David Stapel (I) ±1735 Pomerania - ±1780 Gendt (on Waal)
Guelders' Stapels came from Pomerania, searching for freedom and prosperity.
David Stapel from the Hanse town Gendt is included in Overbetuwe's birth certificates as a father, once in Hulhuijsen and fivefold in Gendt. Two documents from Eickel and one VOC paybook page connect him with his eldest son Johan Hendrik Stapel, in addition to more remote facts and possibilities. This is the story of his life without the checks and balances arouind the history of the Guelders' Stapels already dealt with in "out of Pomerania" .
In 1731 thousands of Austrian citizens were banned from Salzburg for their protestant belief. King Frederik Willem I of Prussia invited 12 000 of them to the predominantly Lutheranian Pomerania east of the Oder river, hoping that they would bring this pest stricken land to prosper again. Four years later David Stapel was born there in a place as yet unknown. About his boyhood we may assume that from early on he was taught to work hard and had to contribute to the farming business. Why and when he left we do not know. The aftermath of the Salzburgers' immigration, the ruling poverty and a new national service were a plausible reason, but incompatible characters could have motivated him as well or he may have fallen in an impossible love with a Roman Catholic girl. Travelling together or apart, over land or by water, on July 26, 1755 David Stapel from Pomerania and Gretchen Böger married in the Evangelic Church of Eickel, then a village of 300 souls near Gelsenkirchen. Their son Johann Henrich was baptized in the same church on 7 march 1758. At that time Gretchen had told the vickar already of her RC sympathies and he refused to recognize her as a community member any more. When he wrote her down in the birth certificate as Marg. N. David and Gretchen understood they were not welcome any longer. With a favourable south-easterly wind they sailed down the Rhine to the Low Countries.
They went ashore the Waal to settle in Guelders' Gendt. Februari 3, 1760 their daughter Joanna Maria was baptized a RC in nearby Hulhuijsen town, then under the jurisdiction of Cleves and with the same Prussian absolute religious liberty. It was the only place around where Roman Catholics could go to church. Gretchen had negotiated that her first daughter was baptized there and also raised her in the RC faith. Their next five newborns were baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church of Gendt, in the quiet rhythm of a settled life. Margaretha chose herself a less formal name: henceforth in the Gendts' Churchbook she was named Margrietha. With a touch of nostalgia they named their children after the Prussian royalties of their home land, often multiple ones resounding in several later Stapel generations. David worked as a ships' carpenter along the water edge and they had a good life: at least 5 of their 7 children grew up to adulthood.
Neither David nor Margriet were accepted as members of the Dutch Reformed Church in Gendt. Their sons Johan Hendrik and Frederik were confirmed at a later age only, when their parents were no longer "sleeping with their two beliefs on one pillow". Joanna Maria was not only baptized a RC, she also married as such, starting with the Reformed Johannes van de Vendel promising to raise their children in his religion, and a widdow later with the RC Hendrik Derksen. Maria Catharina and Jan Willem had their children baptized RC. Elisabeth died young, we have to guess when: The 18th century Gendts' deathbooks have gone missing during WWII.
Likewise neither David nor Margrietha grew very old. David must have died already when their son Johan Hendrik engaged in 1783 with the VOC Shipping Company in Amsterdam and at that occasion undercrossed a debenture in his mothers' name, thereby suggesting too that Margarietha will not have been very wealthy. In her childrens' later certificates she was never mentioned as a witness, so she will have deceased before their eldest son married in 1790 as first in line.
Margrieth and David sought freedom and prosperity and acquired both in measure. They found themselves a lasting home in Guelders' waterland, cherishing their values of old: even within the family they considered religious liberty a natural right.
* * * * *
Guelders' Stapels came from Pomerania, searching for freedom and prosperity.
David Stapel from the Hanse town Gendt is included in Overbetuwe's birth certificates as a father, once in Hulhuijsen and fivefold in Gendt. Two documents from Eickel and one VOC paybook page connect him with his eldest son Johan Hendrik Stapel, in addition to more remote facts and possibilities. This is the story of his life without the checks and balances arouind the history of the Guelders' Stapels already dealt with in "out of Pomerania" .
