Raap family history

Summery family history

updated: 09-05-08

from the book:"Armorial Général"
by J.B. Rietstap (1903)

from the shield of armorial bearings of
the Messrs. XXXVI,
aldermen of Amsterdam(1612)

Origin of the surname "Raap"
There are many families "Raap" (see "other families Raap"). In this family the origin of the surname "Raap" is a housename or addressname. The first bearer of this housename as a family-name was Adriaan Pietersz. When he came to Amsterdam, he lived for some time in a house with the name "´s-Hertogenbosch" and shortly afterwards he moved to an adjacent house with a stone tablet in the front, depicting a turnip ("raap" = dutch for "turnip").
In the northern part of the low countries, the name of the house was often added to the patronymic of the owner. After this fashion, Adriaan became Adriaan Pietersz. Raap.


House "´s-Hertogenbosch", Dam 11, Amsterdam	House Dam 11 next to hotel "Krasnapolsky" and behind the "Nationaal Monument".	The stone tablet in the front

In those times many houses were fitted out with tokens or symbols in stone tablets or on signboards. These tokens or symbols functioned as address-indication for lack of a consistent streetname and numbering system.
His grandfather, Lenert Cornelisz. and his father Pieter Lenertsz. in Vlaardingen, did not use the surname Raap.
When the house "De Raap" was demolished, the stone tablet was transfered to the upper part of the front of the house "'s-Hertogenbosch". The house and the tablet are still there (Dam no. 11, Amsterdam).
In the municipality archives of Amsterdam are descriptions of other stone tablets, depicting turnips, but the houses are no longer there and the tablets are gone. Such cases are on record in other towns of the low countries. Did these images have a metaphoric meaning? We do not know for sure.

Short family history
Adriaan Pietersz. was born in Vlaardingen 1556. His father died the next year. Although we do not have evidence about his youth, it may be assumed that he got a good education. In 1575-1576 he stayed in Le Havre (France) and in 1577 - 1578 he travelled to Portugal and Spain "...to see the country and to learn the language...." as he noted in his "memoriaal" (= aid-to-memory). In the same "Memoriaal" he informed us that he walked back from Madrid to Rotterdam in about 6 months. He painstakenly noted the towns and cities he passed, with the mileage in between, but (alas!) no other details are mentioned. From this journey it may be infered, that he had a good health, spoke his languages, and had the necessary social skills to adept to different circumstances and cultures.
At the end of 1578 he moved to Amsterdam to serve as a merchant-apprentice. He served his patron, Jan Claesz.Cloeck for two years and then became independent. At the end of 1580 he married Maria Claesdr. Cloeck, the sister of his ex patron.
Adriaan Pietersz. Raap was a talented and successful merchant. He also became alderman of the city. In that capacity he served in several public offices. The Amsterdam Historic Museum (Kalverstraat 92 Amsterdam, www.ahm.nl ) keeps a painting (in depot, not on display) on which he is portrayed as captain of one of the civic guards regiments in Amsterdam, with the members of his staff.

Adriaan Pietersz. Raap (in the middle)

He died in the year 1647, 91 year old. His life coincided with the 80-year war of independence against Spain. As luck would have it, after 1600 most of the fighting was done outside Holland (the western part of the Netherlands). Business could go on as usual to provide the cash for this war. About a year after his death, this war ended with the peacetreaty of Munster (a part of the peacetreaty of Westfalen).

Adriaan had three sons and a daughter.
• The oldest son, Pieter Adriaansz. Raap (1581-1666), was a merchant and one of the treasurers of Amsterdam. He did not marry. He also is portrayed on a painting as lieutenant of the civic guards regiment of captain Dirck Theulingh (the painting is on display). He founded an almshome (hofje) in Vlaardingen and in Amsterdam. The almshome in Amsterdam is still there, Palmgracht 28-38. In the front is a stone with the family-arms and a stone, depicting a "Raap". For more information go to:
www.bmz.amsterdam.nl/adam/nl/hofjes/raepen.html and www.amsterdamsegevelstenen.nl/Palmgracht28.htm

• The second son, Floris Adriaansz. Raap (1583-1656), was a clothmerchant in Amsterdam.
One of his sons, Adriaan Floris Raap (1631-1702) became merchant and alderman in the city of Gorinchem (Gorkum). He had a son, Floris Adriaansz. Raap (1663-1737), who graduated from the university of Leyden as "medicinae doctor".
Dr. Floris Adriaansz. Raap stayed unmarried, but it is said that he fathered a "illegitimate" or "natural" child, called Adriaan and that this Adriaan Florisz., born in Amsterdam in 1709 and Adriaan Floris Raap (1709 - 1797), wigmaker in the city of Leewarden (Friesland), were the same person. Adriaan from Leeuwarden is the founding father of the Frisian Raap's.
However, his offspring from Dr. Floris Raap is still under investigation. There are no birth or baptism registrations or notary acts found, that can link Dr. Floris Adriaan Raap directly to a boy Adriaan Florisz., born in 1709 in Amsterdam and link this boy to Adriaan Floris Raap in Leeuwarden. As yet the hypothesis is based only on corresponding first names and birthdates.
It remains possible that this Adriaan Floris Raap from Leeuwarden belongs to another family Raap (see mainpage "Bronnen" no. 14). We are still working on this mystery and hope to solve it either way.
This line of the family died out at the end of the 18e century, except for a possibility of continuation through the Frisian Raap's.

• The third son, Willem Adriaansz. Raap (1585-1646) was a merchant with trade to Brasil and in bottomry.

Polder "De Zijpe", situated between the towns Alkmaar and Den Helder, province of North-Holland

Adriaan Willemsz. Raap (1699-1773) lived in De Zijpe as sluice-keeper (lock-keeper) of the "Groote Sluys", the seasluice to the Zuyder Zee (later on called "Oude Sluis). He combined this function with the function of courtusher of the polder De Zijpe. He secured the continuation of this line of the family.
His offspring lived for nearly one and a half century in De Zijpe and the direct surroundings as farmers, farmlabourers, artisans (carpenters, glaziers, bakers etc.), shopkeepers and as skippers of riverboats.
In the second half of the 19th century many Raap's left the polders, took up new professions and migrated to Amsterdam, to Haarlem, Rotterdam, Eindhoven and (for some time) to the Dutch East Indies (±1920-±1950).

Other families Raap
The surname "Raap" appears not to be unique! In the 17th and 18th century there were in Amsterdam several families Raap, with no connections to each other. There are families Raap, that came form Germany to Holland. In Nordrhein-Westfalen, Niedersachsen, Schleswig-Holstein, still live many families with the surname Raap. In the archives of the VOC (Dutch East Indies Company) you can find Raap's from Emden and Meldorf in Dithmarschen (Schelswig-Holstein), who signed on as seamen on board ships of the VOC.
Even in the U.S.A. you can find families Raap, most likely from German origin.
Did all ancestors of these other families Raap live in houses with stone tablets or signboards, depicting a "Raap"? Very unlikely. In other cases the surname Raap may be a corruption of the word "Rübe" (German for turnip), or "Rabe" (German for "raven") or "Rebbe" and "Rabbi". It may be noted that before the 19th century, Dutch and Niederdeutsch (Plattdeutsch) had much in common.