Tjaatje Cornelisdr van Leuven

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@R-1681732659@ Ancestry Family Trees Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.

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Ancestry Family Tree http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=52097811&pid...

GEDCOM Source

@R1050710867@ Web: Netherlands, Genlias Marriage Index, 1795-1944 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.

GEDCOM Source

1,70463::4591995

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@R1050710867@ Millennium File Heritage Consulting Ancestry.com Operations Inc

GEDCOM Source

1,7249::108913255

GEDCOM Source

@R1050710867@ Web: Netherlands, Genlias Marriage Index, 1795-1944 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.

GEDCOM Source

1,70463::4591995

GEDCOM Source

@R1050710867@ Millennium File Heritage Consulting Ancestry.com Operations Inc

GEDCOM Source

1,7249::108913255

GEDCOM Source

@R1050710867@ Web: Netherlands, Genlias Marriage Index, 1795-1944 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.

GEDCOM Source

1,70463::4591995

By the time they had been in North America for a while, they all started calling themselves "De Witt." I'm pretty sure that was never a family name for them in Ostfriesland (East Frisia), where they came from.

Their dad, as you can tell from their patronymic, was a guy named Claes. His nickname was "Witt-Claes." So: De Witt. If they had moved anywhere but a Dutch colony, they might not ever have adopted the name.

Tjerck is a very common name in that tiny slice of the world. Doesn't come up much anywhere else. (It ultimately comes from Diedrich, I *think.*)

When Tjerck distributes the estate of "Ida" and Jan, there is reference to the three siblings in North America (Emmerentje, Tjerck, Jan) and to the two surviving sisters in Ostfriesland (Gretke and Tiatje), and to the one who died (Falde).

That's all in documents that are in the Ulster County recorder's office today. You can order them on microfilm. (Strangely, there's not nearly as much detail in the documents regarding Jan's family.)

The names match up perfectly with baptism and property records from the town of Esens. It goes like this:

There's a family farm. In Germany you can find records on it back to 1556. It's owned by the Bremer family. It's in a place called Ostbense: East Bense. There is a West Bense, and there's a floodgate in the dike called the Bensersiel. (Siel is the local term for a floodgate.)

Much of the detail in the story you can find on my Website, so I won't waste your time retelling previous generations.

A woman named Tette Gathen (daughter of a guy named Gathe, in other words) comes over from a town named Osteel, about 20 miles away, and marries one of the Bremer sons, whose name is also Tjerck.

They have a daughter, Tiatje (Tiade), and three sons--Hayo, Ubbo, and someone else whose name I don't know.

When Tjerck dies--the father of these kids--he leaves the farm to Hayo, the eldest, with Tette's blessing.

Hayo marries not too much later, and he marries a girl whose dad runs a big farm nearby. That's a better job for Hayo, so he leaves the family farm and goes to work there.

The family farm gets turned over to the daughter: Tiade (Tiatje).

Meantime, a guy named Claes is working and living on a farm nearby. He has been married before, probably to a woman named Falde. Claes may also come from Osteel. There are some gray areas here--hints, but no certainty.

Claes is living on a farm at a place called Groß Holum (in Dutch: Groot Holum.) The farmer died. Not sure whether the farmer's wife also died. Their son is still around. Claes talks to the guardians and strikes a deal: He has invested in the farm, a sizeable amount. He will be allowed to live on the farm until the kid is old enough to pay him back.

Claes meets Tiade, and they marry, and Claes moves in to live on the Bremer farm. This is all nearby. Tiade's mom, Tette, is still living there. She may know Claes from family connections already.

Meantime: the boy who was living on that other farm? Grows up and falls in love with one of Claes's daughters, from his first marriage. So they marry and settle in on the farm, in Groot Holum.

Tiade and Claes have a son, Tjerck.

Chances are fair that, in keeping with the practice of the time, both in North America and in Europe, Tiade and Claes farmed out their son to nearby relatives to be raised. This was very common. My hunch is that Tjerck grew up on that farm in Groot Holum, with his half-sister Hilcke and her husband Peeck.

Tiade and Claes go on to have several other children:

Tjerck
Falde--> gets the farm when Claes dies Tette (dies in infancy) Tette II (moves to North America, starts calling herself Ida, marries Jan Albertsen van Steenwyck) Gretke Rinelt (moves to North America, in that ship record you have seen, where she is called Amerens) Jan (moves to North America, on that same boat) Tiada

So two sons and two daughters move to North America--first one son and a daughter, then, once they're established, the younger son and daughter.

Three daughters stay in Ostfriesland. One gets the farm; the others marry and live nearby.