Jan Willem VanderLinden

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=17424382

Birth: Apr. 26, 1811

Dubbeldam

Dordrecht

Zuid-Holland, Netherlands

Death: Oct. 11, 1895

Pella

Marion County

Iowa, USA

Son of Willem VanderLinden and Maaike Kleinjan.

Husband of Elizabeth (Lijpje) Moret.

Father of *Maaike, *Willem, Leendert, Maaike, William, Marinus, Maria, Antje & Cornelia.

Arrived 10 Jun 1847 in Baltimore, Maryland from Rotterdam, Netherlands on ship Nagasake.

• Died in infancy.
  • Died aboard ship during voyage to America

Burial:

Graceland Cemetery

Pella

Marion County

Iowa, USA

Plot: Old Plat Section, Block 11, Lot 4

Title: Letters Home by Jan Vander Linden

Note:

The following are from letters written by my ancestors, Jan Vander Lin den and his wife Elizabeth Moret, from late 1848 to some dated 1853. T hey help us to understand conditions in the colony with more insight. )

The earliest letter is to the dearly beloved parents. "…in March we wr ote you for $300 to begin buying land because there was not enough wor k for my hands to do…it became evident that Scholte had bought only 4 0 acres because the best land with the woodland on it had been preempt ed by another with a year’s option to buy. I told him that I did not w ant to take on the land that way since we had 54 acres coming, plu s a 26 acre claim for which Scholte had deducted $10 from my pay earne d in working for him. These 80 acres lay next to each other, near a li ttle lake in Sec. 25, Twp. 77. To make it clear, I had agreed with Sch olte to keep the 26 acres if you found it good and sent the money. Whe n you wrote and could not help us with the land and we told Scholte, h e did not keep his word to take the 26 acres back, and wanted to giv e me another 54 acre tract. He kept the money he deducted from my pay . It was land that Scholte did not own by purchase or claim, otherwis e someone else could not have gotten it from the State. Now I hope yo u will understand. Thereupon we moved to Keokuk and worked there for t hree months and earned three and one-half dollars per day. But the ung odliness; and the cholera epidemic made all the people flee the town T hat was the reason work stopped and DeHaan gave us $40 from you. We ha d sold our house so we bought two oxen, a wagon, and cow to return t o Pella and again asked Scholte to give us land that had been paid fo r but he refused. The wife and children all became sick; we had to liv e with others and didn’t know what to do. We decided to buy town lot s for our money and this worked out. The lots are where I live—Lot 1 , Block 42, and in Block 43 we have Lots 3-5 from Franklin Street on e ither side of Entrance Ave.

I began to build a house and when complete we hope to follow with a ba rn. If you want to see the deeds, Father, I will have them made over i nto your name. They are lots of one-half acre or 130 rods and cost $5 0 apiece. I still have to pay $20 to the State or 10% interest. Your m oney is fairly safe because the lots are valuable. Lots in town have a lready sold at a higher price. I rented ten acres for seven years fro m Kuyper of Hazendam and the rent must be paid and the whole piece ha s to be fenced. It was too good an offer to turn down. I don’t know ho w one can become a farmer without any money. Here no one knows us or h elps us. My wagon, oxen, and cow and calf cost $120. We had a hard tim e this summer traveling and moving and we did not know what was goin g on in Pella. The coming of more colonists made a great change so the re is now employment for everyone and business is flourishing so every thing is well with the colony."

[Requests are made for an English dictionary and a "four-part" Psalm b ook to be sent as well as sewing supplies for the children, Leendert , Willem, and Maaike. In Dec. 1849, they write thank-yous.] Elizabet h tells that her pregnancy was handled better in Pella than in Holland . Even animal pregnancies are handled better here, she adds. By 185 0 a better house is being built and the first crops on the Vander Lind en’s rented acres are better than most for land tilled for the first t ime…wheat, oats, corn, and potatoes. Money is a problem and requests a re made for drafts to be sent. Leendert is hired out but is learning t o farm. Request are also made to have seed sent, summer and winter see d. The family suffers headaches and attributes it to the strong winte r light in Iowa. The letters are laced with loneliness for family memb ers still in Holland with comments that one day all will see each othe r again…God’s will be done.

By Helen Glendening

Title: Find a Grave

Author: Death Records

Abbrev:

Note:

http://www.findagrave.com/

Title: Jansma Family Genealogy

Author: Genealogist:

Publication: Betty Van der Hoef Brady

Abbrev:

Note:

research found at the NW College in Orange City, Iowa

Title: Biographical Sketch of the Jan Vander Linden Family

Note:

Herman Wm. Vander Linden

On Apr. 11,1 847, Jan Vander Linden and his wife Elizabeth Moret arriv ed in Baltimore, Md. After traveling from Rotterdam, The Netherlands o n the Nagasaki. Jan had been born in Dubbeldam on Apr. 26, 1811, and d ied in Pella on Nov. 20,1895. His wife Elizabeth was born in Graavende el on May 31, 1813, and died in Pella on Oct. 1, 1895. They are both b uried in the Graceland Cemetery north of Pella. Elizabeth probably ha d some French ancestors, as the family name "Moret" indicates. Her fat her was Leendert Moret who was married to Maria Snidjers.

Jan Vander Linden’s ancestors are listed as farmers and Protestants. H is father was William Vander Linden (born in Dubbeldam May 8, 1773, an d died at Dordrecht on May 20, 1822). He married Maaike Klijnjan of Gr aavendeel, daughter of Art and Ariaantje Kiljnjan (I don’t know whic h spelling is right but it is spelled two different ways in the book. )

Jan’s grandfather, also William Vander Linden, was born in Duddeldam A pr. 14, 1745, and died in 1773. He was married to Sygie Molendijk (174 6-1779) on Apr. 30, 1769.

Jan’s great-grandfather, Hendrik Vander Linden, was born in Munasdor p Nov. 13,1709. He married Maria Willems Molendijk at Duddeldam on Mar . 16, 1743.

Another ancestor was Jan vander Linden, married to Lijntne (Jans) Ryer ker. His father was Hendrik Vander Linden.

Jan and Elizabeth Vander Linden came to America with their three child ren: Leendert, Maaike, and William. William was born in Scravendaal, T he Netherlands, on June14, 1843. He was four years old when the famil y came to America in Apr., 1847, and on June 9, 1867, he married Jenne ka Kolenbrander. .Jenneka was born in The Netherlands Feb. 11, 1848, a nd came to Pella when she was seven years old.

They spent their early life on a farm near Amsterdam, south of this ci ty. In 1877 he moved his family to Pella and engaged in business and w as very successful in his new calling. He was Secretary of the Board o f Education for a number of years and was, for several years a silen t partner of F. W. Brinkhoff in the drug business. In 1886 the firm di ssolved partnership and he started in the book and stationery busines s which he conducted until in later years he engaged in the banking bu siness, being one of the promoters of the Security Bank of this city , of which he was made President, which position he held at the time o f his death, on November 11, 1903. He had been associated with the Sec ond Reformed Church of this city from the time of its organization an d during his membership served in the capacity of deacon and elder. H e was the father of six sons and three daughters, three of the sons ha ving died in early infancy; three, John of Des Moines; Marinus of Pell a, and Herman of Leighton, survive him; also three daughters, Lizzie , Mrs. Jennie Schaalekamp, of Sioux Center, Iowa, and Minnie, Mrs.Nitt ert Aalfs of Sioux Center)….

By Helen Glendening, grandaughter of William and Jenneka

Title: Civil register - Marriage

Author: Marriage Records

Publication: Nationaal Archief (Rijksarchief Zuid-Holland)

Abbrev