Samuel Blommaert - Early Life

Early Life

Samuel was born in Antwerp, capital of the Antwerp province in Flanders, one of Belgium's three regions. He was the son of Margaretha Hoefnagel and the wealthy merchant Lodewijk Blommaert (1537–1591), who in 1581 was schepen of Antwerp and in 1583 captain at Fort Lillo on the eastern border of the Scheldt. Margaretha died when Samuel was young and his father moved the family to London, when Antwerp was occupied in 1585 by the Duke of Parma. He remarried but died in 1591. Samuel was apprenticed in Stade, The Hague, and Vienna. In 1602 he visited Benin. In 1603, Samuel enlisted with the Dutch East India Company and traveled to the Dutch East Indies on a ship under admiral Steven van der Hagen. In the years 1605-1606 he stayed on Borneo. In 1607 he was sent by the board to Sukadana West Kalimantan to rescue Hans Roeff, who had died when Blommaert arrived. He returned to Bantam with 633 diamonds. In 1609/1610 he again stayed on Sambas, Borneo. In September 1610 he left sooner than expected for Texel and arrived in June 1611. Pieter Both had to investigate the case.

He settled in Amsterdam, where he became a prominent merchant. On 5 June 1612, he married Catharina Reynst, a daughter of Gerard Reynst, with whom he would have 12 children between 1613 and 1633, each born in Amsterdam. His daughter Constantia (1626-) married the admiral Isaac Sweers.