My new friend (and Xth Mulder cousin) Elly sent me something she found in the Goes archives that I think is quite special.
Let me give a little context first. My grandfather, Adrian Zuidweg, was the son of Adriaan Zuijdweg who immigrated to the United States in 1893. Adriaan’s father and mother, Johannes and Jennie, also immigrated after their son–in 1901.
Johannes’ father was Adriaan Zuijdweg, 1805-1851. He only lived to be 46 years old.
I also want to “remind” you that both my maternal grandparents are descended from Carel Mulder, the jailer’s hand. So while Elly was researching the Mulders she came across information about not only a descendent of Carel in the form of Johanna, his daughter, but also her husband Adriaan Zuijdweg, my 3rd great-grandfather through my grandfather’s line.
I found a quote in the archives of Goes, that Adriaan Zuidweg (born in 1805 and married [to] Johanna Mulder, daughter of Carel Mulder) made a request at the town-councelors to make it possible ( to emigrate with his family –5 children) to the USA.Apparently it was denied, because 6 years later he died in Goes.
LandverhuizersAls gevolg van de misoogst en armoede, maar ook vanwege de tegenwerking van de afgescheidenen van de Hervormde kerk, verlaten de zogenaamde ‘landverhuizers’ ons land en emigreren naar Amerika en Canada. Op de 26e juli 1845 verzoeken twee ingezetenen van de stad om in de gelegenheid gesteld te worden buiten hun kosten te vertrekken naar Noord Amerika omdat ze zich buiten staat bevinden hier in hun levensonderhoud te voorzien. Het betreft de ongehuwde 39-jarige Adriaan Johannes de Wolff, timmerman, metselaar en schilder, en de 40-jarige Adriaan Zuidweg, kleermaker, gehuwd en vijf kinderen.
It was an article about emigration.Translated it says:Because of crop failure and poverty, but also because of the opposition against the members of the separated Reformed church , many people leave the Netherlands and emigrate to the US and Canada.On 26 July 1845 two citizens of Goes made a request to be enabled to emigrate, with the costs of this emigration paid by the town, because they are not able to support their means of living in this town.It concerns A.J.de Wolff ( 39 years old, not married), carpenter, bricklayer and painter, and Adriaan Zuidweg, tailor, married and 5 children.
As the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620 as a community have migrated to America, so are also left the secessionists of South Beveland in the spring of 1847 and she settled in Michigan as a congregation.
Apparently for a short time in the mid-19th century, there were people seceding from the Reformed Church–and these people must have included my 3rd great-grandfather, Adriaan Zuijdweg. Apparently they were from Zeeland, and this was not a big “wave” all over the Netherlands.
According to Elly, this period lasted from approximately 1830-1850, and the people were not persecuted but did find a lot of opposition. The movement must have been very small and confined to the region because apparently it is not taught in history classes in the Netherlands.
According to Wikipedia:
During the early nineteenth century, large numbers of Dutch farmers, forced by high taxes and low wages, started immigrating to America. They mainly settled down in the Midwest, especially Michigan, Illinois and Iowa. In the 1840s, Calvinist immigrants desiring more religious freedom immigrated. West Michigan in particular has become associated with Dutch American culture, and the highly conservative influence Dutch Reformed Church, centering on the cities of Holland and (to a lesser extent)Grand Rapids.
Waves of Catholic Dutch emigrants, initially encouraged in the 1840s by Father Theodore J. Van den Broek, emigrated from southern Netherlands to form communities in Wisconsin, primarily to Little Chute, Hollandtown, and the outlying farming communities. Whole families and even neighborhoods left for America. Most of these early emigrants were from villages nearUden, including Zeeland, Boekel, Mill, Oploo and Gemert. By contrast, many Protestant agrarian emigrants to Michigan and Iowa were drawn from Groningen, Friesland, and Zeeland; areas known for their clay soils.[4]
The Dutch economy of the 1840s was stagnant and much of the motivation to emigrate was economic rather than political or religious. The emigrants were not poor, as the cost of passage, expenses and land purchase in America would have been substantial. They were not, however, affluent and many would have been risking most of their wealth on the chance of economic improvement. There were also political pressures at the time that favored mass emigrations of Catholics.[4][5][6] Yda Schreuder, Dutch Catholic Immigrant Settlement in Wisconsin, 1850-1905 (New York: Garland, 1989); and H. A. V. M. van Stekelenburg, Landverhuizing als regionaal verschijnsel: Van Noord-Brabant naar Noord-Amerika 1820-1880 (Tilburg: Stichting Zuidelijk Historisch Contact, 1991).
It’s true that many of my Dutch ancestors did come from Zeeland and perhaps one branch from Groningen, although one branch came from Zwolle. So was Adriaan really that poor or was he rather temporarily economically “flat” because of the worsening economy in his country? I’d say the latter.
I do feel bad that the family had this hardship and wonder how it affected the children, especially Johannes, Grandpa’s grandfather. Although his father Adriaan couldn’t get him to America, apparently his son Adriaan did so.
As an aside, when I was a kid I used to love the folk and fairy tales that featured tailors and shoemakers, so I find it charming when I hear that so many of my ancestors were tailors and shoemakers, as well as merchants.
