Miscellaneous emigrants

List of emigrants for whom it is not known where they left from, mostly from the Winterswijk area. This list is not complete. … [Read more...]

Duenk, Evert Jan and Willemina Rensink

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. … [Read more...]

Meerdink, Garrit Hendrik

One of the many emigrants from Winterswijk was Garrit Hendrik MEERDINK. He emigrated when he was still a bachelor and settled in the United States. Here he was first married to Janna Hendrika NIJENHUIS and later to Janna Berendina LENSINK. … [Read more...]

Wieberdink, Jan Willem

Jan Willem Wieberdink was born in Aalten on 4 September 1834 as a son of Garrit Jan Wieberdink and Janna Geertruid Heinen. On 2 September 1864, he married Johanna Hendrika Jentink on her 24th birthday. She was born in Aalten as wel, on 2 September 1840 and was a daughter of Arend Jan Jentink and Geziena Fukkink. … [Read more...]

The passengers

The passengers of the Phoenix consisted almost exclusively of Dutch emigrants. Most of them came from Afgescheiden (seceder) backgrounds, following in the footsteps of Van Raalte. They came mostly from the eastern part of the Netherlands. … [Read more...]

Farm names

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. … [Read more...]