Vereniging van Archiefonderzoekers te Dokkum

Oostdongeradelers in de USA - Walter Aardsma.
Bron: Frisians to America- A.Galama

I have listed the references to families from Ie, references to Ie, and references to Oostdongeradeel.

Family names from Ie (Ee):

Algra, R. J., personal letter to Douma, J. D. in Pella, Iowa on conditions in Fryslan. P. 19, 110.

Brower, E.J., letter to Douma, J.D., in Pella, Iowa, p. 110

Brouwer, Jochum, wrote to aunt and uncle in Galesburg, Iowa in 1881 "Also from Ee people leave for America.A whole crowd is thinking about it but what does it mean, they cannot leave because they don't have any money. I would really like to go.." Joined his relatives two months later. Pp. 240-241.

Groustra, Pieter Ypes, wife Frederica, and sons Ype and Anton left for America in 1881, p. 90. Traveled directly to Chicago. Traveled with wife and two young sons, bothered by bad food, storms, sea sickness, and vermin, p.118. Wrote back "every day we speak as much Frisian as you do." p. 130. Arrived in Roseland in 1881, found work as a carpenter at the Pullman factories (railroad cars). Picture of Pieter and Frederika in 1900 (2nd marriage) p. 148. Pictured with 3rd wife Jantje de Boer and his son Cornelius and daughter (Geeske?), p. 180.

Tiemersma, Klaas J., left in 1889 on the steamer P. Caland with 800 people including Germans, Irishmen, Poles, Englishmen, Italians, and Dutchmen found third class accommodations unpleasant, p. 118. Spent 3 years in the U.S. around 1890, Orange City, Iowa, p. 236. Weidenaar family settled in New Jersey and then New Era, Michigan, settled at last in the 1890s in the Gallatin Valley. The brothers Jurjen and Jan Weidenaar emigrated in 1881, while their parents Eelke and Lieuwkje(Lucy?) Weidenaar-Bolt arrived next spring with their married daughter Antje and her husband Johannes Braaksma from the village of Oostrum, p. 131. Attracted to Gallatin Valley by glowing advertisements of Rev. Andreas J. Wormser who worked for the Board of Domestic Missions of the Presbyterian Church and who was an agent for the West Gallatin Irrigation Company with the task of recruiting Dutch farmers, p. 218.

References to Ie (Ee):

p. 25. ".Transport services in the region were poor. The only possibility over land was the stage coach from the city of Dokkum to the village of Oostmahorn and the local railway from Dokkum to Metslawier. Steampships brought people, cattle, and trading goods from the village of Ee to the cities of Leeuwarden and Dokkum. Those who did not have their own carriage walked many miles.

