Sacharias Jansen - Biography

Biography

Jansen was born in The Hague with date of birth commonly given as 1580 although some sources place it as late a 1588. His parents were Hans Martens (who may have had the occupation of a peddler) and Maeyken Meertens, both probably from Antwerp, Belgium. He grew up with his sister Sara in Middleburg, at the time the second most important city of the Netherlands. He was known as a "street seller" who was constantly in trouble with the local authorities, and later became a spectacle-maker.

He himself stated he was born in The Hague on the marriage file of his first marriage, with Catharina de Haene, on October 23, 1610. When this file was refound by Cornelis de Waard in 1906, De Waard found the following excerpt: Sacharias Jansen, j.g. uut Den Haag, translated into modern English: Zacharias Jansen, bachelor from The Hague Before, it was often thought that Jansen was a native of Middleburg. In 1612, Zacharias and Catharina had a son they named Johannes Zachariassen.

Following the death of Jansen's first wife in 1624, he married Anna Couget from Antwerp, who was the widow of a Willem Jansen (probably a relative of Jansen). He moved to Amsterdam in November 1626. Zacharias Jansen has been given a death date as late as 1638 although his son Johannes declared his parents had died by the time of his marriage in April 1632.