Leendertz, an old Mennonite family which emigrated at the end of the 16th century from the Palatinate, Germany, to Kleve in the Lower Rhine territory. The first representative of this family found at Kleve was Pieter Leendertz (1609-1683) whose son was Leendert Leendertz (d. 1691 at Kleve) who was married to Billeken Wilms. A son of Leendert Leendertz, Willem Leendertz, was a preacher of the Mennonite congregation of Kleve 1720-ca. 1745 (Naamlijst 1731); he may be identical with Willem Leendertz, who (Inv. Arch Amst. II, No. 2580) is said to have been voorlezer (reader) of that congregation and resigned in 1743 because of old age and illness.

In the early 17th century some members of this family moved to Rees, where Jan Leendertz became the ancestor of the Rhineland branch of the Leendertz family, which still exists. Harmen Leendertz, a son of Jan Leendertz, was a preacher of the congregation at Rees 1707-ca.1740 (Naamlijst 1731). Other members of the family in the 18th century moved to Emmerich and to the Netherlands, especially to Nijmegen and Haarlem. At Nijmegen Willem Leendertz (1721-1810), who had come from Kleve about 1738, was at first a baker and then a merchant. In 1757-1810 he was a deacon of the Mennonite congregation (DB 1875, 80 f.). He was married in 1750 to Elisabeth van Eger, a daughter of Petrus van Eger, preacher of the Nijmegen Mennonite congregation, and remarried twice; he had 17 children.

In the Netherlands a large number of members of this family were Mennonite preachers, all trained at the Amsterdam Mennonite Seminary. Cornelis Leendertz, b. 31 July 1784, at Nijmegen, d. 7 June 1857 at Amsterdam, married to Antje Rotgans, served at Zuidveen 1808-1810, Steenwijkerwold 1810-1814, and Zaandam-West 1814-1854. He published Leerrede bij de herdenking van mijn 25 jarige Predikdienst (Amsterdam, 1839) and together with his co-preacher B. van Geuns, Leerredenen (n.p., 1841). He also published some poems. His son Jacobus Leendertz, b. 30 January 1809 at Zuidveen, d. 5 June 1877 at Leer, was married to Engelina Mesdag of Groningen and served at Mensingeweer 1832-1837, and Leer, Germany, 1837-1877. A son of this Jacobus Leendertz was Cornelis Leendertz, b. 7 May 1843, at Leer, d. 23 December 1928 at Middelstum, pastor of Staveren 1866-1873, Zwartsluis 1873-1875, Noordhorn 1875-1898, and Middelstum 1898-1908. Mennonite ministers were also Pieter Leendertz (1817-1880) and Abraham Cornelis Leendertz, b. 4 November 1822 at Kampen, d. 25 December 1899 at Kleve, serving at Kleve 1850-1895, whose son Willem Isaac Leendertz and grandsons Willem Leendertz (1883-1970) and Johannes Matthias Leendertz (1885-1977) were Mennonite ministers, as were two other sons of Abraham Cornelis Leendertz, one of whom was also called Abraham Cornelis Leendertz, and Cornelis Abraham Leendertz, b. 19 October 1861, at Kleve, d. 1 May 1939 at Norden, serving the congregation of Norden, Germany, 1889-1931.

Whether Jan Leendertz, about 1650 a Mennonite preacher at Zutphen, Dutch province of Gelderland (DB 1881, 46), belonged to this Leendertz family could not be ascertained. Tjepke Leendertz, d. 1816, preacher of Ameland from 1767, apparently did not.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, pp. 305-306. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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