Text: S. 605 "Sara van der Meulen, c. 1552–1553 to April 1618
• Antoine Lempereur, 5 June 1552 to September 1615
Sent to live in Cologne at the age of about ten, Sara only returned to Antwerp with her mother in 1582. Once in Antwerp, she and her younger sister must have helped their mother with the household duties and also likely assisted with the accounting and other mercantile business where possible. At the age of thirty-two, she received a suitor in the person of Antoine Lempereur, the former partner of her brother-in-law, François. Antoine wrote to Sara throughout 1584 and 1585 while Antwerp was under siege.66 The delay in Antoine’s planned arrival in Antwerp and the breaks in his correspondence made Sara question her feelings for Antoine, but the fall of Antwerp and Sara’s extrication to Bremen opened the way for the engagement to finally take place. The two signed a marriage agreement on 13 November 1585. On the same day, Antoine signed the agreement with his soon to be brothers-in-law to form the “Nieuwe Compagnie. Antoine was tasked with the bookkeeping for the firm, and like François, the terms of the agreement dictated that he could not trade outside the bounds of the company. Sara and Antoine married in February 1586."
