Family Crest, wapen, discussion and notes.
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Wout van Haaster wrote,
All I can say about this Coat of Arms (pictured below) is that it's shield is listed in J.B. Rietstap's "Armorial Général(1861)" as "Haestert (van), Holland" Rietstap however is not known for his accuracy. In fact his work has a lot of known errors, These are listed in "Foutieve wapens in het Armorial Général (1953)" by R.T. Musschart, this book is in the CBG library, (not looked into it yet).  I also copied some handwritten notes, a few months ago ,which I believe are from Rietstap himself, (have to check the source again.)  In this notes this person talks about the name that the common people gave to places like Utrecht , which used to be called Uitert in the distant past, and Haestrecht which was called Haestert by the ordinary people of the region. (Other example is Dordt for Dordrecht , still in use).  In this notes he continues saying "Iets waarvan ik myzelf de moeite van betoog niet zou gegeven hebben, ware het niet , dat ik om des waarheid wil niet gaarne zou wenschen betwijfelen , in zwang was, als of die 't wapen met de klaverbladen en triviale benaming Van Haestert gewoon hebben, van een anderen stam zonder behoeve geschat te worden geweest te zijn, als die de beide geharkte fortes Van Arkel " ....etc. He states here that he has to mention this thing about Haestert versus Haestrecht to let us know that the people that call themselves Van Haestert and carry the Coat of arms with the clover leafs are different from those called Van Haastrecht from the house of Van Arkel. (Nov 2000)

Jan van Rijn wrote,
I studied your weapon and really I don't know what to say. Let us start with the good news. A shield with three standing clovers as shown is indeed the weapon that was used by a familiy van Haestert from the provincie Holland. The significance of a clover is: property of land. This means here that the bearer of that weapon was a landowner. The form of the shield is not as it has to be. A shield with a round basis like here is from 1500 - 1530. But the inward gulf at the topside was never used and surely not in that time. The book by Ottfried Neubecker, J.P. Brooke-Little and Robert Tobler: Heraldry, sources, symbols and Meaning - McGraw-Hill Comp, 1977 gives many monsters of shields but not this shield. The book: large size, 288 pages in full color is what they call a standard work. In the archives of ARA there are also weapons from a family van Haestrecht from Rotterdam and a family from Utrecht. But these two are totally different. See also the cd-rom later. The difficulty is that you have to prove that this weapon was once used by your forefathers. Up till now I haven't seen a paper signed by one of them with a weapon upon it or hanging on it in red wax. Of course Marry and Wouter also know the three clovers and I'm sure they would be very glad if one of us could prove that this is the right thing. They both have a print from the three clovers. It comes from a book called: Armorial Général précédé d'ún dictionaire des termes du blason par J.B. Rietstap Tome I & II deuxième Edition, refondue et augmentée Facsimilé, index alphabetique. Gouda - G.B. van Goor Zonen 1884-1887.120.000 weapons were published in this book. But... it does not say to which family it belongs. Suppose, there are 5 families van Haestert in that time which one is the right one? Therefore, you have to prove it is yours. Some years ago this book was published as a cd.rom by Stichting Historic Future Postbus 5163, 1410 AD NAARDEN number postbank 4.558.273.  As far as I know it is still available. About Dglds 80,--. But our worries go further. The color of the clovers is green and right. The shading or hatching of the other things is weird. Every heraldic color has its own specific shading. I don't recognize this shading. Is it possible to check the shading as it was when you got it once from the other member of the East Indië branch?  Maybe we can find than the right colors.  But now a hint and a question. In 1737 Neeltje Janse Van der Kooy, widow of Cornelis Jaspersz van Haastregt died and an auction - sale was held. An inventory was made and this inventory was 58 pages! All the goods were distributed to her three children and in case of death of these children under their children. Oma ordered that her three golden rings had to be given to her children and so a silver bell. To sell these rings was out of question. The three rings were mentioned als follows:.een gladde gouden hoepringh, een gedraaide hoepringh en een wapenringh. I try to translate: a wedding ring, a twisted ring and a weapenring.  But what weapen was it? Hers? Van der Kooy? or the weapon of her husband Van Haastregt also called Van Haestert and if it was his had it three clovers? In the whole inventory no word anymore about the weaponring. Of course, everybody knew exactly where they talked about. In my list generation IX Jacob Jaspersz van Haastrecht *Voorburg, circa 1585 married N.N. They had 6 children. Number 1 Jasper Jacobsz van Haastrecht x Geertje Corelis Suyderbosch. My branch. Number 6 Maarten, schepen van Veur. Alderman of Veur. No further data.  It is possible that Maarten as an alderman signed his papers with his name and sealed in wax with a weapen(ring). The Alderman papers of Veur come from the Algemeen Rijksarchief to Leidschendam the forthcoming months. As soon as they have arrived I'll have a look. Today I found in the archive of Leidschendam an old chart of 1608. On this chart you see in the Kleine Plaspoelpolder the place Damsigt and surrounding land.  On this land there is a small mill, called wipmolen. A following chart says this is the first corenmolen van Leidschendam. There is no prove but it is possible that this is the mill of Jacob Jacobsz van Haestert, miller who made in 1603 a marriage-settlement, in 1611 his last will was made under the name Van Haestrecht.  I have several documents from 1602 till 1694 concerning these grounds. They were owned by the Van Haestert/Van Haestrecht family and used to grow fruit, rye and vegetables. There was also a "paardewatermolen", that is a watermill driven by horsepower, to dry the fields.  Next time I'll tell you something about "welgeborenen". Gentry people. Descendents of knights. If we could prove the Van Haestert family is the right holder of the arms of the three clovers, than the possibility that they belong to the class of "welgeborenen" welborn - comes nearer and nearer. But we accept only documents. (Nov 2000)

Marry van Haastert wrote,
I agree with Jan van Rijn's statement that we have to prove we are descendants of the van Haastert branch that used this weapon. In fact there are three possibilities, one belonged to the family situated in Rotterdam, the others are Utrecht and Holland. I have some old papers which mention a family weapon that belongs to the Utrecht family.  They mention a Rudolf and a Willem, Jan and Claas, Roelof, Pauwels van Haastert and Otto as an imperator. Up till now there is not a specific connection yet. But I will save all until it can be used. 
Glad we are working together. (Nov 2000)

Re-drawn version

Orginal graphic, source: advertisement for wapen silver shield with green clovers