Jan Schipper (ca 1600 – ?)
The earliest progenitor of our branch was known only as Jan Schipper. He was born in ca 1600 in the Republic of Seven United Netherlands, also known as the Dutch Republic (now Kingdom of the Netherlands).1
Jan was born during the Eighty Years’ War, that lasted from 1568 to 1647.2 One wonders how he was affected by the war, whether he was siding with the revolutionists or the Spanish royalists, and what his thinking was on the members of the two ruling Houses and their struggle for power over the established Dutch Republic provinces.
By the end of 16th century, the Low Countries (corresponding mostly with present-day Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) consisted of 17 provinces under the rule of Roman Catholic Spain. The war was triggered by the Dutch Revolt of 1568 executed under the leadership of William I, Prince of Orange, who was the governor (Dutch title: Stadtholder) of the 
northern provinces Holland, Utrecht and Zeeland of the Low Countries (or Larger Netherlands).2-5 The revolt was directed against King Philip II of Spain “because of high taxes, persecution of Protestants by the government, and Philip’s efforts to modernize and centralize the devolved-medieval government structures of the provinces”.3 By 1581, the Northern Provinces declared their independence and established the Republic of Seven United Netherlands. The initial provinces included Frisia (Friesland), Guelders (Gelderland), Groningen & Ommeland, Holland, Overijssel, Utrecht and Zeeland. Drenthe had such a low Dutch population that it was administered as part of Overijssel. The Dutch Republic existed until 1795 when Napoleon Bonaparte I of France invaded the republic and replaced it with his Batavian Republic.2-4 Read more on the history of the Netherlands. The provinces in the Dutch Republic were governed coherently by stadtholders who were members of the House of Orange-Nassau and the House of Nassau (the latter ruling mainly over Drenthe, Friesland and Groningen).4
By the 1630s, Jan Schipper was living in the Utrecht Province1 of the Dutch Republic near Zeist which was surrounded by forests with no major dams or rivers in the surrounding area. The village is about 8.5 km east of Utrecht.6,7 His son, Arie Jansz was born in ca 1635 at Zeist.1,8 READ MORE on Arie Jansz Schipper (van Smorenburg).
- Voorouders van Annie Verschuren-van Eck. http://genealogievaneck.blogspot.co.za/p/seisveldsmorenburg
- History of the Netherlands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Netherlands
- Dutch Republic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Republic
- List of monarchs of the Netherlands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_monarchs_of_the_Netherlands
- William, the Silent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_the_Silent
- Zeist. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeist
- Zeist, Netherlands. https://www.google.co.za/maps/place/Zeist,+Netherlands/@52.0863494,5.1875419,12z/data
- Arie Schipper (van Smorenburg). http://search.ancestry.com