Online Dictionary of Dutch Women

 
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KEEVER, Trijntje, nicknamed De Groote Meid (born 10/16 April 1616 – buried Edam, 7 July 1633), object of interest: giant. Daughter of Cornelis (or Crelis) Keever, shipmaster, and Anna Pouwels, maidservant. Trijntje Keever never married.

Text biography not yet available in English.

Reference work(s)

Regt; Verwoert.

Archives

Only the burial of Trijn Keever can be traced in the Edam DTB-books. The other data are based on tradition. The ‘Geslachtsregister van Trijntje Cornelis Keever, bijgenaamd “Grote Meijd”’, owned by the Edams Museum, has disappeared. It originated from the  Schepenbrieven van Edam, 1592-1679 [communication by G.H. Conijn].

Bibliography

  • Willem Abraham Tielenius Kruythoff, Geschiedverhaal van de vuur- en watersnood, de stad Edam (Edam 1756; facsimile edition 1968) 39-40 [mentions her grave].
  • Wilhelmus Greve, Natuur- en geschiedkundige verhandeling over de reuzen en dwergen (Amsterdam 1818).
  • F. Allan, De stad Edam en hare geschiedenis (Edam 1857) 42-43.
  • M. Royalton-Kisch, Adriaan van de Venne’s Album in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum (London/Amsterdam 1988) 112 and 348-351 [with full text of Miss Crofts’ letter about her visit to Edam].
  • B.C. Sliggers and A.A. Wertheim ed., De tentoongestelde mens. Reuzen, dwergen en andere wonderen der natuur. Exhibition catalogue Teylersmuseum Haarlem (Zutphen 1993).
  • Kees van Strien, Touring the Low Countries. Accounts of British travellers, 1660-1720 (Amsterdam 1998) 291.
  • Jaap Molenaar, ‘Grote meid Trijntje Keever. Beklagenswaardig persoon’, Oud Edam 27 (2003) april, 4.

Illustration

Painting of Trijntje Keever, anonymous, 1633 (Edams Museum).

last updated: 27/01/2014