Fort Kochi - Jacob Bernard Weinsheimer (1745-1790)

Jacob Bernhard Weinsheimer was born on 25 November 1745 in Solsenheim, Germany and he died on 1 March 1790 in Kochi. He left on 19 May 1763 as a soldier with the Vrouwe Petronella of the Enkhuizen chamber as Jacob Bernard Weijns Heijmer van Sassenheim for Colombo.^[i] He made a career in Ceylon and in January 1781 he was transferred to Kochi. He was in the prime of his life and got to know Wilhelmina van Harn. At first sight an attractive match, because she was the daughter of Reinier van Harn, titular chief merchant, ‘secunde’ and principal administrator of Mallabaar.^[ii] There was one blemish about this young lady, however, and that was that her parents never married. Her mother was the free woman Elizabeth van der Werff.

Wilhelmina was baptized on 7 May 1766 in Souratte (Surat). Four years later, on 6 October 1769, another daughter was born from the union of Reinier van Harn and Elisabeth van der Werff, named Josia Magdalena. Almost immediately afterwards the family moved to Kochi. Although the two girls were immediately given the father's surname at baptism, as illegitimate children they had no rights whatsoever with regard to their father and his family in the Netherlands. By resolution of 20 June 1779, the girls were legitimized at his request by the ‘Edele Hoge Regering’ of the Dutch East Indies by resolution of 20 June 1779. Thus their status changed with a stroke of the pen.

On 10 April 1782, Jacob Weinsheimer asked permission to marry Wilhelmina. He was 36 and she would have been 16 years old around the wedding date.^[iii] Almost immediately Wilhelmina was pregnant. Adriaan Reinier was christened on 30 March 1783 by his grandfather Van Harn and his aunt Josia van Harn.^[iv] Helena Josiah was baptized on 18 April 1784. Even now grandfather Van Harn and Aunt Josiah were the witnesses. On 23 October 1785, Johan Jacob was baptized and on 30 September 1787, that of Wilhelmina Elisabeth. Willem Johannes was christened on November 9, 1788.^[v] Witnesses were Johannes Wolf and Catharina Sara Smit and on 6 December 1789 Johanna Elisabeth was the last to be baptized with Arnoldus Lunel and Cornelia Eilsabeth Bartels as witnesses.^[vi] The financial future for Jacob Weinsheimer and his family looked bright. Jacob was still a lieutenant at the time of his marriage, but had meanwhile been promoted to captain. But the reality often turns out to be more unruly. This was also the case now.

Reinier van Harn did not witness the birth of his last granddaughter. He died in Kochi on 16 March 1789. That morning Arnoldus Lunel rushed to the house of death of Reinier van Harn, where Jacob Weinsheimer and Johan Frederik André, Josiah's husband, presented him with a sealed will. It was the sixth will that Van Harn had drawn up on 3 November 1786. In summary, all his grandsons received 4,000 rupees, the granddaughters each received 3,000 rupees. The free woman Elisabeth van der Werf who lived with him 6,000 rupees, household goods, 3 enslaved women with the 3 girls who had to follow their parents. His brother Johan received a quarter of the remainder of his inheritance and his two daughters who were conceived out of wedlock by Elisabeth van der Werf received the remaining three quarters.^[vii] At the time, Van Harn still had a salary balance in the Netherlands of 11,976 guilders and 70 cents. His two sons-in-law authorized physician Dr. Johannes van Oosterhout from Amsterdam to receive the amount at the Amsterdam room.^[viii]

Jacob Weinsheimer died on 1 March 1790. He left his 23-year-old wife with six small children, aging three months to six years. He was already ill when they made a will together on 8 February 1790. It is a standard will, in which they name each other as sole heirs. The longest-living had to take care of the children and their inheritance until they turned 25 or earlier if they married. If he or she remarried earlier, the children's inheritance had to be placed in the care of the orphan masters. The appointed guardians were Arnoldus Lunel, secretary of the police and Johannes Wolf, bookkeeper. Wilhelmina did not take much time to consider her future. The inheritance with a value of approximately 20,000 rupees or approximately 30,000 guilders was arranged. Part consisted of salary from the VOC for which bonds were issued. There was also a house, and the proceeds from the sale of household effects and jewellery. Barely five months after Jacob's death, on 2 August 1790,^[ix] Wilhelmina and Lodewijk Josef Soutter van Tham from the Alsace (Germany) asked permission to get married. She left her five children in the orphanage and left for Colombo.^[x]

It didn't go well for the Weinsheimer kids. They had been admitted to the orphanage, which also had to manage their money, but was unable to do so. Their father's salary, which had to be transferred from the Netherlands, was not forthcoming due to the financial situation of the VOC.

