Kolff

Kolff Family Coat of Arms

Kolff (also: Van Santen Kolff, Kolff van Oosterwijk and Van Breda Kolff) is a Dutch family originating from the provinces of Holland, Gelderland, and Noord Brabant in the Netherlands.

History

Founding father was Henric Colve, reported from May 1367, a farmer and cattle owner, who owned land at Helvoirt, Lith and Vught, and was a tenant at Oisterwijk. Recent genealogical research has shown that the family name may be derived from a family owned inn at Gorinchem where, around 1500, the game named Kolf was played. Most of the present Kolffs descend from Wouter Kolff, 'burger' (citizenship) of the city of Nijmegen and his children who moved westwards from Nijmegen along the great rivers of the Netherlands gradually, over several generations, towards Middelharnis, Maassluis, and who established themselves in the 19th and 20th centuries mainly at Rotterdam and The Hague. Another important branch settled in the Betuwe.

Most of the current 430 members (2010) of the Kolff family live in the Netherlands, while about one third live in other countries, most of them in Argentina, the United States of America and New Zealand. The genealogy of the Kolff family is included in the Nederland's Patriciaat from its earliest issues and can be seen up to date at the website of the Kolff Family Association. The family archives are kept at the Rotterdam Municipal Archives.

Coat of arms

Kolff en Van Santen Kolff: the earliest known family member to use the coat of arms was Rev. Wolter Kolff (generation IX), according to the coat of arms of alliance between his wife Petronella van Duyren and himself, dated 1671 (in the family archives). Within the shield without colours he used the three hammers (kolven, colven, or Kolffen), bats down, outer two inclining inwards, the middle one inclining to the right. As tarpaulin he used the swan. The coats of arms of Van Breda Kolff and Kolff van Oosterwijk are not shown here.

Notable members

(order following the family genealogy branch)

• Dirk Hendrik Kolff (1761–1835), lieutenant-commander at sea (Vlieter Incident)
  • Dirk Hendrik Kolff (1800–1843), lieutenant at sea of the Koninklijke Marine
    • Louis Charles Kolff (1867–1922), mayor of Wieringen and member of the States-Provincial of Noord-Holland
      • Louis Charles Kolff (1893–1970), mayor of Wieringen and res. 1st lieutenant of the artillery
• Henriëtte Jeannette Christine Kolff (1835–1927), founder, together with her brother Gualtherus (see below), of the Vereniging Kolffs Blindenfonds (Kolff Foundation for the Blind) and the Stichting Blindenhulp (Foundation to Assist the Blind)
• Gualtherus Johannes Kolff (1846–1918), founder and first director of Nederlandse Blindenbibliotheek
• Marius Kolff (1848–1931), mayor of Deil
  • Gualtherus Kolff (1879–1959), judge and member of the Senate
  • Willem Marinus Kolff (1882–1944), mayor of Deil
• Jacob (Jacques) van Santen Kolff (1848–1896), literary writer, music and art critic, drawing artist, and inventor of the name Hague School
• Jan Gualtherus van Breda Kolff (1894–1974), banker, youngest debutant (up to date 2009) in the Dutch national football team
  • Willem Hendrik "Butch" van Breda Kolff (1922–2007), basketball coach Princeton University
    • Jan Michael van Breda Kolff (1951), college basketball head coach
• Cornelis Kolff (1897–1968), director of Tollens paint factories
• Benjamin Kolff (1902–1982), mayor of Vlissingen
• Willem Johan Kolff (1911–2009), was a pioneer of hemodialysis as well as in the field of artificial organs; was active in resistance
• Gualtherus Johannes Kolff (1826–1881), founder of G.J. Kolff & Co., publishers at Batavia, in the Dutch East Indies, (Bataviaasch Nieuwsblad newspaper) with book shops all over the territory. Some years after Indonesia became independent, the company moved to the Netherlands, and is based mostly in Amsterdam and Leeuwarden
• Haley Kolff (1989-), a cross country runner at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

External links

• Kolff Family Association