Made will with daughter Maria

June 26, 1719

Made will in Delfshaven. The summary from the Delfshaven archives stored in Rotterdam (my translation):

Anthony van Leeuwenhoek and his daughter Maria van Leeuwenhoek, who live on the westside of the Hippolytusbuurt in Delft, named each other as sole heirs.

They bequeathed bonds to Anthony de Molijn, his sister Margaretha de Molijn, married to Arnoldus van den Heuvel, and to Geertruyd de Molijn. At the death of Geertruyd, the bonds intended for her would go over to Anthony de Molijn and Jan Haaxman, son of Maria De Molijn, Rijkje van Leeuwen, Maria Strik, weduwe van N.N., Adriaan Swalmius, and Margaretha van Leeuwen, daughhter of Philip van Leeuwen.

They designated different effects (goederen) for Rijkje en Jan van Leeuwen and Jacob van Leeuwen, son of Philip van Leeuwen.

As heirs of the remaining effects and as executors, they named Jan and Jacob van Leeuwen, son and grandson of Catharina van Leeuwenhoek.

Some people including Antony's niece Margaretha Molijn, wife of Arnoldus van den Heuvel, were not permitted to attend the funeral of the survivor (literally: longest living of the two).

In her 1933 article summarizing the will, Petra Beydals notes that it favors the descendants of Leeuwenhoek's sister Catharine over those of his sister Grietgen. Beydals offers this as the reason a man of 86 would travel 15 km (9 miles) to Delfshaven when Delft had plenty of notaries. The Delfshaven notaries were administered through the courts in Rotterdam, where the favored descendants lived.


Nicolaas van der Vaart, notary. Archief DLFS Delfshaven inv. 3876 Act 117, fol. 587