Evert Haartman was one of the pioneers who settled in Sheboygan County. He came to the country as a young man and later married a wife who had come straight from Holland. … [Read more...]
Clymer, NY
Clymer is a predominantly Dutch village in the western part of New York State. Because it was relatively close to New York City, it became a popular destination for Dutch emigrants in the nineteenth century. Most of the early settlers came from the eastern part of Gelderland. … [Read more...]
Wanderlust
Whenever I research emigrant families, I'm amazed by the distances that they travelled. People who previously probably hadn't even left their province yet, ended up circumventing half the globe. Sometimes it didn't stop there, and after a few years they packed up and moved again. … [Read more...]
Emigration in the nineteenth century
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 … [Read more...]