Sipke Zorgdrager -- Tot Verbetering van Bestaan

My great-grandfather, Sipke Zorgdrager, emigrated from Terschelling in 1868.
 
We know this not from U.S. arrival records, but from a special set of Netherlands records entitled Emigranten naar Amerika en Andere Landen (Emigrants to America and Other Lands). Between 1831 and 1877, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs kept a record of emigrants from each municipality. The exact starting and end dates vary by province.
 
The emigration records are viewable on the FamilySearch website (www.familysearch.org). They are organized by province. Terschelling is now part of Friesland, but was included in the Noord (North) Holland records. The Noord Holland emigration records cover the years 1848 to 1877.
 
S. P. Zorgrager, 28, with a wife and one child, left Terschelling in 1868. In the column for recording the emigrant’s reason for leaving, the clerk wrote “Tot verbetering van bestaan” – to improve economic standing.[1] This was the reason recorded for most emigrants.
 
Sipke’s family was on of 19 parties that emigrated that year. Among them were 11 married men, with a total of 39 children, five single men, and three single women. From 1865 to 1870, some sixty parties left – most married men with families, several single men, and a handful of single women. The peak emigration years were 1868 and 1869. Future installments of this blog will analyze the emigration in more detail.
 
Sipke and his wife, Trijntje de Vries, had been married six years when they emigrated.[2] Their first child, Pieter, was born in October 1862;[3] he died in February 1864 – only 16 months old.[4] A second child, Maria, was not born until September 1867.[5] The 1 June 1870 U.S. census recorded the family living in the household of Peter “De Fries” in Stephenson County, Illinois.[6] Pieter was Trijntje’s brother.
 
Sipke and Trijntje (indexed “Seipke” and “Fria”) told the census-taker they had one child: Mary, age 6 months. Perhaps her age was understated, but more likely the Maria born in September 1867 died enroute or soon after the family arrived in Illinois, and another daughter born in the winter of 1869-70 was named Mary. This Mary Zorgdrager married Henry Hoffs in Sioux County, Iowa, in 1889.[7] The 1900 census states that Mary Hoffs was born in Illinois in November 1869.[8]
 
Emigration was a family affair. Two of Sipke’s brothers and a sister also emigrated, as did some of Trijnte’s siblings. The Zorgdrager and de Vries families will be treated in more detail over the next several weeks. For now, the question is: what drew North Sea islanders to the northern Illinois prairie. The question will be answered in a few weeks. The next installment will first tell a bit more of Sipke’s story.
 
Footnotes
 
1. Nederlands Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken (Netherlands Ministry for Foreign Affairs), Emigranten Naar Amerika end Andere Landen, Noord Holland, 1868; Family History Library film 8,189,679, image 113.
2. Burgerlijke Stand Terschelling, Huwelijksregister (marriage register), 1862, no. 9, 15 May 1862, Sipke Zorgdrager and Trijntje Jans de Vries; transcript and image viewable at www.wiewaswie.nl.
3. Terschelling Geboortsregister, (birth register), 1862, no. 90, 15 October, Pieter Zorgdrager; transcript and image viewable at www.wiewaswie.nl.
4. Burgerlijke Stand Terschelling Overledene (deaths), 1864, no 25, 28 February, Pieter Sipkes Zorgdrager; transcript and image viewable at www.wiewaswie.nl.
5. Terschelling Geboortsregister (births), 1867, no. 62, 2 September, Maria Zorgdrager; transcript and image viewable at www.wiewaswie.nl.
6. 1870 U.S. census, Stephenson County, Illinois, Ridott Township, p, 1, dwelling 6, family 5, Peter De Fries household.
7. Iowa State Board of Health, Return of Marriages in the County of Sioux for the Yeaer Ending October 1, 1890, License 139, 16 December 1889, marriage return 30 December 1889, Henry Hoffs and Mary Zorgdrager; digital image, Ancestry, Iowa, U.S. Marriage Records 1880-1845.
8. 1900 U.S. Census, Sioux County, Iowa, Enumeration District 130, Capel Township, Sheet 7 [stamped 19A], Dwelling 107, family 108, Henry Hoffs.