http://www.gahetna.nl/.../q/periode_tot/1701/q/comments/1
Note; Discharged from duty in Azie (Batavia)
I disagree with the post claiming that Claas Schim was our Claas Jansz. Although compelling in some respects, I believe the assumption is flawed for the following reasons:
Claas Schim was contracted to three separate vryburghers 1702 – 1708 under van der Stel’s ‘leenkneg’ system. He was in effect a labourer which would apply to a man in his early twenties. Claes Jansz was about 41 years old at the start of these contracts and as such it seems highly unlikely he would have been suited to such work. Elmien Wood (‘My naam is Van Rensburg, Janse van Rensburg – Of is dit Bruijn of dalk Schim?’) claims that Claas Schim was probably born 1648, which would have made the man 54 by 1702. I doubt this very much considering the work required, never mind the fact that the two men were 12 years apart in age and could not have been 'one and the same'. Whoever Claas Schim was, he was more likely to have been in his twenties at this time.
It is claimed that ‘Schim’ was a nickname, hence the confusion surrounding his true identity. This is not true. Schim was a recognised 'surname' / patronym as per this (of many) examples:
Further to this, Jan Bruijn was Claas Schim's alleged father as per VOC document. According to YDNA testing (de) Bruijn subscribes to R-M269 and not our I-M253 (i1d1) and there are no records of a connection between this man and Claes Jansz
(https://www.familytreedna.com/.../Netherl.../default.aspx...)
Claas Schim and Claes Jansz had quite different signatures: Claas Schim used ‘C ß’ (the second letter refers to a form of ‘s’ rather than ‘j’). Claas Jansz, in six documented cases, never used this form of signature. It is not likely, given the era, that this variability can be accounted for in the case of one individual.
Claas Schim was a sailor and given Claes Jansz’ promotion to sergeant of the Drakenstein Infantry, he was more likely to have had a military background.
The VOC archives entry for Claas Schim is confusing in some respects:
http://www.gahetna.nl/.../q/periode_tot/1701/q/comments/1
It states that Claas Schim could have ended up in Asia rather than the Cape of Good Hope.
If one peruses the attached scanned document it is strange on the right-hand credit page that entries continued until 1738, ten years after 'his' death in 1728. I have looked at many such documents and generally once the individual gained vryburgherskap or died the debit and credit pages were reconciled with no further entries; certainly not continuing for ten years. I believe that the clerks responsible for these records confused Claes jansz with Claas Schim, both known as ‘van Rensburg’. This would account for the footnote referring to Claes jansz’ death rather than Claas Schim's death (possibly around 1738). This could either be proved or disproved with further documentation coming to light from the Vrymans Boeken, 1739.
If Claas Schim was not Claes Jansz, then who WAS Claas Jansz? There is nothing convincing in the baptismal records, circa 1660-1662, Leiden / Rijnsburg, Holland. The same does not apply to Rendsburg, Scleswig-Holstein. However, there are a few mysterious individuals who appear in the VOC records during this period with no indication of what became of them - ?? Claas Jansz ??