Pp. 129-130. Was concentration of people from a specific municipality found in a particular settlement in the United States, or were the settlements a mixture of northern Frisians?
According to the 1900 Census, most northern Frisians in Chicago and environs originated from the municipalities of Oostdongeradeel, Ferwerderadeel, and Barradeel. Sioux County, Iowa, migrants came from Barradeel, Het Bildt, and Wonseradeel, while Marion County only had immigrants from Oost- and Westdongeradeel. In Whitinsville, Massachusetts, hardly anyone had origins outside the municipalities of Barradeel and Wonseradeel. In Kent County, Michigan, northern Frisians came from Ferwerderadeel and Wonseradeel, while Ottawa county showed the same lines of origin, including Westdongeradeel. In Renville County, Minnesota, the northern Frisians all came from Het Bildt, in Kandyohi County mainly from Oostdongeradeel. Passaic County, New Jersey, attracted people from Het Bildt and Ferwerderadeel. Monroe County, New York, showed that Frisian immigrants largely came from Het Bildt. Columbia County, Wisconsin, housed people from Oost- and Westdongeradeel, while LaCrosse County appealed to former-citizens of Het Bildt. Bonhomme County, South Dakota, was popular among Barradelers. The chain migration from the northern Frisian clay area directed people from single Frisian regions to settle together in single American communities. An even closer look is possible. Chicago attracted people from all the municipalities in northern Friesland, although the share of Wonseradeel was very low. Northern Frisians in the town of Pella, largely came from Oost- and Westdongeradeel. Grand Rapids housed especially immigrants from Ferwerderadeel and Barradeel. The Wisconsin town of Randolph had most people from Oost- and Westdongeradeel, and not even one from Wonseradeel or Het Bildt. The immigrants in Wisconsin from Het Bildt preferred Holland Town more to the west. In Holland, Michigan, almost all northern Frisians came from Westdongeradeel and Ferwerderadeel, while the nearly town of Zeeland got its inhabitants from Barradeel and Wonseradeel.
The industrial city of Paterson grew with inhabitants from Het Bildt and Ferwerderadeel, while Whitinsville attracted immigrants from Barradeel and Wonseradeel. This further subdivision of northern Frisians into smaller, distinct groups originating in the different municipalities of Friesland can be studied in an even more microscopic perspective [Appendix VI].
People from certain towns in the clay area en masse went to certain specified destinations in the United States.
From the municipality of Westdongeradeel only emigrants from the village of Nes migrated to Pella, and from Oostdongeradeel only those from Lioessens and Ee. From the villages of Blija and Tzummarum emigrants specifically ended up in Grand Rapids. Half of the linked emigrants from Morra and also half of those from Betterwird/Bornwird can be found in 1900 in the town of Randolph, Wisconsin. For those from St.Annaparochie, favored places of settlement were Holland Town, Wisconsin, and Paterson, New Jersey. The villages of Ferwerd, Blija, and Marrum, as well as Betterwird/Bornwird and especially Holwerd sent people to Holland, Michigan.
The nearby town of Zeeland, Michigan, housed especially former inhabitants of Almenum, Oosterbierum, Arum, and Piaam. Many immigrants from Tzummarum, Gaast, and Ferwoude lived in Whitinsville in 1900.
Another striking example of linked villages is Ee. Of 42 linked emigrants of the village of Ee (Oostdongeradeel), 20 were found in Roseland, from 80 linked emigrants of neighboring Hantum, Hantumhuizen, and Holwerd (Westdongeradeel), 48 went to Ottawa County, Michigan, 22 of the 40 linked individuals of Ternaard (Westdongeradeel) went to Marion County, Iowa; Blija sent 90 percent of her linked immigrants to Michigan, Ferwerd 70 percent.
Minnertsga had 37 percent of her linked emigrants in Sioux County, Iowa,Tzummarum 34 percent. The pattern of national Dutch settlement before the 1880s described by Swierenga, and of the province of Noord Brabant described by Schreuder and Van Stekelenburg, in large measure also holds true for the Frisian emigrant population around the turn of the century. Frisian emigrants tended to move to settlements that already had Frisians and Dutchmen. Pieter Ypes Groustra, who left Ee in 1881, traveled directly to Chicago where he was given lodging by a former townsman. In one of his first letters Groustra mentions that he lived among many Frisians and that "everyday we speak as much Frisian as you do."
The structured character of the Frisian migration, in my opinion, has more to do with kinship relations than with the individual perception that people felt they were part of an ethnic group. Frisian settlements in the United States were often focused on very specific regional ties even within the province. The clay emigrants largely moved to places where their network had been established: where former family members and neighbors from the native village lived. This was the pragmatic outcome of an overseas migration that in its communication and information relied very much on personal and community ties.
Comparing data derived from specific areas in the ten year interval between the 1900 and 1910 censuses, it appears that the Frisian settlements in Massachusetts and New Jersey remained attractive in the decade after the turn of the century. In those years the Frisians in Massachusetts almost tripled, while the northern Frisians in New Jersey multiplied more than five times.
The westward expansion in America can be seen from the Frisian settlement patterns too. In 1900 hardly any northern Frisians can be found in California and Washington, while a decade later their presence in these states is much more evident.

p. 132. "Almost half of the emigrants from the village of Ee settled in Roseland, a Chicago suburb.

p. 179 "The village of Ee in Oostdongeradeel provided 20 people to Chicago between 1880-1900."

References to Oostdongeradeel:
Pages 25 to 27, background.

P. 37, table of absentee landlords in 1897 who owned 30% or more of the land in the municipality.

P. 38 Paid 43% of municipal expenditures on poor relief.

p. 46 chart of population of 6 municipalities, 1848, 1879, 1892, 1914.

p. 59 pie chart, emigration as percent of 1914 population.

p.68 "From (Sjoerd Aukes) Sipma (from Bornwerd) we also know that most of the Frisian passengers (of the Pieter Floris) were emigrants from the municipalities of West- and Oostdongeradeel and Dantumadeel". Recorded in Belangrijke Berigten uit Pella.

p. 156. "From the total group of Dutch migrants in Whitinsville (Massachusetts) between 1880 and 1910, I was able to link 132 people who came from the six municipalities of Wonseradeel, Barradeel, Ferwerderadeel, Het Bildt, Westdongeradeel, and Oostdongeradeel.


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