Jan Willem Wilterdink and his wife Willemina Gesiena Fonhof emigrated from Winterswijk to Clymer in 1883 together with their family. Their son Herman married a woman from Alabama, but could not cope with her homesickness with dramatic results.

Background

Jan Willem Wilterdink, b.21 Jan 1831 Winterswijk, died 3 December 1906 in French Creek, NY, son of Gerrit Willem Wilterdink and Gesiena te Boske, married on 30 April 1874 in Winterswijk with Willemina Gesiena Fonhof, b.11 September 1839 Winterswijk, died 30 May 1905 French Creek, daughter of Hemannus Vonhof or Fonhof and Aaltjen Ernst. The two children of Jan Willem and Willemina Gesiena were Willemina Gesina, b.29 Sep 1875, and Hermanus (Herman), b.24 Feb 1881. The family left from Dorp 649, Winterswijk on 6 July 1883 to come to America.

Herman Wilterdink

When Herman grew up he became a farmer on Ravlin Hill Road in French Creek and he married rather late in life. His wife, Ruth Bruner from the southern state of Alabama was his postal bride. That is, he advertised for a wife in newspapers and she responded to his request. She came to French Creek and wed with Herman. They became the parents of two daughters.

Homesickness

By 1924 Ruth had become very homesick and talked about returning to Alabama. That was not what Herman wanted to hear. It was too much for Herman to bear. On the morning of 3 December 1924, when she again mentioned leaving, he bashed her in the head with a flatiron. One of the daughters tried to intervene and he also injured her. The other daughter ran to the house of a neighbor for help. The neighbor immediately called the police. Before the police could get there, Herman went to the barn, set it afire and then shot himself, fatally. Ruth and the daughters survived and moved to Alabama.

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.

'Patronymic' literally means 'father's name'. It means that someone calls himself after his father, for example a son of Jan would call himself 'Jansen'. This is similar to the English name 'Johnson'.

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

Groningen is a province in the North-East of the Netherlands. On the east it borders on Germany, on the west on Friesland, on the south on Drenthe and on the north on the North Sea.

The capital of Groningen is also called Groningen, sometimes called Groningen stad (Groningen city) to make the distinction clear.

The largest towns in Groningen are:

• Groningen
• Hoogezand-Sappemeer
• Veendam
• Winschoten
• Delfzijl

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.

The first larger emigration wave from the Netherlands took place in the seventeenth century. A new colony was established in the Americas, which was called the New Netherlands. After a rough start, this colony attracted emigrants from all over Europe.