In 1731 thousands of Austrian citizens were banned from Salzburg for their protestant belief. King Frederik Willem I of Prussia invited 12 000 of them to the predominantly Lutheranian Pomerania east of the Oder river, hoping that they would bring this pest stricken land to prosper again. Four years later David Stapel was born there in a place as yet unknown. About his boyhood we may assume that from early on he was taught to work hard and had to contribute to the farming business. Why and when he left we do not know. The aftermath of the Salzburgers' immigration, the ruling poverty and a new national service were a plausible reason, but incompatible characters could have motivated him as well or he may have fallen in an impossible love with a Roman Catholic girl. Travelling together or apart, over land or by water, on July 26, 1755 David Stapel from Pomerania and Gretchen Böger married in the Evangelic Church of Eickel, then a village of 300 souls near Gelsenkirchen. Their son Johann Henrich was baptized in the same church on 7 march 1758. At that time Gretchen had told the vickar already of her RC sympathies and he refused to recognize her as a community member any more. When he wrote her down in the birth certificate as Marg. N. David and Gretchen understood they were not welcome any longer. With a favourable south-easterly wind they sailed down the Rhine to the Low Countries.
They went ashore the Waal to settle in Guelders' Gendt. Februari 3, 1760 their daughter Joanna Maria was baptized a RC in nearby Hulhuijsen town, then under the jurisdiction of Cleves and with the same Prussian absolute religious liberty. It was the only place around where Roman Catholics could go to church. Gretchen had negotiated that her first daughter was baptized there and also raised her in the RC faith. Their next five newborns were baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church of Gendt, in the quiet rhythm of a settled life. Margaretha chose herself a less formal name: henceforth in the Gendts' Churchbook she was named Margrietha. With a touch of nostalgia they named their children after the Prussian royalties of their home land, often multiple ones resounding in several later Stapel generations. David worked as a ships' carpenter along the water edge and they had a good life: at least 5 of their 7 children grew up to adulthood.
Neither David nor Margriet were accepted as members of the Dutch Reformed Church in Gendt. Their sons Johan Hendrik and Frederik were confirmed at a later age only, when their parents were no longer "sleeping with their two beliefs on one pillow". Joanna Maria was not only baptized a RC, she also married as such, starting with the Reformed Johannes van de Vendel promising to raise their children in his religion, and a widdow later with the RC Hendrik Derksen. Maria Catharina and Jan Willem had their children baptized RC. Elisabeth died young, we have to guess when: The 18th century Gendts' deathbooks have gone missing during WWII.
Likewise neither David nor Margrietha grew very old. David must have died already when their son Johan Hendrik engaged in 1783 with the VOC Shipping Company in Amsterdam and at that occasion undercrossed a debenture in his mothers' name, thereby suggesting too that Margarietha will not have been very wealthy. In her childrens' later certificates she was never mentioned as a witness, so she will have deceased before their eldest son married in 1790 as first in line.
Margrieth and David sought freedom and prosperity and acquired both in measure. They found themselves a lasting home in Guelders' waterland, cherishing their values of old: even within the family they considered religious liberty a natural right.
* * * * *
1755 They married in the Johannes church on the Eickeler Market. Their son was baptized there as well. The church had to be demolished in 1890, but this picture postcard survived.
1759 Shipping and trade at the Pannerdens' Canal, contemporary with David, Gretchen and Johan Henrich sailing down the Rhine.
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Genealogical data
David Stapel (I)
± 1730-1735, Pomerania.
Anna Margaretha Böger, 26-juli-1755 Eickel
(Gelsenkirchen, Prussia)
between 1773 and 1783
shipscarpenter?
(home = www.cstapel.nl)
David Stapel (I)
± 1730-1735, Pomerania.
Anna Margaretha Böger, 26-juli-1755 Eickel
(Gelsenkirchen, Prussia)
between 1773 and 1783
shipscarpenter?
(home = www.cstapel.nl)