Pieterskerk in Leiden

This post connects to earlier posts: https://paulstroble.wordpress.com/2024/01/14/my-pilgrim-ancestors-in-leiden/ and https://paulstroble.wordpress.com/2014/08/04/my-family-the-washburns-back-to-the-pilgrims/

My 9-great-grandfather, Francis Cooke, was an English separatist who moved to Leiden in 1603, married Hester Mahieu, and they eventually joined the congregation of other separatists at the Pieterskerk (St. Peter’s Church) in Leiden. Eventually several of the families sailed on the ship Mayflower and settled in New England, while others stayed in Leiden. Cooke was one of the Mayflower passengers, and Hester came over a few years later. The Cookes’ 3-great-grandson, David Washburn, was my 3-great-grandfather and an early settler of my hometown area (Four Mile Prairie) in the 1830s. We got to visit the Pieterskerk and think about national, religious, and family history.

The first three photos are from our 2016 trip. The rest of the photos are from the Webster University Leiden commencement ceremony at the church in May 2023. My wife Beth is chancellor of Webster University.

Read Full Post »

My Pilgrim Ancestors in Leiden

This post connects to my previous poet here: https://paulstroble.wordpress.com/2014/08/04/my-family-the-washburns-back-to-the-pilgrims/

My 10th-great-grandfather Jacques le Mahieu (born about 1550, died after 1611) was buried in the Vrouwekerk in Leiden, a church that existed from the early 1300s until the 1800s. Some of the stones of the church are preserved and memorialized in this little plaza in Leiden.

Mahieu is believed to have been a French Protestant from the Walloon region. He is said to have been among the refugees from French Catholic persecution who travelled to Canterbury, England. He married Jeanne Leman Mahieu (1563-1609), and among their children was Hester Mahieu (c 1584-after 1666). Eventually the family settled in Leiden, where they affiliated with this church, the Vrouwekerk.
It was built as Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk (Church of Our Lady). By late 1500s and early 1600s it had become a Protestant church—specifically a Walloon church who were joined by English Puritans who had migrated to Leiden.

As the plaque reads, Hester Mahieu married Francis Cooke (1583-1663) at this church. They are my 9th-great-grandparents. Cooke was one of those English Puritans who had settled in Leiden prior to deciding to travel to America.

Francis Cooke sailed on the Mayflower in 1620, along with a son. Hester and the rest of the children came to Plymouth three years later on the Anne. The family lived the rest of their lives in Plymouth Plantation and are buried there.

Eventually the descendants via the Cookes’ daughter Jane (1605-1666) became a family among my Brownstown, IL roots (the Washburn family).

In May, 2023, how lovely it was to stand where a distant ancestor was buried, and where two others were married.

Read Full Post »