Evert Jan DUENK and Willemina RENSINK emigrated from Aalten to Sheboygan, WI. Later in life, they did not get along, as can be seen from an advertisement in the Dutch newspaper Nieuwsbode.

Evert Jan Duenk

Church in Aalten

Evert Jan DUENK was born in Aalten on 7 October 1797 and baptized in Aalten on 15 October 1797 as the son of Hendrik DEUNK and Aaltjen SIEBELINK.

He was married in Aalten on 12 July 1818 to Joanna Bernardina te WINKEL, born
in Bocholt in Germany around 1790, daughter of Joan Gerhard te WINKEL and Theodora te BEESTE.

From the first marriage:

1. Derk Jan DUENK, born Aalten 25-12-1820. He was married in Aalten on 23 July 1847 to Johanna Christina HIBBELINK, born Aalten about 1824, daughter of Arent Jan HIBBELINK and Hendrika HOOPMAN.
2. Stillborn son, twin of Derk Jan, died Aalten 25 December 1820.
3. Gerrit Hendrik DUENK, born in Aalten on 19 July 1825.
4. Johanna Engelina DUENK, died in Aalten on 31 March 1829, 5 months old.

Willemina Rensink

Evert Jan Duenk was married in Aalten on 6 May 1830 to Willemina RENSINK, born in Aalten on 31 March 1809, baptized in Aalten on 09 April 1809, daughter of Jan Willem RENSINK and Elisabeth LIJSEN

From the second marriage:

1. Johanna Berendina DUENK, died in Aalten on 09 March 1831, two months old.
2. Johanna Berendina DUENK, died Aalten 06 May 1832, 10 weeks old.
3. Jan Willem DEUNK, born in Aalten on 13 September 1833.
4. Johanna Berendina DUENK, born in Aalten on 15 November 1835. She was married in Town of Holland, Sheboygan County, WI, on 17 July 1856 to Gerrit Willem HIJINK, born in Winterswijk on 24 October 1835, son of Steven Jan HIJINK and Arnolda Hendrika BLEKKINK.
5. Aleida Eliezabeth DUENK, born in Aalten on 24 August 1838.
6. Evert Jan DUENK, born in Aalten on 18 December 1840.
7. Gerrit Jan DUENK, born in Aalten on 29 December 1843.

Emigration

On 16 August 1847, the family left their farm in the hamlet of IJzerlo near Aalten to emigrate to the United States. Strangely enough, their new daughter-in-law Johanna Christina Hibbelink, whom son Derk Jan married only three weeks before they emigrated, is not mentioned in the Aalten emigration lists but we must assume she went with them. All the remaining children of Evert Jan, from both his marriages, went with them to the United States. The family settled in the Sheboygan area.

Marital problems

Somewhere along, Evert Jan and Willemina ceased to get along. The reason we know this is because on 3 March 1860, Evert Jan places an advertisement in the Dutch newspaper in North-America, the Nieuwsbode.

Advertisement by E.J. Duenk

Translation:
Because Willemina Duenk, my housewife, has behaved in such a manner, that I can no longer live with her in peace, I forbid everyone to give her board on my account, because I will not be held liable for any debts incurred by her after today.
Gibbsville, 3 March 1860. E.J. Duenk.

Sources:

• Nieuwsbode
• Genlias
• Aalten lists of emigrants
• Stroet and Hoornenborg: Transcriptions Aalten church records
• Register of deeds, Sheboygan County
  

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.

In the days before the Civil Registration forced everyone to stick to a surname, people in the eastern part of the Netherlands were named after the farm they lived at. You can still see that in the surnames today: Derk te Kolste, Piet te Lintum, Gerrit Jan Hoitink, etc. Since the surname might change every time a person moved, this sometimes offers difficulties in tracing your ancestors. There are some strategies to help you solve those name puzzles.

For the nineteenth and twentieth century, the civil registration is the primary genealogical resource. All the births, marriages and deaths (BMD) were recorded. Usually, only using the civil registration you can compile a 'backbone' of a pedigree that goes back to the late 1700's.

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

The capital city of Noord-Holland is Haarlem. The capital city of the Netherlands, Amsterdam, is also situated in Noord-Holland. Other larger towns are:

• Alkmaar
• Den Helder
• Enkhuizen
• Zaandam
• Amstelveen

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.