Doopboek 1782-1811, archiefnummer 124, Doop-, trouw- en begraafboeken enz. in de provincie Groningen, inventarisnummer 391
Gemeente: Kerkelijke gemeente Pieterburen en Wierhuizen
Periode: 1782-1811
Doop- en trouwboek 1687-1811, archiefnummer 124, Doop-, trouw- en begraafboeken enz. in de provincie Groningen, inventarisnummer 526
Gemeente: Kerkelijke gemeente Westernieland en Saaksumhuizen
Periode: 1687-1811
Doop- en trouwboek 1687-1811, archiefnummer 124, Doop-, trouw- en begraafboeken enz. in de provincie Groningen, inventarisnummer 526
Gemeente: Kerkelijke gemeente Westernieland en Saaksumhuizen
Periode: 1687-1811
[[Image:Red Flag.jpg|20px]] Birth and death records indicate that Saarje is the the daughter of [[Family:Jan Knot and Klaaske Homan (4)|Jan Pieters Knot and Klaaske Homan]], not Jan Pieters Knot and Anje Witt.
Parent family not included in tree: https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Family:Jan_Knot_and_Anje_Witt_(1)
[[Image:Red Flag.jpg|20px]] Birth and death records indicate that Saarje is the the daughter of [[Family:Jan Knot and Klaaske Homan (4)|Jan Pieters Knot and Klaaske Homan]], not Jan Pieters Knot and Anje Witt.
Parent family not included in tree: https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Family:Jan_Knot_and_Anje_Witt_(1)
Early Years
Tjeert Hendricks Knot, third son of Hendrick Pieters Knot and Jantje Jans Knol, was born on the 23rd of January 1825, in the small village of Stitswerd, Groningen Province, the Netherlands.[1] During the first two or three years of his life, he and his parents lived with his grandparents.[2] Having an extended family living in the same house was unusual, and may have been a reflection of increasing economic pressures for ordinary people in the Netherlands at that time.
Tjeert received a basic education, sufficient that he could at least sign his name. By the time he was fourteen he was working, as was traditional for many young people, on a nearby farm. The farm was large, employing five other young people between the ages of 17 and 21, including his youngest uncle, Lambert Pieters Knot.[4]. Sometime during the next ten years Tjeert found work as a servant in the home of a local landowner in Stitswerd. It was likely here that he met his future wife, Imke Willems Pesman, who worked as a farm maid for the same family.[5]
Tjeert and Imke were married on the 19th of October 1852, with Tjeert’s mother and Imke’s father as witnesses. Tjeert and Imke remained in Stitswerd, where Tjeert worked as a day labourer. In many ways Tjeert and Imke probably lived much as Tjeert’s parents had, except that Imke also worked as a day labourer.[6] Again, the fact that more and more women were working for income was another indication of increasing economic stress throughout the country. Economic stress is probably also why Tjeert’s brothers had all moved away from Stitswerd by about 1860, seeking employment in larger communities and cities. Tjeert and Imke were the last to leave, moving to Warffum in June of 1869 with a family of six children.[7][8] Their oldest son, Hendrik, had already moved to Warffum to find work, and Tjeert had cousins there, the children of his mother’s youngest brother, Tjeert Jans Knol.
