IJsselstein in the past

On the right IJsselstein is pictured on a map of the surveyor Jacob van Deventer from about 1560. The little town possessed two gates: the IJssel Gate in the northeast and the Benschop Gate in the southwest. At the northwest side the castle remained.

The Lords and Ladies of IJsselstein left the administration for a greater part to their representative (the "drost"), the sheriff and several other leading inhabitants. The mayor, aldermen, and other officials, like churchwardens and superintendants of the hospital, were appointed for one year by the Lord or Lady. Amongst them were, as will appear hereafter, also members of the Beijen family.

The alderman Dirck Jansz.

In the National Archives in The Hague I traced several charters of sheriff and aldermen of IJsselstein dating from 1530 and 1531 in which something special caught my attention. In one charter of February 2, 1530, a certain Dirck Jansz. was recorded as one of the aldermen.
Jansz., or in full Janszoon, means Jan's son, and Dircksz., which will be used later on this page, means Dirck's son. In the past people were often designated by adding the name of their father to their first name.
The seal that must have been his one is pictured alongside. Although the seal has suffered along time, the arms displayed upon it are well recognizable: a pair of deer's antlers. In the legend the name Dirck is visable on the right.
The same seal, but less well preserved, is attached to two other charters; one also dating from February 2nd, 1530, the other originating from December 19th, 1531.

The arms showing the pair of deer's antlers unmistakably resemble the arms that can be seen on seals belonging to members of the Beijen family originating from IJsselstein. One of them was Dirck (Jansz.) Beijen, the principal person of the next page, who was an alderman of IJsselstein around 1615.
It is therefore almost quite certain that the alderman Dirck Jansz. from 1530 was closely related to the magistrat Dirck (Jansz.) Beijen from about 1615. It is most likely that the first one was the grandfather of the second one. A strong argument for that follows hereafter: there are filings originating from 1563 in which the name of a Jan (Dircksz.) Beijen occurs.
Therefore I have put Dirck Jansz. (1.1) who was in office in 1530 into generation 1 of the overview of the IJsselstein family. It is not to be expected that even older generations can be found. We can assume that Jan (Dircksz.) Beijen (2.1) who was mentioned in 1563 was a son of him and Dirck (Jansz.) Beijen (3.1) a grandson.

Most likely the surname Beijen was derived from the first name Beije which is fallen into disuse: "Beije’s son". It is very well possible that Dirck Jansz. sometimes was referred to as Beijen, but that this name was not used in the few charters concerning him which have been left.

The second generation: Jan and Herman Beijen

In the first charter about Jan he was pointed out as Jan Beijen:


In a second charter of the same date it was Jan Dircksz. Beijen:


As far as we know, Herman had a son and two daughters. Descendants of them have not been found. Jan was to be one of the ancestors of the IJsselstein family through his son Dirck Jansz. Beijen (3.1), one of the principal persons of the next page.