Jan Hendrik Warnshuis, brother of Hendrik Jan Warnshuis, was not at all like that brother. He was an upright, God-fearing, conservative leader in the church in Clymer. I have also concluded that he didn't have much of a sense of humor. He was Dominie Dunnewold's right-hand man and was a leader in keeping order among the congregation. He made home visitations with the dominie and, on occasion, substituted in the pulpit for him. Sometimes he read a sermon, sometimes he preached one of his own. It has been said that the congregation greatly preferred to hear him preach rather than read because he wasn't a very good reader.

Genealogical information

Jan Hendrik Warnshuis, b.28 Oct 1817 Winterswijk, d.17 Jan 1893 Clymer, was a son of Gerrit Jan Warnshuis and Catharina Groters. He was married in Winterswijk on 4 November 1838 with Johanna Konings, b. 22 Jan 1817 Winterswijk, d.22 Jan 1910 Clymer. She was a daughter of Jan Hendrik Konings, who was also known as Jan Derk, and Johanna ten Hulsen.

Emigration

In 1845 they and their children left from the "Kortschot" at Henxel 27 to come to America. They sailed on the "Caledonia," which reached New York City on 3 October 1845. They continued, by boat, up the Hudson River to Albany and then went by canal boat across the Erie Canal to Buffalo.

Erie canal, mid 19th century

The water part of their jouney was completed as they traveled on Lake Erie from Buffalo to Westfield in Chautauqua County. There they hired a wagoner to take them to Clymer. In Clymer they settled on a farm on Clymer Hill, a short distance from the church. Jan Hendrik was the first of his family to come to America. Although not a wealthy man, in 1847 he somehow managed to finance passage across the ocean for his mother and siblings.

Making this journey with the Warnshuises were, among others, Johanna's sister Dora Konings (b.16 Jun 1821 Winterswijk, d.22 Feb 1906 Clymer) and the family of Jan Hendrik ten Hulsen and Maria Mentink. Their son Berend Willem ten Hulsen (b.16 Jan 1822 Winterswijk, d.13 Jul 1890 Clymer) would soon become the husband of Dora. Berend Willem bought a farm right next to the one Jan Hendrik bought.

Life in Clymer

Jan Hendrik and Berend Willem were not at all alike. Whereas Jan Hendrik was very serious and his goal was to spread the Gospel to all, Berend Willem was a jovial man whose goal appears to have been to acquire as much land as he possibly could. Throughout his lifetime here he bought land, one farm at a time, worked hard, and improved the land. When he came to Clymer he owned nothing but the clothes he was wearing. At the time of his death he owned over 500 acres of land, which made him one of the largest property owners in Clymer. He left a farm to each of his five sons and comparable sums of money to each of his three daughters. He loved talking with people and he loved horses, especially fast ones.

It has been said that when two Dutchmen get together they form a church and when three get together the church will split. That seemed to be true in Clymer. For a time in the 1850s there were two churches on Clymer Hill, located a short distance from each other. One was the conservative congregation, composed of seceders or seceder-leaning people, and it became the Clymer Hill Reformed Church that still exists on Clymer Hill today. The other was a more liberal congregation, probably composed of people who had not been dissatisfied with the church in the Netherlands.

Of course, Jan Hendrik and Johanna were members of the conservative church, as was Dora. Berend Willem would drop her off at that church and then drive the horse and buggy a few yards beyond to attend the other church. That worked well for a time, but then the liberal church disbanded because they were not able to secure a pastor. After that, Berend Willem didn't go to church.

Toward the end of his life he was visited by the pastor of the Clymer Hill Reformed Church. Berend Willem said to the pastor that he regretted that he had not done more for the church. The dominie told him that he could remedy that by leaving money to the church in his will. Berend Willem's regrets must not have been very strong as he left all his worldly possessions to his wife and children.

Jan Hendrik and Berend Willem, as different as they were from each other, did not get along together very well. One instance of this involved Jan Hendrik's sheep. It seems that Jan Hendrik's sheep had a habit of leaving their property to visit the farm next door. One Sunday morning, when the sheep were again grazing on Berend Willem's land, he rounded them up and tied them in front of the church. He also left a little sign that said, "Feed my sheep." When Jan Hendrik came out of church and saw this he was not amused. He went to the church consistory and complained about Berend Willem and his actions, but there wasn't much the consistory could do about it because Berend Willem was not a member. Eventually, Jan Hendrik sold his farm to Berend Willem and moved about a mile away.

I can only imagine how Jan Hendrik felt a few years later when his granddaughter married one of Berend Willem's sons.

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.

Many Dutch people took American names when they came to the US. Some common combinations are listed here. All of these combinations have been found in actual documents, even though the translations aren't always what you would expect.

Census records can be a great source of information because they list all the inhabitants of a house, usually one or more families together with their domestic staff. Since 1850, the Dutch census records form a continuous registration where you can find who lived where at all times.

The province of Noord-Brabant lies in the south of the Netherlands. It borders on Limburg to the east, the country of Belgium to the south, the province of Zeeland to the west and the provinces of Zuid-Holland, Utrecht and Gelderland to the north.

The capital city of Noord-Brabant is Den Bosch, also known as 's-Hertogenbosch. Other larger towns are:

• Breda
• Eindhoven
• Tilburg
• Roosendaal
• Oss

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.

One group of emigrants in the 18th century is known as the Pennsylvania Dutch. But did you know they weren't Dutch at all? Most Pennsylvania dutch are actually German or Swiss. But even though their ancestors were not from the Netherlands, many Pennsylvania Dutch used Dutch ports to travel to the United States so there is a Dutch connection.