Wilhelmina and Lodewijk did return to Kochi with the three children they had had in Colombo. On 13 January 1793, Wilhelmina gave custody of the two eldest sons Reinier and Johan, aged 9 and 6, to Abraham Sluisken, former director of Souratte, who is about to repatriate to the Netherlands. She wanted him to take her sons under his wing and take them in the Netherlands to Johan van Harn in Gelderland. It is not clear whether the boys actually left. Wilhelmina did not grow old. She died 13 March 1794 in Kochi and was followed on October 9 of the same year by Lodewijk Soutter. He is said to have had a will drawn up and left behind 8 children.^[xi]

Text plate on the tomb of Weinsheimer (photo René ten Dam, 2020)

Helena

In 5 April 1794, 21-year-old Jean Gérard le Personne set out as a young sailor with the ship Zuidpool from the Zeeland chamber for Ceylon. On 1 January 1795, it would be the last VOC ship to arrive.^[xii] The new year started unlucky for the ambitious resident of Utrecht, because the area was under attack from the English and there was no longer any need for new personnel. He was absent when the ship departed. He somehow had to support himself in an environment that seemed to offer little future. Somehow he ended up in Kochi. He turned out to be perfectly capable of taking care of himself and there on 24 June 1798, he married the 14-year-old Helena Weinsheimer, who was very wealthy on paper. By marrying her, the orphanage had to pay out her inheritance, but that encountered problems.

The capture of the Dutch fort by the English had caused much destruction. For example, part of the orphan's investments were destroyed. Many widows had also taken out loans by pledging their houses. The value of these houses dropped quickly after the destruction of the fortress. Because much of the VOC personnel were taken to Bombay (modern-day Mumbai) as prisoners of war, the administrative apparatus gradually crumbled and chaos ensued everywhere and an ideal climate was created to “borrow something” or to commit fraud. Members of the orphanage board also borrowed money from the treasury in times of need, without concluding an agreement. Since there was no longer a single central Dutch administrative body, there were no checks on the accounts of the orphanage and the embezzlement of money and the failure to secure loans, not to mention the repayment thereof, remained hidden for a long time. With Helena Weinsheimer's claim, the problems came to light. Le Personne therefore took matters into his own hands when Helena's grandmother, Elisabeth van der Werff, died in October 1798. Le Personne settled her inheritance. Each of her nine grandchildren received an inheritance of 2,033 rupees, of which 11,543 rupees were tied up in a debt note borne by the Jewish merchants Meier & Baruch who could not repay it at the time. The estate sale, which lasted 3 days, yielded a cash proceeds of 6,686 rupees. Le Personne withheld Helena's inheritance from it.

During this process Hermanus Mesman, a friend of Le Personne, thought that this could also be a great opportunity for him and he therefore asked the orphan master Hendrick Dircksz for permission to marry Helena's younger sister, Elisabeth. Hendrick Dirksz saw no objection to this and gave permission. Her guardian Johannes Wolff did not allow this marriage, because he thought she was much too young to marry as a ten-year-old. A quarrel arose between Hendrick Dirksz and Johannes Wolff, in which Johannes pulled out all the stops to prevent the marriage. Wolff wrote letters to almost every member of the Dutch community in Kochi, pointing out the mismanagement of the orphanage and its funds. He sued Dirksz. at the court and even wrote to the governor of the East India Company in Bombay asking him to intervene to save the girl's life. The council of justice met for a special meeting to settle the case. At Wolff's request, it was decided not to take the case to court, as a legal battle and the costs involved would further impoverish the orphan's fortune. The case led to a long discussion about the decision-making power of the orphan board and the powers of the chairman and the secretary.

Wolff quoted the Batavian statutes not to allow marriage. He argued that a boy up to the age of 21 should be considered a minor and a girl up to 18 years.^[xiii] Indeed, the marriage did not take place at that time, but less than four years later they were married on 16 February 1802. She was then 13, he 35. It is not surprising that Le Personne joined the board of the orphanage and in a later stage was charged with usurping Weinsheimer's estate, embezzling jewelry from the estate, and enriching his wife at the expense of her siblings. Le Personne is said to have died in 1815 in Kochi and may have been buried in the cemetery.

Notes

^[i] NA 1.04.02.14789 scans 0496 0497.

^[ii] Reinier van Harn was born in Kampen on 12 December 1734 and died 16 March 1789 in Kochi. He was the son of Wilhelm Willemsz van Harn and Aleida Schiers. His brother was mr. Johan van Harn, lawyer at the Court of Gelderland. He entered the service of the VOC on 31 December 1754 as a sub-merchant and left with the Overnes. Initially he stayed in Batavia, but in 1762 he was sent to Souratte as a pay bookkeeper. NA 1.04.02.6318 scan 002.

^[iii] NA 1.11.06.11.1167 scan 0125

^[iv] He died before 1806 in Batavia NA 1.11.06.11.1593 scan 0014.

^[v] Willem Johannes died 8 October 1805 in Kochi. NA 1.11.06.11.1593 scan 0014.

^[vi] Baptisms in Cochin, Gens Nostra 1992

^[vii] NA 1.04.02.6866 scan 0180 etc.

^[viii] NA 1.11.06.11.1323 scan 0179 d.d. 10 October 1789.

^[ix] NA 1.11.06.1359 scan 0221

^[x] The youngest Johanna is then no longer alive. She died between 8 February and 2 August 1790.

^[xi] NA 1.11.06.11.1372c scan 0133

^[xii] Jean Gerard Le Personne, born 9 October 1771 in Zuilen and baptized in the Waalse kerk 13 October 1771. Son of Abraham and Anna Margaretha Dannewaldt buried 3 June 1802. He would have had four children Abraham John William, John Peter, Maria Elizabeth Wilhelmina and Maria Johanna.

^[xiii] A. Singh; Fort Cochin in Kerala 1750-1830