Paulus Durven

Antony's: 
lawyer friend with whom he rented the St. Agnieten Toorn
Birth or Baptism date: 
January 4, 1646
Death or Burial date: 
April 5, 1711

Lawyer, brewer, notary after 1667.

His father, Pieter Gerritsz Durve, (~1622-1680) was a Delftware potter (plateelbakker) at the De Porceleijne Schotel (the porcelain dish) on the Molslaan, as had been his grandfather Gerrit Peitersz Durve, who bought the factory from his mother in 1623. Pieter and his wife Maria Heijndericx van der Burg (Burch) married in 1642 and lived in her family home on the Oosteinde until 1655. Leeuwenhoek grew up in the house directly across the Oosteinde gracht from the two houses owned by Maria's father. However, by the time Paul was born, Leeuwenhoek had already left Delft.

In 1655, Pieter bought the house around the corner from his in-laws, on the singel next to the Oostpoort. The property had been owned by Pieter Cornelis van Houten, who made ropes (lijndraijer). It came with a long, narrow open area that stretched along the singel to the St. Agnieten Toren. Van Houten had used that area for a ropewalk (lijnbaan). He had been renting the tower from the city, perhaps to store ropes and materials, and Pieter took over that lease. By 1678, when the Kaart Figuratief was printed, the open area was a garden.

Pieter and Maria buried thirteen children between 1647 and 1666. In 1680, Pieter died, and Maria followed 29 years later in 1709.

Their son Paulus Durven entered Universiteit Leiden on 1666-03-20. Back in Delft, he lived on the Koornmarkt in a brewery named the Truweel until sometime between 1689 and 1694, when he moved in with his mother into the family home on the Oosteinde near the Oostpoort.

The figures on the right sidebar (click to enlarge) show Durven's house next to the Oostpoort and the family gardens stretching along the singel to the St. Agnieten Toorn.

In 1669, Durven as notary drew up the will of Leeuwenhoek's sister-in-law Maria de Meij.

In 1675, Durven married in the same church in nearby Pijnacker where Leeuwenhoek had married for a second time four years earlier. His wife, Ida van Mierop (1656-1720), was the older sister of Magdelena van Mierop (1665-1737). In 1687, Magdelena married Johannes Swalmius (1664-1693), nephew of Leeuwenhoek's wife Cornelia.

When Paulus died in 1711, he was living in his father's house. His widow Ida sold the house ten years later to Levina Willemina Vrolijk. In the sketches for the kadaster map of 1832, the house seemed to be there, or at least part of it. But the gardens and tower were gone.