Immigration history of Noelle's ancestors » Histoires » Immigration history of Noelle

Introduction

When I started this ancestor tree, Noelle, an American colleague visiting our office in the Netherlands at that time, knew that two of her grandparents were of Dutch descent. She knew the names of the parents of these grandparents, and since that's typically enough to build an ancestral tree in the Netherlands, I offered to research their lineage using Dutch genealogy databases. I built a nice ancestor tree for that half of her ancestors, but eventually got stuck. Once you reach pre-Napoleon times (about 1810) the Dutch records become a lot harder to research. A year or two later I asked for the names of the other great-grandparents; ones she thought were perhaps of German, French or British descent. Within a day I had established that also all these ancestors were born in the Netherlands before they moved to the US, although there is indeed at least 6.25% German blood further down the generations. Since all ancestral lines pass through someone who was born in the Netherlands, you could still make some kind of argument that Noelle is of 100% Dutch descent! In this document, I summarize the immigration events of her ancestors into the US.

Her American immigration history spans almost 80 years and involves 15 separate immigration events. This means that 15 different families moved, and these 15 families include a total of 38 direct ancestors that moved across the ocean, along with many of their family members. 9 families emigrated to Pella, Iowa, 2 to Colfax, New Mexico and 4 to Cook County, Illinois. All these immegration events are ilustrated in the next "fan chart", which shows in bright colors which of Noelle's ancestors were the ones who immegrated in their life time. 

Most of her Dutch immigrant ancestors could be considered to be part of two major Dutch emigration waves. The first taking place between 1845-1860 and the second from 1880 to 1920. A fair few of these emigrations were religiously/politically motivated: they were related to parts of Dutch reformed churches seceding. But the majority were probably farmers or laborers hoping for better living conditions. In this document, Robert P. Swierenga describes the immigration patterns of the Dutch to the US, and Noelle's family seems to largely follow the patterns he describes. First of all, they were all Protestants. Catholic church leaders didn't like their flock to emigrate overseas, they wanted to keep control over their flock; although that's not to say there weren't any Catholic emigrants. Secondly, a lot of them came from the same regions in the Netherlands. 12 percent of the municipalities accounted for nearly three-quarters of all the emigrants to the United States in the period from 1820 through 1880. These regions often contained (reformed) church communities that separated (seceded) from their larger mother church. However, these regions also typically relied heavily on farming of large-scale, commercial crops on clay soil, such as wheat and corn. The international competition drove that specific type of farming to consolidate itself into bigger and bigger farms, with less work for day laborers and other support activities. This put a lot of Noelle's ancestors out of work, or at least in fear of losing their livelihood.

A lot of Noelle's ancestors didn't move alone. They either traveled together with other families that are not directly related to Noelle, or they followed-up family that had already emigrated to the US. It's not uncommon to find a lot of people with similar names to Noelle's ancestors on the same page of an American census sheet. In other words, often whole extended families moved, sometimes in different immigration waves, meaning that once one family member had succesfully moved to the US, others would more easily follow, perhaps for completely different reasons. In this genealogical tree, I have tried to also document these people (i.e. family, but not direct ancestors), but that part of the tree is still a work in progress.

Emigration of her direct ancestors started in 1847, with three families immigrating from Zederik and Noordeloos (less than four miles apart in the province of South-Holland) to Pella in Iowa. A few family members of these ancestors, Pieter de Fockert van Zee and his wife Adriana de Kok, plus Engel, Stephanus and Leendert de Kock, already moved in 1846 as part of a group of about 50 people that went to scout for possible locations for this later group of emigrants to settle in, before the majority would move. This is the start of the famous large-scale emigration wave of the followers of reverend Hendrik Scholte in search of religious freedom. It's interesting to read this English translation of the Dutch Wikipedia article about Hendrik Scholte, to understand why they moved. As far as I know, these ancestors took the same boats as the followers of Scholte, but I have no proof that they were also followers of the reverend. It is said that the reverend traveled on a fast steamboat which took about 13 days to cross the ocean, while his 850 followers traveled on 4 different, much slower sailing boats, taking at least 60 days to travel the same distance. Two immigration events happened just within a few years of this and might be considered the second wave of religiously motivated immigrants to Pella. In 1869 two more families moved to Pella, one from Gelderland in the east of the Netherlands, and one from Friesland, in the center-north of the Netherlands.

