In the middle of the nineteenth century, conditions in Europe were poor. Crops were failling all over Europe and many people hardly made enough money to feed their families. For this reason, many people decided to emigrate to the United States, where farmland was plenty and people hoped they could begin a new life. In the Netherlands, some people also had religious reasons to emigrate. The had seceded from the Dutch Reformed Church and were being oppressed by the goverment. The United States offered to them not only better economic prospects, but also the chance to celebrate their religion as they saw fit.

Economic reasons

The nineteenth century started with a lot of political turmoil. Under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte, the French had occupied the Netherlands in 1795. Several Dutch boys and men were drafted in Napoleon's army and fought, and died, all over Europe. In 1815, Napoleon was defeated and the Netherlands became an independant kingdom. The peace wouldn't last long. In 1830, the southern provinces wanted to start their own country. This started a civil war, ending with the independence of Belgium in 1831.

Dutch soldiers, about 1800

To pay for all these war exploits, taxes were high. In the 1840s, failed crops added to the problems. In 1845-1847, a potato blight deprived many people of their staple diet. In Ireland, this same blight caused the famous potato famine which cost the lives of millions of Irish people. In the Netherlands, many people were hungry as well. Children were put to bed with belts around their stomachs so they felt like they were full.

Religious reasons

In the early nineteenth century, more and more people did not agree with the doctrines of the Dutch Reformed Church. People wanted to be more devout and less liberal. This inspired the secession (Afscheiding) of the Reformed Church in 1834 and led to the formation of the 'true' reformed church in the Netherlands.

Albertus van Raalte

Because of the problems with the Dutch government, the leaders of the Secession were thinking about emigration. Their ideal was to found a Dutch Seceded colony, where people were free to practice their beliefs. They would have their own churches, schools and teachers. Albertus van Raalte left with many of his followers and went on to found the best-known Dutch settlement in the United States, Holland, Michigan.

Emigration

In the 1840s, the emigration to the United States took off. A Winterswijk man wrote in his diary "People talk about America all the time now." Whether for economic reasons, religious reasons, or a combination of both, thousands of people emigrated. The first group emigrated mainly from 1844-1847 and then from 1854-1860. Why the emigration decreased after 1847 isn't really known. Factors might be the better crops, the Phoenix disaster, and the growing tolerance for the Seceders in the Netherlands. The emigrants came predominantly from the provinces of Gelderland, Zeeland and Overijssel. They settled mainly around the Great Lakes, in the states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa.

Immigrants landing at Castle Garden, New York City

When the Civil War broke out in the United States, people became less interested in emigration again. Another emigration wave started in the 1870s and lasted until the 1920s when the Great Depression started and the immigration laws in the United States became more strict. The peak of the emigration took place in the 1880s. This time, many people from the provinces of Groningen and Friesland emigrated as well. Robert Swierenga estimates that between 1835 and 1880, between 75,000 and 100,000 Netherlanders came to the United States. Many of them settled in the Dutch settlements that had been established a generation before, but many others founded new communities in the western states.

Last week, my friend Mary Risseeuw from Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin and I gave a presentation at the International Congress for genealogical and heraldic Sciences in Maastricht. The title was "We're all fresh and healthy. Emigration from the Netherlands to the United States in the 19th century. The slides are now available online.

I've just added a Dutch genealogy store to the site. In this store, visitors can buy books, DVDs and prints about Dutch genealogy, history and culture. I've selected publications that I think would benefit somebody researching his Dutch roots. The store is powered by Amazon. This website receives a commission for all sales, enabling this website to remain free.

When Dutch people arrived in the United States or other English-speaking countries, often their names got changed. This was either done on purpose, to make the name easier to write and remember, or by accident because the clerk didn't know how to spell the name and wrote it down phonetically. For this reason, a single family name can often be found in many different spellings in different documents.

This article gives an overview of the types of changes that names underwent and also gives a list of English versions of Dutch last names. This list is not complete and even for the names that are listed, chances are that many people with those names used even more exotic variants as well.

Marriage records are a part of the civil registration. Marriage records contain the following information:

• Name, age, profession and place of birth and residence of the bride and groom
• Names of their parents, and if they are still alive their professions and place of residence
• If any: names of previous spouses (either divorced or deceased)
• Name, age, profession and place of residence for 4 witnesses

Utrecht is a province in the middle of the Netherlands. It borders on Gelderland in the east, Gelderland and Zuid-Holland in the south, Zuid-Holland and Noord-Holland in the west and Noord-Holland and Flevoland in the north.

The capital city of Utrecht is called Utrecht as well. Other larger towns are:

• Amersfoort
• Zeist
• Soest
• Nieuwegein

Jan Willem Dunnewold was one of the first ministers in Clymer, NY. He was an emigrant from Winterswijk who had never dreamt that his dream of becoming a preacher would one day come true. He later accepted a summons from Gibbsville in Wisconsin, another community with many Dutch settlers.

In the middle of the nineteenth century, conditions in Europe were poor. Crops were failling all over Europe and many people hardly made enough money to feed their families. For this reason, many people decided to emigrate to the United States, where farmland was plenty and people hoped they could begin a new life. In the Netherlands, some people also had religious reasons to emigrate. The had seceded from the Dutch Reformed Church and were being oppressed by the goverment. The United States offered to them not only better economic prospects, but also the chance to celebrate their religion as they saw fit.