Dirck van Os

undefinedDirck van Os as an ensign in 1583. This portrait by Cornelis de Visscher is in the Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar.1

Dirck van Os (Antwerp, 1556 – Amsterdam, 1615) was an Amsterdam merchant, insurer, and financier, originally from Brabant.2 He is among the founders of the Compagnie van Verre, the United East India Company (VOC),  the Amsterdam Exchange Bank and the main investor in the Beemster.[1]

Biography

Van Os seems to have been born to a trader in pigments and tapestries, originally from ‘s-Hertogenbosch, who had moved to Antwerp around 1550.[2][3] Not much is known about his baptism or his parents.

Dirck served as captain of militia in the Fall of Antwerp, wherein the city surrendered to the Duke of Parma in 1585. After this point he moved to Middelburg. In January 1588, Van Os married Margretha van der Piet.[4] He and his brother Hendrick (1555-1623) traded in grain and salt, primarily on Spain and ports on the Baltic Sea.[5] Van Os cooperated together with Isaac le Maire on Danzig. In 1595, they organized an expedition to get salt in Setúbal and ship it to Archangelsk.

In March 1602 he was one of the founders of the Dutch East India Company, and served as one of the first directors. (The shares were sold at his house in the Nes; likely they rented part of Maria Margaretha monastery, now Brakke Grond.3 The brothers hired a bookkeeper Anthonie van Breen who moved in.) With 47,000 guilders, they were the largest investors.[6] This number grew to 120,000 by 1609.[7] The oldest stock share in the world, dated 27 September 1606, was  signed by him.[8][9] 

Balthasar de Moucheron appeared to cooperate in the establishment of the VOC. He attended one meeting, on 20 March 1602, but demanded free navigation on the east coast of Africa and a deferment of payment.4

Maria Margreta klooster tussen de OZ. Voorburgwal en de Nes.5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1607 he was involved in reclaiming the Beemster (7200 ha). He cooperated with Leeghwater, an expert in wind mills. This polder inundated in January 1610 after four days of storm.6 The second attempt was more successful.7 Immediately after the reclamation, Van Os had rapeseed sown, very suitable as a first crop after poldering because rapeseed is not sensitive to the still salty soil and because it rises early and therefore suppresses weeds. With the proceeds, all the oil mills in the Zaanstreek could operate for a year.8

The company, a partnership, had an account at the Wisselbank from the beginning. In 1609 they were involved in the expedition of Henry Hudson to find an alternative route to the East and reached Manhattan. The Van Os, including his son in law Van der Straeten, acquired 46 plots, more than one-seventh of the land in Beemster.9 In the Purmer they again lost a lot of money.10[10]

He was buried at Nieuwezijds Kapel in 1615 but a record does not exist.11

His brother Hendrick is known as an trader in diamonds, an art lover and collectioneur.12

Family

Dirck van Os had several children: Maria, Dirck, Hendrick, David, Margrieta, Elisabeth, Anna and Francois (1592-1660).13 As they inherited the oldest shares in the VOC they all must be regarded as quite rich. Maria married David Sohier. Margrieta married Philip van der Straeten. Francois married Agneta Pels and Sara Wijs.  He lived at Zwaansvliet in the Beemster, next to his brother.14 15 David who married Anna Wijntjes moved to Alkmaar before 1623. He also had a son called Dirck (III).

