Albertus Adriaan Mennes Thierens

Albertus Adriaan Mennes Thierens appears to have been the son or grandson of Anthony Thierens (1733-1785) and Alida Esther Mennes (1734-1770). He was probably born in Essequibo/Demerara, where he spent much of his life. One of his plantations was at Wisselvalligheid. It was a sugar plantation on Leguan Island, which the Thierens family had owned since the early 1800s at least. In 1815 it had 83 enslaved people and produced 220,068 pounds of sugar and 3,142 gallons of rum. By 1832 there were 175 enslaved persons (80 females and 95 males).

On 18 October 1839 he married Jane Margaret Bell in Demerara, and they had one child Cornelia Jenetta Elisabeth Thierens, who was born c. Dec 1840. It seems likely that Albertus left Demerara with his daughter following the death of his wife on 29 October 1842. They moved to Scotland. Albertus died on 3 September 1845, as reported in the local newspapers, and is buried at the Glasgow Necropolis. His daughter was living with her paternal aunt Elizabeth Thierens at 9 Landsdowne Crescent, Glasgow, in the census of 1851, and a visitor (with Elizabeth) at 29 Ann Street, Edinburgh, in the census of 1861. Cornelia married James Arthur Sewell on 25 March 1862 at St Thomas’s Episcopal Church, Edinburgh, but she died in Canada four years later, on 30 July 1866.

Albertus may well have been the father of John Anthony Thierens, a "coloured boy" to whom he bequeathed £500 sterling. Albertus's executors were named as John Anthony's guardians and instructed to have him educated and taught a trade. It's also possible that John Anthony's mother was Ann, a "coloured woman" and wife of George Zimmerman, to whom Albertus bequeathed 1000 dollars. John Anthony was also to be one of the beneficiaries if Albertus's only daughter died before coming of age.

'Grave Matters' Issue 5 (Autumn 2018), unsourced Black History Month article at https://www.glasgownecropolis.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Grave- Matter-5.pdf..

Notice of death, 'At Queen’s Crescent, Glasgow, on the 3rd inst., Albertus Thierens Esq. of Plantation Wisselvaliegheid, Demerary’, Greenock Advertiser 09/09/1845.

1851, 1861 censuses online for Cornelia Theirens (indexed as Sheerens).

Marriage of Cornelia Janetta Elizabeth Thierens of 29 Ann Street, Edinburgh, to James Arthur Sewell of India (gives Cornelia's age as 22 years, and full parents names), GROS Marriages 1862 685/1 67.

The British Guiana Colonists Index (https://www.vc.id.au/tb/bgcolonistsT.html [accessed 25/11/2019]) gives Thierens's first wife as Elizabeth and his second marriage, to Jane Margaret Bell, at Leguan, Demerara, 18/10/1839.

Death of Cornelia, 1866 in Quebec, age 25 years and seven months, 13/07/1866, Ancestry.com, Quebec, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968 [database online].

We are grateful to Peter Wingfield-Digby for his assistance with compiling this entry.