In the 1890's 5 families moved to the US. One to Pella from the province of South-Holland, two to Chicago, Illinois (one from Friesland and one from the province of North-Holland), and two moved to Colfax, New Mexico (from North-Holland and Groningen). Before 1907 there was an immigration from Gelderland to Pella, and finally in 1923 an immigration from Groningen to Illinois.

Noelle's grandparents Bernard van Ee and Richarla Lautenbach were born and raised in Iowa, her other grandparents Alvin Smit and Helen J Hoogewerf were from Illinois, with Alvin's father Joseph being from New Mexico, but later moving to Illinois with his wife.

I'll split my description into three parts, the Iowa, the New Mexico and the Illinois connection, and I'll group the immigration events per each of Noelle's grandparents.

First I'll start with a table of all the direct ancestors that emigrated to the US, and then I'll describe each of the immigration events in more detail.

Geography of the Dutch ancestors

In the following image, I display all the places that have an event related to one of Noelle's ancestors (typically a birth, marriage or death). The largest presence can be found around Herwijnen, which on this map is just north of s' Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch). However, while on this map it seems like almost half of the ancestors are from that village, it's actually a wide band from the west of Holland, south of Rotterdam, to the east of Holland, east of Zutphen. The second largest hub is in the provinces of Groningen and Friesland, in the North of the Netherlands, with an interesting extension to the east into Germany, rather spread around various villages in that area, extending all the way from the west coast of Friesland, seemingly following the European highway E22 towards Borbeck.  Finally, there are quite a few ancestors from the province of North Holland, mainly around Amsterdam, but with a few excursions into more northern parts of that province. 

All ancestors from the province of South Holland and Gelderland, constituting the southern band of ancestors, moved to Iowa, mainly Pella. Also, all people from Friesland moved to Iowa. The people from Groningen, which lies to the east of Friesland, moved to Illinois, Iowa and New Mexica, and the people from the province of North Holland moved to Illinois and New Mexico.

The Iowa connection

Bernard van Ee

Bernard van Ee's ancestor immigration history is interesting because a direct ancestor moved to the US, without taking one of his sons with him. That son, who stayed his whole life in the Netherlands, would become the father of a grandmother of Bernard. This grandmother of Bernard moved to the US only a few years after her now American grandfather died. So it took two emigration events in the same family line for that part of the family to become truly American.

In 1849, Jacob de Haan, the grandfather of Tanneke de Haan, and so great-great-grandfather of Bernard van Ee, moved to Pella from Ridderkerk, South-Holland, after his wife Heiltje Visser died in 1838. He took all of his children, except for Mattheus, Tanneke's father. So you could say this is the first point where this family line entered the US, but it needed a second emigration event to finally lead to the birth of Bernard van Ee.

Jacob took Pietertje, Cornelia, Teunis and Dingeman. He had several other children, but they all died in their first year.  Jacob died before Tanneke entered the US. Mattheus remained a flax farmer in the Netherlands. Jacob was from Ridderkerk, South-Holland, and was on the same boat as the followers of Rev. Scholte to Pella in the second wave of immigrants. There is an entry about Jacob (and Dingeman, his son), in a book called Souvenir History of Pella, Iowa [1847-1922].

Years later, in 1893, Bastiaan van Gilst, grandfather of Bernard van Ee, moved at age 37 from Heerjansdam in South-Holland to Iowa, on a ship called "Spaarndam", departing from Rotterdam and arriving in NY. He took with him his wife Tanneke de Haan (31), and his children Frances van Gilst (3, mother of Bernard van Ee), Pieter Mattheus (5), Maria (4), and Barbara Bastiaantje (1). They settled in Pella, Iowa. Frances seems to have died in Michigan, while her husband Gerrit van Ee died 13 years later in Iowa. 

