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

Ancestry of Dutch prime minister Æneas Mackay (1838-1909)

Æneas Mackay (1838-1909) 

Æneas, baron Mackay, was a Dutch statesman of Scottish descent. He was Prime Minister of The Netherlands from 1888 to 1891. Æneas was born on 29 November 1838 in Nijmegen in The Netherlands. On 7 July 1869 in Nijmegen he married Elisabeth Wilhelmina (1844-1907), barones van Lynden. Æneas died on 13 november 1909 in The Hague. He had one son, Eric, baron Mackay, who inherited the Scottish peerage Lord Reay from his great-granduncle. Eric's son, Æneas Alexander Mackay (1905-1963), 13th Lord Reay, was at 205½ cm (6'9") nicknamed “the tallest peer”.

Æneas had a brother Theodoor Philip Mackay (1840-1922) who was mayor of Amerongen and Leersum. Later he was a member of the Dutch House of Representatives for a period of 15 years. Theodoor’s son, Daniël baron Mackay, was mayor of Voorburg, Medan, Enkhuizen and Meppel.
Their parents are jonkheer Johan François Hendrik Jacob Ernestus Mackay (1807-1846) and his wife jonkvrouw Margaretha Clara Françoise (1810-1869) van Lynden. They had 3 sons and 4 daughters, but their youngest daughter died young. 
Johan predeceased his father Barthold Johan Christiaan (1773-1854), baron Mackay. On 20 February 1816 Christiaan was elevated to the Dutch nobility. By royal decree of 4 June 1922 Christiaan was granted the title of baron with right of primogeniture. Christiaan's wife is jonkvrouw Anna Magdalena Frederica Henriette van Renesse (1775-1839).

Christiaan is a younger son of Æneas Mackay (1734-1807) and Ursulina Philippina van Haeften (1734-1793). Her parents are Barthold van Haeften and Margriet van Lynden (1700-1761).
Æneas is a son of Daniël AKA Donald Mackay (1696-1745) and Arnolda Margeretha van den Steen (1702-1782). Daniël was the first Dutch Mackay. He was baptised in Tiel in The Netherlands on 20 September 1696. He was a colonel in the Scottish Brigade, and died in battle on 18 May 1745 near Doornik in the Southern Netherlands.
Daniël’s father is Scotsman Æneas Mackay (1666-1697). On 29 January 1692 in Varik Æneas married a Dutch girl, Margaretha Puchler (1671-1761). Æneas died in Bath, England, on 20 May 1697. Æneas' parents are Ann Munroo and Donald Mackay.
That Donald's grandfather, Donald Mackay of Strathnaver, went to London with his uncle Sir Rober Gorden, and was knighted in 1616 by King James I & VI of England and Scotland. In 1627 Donald was elevated as Baronet of Nova Scotia. By patent dated 20 June 1628, he was elevated to Baron Reay of Reay in the Peerage of Scotland.

The marriages between the Mackay and Van Lynden families, as described above, are shown schematically below.

Juliane of Salm gave birth within 2½ months of her marriage

On 18-11-1642 the Wittelsbacher Count Palatine Georg Wilhelm (1591-1669) divorced Countess Juliane of Salm (1616-±1647) because she had given birth within only 2½ months of their marriage. 

Juliane of Salm was the youngest daughter of Johann (1582-1630), Wild- und Rheingraf in Grumbach und Rheingrafenstein and Countess Anna Juliane von Mansfeld (1591-±1626), thus Juliane had been an orphan since around the age of 14.

Birkenfeld Castle

Juliane married Count Palatine George Wilhelm on 30-11-1641 in his castle in Birkenfeld. He was 25 years her senior. Juliane gave birth within 2½ months of the wedding ceremony on 14-2-1642. The child had been fathered by Count Johann Ludwig of Salm-Dhaun (1620-1673) who belonged to another branche of the same family. On 30-10-1643, however, Johan Ludwig married another relative instead, Elisabeth of Salm-Neuviller (1620-1653).

Habsburg Inbreeding: Charles II of Spain (1661-1700)

The Habsburg Kings of Spain descended from Queen Joanna "The Mad" of Castile (1479-1555), who was mentally unstable and prone to fly into rages. Her descendants increased her inheritance by inbreeding: they preferred to marry either their cousin or their niece. These incestuous marriages resulted in the mentally and physically handicapped King Charles II (1661-1700), who possessed the physical peculiarities of the Habsburgs to an extent that made him little short of a monstrosity. 

The Habsburg King Charles II of Spain (to the right) was sadly degenerated with an enormous misshapen head. His Habsburg jaw stood so much out that his two rows of teeth could not meet; he was unable to chew. His tongue was so large that he was barely able to speak. His intellect was similarly disabled. His brief life consisted chiefly of a passage from prolonged infancy to premature senility. Charles was unable to walk properly, because his legs would not support him and he fell often. His body remained that of an invalid child. He was a mentally retarded and hypersensitive monarch, who grew steadily worse over the years. By the age of 35 his hair had fallen out, his teeth were nearly gone and his eyesight was failing. "Many people tell me," Charles II once said, "I am bewitched and I well believe it; such are the things I experience and suffer." 

Charles II of Spain was the result of generations of inbreeding within the Habsburg family. His mother was a daughter of his father's sister who had married her cousin the Emperor Ferdinand II. His great-grandfather, Philip II of Spain, too, had married a daughter of his sister who had married her cousin the Emperor Maximilian II. As a result, Charles II of Spain descended multiple times from Joanna "The Mad" as shown below. 

Anneke Jans and the Webber Controversy

For generations descendants of a Wolfert Webber claimed that property on Manhattan Island in New York had illegally been taken from their family by the Trinity Church.

Pieter Van Brugh (1666–1740), Mayor of Albany, New York, in the periods 1699-1700 and 1721-1723, was descended from Norwegian immigrants. His mother's parents were Anneke Jans (1605–1663) and Roelof Janse (1602–1637), who was born on a small island in Norway (that was ceded to Sweden in 1658). Roelof received a grant of 62 acres of land on the Hudson River on Manhattan Island in nowadays New York. After her husband's death in 1637, Anneke was married in 1638 to the Rev. Everardus Bogardus (1607-1647) of the Trinity Dutch Reformed Church on Manhattan Island. 


Anneke Jans and Everardus Bogardus

  
Anneke Jans became famous through a long series of lawsuits initiated by her descendants, who claimed (1) ownership of real estate on Manhattan and (2) royal descent. 
F.A. Virkus writes in "The Compendium of American Genealogy":

"Anneke (Webber) Jans (1605-63), [..] dau. of Wolfert Webber (b 1565), 
said to have been son of William, 9th prince of Orange and later King of Holland".

It was even said that Anneke Jans, "daughter of Wolfert Webber, 4th King of Holland, whose father was William, Prince of Orange", was born in "the King's Mansion in Holland" in 1605.

The first and only person who held the title "King of Holland" was the great Napoleon's brother Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (1778-1846) who ruled The Netherlands in the period 1806-1810. The compendium probably refers to Prince William I "the Silent" of Orange (1533-1584), stadtholder of Holland. In 1565 - the supposed birth date of Wolfert Webber, -William was still married to his rich - but mad - 2nd wife, Anna of Saxony (1544-1577), and he was still married to his 4th wife when he was murdered in 1584. During his life William of Orange did recognize only one illegitimate son, Justinus (1559-1631). It wasn't until 1815 that one of William's descendants in the female line, Willem I Frederik of Orange-Nassau (1772–1843), became the 1st King of The Netherlands.