The Bijen family in Hengelo

According to a census in 1830 in the municipality of Hengelo, Jan Bijen, farmer, aged 37, Gesina Lansink, aged 39, and their children Willem and Geertruida Bijen, aged 4 and 1, lived in a house numbered 399 in the settlement Woolde. The location of this house is not shown in the register.
It is better known what the location of Jan Bijen's house was about 1870. The land registry shows that he owned a house on the lot B 181 and held two parcels of arable land, the lots B 180 and 182, on a long lease. These lots were located near the present street called Uitslagsweg north of the centre of Hengelo. This agrees with later statements in official registers that named the Uitslagsweg as the address of the family.
On the map to the right, that has been derived from a map from about 1870, the Uitslagsweg is marked with a red color. The Landmansweg, that is mentioned on the page about the Beijen-Spekreis division because in later years other members of the Beijen family lived there, is marked with green.
We can assume that the house of 1870 was identical to the house of the Bijen family in 1830, or that it at least was located on the same place.

Bijen and Beijen

There is a striking difference between the marriage certificates from 1868 and 1871: the spelling of the surnames of the bridegrooms.
In Gerrit Jan's certificate in 1868 his surname and the surname of his father Jan were still written as Bijen:

Three years later Bernardus and Jan were suddenly called Beijen:

The reason for this change is not clear, but the most likely explanation is carelessness. Probably the origin of the mistake laid some days before the wedding day, when an excerpt from the register of births was provided as a preparation for the civil wedding. In the excerpt Bernardus' name was written as Beijen, whereas it was Bijen in the original register of births. The registrar made another error in the 1871 certificate: Jan Beijen and Gezina Lansink were both recorded as having died. As for Gezina this was correct: she died in 1867. Jan B(e)ijen, however, died in 1879.
Gerrit Jan did not sign the 1868 certificate: he was "inexperienced in writing". Bernardus did sign his marriage certificate (as Beijen), but his signature did not indicate too much experience in writing.

After 1871 the name of Jan and his descendants in the Hengelo registry was usually written as Beijen, even though Bijen was accidently used. When, for instance, Jan's son Willem died in 1874, Beijen was used, but when Jan himself died in 1879, his surname was written as Bijen. His first name continued to be Jan; the baptismal name Gerardus Joannes he was given in Weerselo was forgotten once and for all.
In some branches in Weerselo and Hengelo that were not closely related the surname Bijen was kept. The page about the size of the families and branches shows that in Overijssel the surname Bijen is far more usual than Beijen.

On the next page the further development of the Hengelo family is discussed.