Archive for June, 2025

2 immigrants: Gerrit and Mathilda

June 14, 2025

2 immigrants: Gerrit Gerrits Plantinga and his wife, Mathilda (“Tilke”) Wobbes van Vliet. Gerrit was born 28 Dec. 1847 in Stiens, the Netherlands, which is part of Friesland, a coastal area of Netherlands. He was my great-great-grandfather and immigrated to America in 1890. His wife, “Tilke”, was born 9 Dec. 1843, in Hallum, another city in Friesland. Gerrit and Tilke had 8 children, all born in the Netherlands before they immigrated to America. (SO IF CONDITIONS IN THEIR LIFETIME WERE LIKE THOSE OF TODAY, THEY WOULD ALL FACE DEPORTATION OR IMPRISONMENT JUST FOR COMING HERE.) Their 3rd child was Wopke (later called William) Plantinga, my great-grandfather, father of my Grandpa George. Wopke had immigrated 8 yrs. before them, in 1882. Gerrit and Tilke arrived on Oct.18, 1890 with destination city being the neighborhood of Kensington, on the south side of Chicago. They probably had other relatives already there since they listed a neighborhood of Chicago. Four of their younger children traveled with them: Antje (Anna), Bootje (Bertha), Lieuwkje (Lucia), and Rinske (Rosie). In 1910, Gerrit and Matilda lived on 103rd St., Chicago, and he worked as a laborer in a “car shop”. His language is listed as English, Matilde’s as Dutch, so she probably never learned to speak English well. They stayed in Chicago, died & were buried there, in Mount Greenwood cemetery, Cook County, IL, Gerrit in 1919, Mathilda in 1935.

cfblack, 6-14-25

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Immigrants

June 13, 2025

Here are 2 immigrants, Klass Hanstra and Gieske Ijkamp Hanstra, my great-great-grandparents. They are parents to Katherine Hanstra, who married my great-grandfather, Wopke Plantinga. Katherine and Wopke had 11 children, my grandfather being the oldest. My grandfather, George Plantenga, was born 5 months after Katherine & Wopke’s marriage, so they never celebrated his birthday which was Oct.15, 1893. Wopke changed his name to William. Klass and Gieske changed their names to Clarence and Gertrude, here in America. The goal was to sound as “English” as possible, since that was the dominant group in America.

Klass and Gieske were born in Friesland, the Netherlands. Friesland is an area on the NW coast of Holland (Netherlands). They spoke their own language of “Frisian” as well as Dutch. Klass was specifically born in Stiens, Leeuwarderadeel, Friesland, Netherlands, on June 2, 1828. Gieske was born in an area of Friesland called Het Bildt on April 22, 1838. Their marriage was Sept.1, 1864. They arrived in America in 1894, with onley TWO of their 6 children. Only “Pietje” (age 18) and “Tjitske” (age 11) are listed on the passengr list. For “occupations”, father Taeke said “laborer”, mother Gieske said “wife” and their 2 children were “servants”. (I think that meant they would work as domestic servants, which most of the young girls did.) All their 6 children were: 1 boy (Taeke, later “Charles” in America); and 5 girls: Grietje (Margaret), Trijntje (Katherine), Pietje (Nellie), Jantje (Jessie), and Tjitske (Jennie). Their first-born is listed as “Levinloos kind”, meaning “lifeless child”. —- They settled where the Dutch tended to go: Chicago, and later moved south of there to my hometown, Lafayette, Indiana, which is where they are buried. NONE of them worried about their workplace being raided or themselves being handcuffed in front of their children and taken to some cold PRISON or DEPORTED back to HOLLAND!! They also remained poor in America, mostly the men working odd jobs or FARMING and selling vegetables. They were serious Puritan-type people. It’s amazing I have a picture of them.

cfblack, 6-13-2025

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