Leeuwenhoek as Curator

In the Register van de Curateelen, Leeuwenhoek has two pages, sharing the second with his cousin Lambrecht's son and notary Adriaan Leeuwenhoek, whose page had filled. On the left is page 69 (click to enlarge) showing Leeuwenhoek's appointment to the Touw and Van der Sijde estates.

On the left sidebar are details of that page (click to enlarge). The upper image shows that Leeuwenhoek's appointment was guaranteed by his old business partner Johannes Blaucamer and signed by two magistrates, Adriaen [Willems] van der Hoeff and Johannes [Jacobs] Thierens.

The middle image on the sidebar shows the appointments to the Van der Sijde and Touw estates on the left.

On the right is the continuation of the record concerning the Touw estate in which 36 guilders paid by city secretary Hendrik Vockestaert closed the balance ('t gemelte slot voldaen en hier Quite).

The lower image on the sidebar shows the top of page 69v. The entry on the left says tht in 1698, Leeuwenhoek was appointed to administer the estate of Hendrick van Col. The entry on the right notes the case's resolution in 1699.

The Vermeer appointment in September 1676 is not one of those listed in this book. Like the Bourbon and Ritmeier appointments, it was noted separately in the magistrates' Kamerboek.

The chronology under What happened? below show that every couple of years, Leeuwenhoek was assigned by the magistrates and mayors to administer estates that were in some way troubled. In the registers, they are described as either abandoned (geabandonneerd) or insolvent (desolaat). The city had many curators available for these duties. We do not know why Leeuwenhoek was assigned those cases, except the case involving his sister-in-law.