In Warffum, the family lived beside a canal, possibly three canals where they came together, and there they had a tavern. In the winter, skaters would stop for food and a drink, or even for new skates, since Tjeert made skates. During the rest of the year, boaters on the canal would stop.[17][18]. Their oldest daughter, Grietje, although living at home, apparently added to the family income working as a tinker, someone who repairs tin utensils. The younger children, in the way of children everywhere, were curious about the world around them, and one day Imke found three of them, Willem, Jantje and Pieterke, sampling the remains left by tavern customers, including the sweetened alcohol in the bottom of the cups. Imke grabbed an axe and chopped down the tavern sign. Her children would not drink alcohol![18]
▼ Emigration
Tjeert and Imke’s oldest son, Hendrick, was already in the United States and had written home urging his parents to join him. So they left Warffum early in 1873, traveling first to Liverpool, England. Liverpool was not an easy stop for everyone in the family. Willem, for one, was subjected to ridicule for his strange clothes and wooden shoes. Not the shyest of young boys, Willem promptly used the Edam cheese he was carrying to hit the other boy over the head.[18]
In Liverpool Tjeert and family boarded the Wyoming for New York City. As they sailed into New York harbour on 15 May 1873, they were no doubt exhausted. Like so many immigrants, they had traveled steerage.[9] The Wyoming was a new ship, barely two years old, and fast, averaging 10 days for a trip. But with over 1300 passengers in steerage, it would still have been crowded and miserable, with a babble of langages and a lack of privacy. Passengers came from Ireland and England, Germany, the Scandanavian countries, and France, as well as the Netherlands. Three died during the voyage, while one woman gave birth in the midst of the babble.[19]
When Tjeert, Imke and family arrived in New York, they were not greeted by the Statue of Liberty, nor did they pass through Ellis Island, as neither yet existed. Instead, they would have gone through the old immigration centre known as Castle Garden. An old fort at the southern end of Manhatten, Castle Garden opened in 1855, to “process” arriving immigrants. Operated by the State of New York, it reflected changing attitudes towards immigrants, and remained in operation until 1890, when the Federal Government assumed responsibility for immigration. [20]
▼ Chicago
From New York the family most likely took a train to Chicago, already recovering from the fire that devastated much of the city core in 1871. Tjeert may have found work there as a laborer for a year or two, living with his family in a small duplex at the back of a cottage at 813 S. Morgan. The neighborhood (now the Near West Side) was known as Groningen Quarter, with many residents having immigrated from Groningen province. Tjeert and family would have felt partially at home, surrounded by neighbors who spoke Dutch, and within easy walking distance of the First Dutch Reformed Church, the center of community life.[10][21] Tjeert and Imke did change their names, to George and Emma, one of the few concessions they made to living in a new country. They had come to America not to become Americans, but to live a better life. They had no desire to give up their Dutch identity, and in this respect they were little different from other Dutch immigrants to Chicago in the latter part of the nineteenth century.[16]
By the time George and Emma arrived, however, the area was becoming a destination for immigrants from eastern Europe, those for whom Jane Addams created Hull House near-by. It was probably not the better life they had envisioned when they emigrated. By 1880, George and Emma and three of their children were living west of Chicago in an area heavily populated by German immigrants, most of whom were farmers, and George was renting a farm. The older children continued to work in Chicago, while the baby, Jana, and another daughter, “little lame Anna”, had died[11]
▼ Minnesota
Even with the move out of the city centre, George and Emma were still not happy, and it wasn’t long before they moved again, this time to the settlement of Roseland in Minnesota, another community of Dutch immigrants. Here George and his son William were able to buy land. They bought from a land development company, based in Chicago, Minneapolis, and the Netherlands and supported by Chicago’s Dutch churches, that promoted a “Nieuwe Hollandsche Kolonie” near Olivia, Minnesota. In 1885, George and William purchased 320 acres of land.[22]
As important as the land was, it was only part of a better life. By 1886 George, his family and neighbours, had organized a church, the Roseland Reformed Church. The first services were held in William’s barn. By 1890 they had built a church.[23] During this time as well, George’s children, all except his oldest daughter Grace, settled near by, beginning and raising their own families.
George died 21 February 1897, at the age of 72, secure in his church and his community, having gained the better life he sought for himself and his children, the first in a long line to leave a landed estate.
▼ Early Years
Tjeert Hendricks Knot, third son of Hendrick Pieters Knot and Jantje Jans Knol, was born on the 23rd of January 1825, in the small village of Stitswerd, Groningen Province, the Netherlands.[1] During the first two or three years of his life, he and his parents lived with his grandparents.[2] Having an extended family living in the same house was unusual, and may have been a reflection of increasing economic pressures for ordinary people in the Netherlands at that time.
