The strong magnet

But Why did they come ?

Only along the rivers and the rivulets there was a possibility to have good meadows. On the sandgrounds it took ages and ages before the small farmers ( a man with 3 cows was very rich in those days) achieved to construct a few acres of fertile soil by using manure from a single cow and a few goats. Artificial fertilizer didn't exist. For ages there was a kind of balance between the populaton and the possibility to feed these people. At the end of the eighteenth century population started to grow for the following reasons: -childhood-death became lower -medical care improved and -after the Napoleon-period great wars were over. The following, found in a dutch book "De Emigranten" of G.H. Ligterink gives an illustration of the growth of the population in the Netherlands from 1795 (=100) to 1899:

Population 1795-1899                 %

area                    1795  1815  1840  1869  1899


Graafschap Zutphen      100   111.7 148.0 166.4 195.9      
Veluwe                  100   111.7 158.7 222.1 325.1
Gelderland              100   109.7 148.9 186.3 244.0
Twente                  100   108.2 137.2 171.8 257.4
Nederland               100   104.8 137.6 172.2 245.6       

Graafschap Zutphen in the eastern part of Gelderland, Veluwe in the northern part of Gelderland and Twente in the eastern part of Overijssel.

Conclusion:

Another fact is that besides some craftmanship and a few pedlar functions there was no other way to earn a living. The reason was that practically no money circulated. Oh yes you could become a handweaver. But the earnings in that time were only 40 dutch cents per day ( in those days 16 dollarcents!) for at least 12 hours of work !

Besides that, the price of bread (only rye-bread was consumed) rose from 1800 till 1850, with intervals, to 200%. Larger production of rye or buckwheat was impossible, import was to expensive and the population still grew. We have some details about the poverty. The state could only give small amounts to the poor. Also the churches did so. Details about the unemployed, the so-called 'home-sitting poor', are available:

Home-sitting poor in the province of Gelderland per 1000 inhabitants:

1836        61,5        1840        66,7        1844        83,7
1837        64,5        1841        72,7        1845        95,0 
1838        67,8        1842        74,7        1846       102,7    
1839        65,9        1843        81,3        

Another fact was the problem caused by the crop-failures from 1839 to 1849 If the weather was bad, we don't exactly know, but in Ireland a potato- disease started and went on eastward all over Europe. Every citizen had his own small piece of land and - if possible- a goat ( the poor-man's cow). Potatoes were the most important crop on this piece of land and so if the harvest failed, the family lived near starvation. A dutch house-weaver with a hand-moved loom. After 12 hours of work with his hands and feet this poor man had to look after his potatoes and turnips.


The dutch king William I tried to give a helping hand since 1835. He tried to modernize the weaving activities by importing mechanical looms from England and giving instruction how to handle these machines. He guaranteed the disposal of the produced cloth in the dutch East Indies. But alas he died in 1840 and soon political problems were the reason that the sale of the plain cloth in the Indies, at a guaranteed price, became impossible.

Taxes

Everything that could be taxed was liable for taxation. A farmer or poor man who went to the mill for grinding his rye or oilseed had to pay for the grinding of every pound. The slaughter of cattle was taxed by 10 percent; vinegar, beer , wine and distilled products were subject to taxation. The farmer had to pay a kind of soil-tax for the land he possessed, every house was taxed and only the very poor were exempted from a tax, which had to be paid per head by everybody.

Religion

Besides the other reasons for emigration, religious facts played an important role. After the french occupation (1813) the government restored the rights of the churches. Since we had won a war- which lasted 80 years- in 1648 and had gained freedom of religion, moderations in the interpretation of the religion and also in the practice in daily life were discussed. Since 1834 small groups of people started to separate from the official church and several times a minister took the lead in that separation. But they had a difficult time, their neighbours and friends didn't always understand the reasons for their separation So they clung together and went through all the difficulties: poverty, unemployment, low wages, misearnement and local persecution for religious reasons. They were ripe for emigration.

