Gerrit Hesselink and Willemina Mennink emigrated from their farm in Aalten to Wisconsin. They were relatively well-to-do and established a thriving farm that still exists today.

Lives in the Netherlands

Gerrit Hesselink was born in Winterswijk on 16 July 1796 as the son of Abraham Hesselink and Anna Christina Eeltink. His parents owned the Eeltink farm in Winterswijk and were prosperous land owners. Gerrit was one of 11 children and the youngest son. This meant he couldn't take over his parents' farm but had to find his own place in life.

First marriage

Like many younger sons of wealthy farmers, he married an heiress to a farm. On 30 December 1834, he married Willemina Kleuvers, daughter of Wessel Kleuvers and Aleijd Rensink. Together, they took over the Oude Kleuver farm in Aalten.

In the following 6 years, they had 3 children of whom two died in infancy. On 7 October 1840, Willemina Kleuvers died, leaving Gerrit Hesselink with a five-year-old daughter Aleida Christina.

Second marriage

Within a year, Gerrit Hesselink was remarried. On 30 July 1841 he was married in Aalten to Willemina Mennink, daughter of Jan Berend Mennink and Catharina te Strake. Like her husband, she was born and raised in Winterswijk. She was born there on 1 April 1809 and was doing farmwork at the time of her marriage.

Together, they kept working on the Oude Kleuver farm. On 10 October 1844, a son was born to them: Wessel Abraham, named after his infant half brother from the first marriage of Gerrit Hesselink.

Emigration

In the year 1847, Gerrit Hesselink, his wife Willemina Mennink and the children Aleida Christina (from the first marriage) and Wessel Abraham (from the second marriage) emigrated to the United States. Gerrit Hesselink was one of the few people on the emigration lists marked as 'well-to-do'. Because they had sold the Oude Kleuver farm, they had more financial means than most other emigrants.

They left Aalten in August 1847 to Rotterdam. From this port they sailed across the ocean and arrived in New York on 7 October 1847. Upon arrival, they immediately went on to Wisconsin, where they arrived two days later. Because of this speed, they probably went by train to Chicago, which was a more expensive but faster way.

Lives in the United States

The Hesselink family settled in Sheboygan County, WI. They started a brand new farm that is still in the Hesselink family today.

The Hesselink farm in 1909.
Collection Janice Hesselink

On 17 July 1856, Aleida Christina was married to Jan Willem Blekkink in Town of Holland, Sheboygan County, WI. He was a native of Winterswijk. Her halfbrother Wessel Abraham was married in Gibbsville, Sheboygan County, WI on 3 July 1867 to Janna Berendina Wieskamp, also from Winterswijk. They had 9 children together.

Wessel Abraham Hesselink and his family.
First row, left to right: Minnie Hesselink; Wessel Abraham Hesselink; Janna Berendina Wieskamp, his wife; Jennie Hesselink.
Second row, left to right: John Hesselink, Abram Hesselink, Henry Hesselink, Garrit Hesselink, William Hesselink, Lizzie Hesselink.
Collection Janice Hesselink.

Gerrit Hesselink died on 16 December 1864. His wife Willemina survived him for more than 20 years and died on 6 July 1886.

Gravestone of Gerrit Hesselink

Gravestone of Willemina Mennink

On 4 June 1913, at the age of 69, Wessel Abraham Hesselink and his family petitioned to become United States citizens.

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.

Birth records are a part of the civil registration. A birth record lists the following data:

• Place, date and time of birth
• Names of parents
• Name, profession and age of the one registering the birth (often the father)
• Names, profession and age of the witnesses
• Often: address where the birth took place

Friesland is one of the northern provinces in the Netherlands. It borders on the province of Groningen in the east, Drenthe and Overijssel in the South, the IJsselmeer in the west and the North Sea in the north.

The capital city of Friesland is Leeuwarden. The largest towns are:

• Dokkum
• Sneek
• Bolsward
• Drachten
• Heerenveen
• Wolvega
• Franeker
• Harlingen

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.