Wolfaert van Keulen is credited as the first known ancestor of the
Van Keuren/ Van Kuren/ Van Curen family.
Actually, nothing is known of this man, except the name,
and that was determined from the patronymic of his sons.
.
Wolfaert would have been born in the early 1500s. It is assumed that
he was born in or around Cologne, as that was the families point of origin.
The earliest actual records of the family are in the 1570s, in Antwerp, Belgium.
With the Spanish Catholics gaining control of Cologne by treaty in 1559, it is
believed that the family left the Cologne area for the safety of the Low Dutch States.
The Spanish King needed the wealth of the region to support his growing military budget,
and the Catholic Inquisition was determined to cleanse the area of non-Catholics. Being
wealthy Protestants, they would have had serious problems with the Spanish in Cologne.
Brothers Mathij Wolfaertse and Jacob Wolfaertse van Keulen appear in the records of
Antwerp(Low Dutch)in the 1570s.
Jacob married in St Walburgis Church, Antwerp to Selken Jannsen, on Feb 20, 1578
He later married Tannaken Claudsz van Bruiyssel(of Brussels) at Austin Friars DRC London,
on June 18, 1594. Many van Keulens appeared in London in the late 1500s. The war between
the Dutch States and Spain was going poorly for the Dutch, and the stronghold at Antwerp fell
in 1585, sending thousands of refugees into the High Dutch States and beyond.
A major victory against Spain in 1587(aided by British ground forces),
followed by the destruction of the Spanish Armada in 1588,
turned the tide of war against Spain, and a sense of security returned
to the High Dutch States.
Jacob's brother Mathij Wolfaertse appeared first in Antwerp on 7 Jul, 1570
as a sponsor for William Provoest's daughter, Katherina.
Mathij's son Joannes, b. 18 Jun, 1580, Antwerp,
is believed to be Jan Mathijs van Keulen,
father of American Immigrant, Mathij Jansen van Keulen
.
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