In 1907, Willem van Ee, grandfather of Bernard van Ee, a bricklayer from around Arnhem, Gelderland, moved, at the age of 47, to Iowa, on a ship called "Noordam", departing from Rotterdam and arriving in NY. He took with him his wife Johanna Holstege, a maidservant aged 43, and his children Gerrit (14, the father of Bernard van Ee), Johan (10), Leendert(8), Bernardus(5) and Hendricka (4). He left some of his older children behind, such as Willem, who was born before his father and mother married, and became a Dutch marine telegraph operator. The family settled in or around Pella, Iowa. Johanna Holstege's ancestors are mainly from Gelderland. Willem's mother's ancestors are from the same area as his wife's ancestors, but his father is from Utrecht, with ancestors from both Gelderland, Noord-Holland and Utrecht. Gerrit was a self-employed farmer in 1942. He is described as having a scar on his right breast, being 6 feet high weighing 177 pounds, gray hair and having a ruddy complexion.

Richarla Alida Lautenbach

Richarla Alida's ancestor immigration history is the most extensive, but starts and ends early, between 1847 and 1869. To me, it's the most interesting, because about half of her ancestors are from Gelderland, where I was born, and because a lot of family of these ancestors moved to the US as well. Slightly less than half of Richarla's ancestors are from Herwijnen, a town in Gelderland that has seen a lot of emigration to the US and that had a seceded church community.

On the 13th of April 1847, Jan Arise (John) Toom (27, a brick maker and great-grandfather of Richarla) took the sailing ship Maasstroom from Rotterdam to Baltimore. He was living in Leerbroek, Zederik, South-Holland and settled in Pella. He started a brick kiln to which he later added a lime kiln. Brick houses were not nearly as common in the US as in the Netherlands, but in Pella, there are a lot of buildings made out of bricks, and I'd like to think that Jan Toom contributed to this. Jan Arise owned a farm in Pella that was on the same grounds as the original townsite of Pella. 

Jan Arise took with him his sisters Maaike (21) and Hilligje (16), probably because both their parents had died by 1843. They were on the same boat as the followers of Rev. Scholte to Pella in the first wave of immigration and were probably part of them. In 1860 his daughter Elizabeth was born, grandmother of Richarla, who married Lammert Lautenbach in 1891 in Pella. His brother Jan Toom took the slightly earlier ship Nagasaki to Baltimore with his wife Aartje den Hartog, their children Willem, Gijsbertje en Teuntje, and her parents Cornelis den Hartog and Neeltje Schippers.

On the 25th of March 1847, Jan Arise Toom's future wife Jannigje (Jennie) Rietveld (13) also moved to the US, but from Noordeloos, South Holland, on another ship, called the Katherina Jackson, also departing from Rotterdam and sailing for Baltimore. She traveled together with her parents, Jan Rietveld, a brickmaker, and Dirkje Blokland, a housekeeper. Apparently, Jan Rietveld was one of the two leaders that were chosen on each of the ships by the congregation. Many of her brothers and sisters moved as well, Wiggert (18), Cornelia (16), Adriaan (15). Also in 1847, Gijsbert van Houwelingen, The great-great-grandfather of Richarla moved at the age of 34 from Zederik in South-Holland to Iowa on the ship Maasstroom sailing from Rotterdam to Baltimore. This was the same ship that Jan Toom took to the US, described two paragraphs before this. Gijsbert took with him his wife Marrigje Kappetijn and his daughter Egje (3 years old and the great-grandmother of Richarla), plus all of his other children Alida (4), Aalbert (5), Elbert(7), Aart (9), Gijsbert (11), and his father Gijsbert (79). His brother Aart and his wife Dirkje Sterk joined them with at least 5 of their children. Some say Gijsbert's father died almost directly after arriving in the US, but I can't find any evidence for that. From a short entry about Gijsbert in the book Souvenir History of Pella, Iowa [1847-1922] it seems he started the first dairy and butcher shop in Pella. 

