According to the meeting minutes of the mayor and aldermen of Monnickendam, Christoffel comes from "de Purmer". De Purmer is not a city or a village, those days, but a polder, which means that there must have been water in earlier days. And that is correct. Until the beginning of the 17th century, de Purmer was part of a system of land-locked sea areas in the province of North Holland, together with the Schermer and the Beemster. These lakes had an open connection with the Zuiderzee, resulting in penetrating salt water with every high tide and encroachment by the sea on the banks. As, coming from the sea, de Purmer was the first lake, especially this lake suffered from tidal differences and loss of land. Together with the goal of gaining agricultural ground, this was the main reason for the mayors of Edam and Monnickendam in 1612 to request for a patent to dry off de Purmer. In 1618, the construction of a dike around the lake started, which was finished on 29 October 1620. Under the supervision of Jan Adriaensz. Leeghwater, and with the help of 15 windmills, 2682 hectare was impoldered in no more than 14 months. At the beginning of 1622, de Purmer was dry, and the Netherlands had gained another 26.8 square km.

The new land was divided into lots, and roads were constructed. In 1624, the first child was born, appropriately named Purmertje Pieters. After the impoldering, de Purmer was initially an agricultural area, inhabited by the former fishermen of the lake, but, as the groundwater level was fluctuating strongly, the farmers switched to cattle-breeding or to a mix of both in the course of years. There were 500 inhabitants in de Purmer in 1732.
The Purmerpolder has never been an independent municipality. After the impoldering, the new land was divided over Edam, Monnickendam, Purmerend (the "end" of the Purmer) and Ilpendam, however, people still called the area "de Purmer".

Currently, de Purmer is part of the municipality of Waterland, as well as the cities Monnickendam, Broek in Waterland and Ilpendam. On the map on the right, you will also find the hamlet of Overleek, where Christoffel settled down in 1762. Overleek is a ribbon-shaped village between Ilpendam and Monnickendam. Its name is derived from the streamlet de Leek, that used to flow there. Overleek has an agricultural nature. Along the green pastures lies a ribbon of picturesque farmhouses, of which many are still in use. Some farms in Overleek are really old. They are built in typical North Holland style, called "stolp farmhouse". Characteristic for this style is that the rooms, as well as the stables and the hay stack are built together in one building with a pyramidal roof. At first, the stolp farmhouses were built of wood, to prevent them from sinking into the weak peatland under their own weight. Later, they were built on piles, which enabled the possibility of building in stone. To create some more living space, the inhabitants started to build separate hay-sheds, called "kaakberg": an usually square hay-shed, with black-tarred wooden sides, and a fixed roof. Often, they were taller than the main buildings.

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