BRAEMS' MS. "MEMOIRES TOUCHANT LE COMMERCE."
(Vol. v., p. 126.)
In the hope of satisfying the curiosity of J. M., I will communicate the information concerning Daniel Braams which I find in my family papers.
According to a genealogical tree in my possession, confirmed and delivered 13th September, 1661, by the kings-at-arms and heralds of Brabant[[2]], Daniel Braems descended from an illustrious family of Brabant, a younger branch of the Vilains, of the house of the burgraves, or viscounts of Ghent.
During the Spanish religious persecutions, about 1550, his ancestors emigrated from Flanders, and settled at Dover.
His father was Daniel Braams[[3]], keeper of the regalia of Charles I., and in high favour at court. On Cromwell's coming to power he fled, and soon after died, leaving an only son in childhood, by his widow, Mary, daughter of the well-known navigator Jacob le Maire.
Mary, with her youthful son Daniel, settled in Holland, where she had many relatives, and contracted a second marriage with Andreas Schnellingwouw. She soon after went to the East Indies with her husband, who had been appointed secretary to the Schepenen at Batavia. Thus, Daniel Braams went very early to the Indies, where he passed a great part of his life. He became General Accomptant of the East India Company at Batavia, and for his services received a gold chain and a medal.
In the family papers in his own hand now before me, he writes:
"The 29th November, Ao 1686, I set sail with my family from Batavia, in the ship Kastricum, to return to Europe, after I had been thirty-four years and a half in India. The 21st March, 1687, we arrived at the Cape of Good Hope; and on the 19th April proceeded thence, with thirteen ships. When we had reached the ... degree of north latitude, having Ireland to the east, it pleased the Most High to call my dear and virtuous wife to His eternal rest, on the 9th of July, Ao 1687. The dead body was, by my orders, enclosed in a coffin and placed behind the ship. At Amsterdam she was buried in the vault of my grandfather in the N. Capel."
Daniel Braams was twice married in Batavia; first, with Clara Reijers, and secondly, with a daughter of Anthonio Paviloen, Councillor Extraordinary of India. Besides several children who died young, he left the following, all born in the East Indies:—By his first marriage: 1. Maria, b. 1667; d. 1743; m. Philip David Uchelen, governor of Banda and Ternate. 2. Abigail, b. 1672; d. 1753; m. Cornelis Heinsius, Landschrijver of the land of Cuyk. 3. Clara Sara, b. 1681; d. 1750; m. at Amsterdam Jan van der Burgh. By his second marriage: 4. Johannes Jacobus, b. 1683; d. 1743. His godfather was Cornelis Speelman, governor of India; he m. Maria Uijlenbroek, and died S. P.
J. F. L. C.
Amersfoort.
P.S.—Mr. J. F. L. Coenen would feel happy if,
through the medium of the "N. & Q." and the Navorscher, he could learn in whose possession the MS. now is, and whether the owner would be inclined to dispose of it for a moderate price.
Footnote 2:[(return)]
This document is quoted by Kok in his Vaderl. Woordenboek, vol. viii. p. 899.; and by Scheltema, Geschied. en letterk. Mengelwerk, vol. iii. p. 183.
An excellent family portrait of him, painted by A. Vandyk, is now in the possession of Mevr. de douairière Coenen, van 's Gravesloot, at Utrecht.