Honig (Honigh, Honingh) family

Honig (formerly also Honigh and Honingh) is the name of one of the oldest and best-known Mennonite merchant families of the Zaan district of the Dutch province of North Holland. The earlier members were principally engaged in the manufacture of paper and oil pressing. In Koog aan de Zaan there was in the 1950s still a large Honig plant for the manufacture of starch, flour, soups, and other products.

Jan Symons Honigh is named in the 17th century as a paper manufacturer at Koog aan de Zaan. His grandson Jacob Cornelisz Honigh at Zaandijk was likewise a manufacturer of paper and at the same time a shipowner in the whaling industry. With three older members of the united Waterland and Flemish Mennonites at Koog and Zaandijk he formed a committee to take charge of the erection of a new church, which was still used in the mid-20th century. In 1692 he was chosen deacon, an office which many of his descendants filled. One of his descendants, Jan Jacobsz Honigh (1792-1863), deacon and secretary of the consistory, did valuable work in the church archives.

Klaas Jansz Honig, born 6 July 1769 at Zaandijk, was made substitute preacher of the Koog and Zaandijk congregation, 18 October 1792. To commemorate this event a silver coin was struck with the inscription, "De ware wijsheid is de kennis van God; De beste wegen zijn, o Jeugd, die van wijsheid en van deugd, 1792." On 23 June 1793 he was called to preach for the congregation at Oude Sluis (Noord Zijpe). On 15 June 1794 he accepted a call from the church at Purmerend, where he died, 10 March 1832. By his competence and his virtuous character he won general respect and affection. He was a zealous member of the organization, Tot Nut van't Algemeen. In addition to the sermon he preached on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the settlement of Purmerend in honor of this charitable association on 2 May 1814, he published Redevoering over het Nut van Heuchlijke gebeurtenissen plegtiglyk te herdenken.

Jan Jansz Honig, Jr., born 27 May 1847 at Koog aan de Zaan, attended the Mennonite seminary in Amsterdam (1866-1871), was made preacher of the church at Poppingawier in 1871, in Baard in 1873, and in Balk in 1875. From 1899 to his death he was a member of the directorate of the Algemene Doopsgezinde Sociëteit as the representative of the Friesche Sociëteit. He died at Balk on 17 March 1902. J. J. Honig wrote in the Doopsgezinde Bijdragen the articles, "Het Gezangboek der Gemeente te Balk voor 1854" (1887); "Een Zondagmiddag onder de fijne Mennisten te Balk" (1892); "Reizen naar de Eeuwigheid" (1896); "Bij het Portret van Mej. T. R. Haitjema" (1902).

Meindert Honigh, a member of a younger branch of the family, the son of a farmer near Purmerend, studied at the Mennonite seminary in Amsterdam (1892-1896), in 1897 was made preacher of the congregation at Uithuizen, and in 1900 went to Franeker, where he served until his death. He published the following: Leerboek der Formeele Logica, bewerkt naar de dictaten van wijlen Prof. Dr. C. Bellaar Spruyt (Haarlem, 1903); Feestrede ter gelegenheid van het 100jarig Bestaan van het Departement Franeker der Mij. Tot Nut van't Algemeen, 1809-1909; "De oudere en de jongere generatie," Tijdschr. Teekenen des Tijds, 1909; "De Toekomstige Eeuw de Psychologie," Tijdschr. Teekenen des Tijds, 1911; "De jongste proeve van idealistische philosophie in ons vaderland," Teylers Theolog.  Tijdschr., 1911.

Gerrit Jan Honig (born 1864), lived at Zaandijk, a deacon of the congregation of Koog-Zaandijk and representative of this congregation in the Algemene Doopsgezinde Sociëteit (A.D.S., Dutch General Conference) for 30 years, had published a large number of articles on the history of the Zaan district and also on the Mennonites in this region. Gerrit Honig of Zaandam was the first secretary (appointed in 1926) of the Doopsgezinde jongeren Bond (Dutch Youth Association) and a founder of the Elfregi Youth group at Zaandam in 1929. He was also a deacon of West Zaandam and a member of the A.D.S.

Author(s)	Gerrit J. Honig
	Nanne van der Zijpp
Date Published	1956

Cite This Article

MLA style

Honig, Gerrit J. and Nanne van der Zijpp. "Honig (Honigh, Honingh) family." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1956. Web. 18 Dec 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Honig_(Honigh,_Honingh)_family&oldid=82190.

APA style

Honig, Gerrit J. and Nanne van der Zijpp. (1956). Honig (Honigh, Honingh) family. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 18 December 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Honig_(Honigh,_Honingh)_family&oldid=82190.

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Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, pp. 803-804. All rights reserved.

©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.