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What's in a name??
Most surnames have many different meanings, Meester for instance in some
countries means "master". However, the most prevalent usage of the
Meester name appears to be occupational in origin. Our research indicates that
it can be associated with the Dutch, meaning, "one who is a teacher."
Although this interpretation is the result of onomastic research, you may
find other meanings for the Meester family name. If you do please fill out our
Meester research form.
A Sinking Ship Brings The Meester's to the
U.S.
According to ships' records and genealogical registries A ship carrying
four brothers and their Father sunk outside of New York in 1868. The
Father, Hinderk, age 49, has no further record from this date on. The
brothers Albert, Hind, Johan, Johannes where separated when the ship
sank. Two brothers went towards Minnesota and the other two ended up in
Iowa/Nebraska. Both sets of brothers thought the others had died and thus
lost contact with each other.
The Mile High Meesters
The Mile High Meesters are three Meesters living in Colorado, these Meesters
foretold of the web boom and purchased the meester.com domain name so they could
develop a page dedicated to the Meester family. The mile high Meester consist
of: G Ray, Matt & Tonja Meester. The Mile High Meesters, realize that being
a Meester can be a daunting task, so much more is expected when you have the
last name of Meester. In order to leave our mark on this wonderful world we have
done things like sponsor local parks and a brick at the baseball stadium in
Colorado, Coors Field. We hope you enjoy the page and welcome any input on its
development.
New Mail
Hello you Meester's
My mum is a "Meester". This Meester Family originates from Giethoorn, Netherlands
(Klaas Jans Meister x 1755-30-11 Giethoorn Geertje Jans Akkerman)
For details see the "Kwartierstaat" check my homepage.
The Meester family was a peat diggers family that migrated in the late 18th century
from Overijssel to Friesland (Netherlands).
Some of the persons in the geustbook will relate to this Klaas Jans Meister/Meester,
or at least not proven relatives of him as some other Meesters from Giethoorn (a
small village in the north of Overijssel) that moved also to Friesland.
There are some (genealogical) publications on the migration of these peat-digger
families (in dutch and frysian). If of any interrest to you, I can mail you their
references.
Due to some work of a far-far cousin of my mother (I don't know his name, don't
know where he lives -if not deceased-, nor saw something of a publication) there's
a family anecdote on the origin of the family name Meester:
'The "(de) Meester" family(s) should have been a larger group of
persons that had left a village in France - lead by their mayor or
as they say in Fance "le mai^tre" - due to religious suppression.
This group of "protestant refugees" or "Hugenoten" came somewhere
in the 17-18th century to the Netherlands through Germany.
They took the family name [from] "(de) meester" (translation of
"du mai^tre") to honnor their leader, the mayor.
The frisian "Meester" family should have entered the Netherlands
by Coevorden, a small town in the south of the province of Drenthe.'
Before the 18th century Coevorden was an important fortification on the dutch-german
border. I personnaly think that mai^tre should be translated to "pastor" or "minister"
instead of mayor.
I have no proof for this anecdote, and give it to you "as it is".
Hello, this is Emmy Meester, from Amsterdam, answering your call for information. My
side of the family were all born in Andijk, 30 miles north from Amsterdam, a little
village between Hoorn and Enkhuizen. My father has quite a few brothers and sisters, and
they have quite a few kids of their own. There's a whole tribe of us down here. (We Are
everywhere !)
I'm one of the many 'De Meester's in Belgium. My family lives in Bambrugge, a 10
kilometers of Aalst, in the vicinity of Brussels. I know that many years ago, some 'De
Meester's went from Belgium to the USA and to Canada. My grandfather had 6 children (all
'De Meester') and all children have on their turn a minimum of three children. So, there
are a lot of 'De Meester's here in Belgium!!!!
I was surprised to see that there is a "Meester site" on the Web. I am very
interested in the history of Meesters. In the seventies I did some research in old
archives in Leidschendam and the provincial Archives of South Holland but I can't find the
information I have collected. What I remember about this research is that within two weeks
I was back in 1580, because our part of the Meester-family was living from that time
untill now in the same place. And most important, the name already existed before the time
of Napoleon. Before that time people were not committed to have a surname. The last of my
fore-fathers I found was Balthasar Meester, gentleman-farmer, living in Wilsveen, that was
a small village, which is now part of Leidschendam. Maybe it is possible to find a lot
more information, because the archives in Holland are good organised. My grand-father came
from a family with 22 children, so you can imagine how many Meesters there must be. He
once told me that our real name was uster but I never found any evidence. Maybe his father
was related with the men who went to the states. If I get the time I will look for that
information. The first Meester that went from eidschendam was my uncle, he went to New
Zealand in 1952 and has two sons. Next week I will see him and ask him to give me more
information. I will fill in the forms then as you requested. Well, there is a lot to tell
more about Meesters, but I have to stop now. I don't have a E-mail address of my own, this
one is from Kiwa, the testing Laboratory of the Dutch waterplants. You can reach me there.
