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
Doctor Grandma 