In addition to his main occupation Harman was for a number of years burgomaster and alderman of Benschop (the burgomasters and aldermen were appointed for the year). His son, grandson and great-grandson had positions in the municipal administration as well:
Harman's son Dirck Beijen (7.2) (1685-1744) was a farmer and also alderman of Benschop;
Dirck's son Willem Beijen (8.2) (1719-1780) was for many years alderman and for some years burgomaster of Benschop;
Willem's son Jan Thomas Beijen (9.2) (1743-1827) was for a number of years alderman of Benschop.

Farmer, merchant, alderman and polder administrator

Jan Thomas' father had acquired considerable lots of land in the Benschop area and Jan Thomas did the same. His properties increased by his marriage: Jannigje was the daughter of a well-to-do farmer and cattle-dealer in Bodegraven.
Just like his ancestors Jan Thomas had administrative functions: for a number of years he was alderman of Benschop and member of the governing board of the polder. It seems however that he preferred to occupy himself with his work as a farmer and with the trade in cattle and immovable property.
At the end of his life, he owned ten farms in Benschop and Bodegraven and vast lots of land, particularly in Benschop, Bodegraven and Zwammerdam.

Jan Thomas was famous as a cattle breeder. Several pictures of an enormous ox that he had bred have been drawn. The poem under the pictures tells about an ox of 1,800 pounds that he had sold to a Jewish cattle trader. All inhabitants of the town of Schoonhoven had left their houses to see this unique animal.

The pictures of the family tree

Shortly before his death, water colours were painted on which Jan Thomas, his wife and their offspring were depicted in a symbolic way in the form of a tree: his children as the main branches, his grandchildren as the side branches and his great-grandchildren as the leaves at the side branches.
It contains a poem, the translation of which is:
Possibly a stranger could ask:
What may be the meaning of this tree?
Perhaps one mocks and laughs about it.
But if one hears the explanation,
And hears Father Beijen saying:
"This tree indicates my Offspring!
Fifty nine years ago,
Then I entered into matrimony
With a honest Wife,
That has had twelve children,
Grandchildren seventy nine;
And also forty two dead.
Fifty one great-grandchildren are displayed here";
Then one will be looking surprised, astonished!

The offspring of Jan Thomas

son/daughter	born	died	wife/husband
Dirk (10.1)	Benschop 1770	Benschop 1831	Barbara de Jong(h)
Jacoba (10.2)	Benschop 1771	Bodegraven 1839	Floris Oskam
Anna Maria (10.3)	Benschop 1773	Benschop 1846	Teunis Lekkerkerker
Maarten (10.4)	Benschop 1774	Bodegraven 1834	Maggeltje Boele(n)
Janna (10.5)	Benschop 1775	Bodegraven 1855	1. Simon van der Heden, 2. Teunis Scheer
Marrigje (10.6)	Benschop 1777	Lopik 1848	Teunis Bos(ch)
Willempje (10.7)	Benschop 1779	Haastrecht 1857	Egbert Rietveld
Willem (10.8)	Benschop 1781	Benschop 1799	-
Gerrit (10.9)	Benschop 1783	Bodegraven 1837	Cornelia Oskam
Gerrigje (10.10)	Benschop 1785	Benschop 1864	Jan Blom
Lijsje (10.11)	Benschop 1787	Bodegraven 1853	Johannis Bos
Pieter (10.12)	Benschop 1788	Benschop 1850	Maggeltje Kuylenburg

Willem died when he was eighteen, Pieter got married but had no children. All of the other ten children had numerous offspring.

In the nineteenth century nearly all offspring of Jan Thomas and Jannigje still lived in the neighbourhood of Benschop and Bodegraven; many of them were farmers. It's not by chance that the main character in the well known novel Het wassende water (The growing water) by the writer Herman de Man was named Gieljan Beijen. The novel describes the life of farmers in this region, but the characters are fictitious.
At this moment tens of thousands offspring of Jan Thomas and Jannigje must be alive; only a few of them are farmers. About 200 offspring have the surname Beijen. Most of them live in the provinces of South-Holland and Utrecht.

Jan Thomas's offspring who have the surname Beijen belong to three subbranches: offspring of his sons Dirk, Maarten and Gerrit.
The Dirk subbranch, the Maarten subbranch and the Gerrit subbranch are discussed on separate pages.