References

  1. ^ Dillen, J.G. van (1958) Het oudste aandeelhoudersregister van de Kamer Amsterdam der Oost-Indische Compagnie, p. 110-111
  2. ^ https://biografieportaal.nl/recensie/dirk-van-os-een-brabantse-koopman-in-amsterdam/
  3. ^ Alice Boots en Rob Woortman (2023) Een geniale koopman. Dirk van Os en de invloed van Zuid-Nederlanders op de Amsterdamse geldmarkt.
  4. ^ Dillen, J.G. van (1958) Het oudste aandeelhoudersregister van de Kamer Amsterdam der Oost-Indische Compagnie, p. 110
  5. ^ Gelderblom, Oscar (August 24, 2000). Zuid-Nederlandse kooplieden en de opkomst van de Amsterdamse stapelmarkt (1578-1630). Uitgeverij Verloren. ISBN 9065506209 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ “Beursplein netwerkdiner 2012 | Toespraak | Rijksoverheid.nl”. Archived from the original on 2014-04-08. Retrieved 2014-04-07.
  7. ^ “Financieel Erfgoed op de Kaart”. www.financieelerfgoedopdekaart.nl.
  8. ^ the oldest Share : VOC 1606 / die älteste Aktie der Welt
  9. ^ Shorto, Russell (27 September 2013). “The Ghosts of Amsterdam”. The New York Times. Retrieved 7 April 2014. But when I’m on the Nes I feel I’m about to run into a tall, handsome, wily man who in his day favored lace collars and a twisty little mustache. His name was Dirck van Os, and, while history has forgotten him, his house on this street (which, alas, no longer exists) could be considered the birthplace of capitalism.
    For four months in 1602, Amsterdammers streamed into his parlor to buy pieces of a new kind of corporation, one that allowed backers to sell their portion at a later date, at a higher (or lower) value. The Dutch East India Company transformed the world, and it made Amsterdam, briefly and improbably, the most powerful city in the world.
    But its biggest contribution to history may be in the fact that in this little alley van Os and his merchant colleagues gave birth to the concept of “shares of stock.” A few years later, a little farther down the street, came the first stock exchange. Things would never be the same.
  10. ^ “BeemsterBuitenplaatsen PK57”. Archived from the original on 2015-05-14. Retrieved 2014-04-07.
  11. ^ “Oneindig Noord Holland / Dirck van Oss, stamvader VOC-mentaliteit”. Archived from the original on 2014-04-08. Retrieved 2014-04-07.
  12. ^ Logan, Casey (April 6, 2014). “Joslyn Finds Rembrandt In Its Attic”. The Omaha World-Herald Newspaper, Omaha, Douglas County, NE, USA. pp. 1 & 4A. Only In The World-Herald
  1. https://www.historischgenootschapbeemster.nl/wp-content/uploads/2018-11-Schouwschuit.pdf ↩
  2. https://www.knggw.nl/raadplegen/de-nederlandsche-leeuw/1907-25/69/ ↩
  3. https://brakkegrond.nl/de-geschiedenis-van-de-brakke-grond ↩
  4. Zeelanders wanted ↩
  5. https://www.utrechtaltijd.nl/collecties/detail/?collection=utralt_collectienederlandvc_dcn-catharijneconvent-BMH-g2342a Utrecht altijd ↩
  6. J. Buisman (2000) Duizend jaar weer, wind en water, deel IV, p. 167 ↩
  7. https://onh.nl/verhaal/dirck-van-oss-stamvader-voc-mentaliteit ↩
  8. https://www.google.nl/books/edition/_/0ssy1CvDbpMC?hl=nl&gbpv=1&pg=PA10&dq=dirck+van+os Haerlemmer-Meer-Boeck door Jan A. Leeghwater, p. 10 ↩
  9. https://waterlandsarchief.nl/images/nadere%20toegangen/eigenaars%20van%20landerijen%20in%20de%20beemster.pdf ↩
  10. https://geschiedenislokaalwaterland.nl/bronnen/dirck-van-os ↩
  11. In 1659 a child of Dirck Pestalozzi was buried in this grave; in 1661 Coenraad Pestalozzi; in 1666 the latter’s widow, Geertruijd van Os. ↩
  12. https://research.frick.org/montias/inventoryList/605 ↩
  13. https://www.historischgenootschapbeemster.nl/wp-content/uploads/DNS005.pdf ↩
  14. https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/meij090hekk01_01/meij090hekk01_01_0011.php ↩
  15. https://beemsterraadsinformatie.purmerend.nl/Vergaderingen/Gemeenteraad/2015/10-februari/21:00/Ingekomen-stukken-/1a-20150106-bijlage-nota-Geluk-in-de-Beemster.pdf ↩
  16. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89QV-T2V3?cc=2037985&wc=SM9Q-16D%3A1293193204%2C382095101%2C383711001 ↩

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