New Blogginnings

I used to blog. Every Thursday as I recall.  It's been 10 years or so. I blogged a lot about Fawkners. Some about Tidballs.  I've since self-published a Tidball family history book. I've stumbled through a lot more Fawkner research -- there is much more to tell.  But, in this new bloggining, I am going to focus on Terschellingers.

What's a Terschellinger?  Quite simple: someone from the North Sea island of Terschelling, a half dozen miles off the coast of Friesland (Netherlands). Terschelling is one of a chain of sandy barrier islands that stretch from The Netherlands to Denmark.

The island is a couple of miles wide and about 25 miles long.  Beautiful sand dunes protect the North Sea side of the island. A sturdy dike protects the Waddenzee side. What is a Waddenzee?  It's literally the mudflat sea. A boat captain that doesn't know the territory risks running aground during low tide.

Terschelling is a beautiful island, with a few too many tourists. It is one of my favorite places. When I stand on the strand (beach) and gaze out over the North Sea, I imagine my great-grandfather Sipke Zorgdrager looking out in the spring of 1868 in anticipation of setting sail for the prairies seas of northern Illinois.

I have visited the island four times, and enjoyed the hospitality of a two third cousins. My last visit in May 2022 inspired me to dig back into my Terschelling research to tell the story of not just my great-grandfather, but of a few dozen closely related families that emigrated to Illinois and Iowa between 1865 and 1870.

I'm not sure how soon my next post will hit the internet, but my good intentions are to blog about the Zorgdragers, de Vries, de Graafs, Bonnes, Cupidos, Kooijmans and other families that left a narrow, sandy North Sea island for the expansive prairies of Illinois and Iowa.