memo(find-a-grave)
Death30 November 1714, Germantown, Phila Co, PA
Memo(find-a-grave)
BurialGermantown Mennonite Cemetery, Germantown, PA
ChildrenPieter Dirck (1676-1724)
Dirck (-<1756)
My Comments notes for 8G GM Elizabeth Ter Himpel
In one Internet biography of Dirck Keyser, it said that the Dutch family of Keyser was descended from a Bavarian line and was first represented in Amsterdam by Dirck’s grandfather, Gerrit Keyser. And that Dirck’s grandfather on his mother’s side was a Mennonite minister -- the religion Dirck followed.
My Comments notes for Dirck (Spouse 1)
This is my edited (abbreviated) version of an address given by Charles S Keyser at the Keyser Family Reunion in 1888. It sounds authoritative because it includes details from his life in Amsterdam before coming to America and because it refers to a family bible -- in other words, it appears to be fact based research. [But keep in mind, there was a similar address given at the Hilbish -- my grandfather’s ancestor -- family reunion in 1890 on the ancestry of that family -- and much of it turned out to be not true.]
"Dirck Keyser, The Founder of the Family in America, was born in 1635; he was up to the time of his departure for Germantown engaged in the manufacture and sale of all kinds of silk and silk wares, on Printzen Graght opposite Reestraat in Amsterdam. His marriage with his first wife, Elizabet ter Himpel is recorded with the formalities belonging to a man of prominence; the banns were published at Amsterdam, in all the churches, and on the 22nd of November 1668, the marriage formally solemnized in the church at Buyckesloot, in the presence of the Lord and congregation. She died Monday, the 12th of May, 1681, aged forty-three years six months. By this marriage he had two sons, Dirck, and Pieter Dirck Keyser; and one daughter Elizabet, who died June 23, 1681.
He married a second time, Johanna Harperts Snoeck also in the church at Buyckesloot on the 22nd of November 1682. She lived only four years, and on Thursday, the 29th of August, 1686, was buried from his residence on the Printzen Graght in the Wester Kerk, in the thirty-eighth year of her age. By this marriage he had a daughter Johanna and one Cornelia who died 22 October 1686. Two years after, in 1688, he emigrated with his little motherless family from Amsterdam, then being fifty-three years of age. He brought with him his sons, Pieter Dirck, and Dirck by the first wife; and his daughter Johanna by his second wife, the survivors of the family of five children.
They arrived in New York in the fall of the year 1688; his daughter Johanna, a little girl five years old, died on their way to Germantown in September that year. He could not remember the day she was buried, but the place was on a plantation named Congenaue between that city and Philadelphia. He was a man of most excellent scholarship, of exceptional refinement and of great determination and endurance -- qualities, some of which, as we have seen, were notably shown by the first bearers of our surname, of whom we have knowledge.
He invested in land in Germantown, first a purchase from Cornelius Cieuviers on the 9th March, 1688, prior to his coming here, twenty-five acres, and then fifty acres from Strieper in April 1689, and again twenty-five acres on the 12th September, 1689, from Herman up de Graff, attorney for Dirck Sipman. He was one of the original possessors who cast lots April 4, 1689, and drew lot 22, fifty acres as originally located October 29, 1687. It lay on the east side of the Main Street toward the Bristol Turnpike. He was naturalized March 7, 1691, taking the oath of allegiance to the British government and again by act of Assembly 1708. He was engaged in the ministration of the Gospel until his death, a venerated father of the family, and beloved follower of the Saviour.
We have been able to make certain the fact that he was exercising the duties of the ministry from 1708 to 1714 here in the old log meeting house -- the First Mennonite Church of Germantown -- and the first in the Province; the following record of a marriage is in the old family Bible of Jacob Kolp, 'Married, Jacob Kolb and Sarah Van Sintern May 2nd 1710 by Dirck Keyser in the presence of the full congregation in the log meeting house in Germantown.' He was among the first promoters of the first school in Germantown -- and its continuous supporter, his first subscription was made to it December 27, 1702.
