Hogenhouck family

The Hogenhouck family was one of Delft's most distinguished throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Leeuwenhoek's great-great-grandfather Jan Jacobs Hogenhouck was in the first group of burgemeesters chosen after Willem, Prince of Orange, selected Delft as his headquarters. This decision would bring many changes to Delft. The government spent money fortifying the city and upgrading buildings, especially Willem's home and offices in the old St. Agatha's cloister, thereafter known as the Prinsenhof, the Prince's Court. Members of the Republic's military and the diplomatic corps from foreign powers began gathering at the new center of power bringing not only their money but their foreign ways.

Jan Jacobs Hogenhouck was one of the men trusted to help lead Delft through that hazardous transition. Twelve years later, one of those foreigners, Balthasar Gerards, assassinated Prince Willem. Jan Jacobs was on the Veertigraad and had to help guide the city through the tumultuous and emotional three days while Gerards was caught, tried, and executed.

While Leeuwenhoek was an active camerbewaarder, three men with whom he shared a great-grandmother, Neeltje Jans Hogenhouck, were active in city government. Pieter Abrahams Hogenhouck and Jacob Cornelis Hogenhouck were schepenen. Pieter spent six years as burgemeester. As treasurer in 1665 and 1674, he would have been involved in salary payments to Leeuwenhoek for his city jobs as camerbewaarder and wijnroeier. At the end of Leeuwenhoek's career, Pieter's son Maarten was either schepen or burgemeester for half of the years between 1689 and 1719.

Members of the Hogenhouck married people from other regent families, with very few exceptions. In the table at the bottom of this page, the spouses are in the right-hand column. The bullet-point lists below list the families; the numbers in parentheses are the number of marriages between a Hogenhouck and a member of that other regent family.

The Hogenhoucks owned property all over town. They all lived on either the NIeuwe Delft or Oude Delft gachten, so they were neighbors of Leeuwenhoek for his whole adult life.

Members of the Hogenhouck family in public service