Maarten Maartens

Maarten Maartens, pen name of Jozua Marius Willem van der Poorten Schwartz (15 August 1858 in Amsterdam – 3 August 1915 in Doorn), was a Dutch writer, who wrote in English. He was quite well known at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, in both the UK and the US, but he was soon forgotten after his death.

Biography

The author was born on 15 August 1858 in Amsterdam as Jozua Marius Willem Schwartz. His friends and relations called him Joost. His father August Ferdinand Carl Schwartz (1817–1870) was a vicar at the Scottish Missionary Church. Jozua's father was originally Jewish, but had converted to Christianity. He became a clergyman with the special task of convincing other Jews to take the same step.

In 1864 the family Schwartz moved to London, where Jozua's father started missionary work among the London Jews. Jozua owed his skill in the English language to this stay in England. When Jozua's father died in 1870, the family at first returned to Amsterdam and then went to Bonn in Germany. In 1877 Jozua Schwartz finished his grammar school education there.

He returned to the Netherlands, where he studied law at Utrecht University. In 1882 he took his PhD Shortly afterwards he stood in for his instructor, Professor Jacobus Anthonie Fruin, who had fallen ill. When Fruin died in 1884, Jozua Schwartz applied for his position, but was not selected.

In 1883 Jozua Schwartz had married his cousin Anna van Vollenhoven (1862–1924). She belonged to a rich Amsterdam family. Thanks to the money she brought into the marriage Jozua never had to look for a job.