Tombstone Tuesday ~ Michiel Ockers Hogerzeijl, 1779, Krimpen aan de Lek, The Netherlands

HIER LEGT
BEORAVEN
MICHIEL OCCERSZ
HOOGERZEYL
OUD COMMANDEUR
GESTORVEN
DEN 23 MEY 1779
OUD ZIJNDE 82
JAAR 5 MANNDE
EN ??? DAGEN,

HERE LIES

BURIED

MICHIEL OCCERSZ

HOOGERZEYL

OLD COMMANDER

DIED

ON 23 MAY 1779

AGED 82

YEARS 5 MONTHS

???

Michiel Ockers Hogerzeijl is my 6th great grandfather.  He was the son of Ocker Bruins and Lijsbeth van't Hof, born 18 July 1696 probably in the town of Krimpen aan de Lek in The Netherlands, and died there 25 May 1779.   He married Lijsbeth Schout[en] and had three sons and a daughter.  I descend from the second son, Simon Machielszoon Hogerzeijl.  Simon's grandson, Peter Hoogerzeil (1803 - 1889) came to America in the 1820s as a stowaway on board a ship full of hemp bound from Rotterdam to Salem, Massachusetts.

Michiel Ockers Hogerzeijl was a whaling sea captain.  He would sail from Rotterdam to Greenland searching for whales for the European whale oil market.  It was a lucrative and prestigious occupation, just like the whaling sea captains in New England. 

This past October I was in the Netherlands and my distant Hogerzeil cousin took me to see the hometowns of the Hogerzeil family.  He knew that Michiel Ockers Hogerzeijl was originally buried under the church floor in Krimpen aan de Lek, but the church had been razed and a new one was built. The gravestones from the floor of the old church had been moved to the municipal cemetery on the outskirts of town.

We drove to see the "Algemene begraafplaats" (municipal cemetery) at Krimpen aan de Lek.  This town is located on the dike of the Lek branch of the Rhine River, a suburb of Rotterdam.  The little municipal cemetery is between two canals.  The tombstones from the floor of the church were all together in one section of the cemetery, but were badly weathered from being out in the elements and most were illegible.  Then my cousin remembered that the stone for Michiel Ockers Hogerzeijl was not outside, but inside the cemetery chapel.

We first searched outside for the tombstone,
but later found it on the wall of the chapel  

Two descendants!

Michiel Occersz Hoogerzeyl
(1696 - 1779)
Was van 1729 - 1759 Commandeur op de
Groenlandse walvisvaart
Maakte 30 niezen naar de poolstreken
Twaalf hiervan in dienst van de Krimpense
rederij Van Holst
Hij ving 155 valvissen


Michiel Occersz Hoogerzeyl
(1696 - 1779)
Greenland whaler
Made 30 trips to the polar regions
Twelve of them for the Krimpen
shipping company of Holst
He caught 155 whales

The tombstone on the wall next to Michiel Hoogerzeil was for Gerret Krijnszoon van Holst, his employer and owner of the whaling company.   The two tombstones were in terrific shape because they were protected from the elements inside the chapel.

Gerret Krijnszoon van Holst
(1720 - 1790)
Volade in 1742 als neder aijn vader ap
De rederij Van Holst nam van 1714 - 1786
deel aan de
Groenlandse walvisvaart

Gerret Krijnszoon van Holst
(1720 - 1790)
Followed his father in 1742 with
The Holst shipping company, took over 1714-1786
participating in
Greenlandic whaling

Thanks for the Dutch translation help from John Boeren and Luana Wentz Darby!

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ Michiel Ockers Hogerzeijl, 1779, Krimpen aan de Lek, The Netherlands", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 28, 2017, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/11/tombstone-tuesday-michiel-ockers.html: accessed [access date]).