Family tree familie Eilders » Harm Drenth (1892-1932)

Personal data Harm Drenth 


Household of Harm Drenth

(1) He is married to Luella B Strother.

They got married in the year 1927, he was 34 years old.


(2) He is married to Mary Kate Collins.

They got married on January 26, 1931 at Cameron, Calhoun, South Carolina, he was 38 years old.


Child(ren):

  1. (Not public)


(3) He is married to Allie Province.

They got married in the year 1924, he was 31 years old.


Notes about Harm Drenth

Traveling salesman, store keeper, and serial killer, aka Cornelius O. Pierson. Born as Herman Drenth in Beerta, Groningen Province, Holland, and later immigrated to the United States. He was best known under his last alias Harry F. Powers. He became West Virginia's most notorious serial killer, and operated a "murder farm" at his residence near Quiet Dell in Harrison County during the late 1920s and early 1930s. He was known at the time as the "Bluebeard of Quiet Dell." At his home were discovered the buried bodies of two women and three children. The victims were identified as Aster Eicher and her three children from Park Ridge, Illinios, and Dorothy Lemke from Northboro, Massachusetts. He lured his prey by writing lonely hearts letters (via matrimonial correspondence agencies) to unsuspecting women. Drenth was a grocery store proprietor in the Broad Oaks section of Clarksburg and also worked at a carpet company. He explained his many instances away from home to his wife as mere "business trips." His trial gained state and national media exposure and became quite a spectacle. It was held in a specially constructed courtroom in the old Moore's Opera House in Clarksburg. Although suspected of many more such crimes, he maintained his innocence in the courtroom. Nevertheless, there were claims by prison guards that he had confessed to the five murders as well as the killing of salesman Dudly C. White in 1928. He constructed an underground chamber near his garage. There he would throw his widowed victims. Occasionally he would send down into the chamber a bucket where the women would sign checks withdrawing money from their bank accounts. He bound and gassed his victims and watched as they died. When questioned by local police about the many unexplained women's items found in his home, he clammed up, muttering only "You've got me on five, what good would fifty more do?" He was found guilty of the murders, and sentenced to death. He was executed (via hanging) in the West Virginia Penitentiary at Moundsville on March 18, 1932. He was buried in Whitegate (Penitentiary) Cemetery, Tom's Run, near Moundsville.

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Timeline Harm Drenth

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Ancestors (and descendant) of Harm Drenth

Harm Drenth
1837-1916
Grietje van der Laan
1840-1909
Wilko Drenth
1863-1933

Harm Drenth
1892-1932

(1) 1927

Luella B Strother
1886-1957

(2) 1931

Mary Kate Collins
1907-1931

(Not public)
(3) 1924

Allie Province
± 1874-????


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Historical events

Birthday November 17, 1892

  • The temperature on November 17, 1892 was about 9.6 °C. There was 1 mm of rain. The airpressure was 76 cm mercury. The atmospheric humidity was 98%. Source: KNMI
  • Koningin Wilhelmina (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from 1890 till 1948 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
  • Regentes Emma (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from 1890 till 1898 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
  • In The Netherlands , there was from August 21, 1891 to May 9, 1894 the cabinet Van Tienhoven, with Mr. G. van Tienhoven (unie-liberaal) as prime minister.
  • In the year 1892: Source: Wikipedia
    • The Netherlands had about 5.1 million citizens.
    • March 18 » Former Governor General Lord Stanley pledges to donate a silver challenge cup as an award for the best hockey team in Canada; it was later named after him as the Stanley Cup.
    • July 4 » Western Samoa changes the International Date Line, causing Monday (July 4) to occur twice, resulting in a year with 367 days.
    • July 6 » Three thousand eight hundred striking steelworkers engage in a day-long battle with Pinkerton agents during the Homestead Strike, leaving ten dead and dozens wounded.
    • September 9 » Amalthea, third moon of Jupiter is discovered by Edward Emerson Barnard.
    • October 13 » Edward Emerson Barnard discovers first comet discovered by photographic means.
    • November 12 » Pudge Heffelfinger becomes the first professional American football player on record, participating in his first paid game for the Allegheny Athletic Association.

Day of marriage January 26, 1931

  • The temperature on January 26, 1931 was between -1.3 °C and 6.6 °C and averaged 2.4 °C. There was 5.3 mm of rain during 1.7 hours. There was 2.8 hours of sunshine (32%). The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the west-northwest. Source: KNMI
  • Koningin Wilhelmina (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from 1890 till 1948 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
  • In The Netherlands , there was from August 10, 1929 to May 26, 1933 the cabinet Ruys de Beerenbrouck III, with Jonkheer mr. Ch.J.M. Ruys de Beerenbrouck (RKSP) as prime minister.
  • In the year 1931: Source: Wikipedia
    • The Netherlands had about 7.9 million citizens.
    • March 11 » Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR, abbreviated as GTO, is introduced in the Soviet Union.
    • March 31 » A Transcontinental & Western Air airliner crashes near Bazaar, Kansas, killing eight, including University of Notre Dame head football coach Knute Rockne.
    • April 14 » The Spanish Cortes deposes King Alfonso XIII and proclaims the Second Spanish Republic.
    • July 1 » United Airlines begins service (as Boeing Air Transport).
    • September 18 » The Mukden Incident gives Japan a pretext to invade and occupy Manchuria.
    • December 9 » The Constituent Cortes approves a constitution which establishes the Second Spanish Republic.

Day of death March 18, 1932

  • The temperature on March 18, 1932 was between -3.1 °C and 7.2 °C and averaged 1.6 °C. There was 10.4 hours of sunshine (87%). The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the north. Source: KNMI
  • Koningin Wilhelmina (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from 1890 till 1948 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
  • In The Netherlands , there was from August 10, 1929 to May 26, 1933 the cabinet Ruys de Beerenbrouck III, with Jonkheer mr. Ch.J.M. Ruys de Beerenbrouck (RKSP) as prime minister.
  • In the year 1932: Source: Wikipedia
    • The Netherlands had about 8.1 million citizens.
    • February 4 » Second Sino-Japanese War: Harbin, Manchuria, falls to Japan.
    • March 1 » Charles Lindbergh's son is kidnapped.
    • May 23 » In Brazil, four students are shot and killed during a manifestation against the Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas, which resulted in the outbreak of the Constitutionalist Revolution several weeks later.
    • May 28 » In the Netherlands, construction of the Afsluitdijk is completed and the Zuiderzee bay is converted to the freshwater IJsselmeer.
    • September 23 » The unification of Saudi Arabia is completed.
    • December 19 » BBC World Service begins broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service.


Same birth/death day

Source: Wikipedia

Source: Wikipedia


About the surname Drenth

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The Family tree familie Eilders publication was prepared by .contact the author
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin:
B. Eilders, "Family tree familie Eilders", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-familie-eilders-is-samengesteld-door-b.-eilders/I351251.php : accessed June 11, 2024), "Harm Drenth (1892-1932)".