Move Over Duran Duran, It's Laban Laban!

The Laban family originated in Moray in Scotland, possibly from a Flemish immigrant, as the Labans have Germanic Y-DNA. There are established Lowland Lobban families in England, Australia, USA and Canada, with a related Logan line in the US, and the Labans of Tholen in the Netherlands.

The Loban weapon features
a lion passant and sable

During the Eighty Years' War, many Scottish soldiers came to The Netherlands in mercenary armies. Williamm Loban, who settled on the island of Tholen, may have been a soldier, too. In Stavenisse, William married twice in the 1620s, and had 7 children. The oldest surviving aldermen's books of Stavenisse show that William Laban wasn't always able to pay his debts. In 1628, for example, part of his property was auctioned, including 2 cows, 2 pigs and his best bed.
William's son Cornelis Laban married a widow, and had 4 children, including a son Leunis Laban (1663-1737). Leunis married twice and had 15 children. With his second wife, Jacomijntje Swancken (1678-1737), Leunis had a son Laban Laban (1707-1762).

This first Laban Laban married twice around 1740. His youngest son from his second marriage to Martha Ellewit (1720-1766) was another Leunis Laban (±1755-1855). On 20 January 1789 in Sint-Maartensdijk this Leunis married Maria Geluk (1767-1815). That same year their eldest son Laban Laban was born.

This second Laban Laban was born on 18 October 1789 and baptised on 1 November in Sint-Maartensdijk with as witnesses his uncle Frans Laban and aunt Neeltje Brouw. Eleven siblings were to follow Laban. His father Leunis Laban died on 5 June 1805 in Kruiningen, Zeeland, The Netherlands, when Laban was 15 years old. His mother, Maria Geluk, died in Kruiningen on 11 January 1815, aged 47.
At the age of 37, Laban was finally married on 20 December 1827 in Sint-Maartensdijk. His bride was 27-year-old Pieternella Isacks Quist. She was born on 25 November 1800 in Sint-Maartensdijk as daughter of Isaak Adolfse Quist and his wife Sara Dorst (1773-1825).

Signatures of Laban Laban and his wife

Laban and Pieternella's children were born in Sint-Maartensdijk:

1. Leunis was born on 18-10-1829. On 4-5-1865 in Sint-Maartensdijk, at the age of 35, Leunis married 42-year-old Maria Jacoba van Hemert, widow of Leendert Poot. Leunis died on 9-12-1889 in Sint-Maartensdijk.
2. Sara Cornelia was born on 1-2-1833. Sara married in Sint-Maartensdijk on 7-8-1854 Jacobus Adriaensz. Deurlo. Sara Cornelia died on 23-3-1886 in nearby Poortvliet, aged 35.
3. Marinus was born on 8-3-1835. Marinus married on 14-2-1861 in Stavenisse Adriana Dorst (1835-1911), daughter of Marinus Dorst (1799-1861) and Cornelia Dijke (1805-1884). Marinus died in Sint-Annaland on 4-4-1902, aged 67. Two of his children married into the Van Beveren family.
4. Izak Leendert was born on 28-4-1838 in Sint-Maartensdijk. On 7-5-1868 in Sint-Maartensdijk, at the age of 30, Izak Leendert married Adriana Pipping. Izak died on 19-1-1884 in Sint-Maartensdijk, aged 45. His son Laban Laban (1869-1870) died young.
5. Pieter was born on 25-1-1840. He died in Poortvliet on 31-7-1864 around 5:00 A.M., at the young age of 24.

Registration of Laban Laban's death

Pieternella Quist died, at the age of 44,  on 22 April 1845 in Tholen, leaving Laban an 55-year-old widower. Laban Laban died in Sint-Maartensdijk on 20 April 1852 around 18:00, aged 62.
Laban's younger brother, teacher Anthonij Laban (1800-1857), is an ancestor of Mabel Martine Wisse Smit, the widow of Dutch Prince Johan Friso Bernhard Christiaan David (1968-2013), and mother of their two daughters.

Sources: WieWasWie.nl, ArchiefTholen.nl, OnsVoorgeslacht.nl (transcrips of deaths, marriages and baptisms of the island of Tholen), Lobban One-Name Study Website, ZeeuwsArchief.nl, KrantenBankZeeland.nl (Eendrachtbode, Mededelingenblad voor het eiland Tholen, 11 mei 2000, p. 11).