Antje Paarlberg

In 1847, Klass Paarlberg and his wife Antje Paarlberg, along with their seven children, left Spanbrock, Netherlands to come to America. They felt that the State Church was too liberal and the taxes unfair. The taxes in Holland were high, there was a blight in the potato crop, and disease among the cattle. The couple heard about wonderful opportunities in America. Klass Paarlberg died on the ship to America, the Dogger's Bank. He was 43 years old at the time of his death.

Antje settled 20 miles south of Chicago on Thorn Creek (South Holland) in Illinois. In "I Remeber", Ann Walh writes "They lived in a log house that had windows which were covered with a heavy waxed paper. Glass windows were unheard of at the that time. They could hear the wolves howling near the house at night, and there was the constant fear of danger." All of her children acquired land in the area and developed farms. Antje Paarlberg lived to the age of 77.

The book, "Lest We Forget" by Henry Paarlberg, one of Klass's grandchildren, tells the story of this family's difficult journey.

Klass's widow, Antje Paarlberg, is written of as the "Widow Paarlberg" in Edna Ferber's novel, "So Big." The family believes that she is misrepresented in this novel.

- from the province of North Holland in the Netherlands

- daughter of a Burgemeester (city or town official)

- owned a dairy farm in the village of Spanbroek, near the city of Alkmaar

- came to America in search of religious Freedom (re: Dutch Separatist Movement)

- April, 1847: auctioned belongings for a total of 18,000 gulders (= 7200 as per history written c. 1940)

- sailed to America in 1847 on the Doggers Bank; husband died on shipboard; captain offered to take her back to Netherlands (free) but she followed her husband's desire, believing that God would sustain her

- docked in NY, steamer up the Hudson River to Troy, Erie Canal to Buffalo; finally to Chicago via the Great Lakes

- purchased 80 acres of land on E. Bank of Thorn Creek from Thomas Berry; paid 7$/acre (at that time too much); funds soon exhausted

- eventually moved to Roseland/South Holland (originally called de Hooge Prairie / de Laage Prairie)

- during Civil War, had enough money to purchase another 80 acres of land adjoining the original along Thorn Creek

- during later years, lived with her daughter Tryntje & her family

- died of a stroke in 1885

- some German neighbors brought flowers to her funeral (not a Dutch custom); she was the first in the area to have flowers at funeral & to be transported to grave in a hearse (instead of a farm wagon)