Genealogy Arink (Groenlo-Eibergen-Kampen) » Gilles "Gillis" Wabeke (1828-1895)

Personal data Gilles "Gillis" Wabeke 

• Nickname is Gillis.
• He was born on April 11, 1828 in Wemeldinge, Zeeland, Nederland.
• Profession: independently employed.
• Religion: Member in 1852.Source 1
• He died on October 11, 1895 in Zeeland, Ottawa Co, MI, USA, he was 67 years old.
• He is buried in Zeeland Cemetery, Ottawa Co, MI, USA.
• A child of Cornelis Wabeke and Adriana Gd de Jager
• This information was last updated on October 16, 2021.

Household of Gilles "Gillis" Wabeke

He is married to Jannetje de Roo.

They got married on August 31, 1851 at Zeeland, Allegan Co, MI, USA, he was 23 years old.Source 2

Child(ren):

1. Johannes Wabeke  1854-1890
2. Jan Wabeke  1858-1937 
3. Janetje Wabeke  1861-1935
4. Adriana Wabeke  1863-1943 
5. Cornelis Wabeke  1865-1881
6. Dina Johanna Wabeke  1869-1901 

Notes about Gilles "Gillis" Wabeke

Gilles came to America from Province Zeeland, Netherlands in 1849 with the Smullejan family. They were on the ocean for 48 days in a Sailboat, which was considered a very prosperous journey at the time. The two
were married in Zeeland, Michigan and settled on a farm nearby. He paid $500.00 for the farm and erected crude buildings at a cost of $500.00. He had $1000.00 which he had inherited to pay in full for the
property and buildings. A brick house was built in 1872. They moved to Maple street, Zeeland in 1888. She died Feb. 5, 1893 and he died Oct. 11, 1895.
They had six children; Cornelius died of tuberculosis at age 15 in 1880, Johannes died at age 37 in 1890. He was married and had no children; Nancy never married. Died in riverside, California in 1935 at age
75; Ada married Dr. C. Van Zwalenburg in 1886. He began his practice of medicine in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1886 to 1900 when they moved to Riverside, California where he had a good practice until he retired in
1930. They had 3 daughters. DR Van Zwalenburg died of a heart attack in Aug. of 1943 playing golf.; Delia Married John A Pyl in 1889 at Kalamazoo. He had a jewelry store there. They also moved to California
in 1900 at the same time the Zwalenburg family and Nancy Wabeke did. Delia had lung troubles and died in Feb. 1901. The very same day her only daughter Amy age 10 was taken very ill. (Spinal Meningitis) and
died 6 weeks latter. Mother and daughter are buried in Kalamazoo, Michigan. They had 3 sons Clarence born in 1890, died in Sep. 1944 in a train wreck in south Dakota. He was shipping cattle; Ben born August
1893. Was a Dentist in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He died in August 1967.; Howard born around 1895 was killed in France in World war I (1918) in service. John Pyle remarried and died in Kalamazoo, mi. in 1940.
EARLY SOCIAL, INDUSTRIAL AND EDUCATIONAL LIFE IN ZEELAND
The group of Hollanders in southern Ottawa County was known as ôthe colony.ö There were a number of churches, each the center of a little community life of its own. Most of those communities were entirely agricultural, but Holland and Zeeland,
the largest and most important villages, developed or attempted other industries as well.
In a certain sense, the experiences of the Hollanders were not different from those of other Michigan pioneers, but their isolation, the purposes of their immigration, language, and customs determined their development as a unique and distinct
people for years to come. The Hollanders, perhaps, were not as resourceful or ingenious as their Yankee neighbors, but they possessed patience, perseverance, industry, and sterling common sense, qualities no less well calculated to win a
victory over the obstacles of pioneer life. The ancient motto of the province of Zeeland ôLuctor et Emergoö was expressive of the spirit of those days. Felling trees was a difficult and unaccustomed task for our colonists, and they received
some instructions from the kindly Americans before they could do the work satisfactorily. In many cases, those good hard wood logs were rolled together in great piles and simply burned. The first winter fortunately was not severe, and the
summer of 1848 was very good for potatoes. But the next summer was dry, and on the whole discouraging. During these first years they suffered from an insufficient, and especially, from an unaccustomed diet. Butter and milk products were scarce,
and the inevitable corn meal was distasteful to them as Europeans. Vegetables and fruits were scarce, and the only meat was pork from a very inferior variety of hogs. Occasionally venison brought a welcome change.
The statistics of Michigan for 1850 give some idea of the crops produced in Holland Township of whom Zeeland was at that time a part.
Wheat, 65 bushels; rye, 20 bushels; corn, 9,750 bushels; oats, 350 bushels; potatoes, 1,530 bushels; butter, 1,930 pounds; maple sugar, 1,610 pounds. In 1850 there were no horses in the colony, as they were useless in working new land. Holland
Township had only 168 cows and 70 oxen at that time. Ds. Van Der Meulen and Jan Wabeke owned the first spans of oxen in Zeeland. A span of oxen cost about fifty or sixty dollars and were soon worn out by the hard work.
The Dutch colonizers of Western Michigan were not the only nationals emigrating from other lands to the United States, for they constituted only a small part of the peoples that were drawn there by the abundance of land, the fertility of the
soil, its large timbered forests, its deep flowing streams, abundant minerals, fishing lakes and streams, freedom and independence of religion and politics, and individual opportunity: but for these gratifying conditions, there would have been
