Longevity ~ Abraham Kits (99)

When Abraham Kits died on May 19, 1845, in Amsterdam, he was 99½ years old. His “obituary”, prepared by his daughter Adriana, described his age as “nearly 100 years old”. From May 1808 until his death Abraham had been living on the Keizersgracht (a canal) in Amsterdam in 5th house, when you come from the Utrechtschestraat.

Opregte Haarlemsche Courant (newspaper), 29-5-1845

When, in early 1846, the municipality of Amsterdam published statistics for the year 1845, Abraham is described as having been 100 years old. Two other people who died in the same year in Amsterdam, Mariane Zadok Salomons and Levie Salomon de Haan, had been even older than Abraham.

Provinciaal Dagblad van Noord-Brabant (newspaper), 13-1-1846

Abraham Kits was born in Utrecht on October 29, 1745, and baptised there on the 31st. He is the eldest son of Otto Kits (1717-1760) and his wife Sophia Strang (1724-1782). After her husband’s death in January 1760, Sophia married Arie Bos, a young man originating from Amersfoort, but then living in Eemnes. Sophia had children from both her marriages, including a son Wilhelmus Kits who married twice. Sophia's burial in the Oosterkerk in Amsterdam was registered on June 7, 1782.

Abraham Kits was a bricklayer, and – from the end of 1789 onwards - a real estate agent in Amsterdam. At the age of 27, in 1773, Abraham married Christina van Leeuwen. Christina was baptised on August 8, 1745, in Amsterdam. Her parents are Wijnand van Leeuwen and Adriana Maas.

Abraham Kits, son of Sophia Strang, married Christina van Leeuwen, daughter of Wijnand van Leeuwen

Abraham Kits and Christina van Leeuwen had 3 daughters and 3 sons, but their 2 eldest daughters were the only ones who had issue:

1. Adriana Kits (picture to the right) was baptised on October 2, 1774, in Amsterdam with witnesses Weijnant van Leeuwen and Haderiana Maas. Adriana Kits married Jan Mattheus Nieuwenkamp (1764-1824) as his second wife. Adriana Kits died on March 20, 1821, in Zwolle. Her youngest son was Jan Kits Nieuwenkamp (1811-1870) who was named after Adriana's youngest brother.
2. Sofia Kits was baptised on October 6, 1776, in Amsterdam with witnesses Sofia Strang and Weijnant van Leeuwen. Sofia Kits married Jan Wimmers in 1801. Her son Abraham Kits Wimmers died childless on May 20, 1863, in Arnhem, at the afe of 36.
3. Henderina Kits was baptised on January 6, 1777, in Amsterdam with witnesses Johannis van Dregt and Henderina van Leeuwen.
4. Pieter Kits was baptised in Amsterdam on June 6, 1779.
5. Wijnand Otto Kits was baptised in Amsterdam on February 18, 1784.
6. Jan Kits was baptised in Amsterdam on November 20, 1785. He was studying theology when he died in Utrecht on June 1, 1807, at the age of 21.

Christina van Leeuwen died on September 1, 1818, in Amsterdam. Her widower Abraham married his second wife Geertruij Willemina Storm on October 29, 1819, in Amsterdam. She was baptised there on March 5, 1764, and born on February 3. At the age of 40, she had married her first husband, a widower, in 1804. She was 55 when she married 74-year-old Abraham. Geertruij Willemina Storm died on January 19, 1843, in Amsterdam, and was buried there on the 24th. Abraham Kits had survived both his wives.

Sources: WieWasWie.nl, Delpher.nl, OpenArch.nl, Archief.Amsterdam, Nederland's Patriciaat 1927 & 1957 (Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie en Heraldiek), De Navorscher 1925 & 1940 (magazines edited by G. Fuldauer).