Philips Thonis Leeuwenhoek

As a result of spotty records, Leeuwenhoek biographers Dobell, Schierbeek, and van Seters are willing to only conditionally trace Antony's paternal family back to a Philips Thonis, a burgher from Den Haag who moved to Delft in 1559. He was perhaps the same Philips Thonis who was a bailiff of Delft Orphan's Chamber in 1574-5. He may have had three sons. For the first son, probably our Antony's grandfather, he followed the tradition of alternating his given names: Thonis Philips.