Going to the Chapel

Week 23 (June 4-10) Going to the chapel . The first time my ancestors would go to chapel was to be christened, so I'm going to take a closer look at a record I have for this event.

Reinier Scherius baptism record 1810

Reinier Scherius was baptised on Wednesday, 18 July 1810, by Rev. Hugenholtz, at the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church), Amsterdam and it states also that he was born on 12 June. Source: Amsterdam City Archives, Church records baptisms
SAA Index op doopregister, Amsterdam, archive 5001, DTB 62, p.202(oud pag. 147), nr.5

Firstly, I'm impressed by the beautiful, clear handwriting. The registration would be completed by the Reverend who performed the baptism.  However, looking through the rest of the page, it all seems the same handwriting to me, so maybe it was a deacon's job to keep the register up to date.  

Now who was the Reverend Hugenholtz, who baptised Reinier? Research reveals that he was very likely a member of the Dutch noble family Hugenholtz who since 1710 provided preachers to the Dutch Reformed Church for 250 years. Without knowing his initials I can't pinpoint it any closer than that. 

From this record I know that the family belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church, the largest and official church denomination in The Netherlands. It also confirms the names of the parents, Reinier Scherius and Catharina Gesina Tenkink. Except, here Gesina's surname is written as Tinkink, not Tenkink. Just a small change but as the registrar didn't check spelling and just wrote what he heard, I get a sense too of how they spoke.

From 1792 the registers also had to state the date of birth and place. And thanks to Napoleon and French rule over Holland, churches had to hand in all birth, marriage and death registers to the central civil registry (Burgerlijke Stand). Source: https://archief.amsterdam/indexen/doopregisters_1564-1811/handleiding/index.nl.html?utm_source=OpenArchieven&utm_medium=browser&utm_campaign=OpenData

A photographic print of a view of the Nieuwe Kerk on Dam Square, anonymous, circa 1870.
Public domain. Reference: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.252952

The Nieuwe Kerk is centrally located in Amsterdam, on Dam Square, next to the Palace. So Reinier and family would have lived somewhere around that area. From my Open Archieven account (https://www.openarch.nl) I discover that the population was around 217,024 and the weather on Wednesday, 18th July 1810 was cloudy, average temperature of 15 degrees celsius with a north westerly. This is mid summer!

I can now picture them rugged up against the wind and cold, crossing over Dam Square, Gesina hugging baby Reinier, just five weeks old, and entering this grand church, where he would be christened in one of the side chapels.