no Dutch emigration to America. America was the land of promise and plenty. These colonists were looking for religious and political liberty, but they fully understood that these liberties without material opportunity would be an empty
promise. They came in the days when the westward moving frontier lay in the Mississippi Valley and was rapidly moving toward the Pacific Coast, and they were fully qualified to mentally and physically hazard the difficulties and dangers of
frontier pioneering.
ôThe Dutch generation that left the Netherlands in the years 1816-1850 for the wilds of Western Michigan was a noble folk. They were heroes; they battled and conquered; they were justified righteousness ruled. These folks, whom we revere, were
banished. Reviled, and abused in there fatherland; but they chose a better land. Some suffered only-were not permitted to overcome-their graves are round about us: some died as they turned their eyes toward the land of hope, leaving their
remains in the old father land, many died and were buried at sea, some died on arrival on American shores and were buried there, many died and lie buried along the Erie Canal, many died and lie buried along the by-ways of the woods, many died
and were buried where they fell because there was not time nor opportunity to do anything else, many died and now lie in unmarked, unknown graves from the sand dunes along Lake Michigan and onward to the extremes of the colony limits; many lie
buried in shrouds of hemlock boughs, a sheet, a blanket, or a roughly made wooden box; all heroes who fell in the conquest for liberty and right. Then we have those who lie in the little churchyards, those early dead who suffered with hope
their only recompense, their names not listedùfew of them known. But the fruit of their struggles are an ever-uttering voice.
Jan Wabeke was among the original pioneers of Zeeland, whose descendants contributed toward the cost of the monument, but nearly all lie buried in Zeeland Cemetery.
The organization of the Congregation of Zeeland, which emigrated as a body to Western Michigan, resulted in great membership loss to the Separatist congregation at Goes as well as the loss of its pastor, which also affected, all his former
congregation. Weakening some of them so that they did not remain self- sufficient. This was specially true of the congregation of Borsselen, the home church of Elder Van De Luijster, which, for lack of membership then combined with the
congregation of Nieuwdorp in securing pastoral benefaction, and it later joined with the congregation of Driewegcn for the same purpose until it again had grown strong enough to provide its own pastor.
When Rev. Van Der Meulen delivered his farewell sermon at Goes on the first Sunday in April 1847, his former parishioners from the twelve congregations flocked to hear him, causing an overflow audience. He at that time based his sermon on the
text: And now, behold, I know that yea all, among which I have gone preaching the kingdom of God shall see my face no more. Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare
unto you all the counsel of God. ùActs 20:25-27.
A few brave spirits struck right out into the wilderness, and the first families to settle in the neighborhood of Zeeland were Jan Steketee, Jacob De Hond, and Christian Den Herder. The building of Van de LuijsterÆs own house was begun July 21,
1817. These log houses were built in the course of a few weeks from the nearest trees. As a, rule, they contained but one room and often, only one window. The wooden chest, which had contained the family belongings on the journey from The
Netherlands, served as a table, At first they cooked on fires of sticks in picnic fashion, but soon made use of fire places or little stoves brought from Grand Rapids. The township of Zeeland was circled from the northeast to southwest by a
marsh surrounded on both sides by hills and
By a belt of pine trees. This swamp was almost impenetrable and was inhabited by rattle snakes and wild animals. Just south of the village lay another marsh called the cedar swamp, and for many years this land was considered worthless. The
trees were mostly maple, hemlock, and cedar. Wild cats, bears, and deer were quite common in the forests and squirrels and raccoons ate their corn in the early years. We remember that the Zeelanders came as a congregation and as a congregation
they worshipped for the first time on the third: Sunday in August of 1847. The partially completed log house of Jan Steketee served as a church. Until the log church was erected, they held services every Sunday in the house of Jan Wabeke, that
lived at the East End of the village and whose house was the largest in the community.
Van de Luijster had set aside eighty acres in Section 19 for the village to be called Zeeland. He records the reason for the name in his Journal: ôBecause it was founded by the Zeelanders, who called upon the name of the Lord to prosper His
work, and that His name might be called upon there forever.ö The surveying was done by Grootenhuis and. Cornelis Verhorst, and inaccuracies occurred because the early work was done with ropes instead of chains.
This information came from Ruth Heerspink records
Gilles Wabeke
Occupation a private person (Independent) Age 22, Christian Ref. 1849 Church (State Church) well to do; tax assessed. Came alone. Reason: for religious freedom. Destination: north America, 1849. From Province of Zeeland
Status, single. Ship name Louvre; arrived May 4, 1849
from Rotterdam to US Port New York from province of Zeeland from the municipality of Kapelle.
HIST Dutch Reformed

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