grandfather Thonis Phillips Leeuwenhoek (-1643) registered his children with the Weeskamer

Between the burial of his first wife and his marriage to his second with five months later, grandfather Thonis Philips is in the public record twice.

On February 1, he registered as a member of the Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk.

On February 7 at the Weeskamer (orphan's chamber), he registered the three children that he had with Geertge Huijgens. Because the original document is damaged, we know only that the children were named Philips, Huijch, and Geertgen. The age of Philips is lost, but Huijch was 2 and Geertgen was 14, and the rest is lost. Was that 14 months old or 14 years old? Fourteen months puts her birth very close to Huijch's and probably would have been expressed as one year old. However, 14 weeks puts her birth just before the death of her mother, who may well have died in childbirth, common at the time.

Clearly at that point, Thonis Philips planned to re-marry, if only to get some help with three babies! The Weeskamer would have been concerned about what would happen to those children should Thonis Philips die after after his re-marriage. To that end, the document names as guardians Pieter Huijgensz, a kooper, Cornelis Vincentsz, a clothing maker, and Thonis Philips' brother Cornelis Philips, basketmaker.

A similarly damaged document three pages later in the same Weeskamer register repeats much of the information except it was Cornelis who registered three children: Huych, Philps, en Gerrit Cornelis. The age of only Philips is preserved: 14 years old.

On these documents, the brothers both live on the Oosteinde, but they have different neighbors to the south.