Short history of the de Fluiter family                                                                        

 

The de Fluiter family originates from the village Veenendaal. Veenendaal is a village in the centre of the Netherlands in the province of Utrecht. Veenendaal was founded in 1546 as a peat-colony.

The first de Fluiter I know about lived in 1622. There is a record of him in the archives of the 'Veenraden' in the village of Veenendaal. His name was Jan Willemsz Fluijter. (Willemsz=Williamsson). In 1622 Jan Willemsz had a job as 'Veenraad' in Veenendaal. A 'Veenraad' is a member of the administration. In this case the administration of the peat-digging going on in Veenendaal. I suppose he possessed some fields where peat was digged. (Veen is the Dutch word for peat and Veenendaal means: peatvalley).

In that period the name 'de Fluiter' was written without 'de' en with 'uij' instead of 'ui'. The name was also written as: Fleijter, den Fleijter, Fleuter. Since the beginning of the 19th century the name is written as de Fluiter.

In the same archive  I found Jan Jansz Fluijter. In 1653 he became 'contrarolleur' (Controller) of the peatworks. In 1654 he became director. The director had to manage the works in the peat-colony. So he had the task to inspect the state of affairs concerning dikes, watercourses and bridges.

Every year these officials were chosen from the group 'Veengenoten' (the people who possessed or rented peat).

In the registers of babtisms and marriages of Veenendaal, which started in 1676, Cornelis Jansz Fluijter is mentioned as first family member. He married about 1673 to Dirckje Fransz Ros. They had 6 children.  

All the de Fluiters I have found until now descend from Cornelis Jansz Fluijter en Dirckje Fransz Ros. See the genealogy. They were protestants.

At the end of the 18th century most of the peat was digged off. On the heath in the neighborhood of Veenendaal there were kept many sheep. The wool from these sheep was dealt on the market of Veenendaal. So after the peat was digged off and there was little peat left, many people lived on the working-up of wool. Most members of the family who lived during the 18th century became wool-carder, wool-washer, spinner or weaver. They were entrepreneurs who worked in their houses together with wife and children. They did not earn much but they also had a peace of land where they cultivated rye, buckwheat and potato’s. Perhaps they had a cow or pig in the stable for milk and meat. Their was a lot of heath in the neighborhood so they kept bees to collect honey. In this way they had an reasonable standard of living.

At the end of the 19th century textile-factories were build in Veenendaal. From that time on many family-members got a job in these textile-factories. During the 19th century and also at the beginning of the 20th century, the life of most people in the Netherlands was difficult. A lot of people were unemployed and the wages were low. Social welfare did not exist.

Frans de Fluiter who emigrated to America  in 1882 was a spinner. In 1882 he worked at a textile-factory in Almelo. He went to America to get a better life.

 

Nowadays you can still see that the de Fluiter family originates from Veenendaal.

There is a street called ‘Fluitersstraat’ (Fluitersstreet), There also exists a Fluiterspad. (Fluiterspath).

The street and path are named after Cornelis de Fluiter who had his fields along these roads.

 

Here is a short family-tree of Frans de Fluiter.

 

Willem de Fluiter (born about 1565)

 

Jan Willemsz de Fluiter (born about 1590)

 

Jan Jansz de Fluiter (born about 1620)

 

Cornelis Jansz de Fluiter (born about 1650), married about 1673 to Dirckje Fransz Ros (born about 1650)

 

Hendrik de Fluiter (born in 1684), married in 1715 to Willemijntje Timmer (born in 1693)

 

Frans Hendriksz de Fluiter (born in 1727), married in 1762  to Jannigje Kornelisse van Kortenhoef (born about 1740)

 

Hendrik de Fluiter (born in 1754), wool-carder, married in 1782 to Geertrui Jacobsen Achterberg (born  in 1782)

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Frans de Fluiter (born 1786), wool-carder, married in 1815 to Margaretha van Ravenswaaij (born in 1791)

 

Hendrik Fransz de Fluiter (born 1819), wool-carder, later merchant, married in 1848 to Geurtje Hartenberg

 

Frans de Fluiter (born in 1848), spinner, married to Johanna Maria Jansen (born in 1846)