The Name Nigtevecht
Old dutch for Nigtevecht was Niftervecht which seems to mean "aan de vecht", translated "at the vecht". But Nifter has a bit wider meaning like "near" or turn (Dutch "bocht"). The old Dutch and English seems have something in common. You can hear the similarity in "Nigh" and "to the River Vecht, hence "Nigh to the Vecht". The town name goes back to 1281 mentioned in a deed in which Count Willem IV of Holland granted the Vecht farmers the right to dam the Vecht and use the water to irrigate their land.
The vlllage grew in importance though today it appears rather small. The French and Pruisians wrecked the village, but it regained it's position between land owned by Nobilities, Royals as "royal land jewel”, and even Peter the Great. According the website of Nigtevecht, oldest church; "The name of this famous outside is taken from Czaar Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia, who visited it several times during his stay here in 1717 according to the above quotation from “The Fighting Stream from Utrecht to Muiden”, issued in 1719'" ( source kerknigtevecht.nl ). The Lordship of Nigtevecht was a significant title.
There are still a good number of families with the name "van Nigtevecht" which may have originated from this place. My name originates from this place too, but it is extremely unlikely there is a direct link with the Huydecoper family, unless someone did marry into this family but became "van Nigtevecht" due to the male name in the marriage. But the female name should then have been registered as "van Nigtevecht - Huydecoper", which I found nowhere. Having said that, registering was messy among commoners and relied on church archives of whcih some were ransacked by invading armies or lost in fires. It did not help that at that time the Catholics from the south and Protestants from the north warried, plundering a lot.
It is also important to keep in mind that Napoleon messed it all a bit up when he invaded Holland, forcing people to use real surnames, rather than something like "gerrit, son of the baker in Weesp, brother of the miller in Muiden", while nobilities kept their names. The name "van Nigtevecht" relates to "Huydecoper" via a nobility title, there is no record indicating otherwise. A lot of people who from this village in Napoleonic times gave themselves the name of the village too. Besides this the title within a noble family was only past on to, as far I know, the eldest son. Yet, on some genealogy web you see the family name written van a ful surname "Hudecoper van Nigtevecht" even though they are not all part of the nobility, while confusingly, some where. And some record it as "Huydecoper" while they are part of the famility linked to the nobility. Only a few carried the Lordship title.
This is a sample of the Huydecoper family at ( source hallet.nl ) making a distinction between Huydecoper with a nobel title like adding "Lord of Nigtevecht", and those without. "They are an Amsterdam mayoral and patrician family. Several members held administrative positions as directors of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and Dutch West India Company (WIC), the admiralty, and the state. However, it began with extensive merchant activity, and the various in-laws all have a trading past. In 1814, Jan Willem Huydecoper was appointed to the Knighthood of Holland, and thus he and his descendants became members of the Dutch nobility." Interestingly, they used blue on the left side on their Coat of Arms.
The name Nigtevecht became part of the name Huydecoper via the Lordshop of Nigtevecht. I found many within the family of Huydecoper where merchants, bankers, lawyers, and had even at times a position within the Dutch Royal Court, possible based on wealth, power and education.
I was able to trace the name "van Nigtevecht" back to the early 1600's by the name of Claesz Jans Van Nigtevecht, found at ( source genealogy.com ). But for some reason there is a link missing between my great great grand vader and the family back to Claesz Janz. There is a gap of almost 200 years. This may be due to records not yet found about birth and burials, or has been lost due to religious and national wars, maybe lost too in accidental church fires. I found nowhere a familiy link between "Huydecoper" and "van Nigtevecht".
Most of the van Nigtevecht familie lived at the time in Loosdrecht, Weesp and Breukelen and a few in Amsterdam, all close to the area of Nigtevecht itself. Note that "van" was used as "coming from". It could well be that there are different families with the name "van Nigtevecht" but genetically not of the same family.