In 1854 Dillis van Zante (14), a great-grandfather of Richarla moved to the US from Herwijnen, Gelderland, taking the boat to Quebec with his parents Aart Benthem van Zante (36) and Maria van Zee (35) and 6 younger brothers and sisters. They lived in Pella as well. Dillis van Zante married Egje there, but I can't find their marriage record, unfortunately. At the same time, on the same boat, were Dillis' uncles Dielis and Gerrit van Zante, who also ended up in Pella. This is where naming your child after your parents or grandparents starts getting annoying for the genealogist. There are 4 Dillis or Dielis van Zante in this tree, and probably more moved to the US :-). Dillis' sister Geertje married Jan de Kock, another person from Herwijnen who immigrated to Pella in 1872. His other sister Dirkje married Gerrit van Zee, who emigrated to Pella from Herwijnen in 1847 on the Ship Pieter Floris.

In 1869, Rintje Lammerts Lautenbach (29, great-grandfather of Richarla) moved from Menaldumadeel in Friesland to Pella in Iowa. He took his wife Sijke Tjeerds (Sarah) Bosma (28), son Lammert (6), the grandfather of Richarla, and his daughters Dooitske and Trijntje/Catharina. Dooitske died from cholera shortly after arriving in the US, and Rintje and Sijke had at least another 6 children while in Pella. On a side note, in 1894 Sijke's sister Klaaske emigrated to the US with her husband Jacobus Dijkstra and their daughter jantje, showing that settled family attracted other families to move as well.

In 1869 Jan Walraven (a farmer, 39) and his wife Gertrude van Zee (36) moved to the US, both from Herwijnen, Gelderland (although his father Jan, was born in South Holland). They took their son Gerrit Walraven (8, the grandfather of Richarla), and also his parents Jan Walraven (66, a former shop owner) and Neeltje de Bruin (61). Her parents stayed in Herwijnen, Gelderland. Neeltje's sister Hermina moved to Iowa in 1854, together with her husband Kornelis van Steenbergen and their children Dirkje, Neeltje, Leendert, Wilhelmina and Maria. 

As said before, a lot of people from Herwijnen, Gelderland moved to the US, and some of them were family of Noelle's direct ancestors. For instance, Gertrude van Zee, the wife of Jan Walraven who moved in 1869 and Maria van Zee, the wife of Dillis van Zante who emigrated in 1854 are first cousins. In the same boat as Dillis van Zante and Maria van Zee were brothers of Gertrude van Zee, namely Cornelis and Pieter. Also, in 1846 Gertrude's brother Stephanus van Zee moved to Pella with a few family members. His wife Judik van Zee (first cousins), her brother Coenraad, Coenraad's wife Metje de Kock, Metje's parents Aart de Kock and Elizabeth van Giessen and her maternal grandparents Engel van der Giessen and Maria van Arendonk all traveled to the US a year later. Other siblings of Gertrude seem to have followed them as well, Pieter, Anneke, Pietertje , Cornelis and Dirk. Most of the van Zee's I have included in this genealogy are related to Frederik van Zee and his wife Engelke Maria Roose. It is said of Engelke Maria that she was a member of a Spanish family whose members were driven from Spain for a religious cause in 1522, but this has been disputed, even by the first person to write this up. I've created a family tree of Frederik's father Leendert Claassen van Zee, that shows that a lot of ancestors from Herwijnen were related to this person.

The New Mexico connection

Alvin Smit

Alvin Smit's ancestor immigration history is relatively simple. It has two lines from New Mexico, and another from Cook County, Illinois.

In 1893 Piet Zwier (53), great-grandfather of Alvin Smit moved from Medemblik, North-Holland to the village of Maxwell, Colfax, New Mexico. He took with him his wife, who is also probably his first cousin, Neeltje Zwier (47) and his daughter Trijntje (13, Kate/Catherine), grandmother of Alvin Smith. Piet and Neeltje had a real hard time, perhaps they were just too genetically similar, or perhaps the conditions were just really bad at that time. They had a stillborn child, four of their children died before the age of 5, one died aged 21, and only Trijntje seems to have lived a long life. Around 1900 Trijntje and her parents lived in neighboring houses in Maxwell.