He lived until the 30th of November, 1714, and died here aged seventy-nine years. He carefully preserved the records of the marriages and deaths in his immediate family on the male and female sides and they are yet in the family's possession. Among his effects was a copper plate which contains the arms of Holland, his monogram, place of business, the arms of the family, with silkworms and skeins of silk, which was used in his business, it has been an object of much interest to the family and is now in the possession of its oldest living descendant.”
"Dirck Keyser, The Founder of the Family in America, was born in 1635; he was up to the time of his departure for Germantown engaged in the manufacture and sale of all kinds of silk and silk wares, on Printzen Graght opposite Reestraat in Amsterdam. His marriage with his first wife, Elizabet ter Himpel is recorded with the formalities belonging to a man of prominence; the banns were published at Amsterdam, in all the churches, and on the 22nd of November 1668, the marriage formally solemnized in the church at Buyckesloot, in the presence of the Lord and congregation. She died Monday, the 12th of May, 1681, aged forty-three years six months. By this marriage he had two sons, Dirck, and Pieter Dirck Keyser; and one daughter Elizabet, who died June 23, 1681.
He married a second time, Johanna Harperts Snoeck also in the church at Buyckesloot on the 22nd of November 1682. She lived only four years, and on Thursday, the 29th of August, 1686, was buried from his residence on the Printzen Graght in the Wester Kerk, in the thirty-eighth year of her age. By this marriage he had a daughter Johanna and one Cornelia who died 22 October 1686. Two years after, in 1688, he emigrated with his little motherless family from Amsterdam, then being fifty-three years of age. He brought with him his sons, Pieter Dirck, and Dirck by the first wife; and his daughter Johanna by his second wife, the survivors of the family of five children.
They arrived in New York in the fall of the year 1688; his daughter Johanna, a little girl five years old, died on their way to Germantown in September that year. He could not remember the day she was buried, but the place was on a plantation named Congenaue between that city and Philadelphia. He was a man of most excellent scholarship, of exceptional refinement and of great determination and endurance -- qualities, some of which, as we have seen, were notably shown by the first bearers of our surname, of whom we have knowledge.
He invested in land in Germantown, first a purchase from Cornelius Cieuviers on the 9th March, 1688, prior to his coming here, twenty-five acres, and then fifty acres from Strieper in April 1689, and again twenty-five acres on the 12th September, 1689, from Herman up de Graff, attorney for Dirck Sipman. He was one of the original possessors who cast lots April 4, 1689, and drew lot 22, fifty acres as originally located October 29, 1687. It lay on the east side of the Main Street toward the Bristol Turnpike. He was naturalized March 7, 1691, taking the oath of allegiance to the British government and again by act of Assembly 1708. He was engaged in the ministration of the Gospel until his death, a venerated father of the family, and beloved follower of the Saviour.
We have been able to make certain the fact that he was exercising the duties of the ministry from 1708 to 1714 here in the old log meeting house -- the First Mennonite Church of Germantown -- and the first in the Province; the following record of a marriage is in the old family Bible of Jacob Kolp, 'Married, Jacob Kolb and Sarah Van Sintern May 2nd 1710 by Dirck Keyser in the presence of the full congregation in the log meeting house in Germantown.' He was among the first promoters of the first school in Germantown -- and its continuous supporter, his first subscription was made to it December 27, 1702.
He lived until the 30th of November, 1714, and died here aged seventy-nine years. He carefully preserved the records of the marriages and deaths in his immediate family on the male and female sides and they are yet in the family's possession. Among his effects was a copper plate which contains the arms of Holland, his monogram, place of business, the arms of the family, with silkworms and skeins of silk, which was used in his business, it has been an object of much interest to the family and is now in the possession of its oldest living descendant.”