Meije-hoeve

We have always assumed that our earliest forefather Jan van der Meye came from Holland and came to de Bildt to explore the riches of the new reclaimed land in 1505. We have been searching for a Jan van der Meije who left for de Bildt in Friesland on the internet and the CD "50 jaar ons Voorgeslacht" but to no avail.

Through the ages our family name has shown many variations like van der Meij/van der Meije/van der Mei/Vermeij/Vermeije. In the 17th century the use of family names was no longer shown in records, however that was taken up again in 1811 after the annexation of the Netherlands by emperor Napoleon.

IJ (lowercase ij; Dutch pronunciation: [ɛi]) is a digraph of the letters i and j. Occurring in the Dutch language, it is sometimes considered a ligature, or even a letter in itself. For more information see Wikipedia

A literal translation of our family name suggests we are "from the Meije". A river Meije can be found in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland near Nieuwkoop with a Meije farmstead[1] with a long history starting between 1000 and 1200 AD. However underneath a coat of arms on the outer wall of a shed of the homestead it reads: "1629 Het stamhuis vant afgestorven gheslacht van die van Van der Mye" (translated: 1629 The dynasty of the extinct family van der Mye)

In the Middle Ages the van der Mije family was very distinguished in Holland (and Zeeland). In 1156 the name Albartus Mi was already mentioned in a deed. The family possessed besides Homestead Meije and the Honderdmorgen Polder also the estate further ahead "De Haack" (from 1332) and the (former) van der Mije castle in Harmelen.

The history of Homestead Meije is mentioned in a serial article in the quarterly magazine "Rondom Niewecoop" published by the Historical Society Nieuwkoop and surroundings.

Volume 12 • Number 1 • March 2002: