Martin Van Buren

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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20 November 2007 13:01
 

In an idle moment of writer’s block, I checked Google books for "coat of arms" with the names of a couple of presidents and got the following hits for Martin Van Buren:

Edward T. Booth, Country Life in America (1947): "When the King of Holland eventually granted Van Buren a coat of arms of the Counts Buren, which he displayed on the walls of his Kinderhook country home…"

 

Holmes M. Alexander, The American Talleyrand: The Career and Contemporaries of Martin Van Buren (1935): "When the last election was over and lost, the ex-President quietly returned to the King of Holland and procured himself a dazzling coat of arms."

 

Klyde H. Young and Lamar Middleton, Heirs Apparent: The Vice Presidents of the United States (1948 ) : "...had a coat of arms made for himself."

 

I’m going to try and track down the Alexander book, which apparently has a picture of the arms, and will contact the National Park Service at Kinderhook to see if they know anything. I wonder if Ton or any other member knows how one would go about researching the Dutch end; sounds like a fascinating story.

 
arriano
 
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arriano
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20 November 2007 17:22
 

It will be interesting to see if it’s an all new design, or if it is based on an older van Buren arms such as the ones found in Rietstap:

http://www.euraldic.com/blas_bu1.html

 
David Pritchard
 
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David Pritchard
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20 November 2007 18:12
 

I just spent an hour or so searching the name (van) Buren with the Dutch words heraldiek, wapen, wapenschild, familiewapen and found nothing in regard to the arms allegedly granted or confirmed to the former American President Martin van Buren by the King of the Netherlands.

 
emrys
 
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emrys
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21 November 2007 03:50
 

This seems to be an odd story because King William II was himself the count of Buren so he would probably never grant the arms of Buren to someone else, but it could be an augmentation I guess, I will look into this but I have limited acces to my library these days so it can take a while.

The arms of the counts of Buren are these (minus the crown)

http://www.ngw.nl/b/images/buren1.gif

 
snelson
 
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snelson
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07 December 2007 12:03
 

Hi

I thought this sounded like an interesting story, so I emailed a couple of organizations to see if they could shed any light on this matter.  Here is what I found out.

 

Charlotte Eymael of the Koninklijk Huisarchief (Dutch Royal Archives) tells me that they cannot find any reference to a Dutch grant of arms or augmentation ever made to Martin Van Buren.

 

Mirjam Veldhuis-Homs of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of the Netherlands) could not find any information either.

 

Egbert Wolleswinkel, secretary of the Hoge Raad van Adel (Supreme Council of the Nobility) could not find any information either.  He said that I should ask the Koninklijk Huisarchief.

 

Nicole Brandt of the Nationaal Archief (Dutch National Archives) could not find any information either.  She said that I should ask the Koninklijk Huisarchief.

 

Yvonne Prins of the Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie tells me that they can check their heraldic collection to see whether or not Martin Van Buren had a grant of arms for 50 Euros.

 

Bruce Kirby, Manuscript Reference Librarian at the Library of Congress, checked the Record Book of Van Buren’s estate, but he did not find any household inventory, which he hoped would list items such as a grant of arms.  He also checked some of Van Buren’s correspondence at the Library of Congress, without success.  No luck when he checked “The Papers of Martin Van Buren” (Chadwyck-Healey, 1987) either.

 

Still no replies to my inquiries from the Martin Van Buren National Historical Site, the Nederlandse Genealogische Vereniging or the Koninklijk Nederlandsch Genootschap voor Geslacht- en Wapenkunde.

 

Here is a passage from Martin Van Buren’s autobiography that sounded relevant: “I spent a few weeks in Holland, after the abrupt close of my brief mission to England in 1832, and was very kindly received by the King, William I.  He informed me that a gentleman of my name was at one time Minister of Foreign Affairs under one of his ancestors; that the name was derived from the town of Buren, in the neighbourhood of Utrecht, which was formerly and Earldom, and from which by the marriage of one of his forefathers, he derived one of his present titles – that of Count Buren.  Of the fact which he suggested that my family was from the same stock I have neither knowledge or belief, or, I may add concern, not do I feel any temptation to claim family relationship with a branch of the Van Burens of Holland as the family is literally extinct, even though its head had the honor of connecting her name with that of Nassau.”