In 1895 Geert (George) Smit (20), grandfather of Alvin Smit moved, from Oldekerk in Groningen to Maxwell, Colfax, New Mexico. In Holland, he was a wheelwright, but he became a farmer in the US. 

In 1901 Geert's mother Geertje Vroom (62) immigrated together with her new husband Heere de Wit (52), who like Geert was a wheelwright. She remarried after Johannes Smit, her first husband and Geert's father died in 1877. She didn't follow her son to Colfax, but instead went to Chicago, taking with them her new husband's son from his previous marriage Melle de Wit (20). 

Geert Smit and and Trijntje Zwier, grandparents of Alvin smit, married in Colfax in 1898. Their son Joseph (Jo), father of Alvin, was born in Colfax as well and married Alida Johanna (Alice) Recker, who was born in Illinois, in Stillwater Montana in 1924. They moved back to Illinois after their marriage.

The Illinois connection

Alvin Smit

In 1899 Aalrich Recker (a carpenter, 34), grandfather of Alvin Smit moved, from Haarlemmermeer, North-Holland to Cook County Illinois, together with his wife Boudewine Willems Kok (30) and her father Willem Kok (a laborer, 61).  The couple also took their children, Hilkelina Catherina (7), Willem(5), Ahlrich Jr(3) and Hermijntje/Minnie(1). Willem died soon after in 1901 the same year as Alida Johanna/Alice Recker, Alvin's mother, was born. Aalrich's parents are from Leer in Germany, which is a municipality very close to the Dutch border with Groningen, but they moved to the Netherlands before they married (in Amsterdam) and before they had Aalrich. Aalrich was born in Haarlemmermeer, North-Holland, and could be considered Dutch, although I'm not sure he officially held the Dutch nationality.

Helen J Hoogewerf

Helen J Hoogewerf's ancestors are quite late arrivals.

In 1892, Boele Weidenaar, the grandfather of Helen J Hoogewerf and father of Greta, Helen's mother, moved to the US from Groningen to Chicago, Illinois. He was a day laborer in the Netherlands but became a sash maker and a frame maker in the states. He took with him his wife Hillechien Monsma, who went back to school there, and their two children Geessien (1), later called Grace and a very young Grietje (0), who might have died at a young age. His wife's father Jan Monsma (59), a widow for two years immigrated with them as well. In the US Boele and his wife, now called Helen, had at least 9 more children. Boele is originally from Friesland, while Hillechien is from Groningen.

In 1923, Geert Hoogewerf (16), Helen's father, moved to the US from Aduard, Zuidhorn, Groningen, taking a boat from Rotterdam to NY, arriving May the 4th of that same year. His wife, Greta Weidenaar was born in the US, and they married in Illinois. He traveled with his brother Jan, and both his parents stayed in Holland. Their stated intended target was their uncle Hielke Hoogewerf. Hielke moved in 1903 with his wife Anna van Polen to become a farmer in Elsworth, Michigan. However, in 1930 Geert already lives in Cook County, Illinois, so while he might have visited his uncle, he didn't stay long.

Outroduction

So there you have it: the very interesting, although admittedly because of the subject matter perhaps repetitively told immigration history of Noelle. Here, you can view all the ancestor's events on a map. Yes, there are some bugs, cause I don't think any of the ancestors living after 1700 came from China :-). (If I know specific towns it's alright, but if I just know the states or provinces of an event, the system seems to go haywire).

You can start browsing the ancestry of Noelle per grandparent:

Bernard van Ee

Richarla Alida Lautenbach

Alvin Smit

Helen J Hoogewerf

The buttons on the bottom of the screen are really useful. They, for instance, give you the geographical tree of the ancestors (best to switch to "Visualization: by province")

Bernard van Ee

Richarla Alida Lautenbach

Alvin Smit

Helen J Hoogewerf

And what's also nice, is a chart with all the events on a map,

Bernard van Ee

Richarla Alida Lautenbach

Alvin Smit

Helen J Hoogewerf

Finally, please don't hesitate to contact me with any errors, omissions or questions you might have! 

Cheers,

Bastiaan Huisman