Grietje Pieters Snip: *12-06-1788 +24-09-1837
On April 9, 1807, Grietje Pieters Snip was arrested for theft from the house of Johannes Tonnis and his wife Jeltje Martens, residing at Oosterzand under Oldekerk.
According to the victims, the following items were stolen: A yellow striped women’s skirt, a blue dotted women’s blouse, a red cloth, a new flaxen sheet, two golden hooks, a silver milk spoon, and four sausages. The perpetrator was said to have entered through a broken window. Witnesses testified to seeing Grietje in the vicinity with a bundle.
During her interrogation, Grietje declared her innocence. The bundle she had contained her own clothes. She had recently quit her job as a maid for Hindrik Meijers and his wife, taking her own clothes with her.
Also, Elske Karsten, the widow of Jan Jacobs Koenes, residing in Holm under Tolbert, was arrested for complicity and trafficking of stolen goods.
During the trial conducted by the local courts in the Westerkwartier (Case Number 624 Groninger Archives), the victims were first questioned, followed by various witnesses. They stated, among other things, that they had seen Grietje on the day before the theft but as far as they knew, she did not have a bundle with her.
Initially, Grietje continued to deny the theft, but when she had to testify alongside Elske Karsten, who claimed to have simply bought some clothes from Grietje without knowing they were stolen, Grietje stated that Elske was indeed aware.
The punishment for Grietje was severe. She was sentenced to “be whipped with rods” and six years in a house of correction. Additionally, she was banished “from the city and lands of Groningen” for six years.
Even in the house of correction, Grietje did not fare well.
In the Groninger Archives, documents were also found from the High Court of Justice (1444-1811) number 2118 concerning Grietje Snip and Grietje Wessels for misbehavior in the house of correction. The consequences of this are still unknown to me.
Notably, these archives mention the name Snip (in 1807 and 1808) not only in connection with Grietje but also with her father Pieter Popkes Snip and her uncles, Wieger Popkes Snip and Cornelis Popkes Snip.
Further records of Grietje were difficult to find. However, a succession memorandum (related to the death of her uncle Berend Hendriks Schuurmans) from 1827 indicates that she was then living in Donderen (Drenthe), outside the province of Groningen.
Recently, in the death register of Vries (October 30, 2015), the death of Grietje was discovered. She was noted to have passed away on September 24, 1837, in the house of correction in Zwartsluis (Overijssel). There, she was recorded as Grietje Peters Snippe, born in Leek (Groningen).
Text by Paul Snip.