I hope you can read my English.
Hello, I´ve done some research on my family and have collected quite a few names.
There is a little bible in our family with names in it, that goes back 6 generations. It
begins with a girl that got the bible in 1845. Her name was Grietje Jans Kelderhuis and
she was born in february 823(died october 1874). On may 1 1849 she married Gerriet Geert
Meester who was born in june 1822. They had six children. I'll give you there names, the
day that they were born and the places where there were born (They are little villages in
Friesland wich is in The Netherlands = Holland) and if known when they died:
Grietje Gerriet Meester, born september 11, 1849 in Strjallebert.
Hendrikje Gerriet Meester, born november 28, 1851 in Terbant. Died januari 22 1856 in
Luingebert.
Albertje Gerriet Meester, born august 28, 1855 in Luingebert. Died april 19 1878.
Jan Gerriet Meester, born july 5, 18..? in Terwispel. Died september 11, 1859 in
Terwispel.
Jan and Geert G. Meester (twins), born october 16, 1860 in Terwispel. Jan G. Meester died
in ocotber 19 1860 in Terwispel.
Geert G. Meester married a girl whose last name was Vermeulen (he died
in 1931). He was the owner of a capenter´s yard (making ships) in Oldeboorn. About the
turn of century he went bankrupt and moved with al his children to Delft (the place were I
live now, near to Rotterdam) to work there on anothor carpenters´s yard. He had nine
children. I have only their names, maybe there is a way to find out their birthdates but I
don´t know that yet. The names are: Gerrit Meester, Iepe Meester, Jan Meester, Louw
Meester, Bet Meester, Tine Meester, Iepke Meester, Griet Meester, Roeke Meester ( the last
five are girls).
Louw Meester Married Hendrika Cornelia Sonneveld. They had five children. Again I have
only their names (except of one, my grandfather), but maybe can find their birthdates. The
names of the children are: Gerrit Meester, Katrien Meester, Jan Meester, Piet Meester,
Janny Meester.
Jan Meester is born on june 16, 1914 in Vrijeban (Delft) and married on august 22, 1941
to Cornelia Kalden who was born on november 8, 1921 in Leerdam. They had three children:
Louw Meester born on august 24, 1942, Jannietta Meester born on december 27, 1946, Bennard
Meester born juli 2, 1950. They were all born in Delft.
Louw Meester married on november 10, 1965 with Marijke Mol born september 6, 1945. They
have two children: René Jan Meester born on juli 31, 1967 in Delft and Mariska Meester
(me) born on october 10, 1972 in Delft.
Bennard Meester married Marga Aarts. They have two children David Meester born on april
14, 1972 in Delft and Natasja Meester born on june 10, 1975 in Delft.
And there it ends for now. I hope you satisfied with this info. If you have some info
about the meester family, I would like to have it too. Maybe we are related closer then we
think (?).
Bye for now and hope to hear from you soon.
Greetings,
Mariska
I am 15 years old and found this page at school. I think it is really cool.My grandma
and I made a family tree back to the early 1800's of the Meester's once. I love the coat
of arms!
Hi!!,
Greetings from the Meester's in Minnesota. My nephew, Nick, has already sent you some
information about this branch.
My Grandfather's Father's name was Henry and his Father's name was Jan. Herman grew-up
around Rock Rapids, Iowa and eventually settled in Sioux Falls. I have 2 brothers and 2
sisters. My older brother, Mark, lives in International Falls, MN. I'm the next in line,
followed by the triplets, Alan, Mary and Elizabeth. We all live in and around the
Minneapolis area. It's wonderful to know there are more of us out there!
I am presently living in Marco Island, Florida with my wonderful children. I was born
the son of Jay Meester while he was working in Casablanca, Morrocco. He was born in Iowa.
I spent most of my early years growing up in Colorado Springs, Colorado and visiting my
father (divorced from my mother) in Brussels, Belgium and Kinshasa Zaire. I have a sister,
Darcy, brother Danny, and a brother in Belgium, Christophe.
Hi Matt,
Thank you for answering me so soon. I am on the internet now for three months and searched
my name for the first time last week. I was wondered that there were a lot a Meesters! And
that the translation of the name Meester is also a teacher and not a master. I thought
that there were only Meesters in Holland, because it is a dutch word. But people can move
and also to other countries! And there was a immigration rush in Holland in the
seventhies. That is maybe an explanation.
I am from Holland and was born in Wijhe. As far as I know the name Master comes from
this little village. You have a lot of Meesters there and there are also Meester
companies. I don't know the real story of the Meester roots, but of course there should be
enough material. My grand mother told me (when I was little and asked for my strange name)
that my great-grand father and his father were teachers. This is what I know now. Thank
you for writing and when I know more I will keep you updated!!!
Thanks,
Arno Meester
Leeuwarden, Holland
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