Maerten Huijchs Leeuwenhoek

Patronymic: 
Huijchs
Antony's: 
uncle Huijch's son, cousin Maerten
Birth or Baptism date: 
February 13, 1631
Death or Burial date: 
November 24, 1694
Maerten was Antony's cousin, younger surviving son of his uncle Huijch, the only surviving sibling of Antony's father Philips. Maerten was not a basketmaker like his father and older brother Lambrecht. When he married Jannitgen Vosmaer in 1651, he was living on the Brabantse Turfmarkt.
  • In 1664, Maerten Huijchs was a tax farmer in Rotterdam.
  • In 1667, he was a collector of various taxes in Delft.
  • In 1675, he was tax farmer for the excise tax on wine and beer in Delft and Delfland.
  • In 1679, his cousin Antony got the job of wine guager, presumably measuring the wine that Maerten collected the taxes on. When a new tax schedule was introduced in that same year, Maerten was excise tax master for firewood within Delft and Delfland.
  • In 1685, Maerten was named tax farmer for the city of Delfshaven's excise tax on real estate agents and round measures.
Maerten owned three properties on the main market square:
  • C0935 Markt 17B (where they lived in 1675)
  • C0931 now Markt 25 (from Joris Groenewegen 1684/05/00)
  • C0982 now Kerkstraat 3 on the Markt beside Nieuwe Kerk.

He got D0294 now Brabantse Turfmarkt 71 from his sisters, who got it from their father Huijch.

He also owned four other presumably rental properties:

  • D0797 now Pieterstraat 27
  • D0801 now Pynepoort 14.
  • E0131 now Zuiderstraat 222 - 256 (was Bastiaans Vest)
  • E0143 - E0149 now Gasthuislaan 181 - 203 (was Susterlaan)

[check whether he owned Kruisstraat 77]

How could Maerten afford to buy all this property?

Maerten was a tax collector (ontvanger) beginning in 1660, the year his cousin Antony became camerbewaarder. In the Manuaal betreffende de pachters van accijnzen (Manual concerning the farmers of the excise taxes; OAD 592), Maerten paid 7,250 gulden for that year's lease (pacht) on peat (turf).

In the account book (OAD 678.55) of Johan Cornelis van Bleiswijk, the city's treasurer for 1661, the city's annual income from the excise tax on the brokerage (maeckelaerdie) on corn and the expansion (t'uijtsetten) of the Cooremaet was noted as coming from Maerten Leeuwenhoeck. He paid the city 4,950 guilders, plus the usual 5% premium (voor ransoen).

It's not until 1664 that he appeared again. The account book for that year noted the city received 5,950 guilders from Maerten Leeuwenhouck for the the yearly lease on the excise tax on peat, both local and that imported from Scotland and Sweden, and 7,000 guilders for the grinding and milling (gemael) excise.

The following year, Maerten moved up to an even bigger account. He paid 9,000 guilders for the yearly lease on three-quarters of the wine excise tax. There is no indication in the account book of what happened to the other quarter. There is also no indication of whether these sums were a more or less than the farmer actually collected. However, Maerten kept returning, so he must have been collecting more than he was paying the city. The bidding for these licenses was competitive, which must have kept the profit margins low.

1666 Maerten paid 3,620 gl for seven months of the milling tax (gemael), plus the usual 5% premium (voor ransoen)

1667 Maerten paid 90 gl for the vijfmaten? tax

1668

1669 Meat (vlees) 6,675 gulden

1670 Meat (vlees) 6,675 gulden

1671

1672    Turf, De Waag 1,625 gulden
1673    Turf, De Waag (not found in inv. 592), Vijfmaten, Makelaardij, Brandewijn
1674    Turf, De Waag (not found in inv. 592), Vijfmaten, Makelaardij, Brandewijn, Bier, Vlees, Kraangeld -- total 33,000 gulden
1675    Vijfmaten, Makelaardij van het koorn en het zetten van de korenmaat
1676    Vijfmaten, Makelaardij, Gemaal
1677    Vijfmaten, Makelaardij, Gemaal
1678    -
1679    Makelaardij, Vlees 6,150 gulden
1680    Makelaardij
1681    Makelaardij
1682    -
1683    Wijn 9,300 guilders
1684    Turf, Makelaardij
1685    -
1686    -
1687    Vijfmaten, Gemaal
1688    Vijfmaten, Gemaal
1689    Vijfmaten
1690    Vijfmaten, Makelaardij
1691    -
1692    Makelaardij, Vlees 5,300 gulden
1693    Vijfmaten, Makelaardij, Vlees 5,400 gulden
1694    Turf, Vijfmaten, Makelaardij