Nieuwenhuis is a common Dutch family name, including some Mennonite families. There are at least four Mennonite branches, apparently unrelated.

1. Nieuwenhuis (Nienhaus, Nyenhuis) family found at Enschedé and Winterswijk, The origin of this family probably was Neuenhaus (Nienhuis) in the gravure of Bentheim, Germany, not far from the Dutch border. From the early 17th century the name is found in the town of Steinfurt (Burgsteinfurt), not far from Neuenhaus. Here members of the Nieuwenhuis family were still found in the 18th century. In the meantime some of them had moved to Enschedé in the Dutch province of Overijssel. They were here from the early 18th century, and perhaps already in the 17th century, usually being engaged in textile business and manufacturing; some of them were deacons of the church. By marriage the Nieuwenhuis family in Enschedé was related to other well-known Mennonite families, such as Hoedemaker, Naber, Stenvers, van Lochum, Warnaers, and ter Mors. In the 19th century the Enschedé branch died out. In the Mennonite congregation of Winterswijk, Dutch province of Gelderland, there were in the 18th century also a number of Nieuwenhuises. They had moved in from Enschedé.
2. Nieuwenhuis family of Amsterdam. This family, found here in the 16th-18th centuries, seems to have moved in from Steinfurt and probably belonged to the same branch as the Enschedé-Winterswijk family. In the 18th century they spelled their names in different ways: Nieuwenhuis, Nieuwenhuys, Nieuwenhuizen, Nieuwenhuysen. A relationship of the Amsterdam Zonist deacon Maarten Nieuwenhuizen, and Maarten Nieuwenhuizen of Haarlem, father of pastor Jan Nieuwenhuizen, with them could not be ascertained.
3. Nieuwenhuis family of Harlingen, Friesland. The first of this family we find here is Feddrik Tjerks about 1740, who was married to Geertje Everts Oosterbaan, and father of Tjerk Nieuwenhuis, the first professor of the Amsterdam Mennonite seminary. With the latter this family died out in the male line.
4. Nieuwenhuis family of Westzaan, province of North Holland. Willem Nieuwenhuis, b. ca. 1760 at Westzaan, d. 1806 at Groningen, was trained for the ministry by H. van Gelder and P. Beets, both preachers of Zaandam, and examined and appointed ministerial candidate by the church board of West Zaandam. He served as pastor at Norden, East Friesland, 1796-1798 and at Groningen (Pelsterstraat congregation) 1798-1806.

Benjamin Nieuwenhuis (Nieuwenhuizen), of Westzaan, b. there about 1712, d. 1780 at Kampen, was a Mennonite minister at Kampen 1737-1780; his grandson Benjamin Nieuwenhuis, b. ca. 1810 at Kampen, d. 7 February 1847, at Medemblik, was educated at the Amsterdam Mennonite seminary and served the congregation of Medemblik 1835-1847.

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 877. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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