Letters

Then there were the letters coming from friends who lived before in Gelderland and Overijssel. They told very positive things about America. Religious respected persons as domine (minister) Anthonie Brummelkamp (1811-1888)and his colleague domine Albertus Christiaan van Raalte confirmed the contents of the letters.
Domine van Raalte, founder of the new colonie Holland in the state of Michigan:

In the meantime from Germany (where many people from Gelderland and Overijssel had family-relations ) a stream of emigrants had started in the eary 1830is. They aso gave positive facts in their letters. The shipping-companies from those days also understood their possibillities. In several towns and regions shipping-agents were active to promote emigration. For each emigrant booked they got 10 dutch guilders (=$4 -) a reasonable amount of money in those days. So they worked very hard. Their work and persuasiveness made such an impression that other protestant (of the reformed church) also decided to emigrate. Thanks to the capable leadership of the pastors the difference in religion between the Reformed and Calvinists disappeared during the long journey. During the voyage controversis in religion vanished; once arrived in America the followers of the both religious interpretations resolved to erect their first wooden church together.

The first wooden church after emigration:

Newspaper advertising March 16, 1847 in a dutch paper, announcing departures from Rotterdam:

Rotterdam harbour as the ancestors must have seen it.An illustration from Illustrated London News of April 10, 1847:

The Phoenix-group were transferred by charriots to Arnhem. Then they went by riverboat to Rotterdam. Mid september the group sailed with the France to North America. On october 26th they arrived in New York. The group consisted of members of the Christelijk Gereformeerde Kerk (Christian Reformed Churches) in Aalten, Varsseveld, Winterswijk, Holten, Oosterbeek and Ede. They sailed late in the season, so the farmers amongst them could sell the complete harvest (rye, buckwheat, turnips and potatoes). For the emigrants it was a farewell for ever. Even the drivers of the charriots were very impressed. One of them Frederik van de Burger (from Eibergen) told many years later: 'I'll never more transport emigrants in my whole life; I was dreadfully cut up by it, just because it was not for wealth they went, they would have liked very much to stay'. The first dutch settlements around Lake Michigan:
You can recognise the real dutch names. Oostburg has been founded by immigrants from our province Zeeland.

From New York the immigrants went by train via Albany to Buffalo. In Albany lived allready the dutch speaking minister Wyckhoff. In 1846 he was visited by a reconnoitering-group from the province of Gelderland. This group consisted of Roelof Sleyser (from Velp, a theological student), Lammert Rademaker from Varsseveld and A.J.Brusse from Dinxperlo. They gave dominee Wyckhoff a letter of dominee van Raalte. He asked in his letter to help the dutch immigrants, if necessary. Dominee Wyckhoff agreed and he helped the immigrants for years, he did an excellent job !

Albany drawn in 1846. Here passed the Phoenix-group a year after this drawning was made:
Travelling was not so comfortable in those days.The Phoenix was 15 feet long and had a width of 26 feet. Cargo capacity was 300 tons. There were 'state- rooms' with berths for 30 persons and a 'large room' for 200 passengers. The precise number of passengers, at the moment the disaster took place, was not known. An estimation was a crew of 23 persons, 36 persons in the 'State- rooms' and about 150 dutch emigrants.

The sad story of the Phoenix disaster is sufficiently known. It has been told that during the last stop at Manitowoc passers-by on the quay could hear the dutch passengers singing psalms, thanking and praising the Lord, that their journey nearly was fulfilled. We all know what happened within a few hours .....

I would like to put straight one thing: the whispering that many emigrants sailing with the Phoenix on this trip were very rich. Sure it was possible that the Geerlings-family from Holten- Enter was wealthy and lost with other passengers $ 50,000 or more in this disaster. Research of mr. Ligterink tells us that most of the emigrants had to scratch all their money together to pay for the fares and the food. He also wrote that wealthy co-religionists (being to old to leave their country) supported those travels with reasonable sums of money.

This is a photograph of Janna Hendrika Oonk, one of the female children who survived the catastrophe. She married B. William Pietenpol. Look at those faces: you still can read the calamity from their faces!

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