Here’s another tangent. Why do the men have occupations like that so often, but the women are usually maids or servants? Is that because those were their jobs when they got married and then they generally quit work after getting married? Did the daughters of tailors and shoemakers become maids when they were old enough to work but still unmarried? Or did they remain maids throughout their lives? What did it mean to be a maid in Zeeland in the 1800s? And, most importantly, did they wear white pinafore aprons?
Elly and I both wonder what happened to Johanna after Adriaan’s death. I checked out my family tree to see what chronology I could see.
Johanna was 29 when she married Adriaan. Then she had four children in a row (Kornelis, Karel, Geertrui, Johannes). On 26 July, 1845, when Adriaan made his application for emigration, the children were 8, 7, 5, and 3. That’s quite a handful. Less than two years after the application, Johanna’s father, Carel Mulder, died. He is the one who got sick and his prison guard job was awarded to another son-in-law, NOT to Adriaan. Seven months after Carel’s death, Johanna gave birth to yet another child, Johanna. The sixth child, Willem, was born in 1849.
It’s no wonder that in 1869, when Johanna was 62 years old, she was working as a laborer in Goes. She must have had to go to work after Adriaan’s death, if not before. Did she work when she was pregnant? Who took care of her children? Her own father was undergoing his own problems before his death, so he couldn’t help her. First he was suspended from his job for insubordination, then he became ill and eventually passed away.
What of Adriaan’s parents? The other grandparents of the children . . . . Adriaan’s father, a fish inspector, passed away in 1841, five years before the application to emigrate was made. His mother died in 1838 after seeing only one of her grandchildren by Adriaan born.
Where does some of this information about Adriaan and Johanna (Mulder) Zuijdweg come from? The Goes archives. Elly says that this archives is linked to the archives in Zeeland.
Zeeuws Archief
Very few women were expected to have proper jobs – marriage was a full time career, hence all female work was low paid, such as laundry, cleaning or seamstress work, but the advantage of being a servant was that it was generally live in so they could usually save money to set up a household when they did marry. The exceptions were widows, who were expected to carry on the husband’s business in order to keep her family out of the poor house. Widows often married their journeymen in order to ensure the viability of the business, so early cougars. As for the men, tailors were often the first to feel the brunt of economic downturn, as buying new clothes could be put off, whereas bakers and butchers were never out of work. Hope this helps.
Thank you so much, Barb. I love what you say about tailors. I hadn’t considered that, but you’re right. It would not be the best bet in lean times.
Haha, re the cougars! People had to be practical, I’m sure.
What a fascinating post. I had no idea some Dutch had to ask for “permission” or get help to immigrate to America. How sad and frustrating your family was refused support. And this was early, right after the Rev. War. Your ancestors could have migrated to a different State had they immigrated that early. Land wasn’t settled that early in Michigan, was it?
If I can trust Wikipedia (I wonder about that sometimes!), it seems that they did start going to the Midwest quite early on, which surprised me. Holland, Michigan was settled in 1847 by these “secessionists,” apparently. It sounds like Adriaan wanted to be one of them!!!
Another piece of the puzzle. What a hard life people let in those days.
So hard and filled with ups and downs. Sometimes it seems like a lot more downs than ups!!!
Very nice Luanne as usual. As for the life of the women of the family in those days, “A woman’s work is never done.” Imagine life with no refrigerator; you could not store food. The woman of the house would have to start early, go to the market buy food for day, and some meals required all day to prepare. Imagine a poor woman preparing a chicken meal in those days… buy a live chicken (cheaper live than already dead), kill it, pluck it, gather vegetables peel some, peel potatoes, make the bread… Think of the children’s book the little red hen. For a poor family everything had to be home made, from scratch. Now image doing all this, everyday with small children to take care of and one on the way. No time for morning sickness… Just think you wouldn’t have time to blog…
Haha, no blogging! Or writing in general. Or scrapbooking. Or drinking wine in a restaurant. Sounds awful to me! Of course, when the kids were little there were some days I felt as if I was catching the chicken, killing it, and breading and frying it, while I was out there rubbing the laundry on some stones! haha
This is so interesting. I love how your family research leads to general history and then raises such good questions! Your commenters’s input is also very helpful. Great post!
I think that’s what I love most about genealogy–how the personal connection looks against the general historical background. I learn so much more about history this way than reading a textbook.
Yes—funny how we are both saying the same things on each of our blogs!
So interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever found a record that told me about an ancestor’s hopes/dreams/plans before – except of course for the ones that actually came to pass. I love your profile pic by the way. Very nice.
I know! Me too. That’s what is so special about it!
I enjoyed reading the European contextual information about your family’s emigration to the US. I always find it absolutely fascinating to learn more about the events that motivated people to make such a major move.
Reblogged this on Jude's Threshold and commented:
A family quest and a blog well organized!
[…] In 1846, facing economic and religious pressures, Adriaan applied for the town of Goes to pay for he and his family to emigrate to the US, but he must have been denied. I suspect he was part of the separatist movement within the Reformed Church and wanted to join the group in Zeeland, Michigan. He must have been very disappointed that he couldn’t emigrate. You can read about the documentation for this on the old post: My Dutch Family Almost Arrived in the U.S. Decades Earlier. […]
[…] can find the story of tailor Adriaan Zuijdweg’s (1805-1851) declined petition in this post: My Dutch Family Almost Arrived in the U.S. Decades Earlier. At the time, the only information I had was what Elly Mulder had given me, telling me about the […]