Gerrit Rosa

  Noted events in his life were:

• Family Origin. ^453,454 The Roosa name appears often and dates in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. The earliest date that appears on a page along with the Roosa name is 1440.

Rosa: Spanish, Italian, derived from a residence of the original bearer who lived under the sign of rose, either a picture or a crude drawing.

The most often repeated is the legend as to the forefathers of Geurt Aldertsz Rosa is that they were of Jewish descent and that they fled from the town Rosa located in the Kingdom of Spain in the eastern part of the north of the province of Catalonia, Ampurdium. It is thought that they eventually followed the Roman Conquest north into Belgium and the Rhine River Area. The 18th century antiquarian, Gijsbert Ariens Rijckhuijsen himself a Rosa descendant may have been the first to put this in writing and has often been quoted. What is often left out is that he himself did not seem to take much stock in the story, saying also that the name may originally have been Roos, a Dutch name known in the area. It is also important to note that some Roos genealogist don't like the fact that the family may have Jewish lineage which is why they dispute this “legend”.

Herweyen is located on the Waal River five miles west of Bomel. It may be the present day heywennen, a short distance east of Bommel in Glederland or the present Herwen in Gelderland twelve miles southeast of Arnhem.

Gelderland at the present time has people who speak Spanish. Religious refugees from Spain came to Holland during the first years of the inquisition and settled in this province of Holland. This may account for the spelling of the name Roose that in Holland would produce the same sound as Rosa. It is thought that this family may have originated from sephardic Jewish ancestry, and immigrated to Holland around 1492.

Gerrit married Unknown about 1530 in Herwijnen, Gelderland, Netherlands.