Located 35 km north of Kolkata beside the Grand Trunk Road in Chinsurah, the tomb of Susanna Anna Maria is enveloped in folklore regarding her identity and the reasons behind the construction of such a grand tomb.
Locals call it ‘Saat Saheber Bibir Kobor’, translating to ‘grave of a woman with seven European husbands’. This idea has been popularized by Ruskin Bond’s short story “Susanna’s Seven Husbands”, which portrays her as a black widow. This story was adapted into the film 7 Khoon Maaf (7 Murders Forgiven).
However, historical records tell a different story. While not fully documented, we know enough about Susanna to dispel some of the more extreme claims.
Susanna Anna Maria Verkerk
Susanna Anna Maria Verkerk was born on 5th October 1743 to Gerard Verkerk and Adriana Raats. On 18th October 1759, she married her first husband, Pieter Brueys. Brueys was a Senior Merchant and Chief Administrator of the Dutch settlement in Hooghly. In 1764, he became the Merchant and Chief Administrator of Cossimbazar and, in 1783, the Dutch Director of the settlement. The couple had three children: Susanna Jaboba de Brueys (1761), Louis Adriaan de Brueys, and Maria Anna de Brueys. They were married for 24 years before Brueys died on 23 August 1783 and was buried at the Dutch Cemetery in Chinsurah, where his tomb remains to this day.
Twelve years after Brueys’ death, Susanna married her second husband, Thomas Joseph Yeats, on 30th March 1795 at St. Johns Church in Calcutta.
Originally from Gloucestershire, England, Yeats had owned a large estate, which he lost due to a gambling addiction. In an effort to regain financial stability, he joined the East India Company as a cadet in 1779, rising to the rank of lieutenant by 1781. He resigned from the service on 13th December 1786.
After leaving the East India Company, Yeats became a merchant near Chinsurah, although details of his trade are unknown. Susanna’s marriage to Yeats was reportedly short-lived, and they divorced. However, this is disputed, as some records describe her as a widow of both husbands, and her tomb bears the name Yeats instead of Brueys.
There is also a rumor about a mysterious third husband, Floris Cup, who was actually the first husband of Susanna’s mother, Adriana Raats.
Susanna’s Tomb
In life, Susanna Anna Maria likely stood out, and in death, she ensured she would be remembered. She constructed a magnificent octagonal tomb for herself, complete with funds for its maintenance and that of her two husbands. While Pieter Brueys’ tomb still exists in the Dutch Cemetery, there is no trace of Thomas Yeats’ tomb.
The white-painted tomb, built after Susanna’s death, stands on a high plinth and features Corinthian columns topped by a semi-circular dome inscribed with “Susanna Anna Maria Yeats, nee Verkerk overleden 1809”. Previously, a marble slab under the dome bore a Dutch epitaph, now missing.
The epitaph read:
Ter Gedagtenis van Susanna Anna Maria Yeates Geboorene Verkery obit den 12 Maij Anno 1809
Ik Lag in het graft zonder geklag
Ep rust dar tot den jongsten dag
Dan zult gy Heer mijn graft out dekken
En mij ter ecuwige Vrengd verstrekken.
Translated:
I lay in this grave without complaint
In rest until the Judgment Day
Then shall you. Lord, open my grave
And provide me with eternal joy.
The tomb design replicates that of Tammerus Canter Visscher in Cossimbazar, likely inspired by Susanna’s familiarity with it through her first husband, Pieter Brueys.
Susanna’s Will
Susanna created her last will in 1809, witnessed by her son Louis Adriaan de Brueys, Johannes Muller, and Daniel Anthony Overbeek (the last Dutch director of Bengal, 1818-25). She left her possessions to her eldest son, including six mares, a coach, and a house in Chinsurah.
An earlier will from 1805 established a trust fund of 4,000 Rupees for the maintenance of her tomb and those of her two deceased husbands, with any surplus going to the Chinsurah Poor Fund.
Her burial site, Ayesh Baag, comprised around 60 bighas of land, intended to be a burial ground for the English and Dutch. However, this plan did not materialize, as the existing Dutch cemetery was expanded instead, leaving Susanna’s tomb standing alone, surrounded by open space.
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