View source for Warendorp, Harmen Hendriksz van (ca. 1560-1632)

Harmen Hendriksz van Warendorp, a son of Hendrik He(i)linck Seelslager, a shoemaker at Warendorp in [[Westphalia (Germany)|Westphalia]], Germany, and Elsgen Heyteman, was born about 1560 at Warendorp. He started a cloth shop at [[Aachen (Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany)|Aachen]], probably living at [[Burtscheid (Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany)|Burtscheid]] where there was a Mennonite congregation. In 1593 he married Christine Rasselaers of Cologne (d. 11 May 1632). Their three daughters all died at an early age. In 1607 van Warendorp, who had become wealthy, moved to [[Amsterdam (Noord-Holland, Netherlands)|Amsterdam]], Netherlands, where he joined the [[Flemish Mennonites|Flemish Mennonite]] congregation. On 28 June 1607, he bought a plot of ground on the Singel canal, near the brewery "Het Lam," on which he had built a meetinghouse for the Flemish congregation. He also bought two houses on the Heerengracht and two on the Singel, and lived at the house called "Aken" (i.e., Aachen), which now is the office of the [[Algemene Doopsgezinde Societeit|Algemene Doopsgezinde Sociëteit]] (ADS) and the living quarters of the sexton of the church (Singel 454). He let the congregation use the meetinghouse rent free, but made some strange stipulations, e.g., that no hymns should be sung but the Psalms of David; whenever another hymn was sung the preacher was to be fined. After the death of van Warendorp in April 1632 his heirs for more than a century remained the owners of the meetinghouse, which occasionally led to difficulties. In 1740 the [[Lamist Mennonite Church (Amsterdam, Netherlands)|Lamist Mennonite congregation]], after a lawsuit, became the owner of the church and the adjacent houses.
= Bibliography =
Hoop Scheffer, Jacob Gijsbert de. <em class="gameo_bibliography">Inventaris der Archiefstukken berustende bij de Vereenigde Doopsgezinde Gemeente to Amsterdam</em>, 2 vols. Amsterdam: Uitgegeven en ten geschenke aangeboden door den Kerkeraad dier Gemeente, 1883-1884: v. I, No. 703; v. II, Nos. 131-34, 162-209.

Kühler, Wilhelmus Johannes. <em class="gameo_bibliography">Geschiedenis van de Doopsgezinden in Nederland: Gemeentelijk Leven 1650-1735</em>. Haarlem: H.D. Tjeenk Willink &amp; Zoon, 1950: 185 ff.

Kuiper, F. and N. van der Zijpp. <em class="gameo_bibliography">Bij ’'t Lam 1608-1958</em>. Amsterdam, 1959: 12, 25-30.

Muller, F. "Omstandig verhaal van de stichting der tegenwoordige vergaderplaats van de Vereenigde Doopsgez. Gemeente te Amsterdam." <em class="gameo_bibliography">Doopsgezinde Bijdragen</em> (1863): 1-42; (1900): 85.

Molhuysen, P. C. and P. J. Blok. <em class="gameo_bibliography">Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek</em>. v. 1-10. Leiden, 1911-1937: v. III, 1393.
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