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A NEW LAND AND A NEW BEGINNING
The
mass emigration from the county of Bentheim started in the upper county
in the 1830's, and in the lower county in the 1840's. The people were
conditioned to emigration
through the so named "Hollandgangerei" -
the pilgrimage of several
thousand young people
across the border from March on, to seek seasonal work in the
Netherlands as weavers, carpenters, tailors, and workers in the peat
fields and agriculture. For about 200 years from 1650 to 1850 this was a
normal and yearly occurrence. Many of the "gastarbeiters",
stayed and became permanent citizens of the Netherlands. (See the
booklet "A Thousand Marriages Between Bentheimers and Drenthers in
the 17th and 18th Centuries", published in 1980 by the Drentse
Genealogical Society in the Netherlands.) In the Eastern part of the
Netherlands, just as in Western Michigan there is a large section of the
population that has its roots in the county of Bentheim. But
from 1830 on, the password was America. America became to the citizens
of the county of Bentheim, what the sea was to the Frisians; a place to
earn their bread, and to seek adventure. Emigration was often used as an
escape from religious persecution, rigid inheritance and marriage laws,
the Prussian military, or simply an undesirable family situation. All
of the emigrants came with great expectations to make North America a
good home for themselves and their descendants. Almost 150 years later,
people ask themselves where did they come from, and how could they take
such a big step! One surprise was the finding in the State Archives of
Osnabruck, of the trek to Cincinnati, Ohio from the upper part of the
county of Bentheim. This immigration was a decade before the famous
seventy Grafshafters boarded the Antoinette Marie in March of 1847 to
found a settlement near Black Lake in the Michigan forest, later named
Graafschap. Most
of the Grafshaft Bentheim emigrants stayed within a radius of fifty
miles from the settlement founded by Rev. Van Raalte in Holland,
Michigan. Their marriage and death dates can be found in the courthouses
of the cities Grand Haven and Allegan. Most of their descendants live in
this area, the oldest families are now in the seventh generation. Their
surnames point to the area where their forebearers came from. However,
most of them have lost their mother tongue, the "plattdeutsh"
language. Most immigrants from Bentheim came during the nineteenth century. The written letter was the only real means of communication with the loved ones they left behind. Most of these letters have been destroyed over the years. We have included translations of a few that have survived. The
first letter is from an early immigrant who landed at New
Orleans. This was unusual, but the trip he describes would have been
typical for those who left before the Civil War. They had to take
sailing ships which relied on favorable winds. This letter was first
published in "Der Grafschafter" in 1982. It was written to his
relatives in Wietmarschen. The
second letter is from Jan Berend Hoge who arrived at Baltimore. This
also was unusual. However, his destination of Cincinnati was typical of
the Bentheimers who left from the Upper Grafschaft. The letter is
addressed to his family who emigrated about nine months later. Notice
the address, which reflects his way of thinking about home. The original
is in Rep. 360 Amt Bentheim, Nr. 173 in the State Archives of Osnabruck,
West Germany. The
third letter is from Albert Krake to his sister. It's content is quite
different than the first letters probably because Albert had emigrated
nearly ten years earlier. The fourth letter is from John William Lohmolder to his brother Evert. Like Albert Krake, William had been in America many years when this letter was written. Like Jan Hoge he encourages immigration and offers to help his relatives. |
