Engraving of Sems made by
Jacob Matham, based on a portrait by Martin FaberCover of Practijck des lantmetens (1600)Map of
Leeuwarden made by Sems in 1603
Sems was born in
Franeker (
Friesland) in 1572 to Sem IJsbrandts and Claesgen Adriaens.
Sems is a
patronym.
Sem IJsbrandts registered himself as a student at
Leiden University. The family lived on the Marendorp Landzijde on the corner of the Lange Hooglandse Kerksteeg in
Leiden. IJsbrandts committed
suicide in 1584 due to
alcoholism.
Johan Sems did not go to university himself. He had probably learned his skills in practice.
1600: The book Practijck des lantmetens, a book written by Sems and
Jan Pietersz. Dou, was published. The book was used at the engineering school started by
Simon Stevin.
1604-1608: Sems had the supervision over the building of the fortifications at
Bourtange,
Delfzijl and
Bellingwolde.
Sems bought several buildings in the city center of
Leeuwarden.
Around 1610, Sems moved to
Bunde in
Germany and he bought land in the
Bunder Neuland, a
polder that was created in 1604, with help from investors mainly from
Amsterdam.
1618: On January 6, while he was in
Denmark, Sems was asked to come to the Netherlands because of a border dispute between
Groningen and
Drenthe. at
Ter Apel.