 

Martin Van Buren apparently made at least one other visit to Holland in 1854.  One can apparently search past issues of the New York Times online dating back to 1851, but a few keyword searches did not turn up any articles which may have reported on a grant of arms to Van Buren.

 

Cheers,

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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07 December 2007 13:59
 

Seb,

Thanks for going to such trouble.

 

Do any of your colleagues in the library world have access to The American Talleyrand, which is a biography of Van Buren?  There’s apparently a picture of the arms in question, which Van Buren is said to have displayed on his carriage and had hanging in his house in retirement.

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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07 December 2007 14:06
 

About MvB’s disavowing any claim of relationship to the noble Van Burens, here is his known paternal line:

Cornelis Maessen (Maessen is a patronymic, not a surname; it means son of Maes, which is a shortened form of Bartolomaes. The immigrant adopted the name Van Buren, probably just meaning "from [the county of] Buren" after arriving in America. He arrived in 1631, d. 1648 )

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Marten Cornelissen Van Buren (abt 1638-1703)

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Pieter Martensen Van Buren (abt 1670-1755)

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Martin Van Buren (1701-?)

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Abraham Van Buren (1737-1817)

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President Martin Van Buren (1782-1862)

 

It is therefore as certain as it can be that MvB was not related to the Counts van Buren.

 
snelson
 
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snelson
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07 December 2007 14:51
 

Quote:

Do any of your colleagues in the library world have access to The American Talleyrand, which is a biography of Van Buren? There’s apparently a picture of the arms in question, which Van Buren is said to have displayed on his carriage and had hanging in his house in retirement.


I took a look at this book around Thanksgiving.  The illustration of the arms was per pale an animal of some sort on the dexter half and the arms of the Counts of Buren on the sinister half, if I recall correctly.

 
snelson
 
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snelson
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13 December 2007 11:29
 

This morning I received the following email from the Nederlandse Genealogische Vereniging:


Quote:

Thank you for your letter concerning Martin van Buren.  We presume that he was knighted by King Willem I or II of the Netherlands and was granted a coat of arms. In our heraldic collection we have found several coats of arms on the name on the name of Van Buren, but we are not sure if there is a connection with Martin van Buren.  We suggest that you contact the Hoge Raad van Adel in The Hague…they should be able to provide you with information you require.


Unfortunately I have already contacted the Hoge Raad van Adel without success.  I shall email the Chancellery of the Netherlands Orders (http://www.kanselarij.nl/_en/index.html) to see if this knighthood actually took place.

 

Cheers,

 
emrys
 
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emrys
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14 December 2007 03:41
 

Be aware that a knighthood (Ridder) in an order of the Netherlands is not a knighthood in the British sense, it is just a decoration. There is however also the hereditary noble title of Ridder which has no connection with decorations.

 
snelson
 
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snelson
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02 January 2008 12:57
 

Hi again,

Here is part of an email I just got from Dawn Olson, a Park Ranger at the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site:


Quote:

...I have been reading the History of Cornelis Maessen Van Buren and the author writes in reference to Martin Van Buren that "The years of 1853-1855 he spent in foreign travel, and it is related that while in Holland he was received in audience by the then King of Holland, and given a drawing of the Coat-of-Arms, which is the frontpiece of this book.  These arms are remembered by persons still living as having hung on the wall of the hall at Lindenwald, and one of the grandsons told one of his cousins of the incident and this cousin gave to the Editor a cut of the Arms."

 

 
Mark Olivo
 
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Mark Olivo
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12 January 2008 05:08
 

As a completely useless aside, I think the preceding entries show what this organization can do at it’s very best.

Excellent work from everyone, and a fascinating heraldic mystery!

 
Joseph McMillan
 
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Joseph McMillan
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10 February 2009 23:30
 

I’ve finished the artwork for the arms displayed by Martin Van Buren.  Article to be written, drawing in large measure on the wonderful research done by other members in the thread above.

http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeohzt4/VanBuren.JPG

 
Wilfred Leblanc
 
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Wilfred Leblanc
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10 February 2009 23:36
 

Very handsome!

 
Kelisli
 
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Kelisli
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11 February 2009 00:44
 

Joe,

As always…absolutely beautiful work.

 
emrys
 
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emrys
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11 February 2009 03:34
 

looks great