Tjeert received a basic education, sufficient that he could at least sign his name. By the time he was fourteen he was working, as was traditional for many young people, on a nearby farm. The farm was large, employing five other young people between the ages of 17 and 21, including his youngest uncle, Lambert Pieters Knot.[4]. Sometime during the next ten years Tjeert found work as a servant in the home of a local landowner in Stitswerd. It was likely here that he met his future wife, Imke Willems Pesman, who worked as a farm maid for the same family.[5]
Tjeert and Imke were married on the 19th of October 1852, with Tjeert’s mother and Imke’s father as witnesses. Tjeert and Imke remained in Stitswerd, where Tjeert worked as a day labourer. In many ways Tjeert and Imke probably lived much as Tjeert’s parents had, except that Imke also worked as a day labourer.[6] Again, the fact that more and more women were working for income was another indication of increasing economic stress throughout the country. Economic stress is probably also why Tjeert’s brothers had all moved away from Stitswerd by about 1860, seeking employment in larger communities and cities. Tjeert and Imke were the last to leave, moving to Warffum in June of 1869 with a family of six children.[7][8] Their oldest son, Hendrik, had already moved to Warffum to find work, and Tjeert had cousins there, the children of his mother’s youngest brother, Tjeert Jans Knol.
In Warffum, the family lived beside a canal, possibly three canals where they came together, and there they had a tavern. In the winter, skaters would stop for food and a drink, or even for new skates, since Tjeert made skates. During the rest of the year, boaters on the canal would stop.[17][18]. Their oldest daughter, Grietje, although living at home, apparently added to the family income working as a tinker, someone who repairs tin utensils. The younger children, in the way of children everywhere, were curious about the world around them, and one day Imke found three of them, Willem, Jantje and Pieterke, sampling the remains left by tavern customers, including the sweetened alcohol in the bottom of the cups. Imke grabbed an axe and chopped down the tavern sign. Her children would not drink alcohol![18]
▼ Emigration
Tjeert and Imke’s oldest son, Hendrick, was already in the United States and had written home urging his parents to join him. So they left Warffum early in 1873, traveling first to Liverpool, England. Liverpool was not an easy stop for everyone in the family. Willem, for one, was subjected to ridicule for his strange clothes and wooden shoes. Not the shyest of young boys, Willem promptly used the Edam cheese he was carrying to hit the other boy over the head.[18]
In Liverpool Tjeert and family boarded the Wyoming for New York City. As they sailed into New York harbour on 15 May 1873, they were no doubt exhausted. Like so many immigrants, they had traveled steerage.[9] The Wyoming was a new ship, barely two years old, and fast, averaging 10 days for a trip. But with over 1300 passengers in steerage, it would still have been crowded and miserable, with a babble of langages and a lack of privacy. Passengers came from Ireland and England, Germany, the Scandanavian countries, and France, as well as the Netherlands. Three died during the voyage, while one woman gave birth in the midst of the babble.[19]
When Tjeert, Imke and family arrived in New York, they were not greeted by the Statue of Liberty, nor did they pass through Ellis Island, as neither yet existed. Instead, they would have gone through the old immigration centre known as Castle Garden. An old fort at the southern end of Manhatten, Castle Garden opened in 1855, to “process” arriving immigrants. Operated by the State of New York, it reflected changing attitudes towards immigrants, and remained in operation until 1890, when the Federal Government assumed responsibility for immigration. [20]
▼ Chicago
From New York the family most likely took a train to Chicago, already recovering from the fire that devastated much of the city core in 1871. Tjeert may have found work there as a laborer for a year or two, living with his family in a small duplex at the back of a cottage at 813 S. Morgan. The neighborhood (now the Near West Side) was known as Groningen Quarter, with many residents having immigrated from Groningen province. Tjeert and family would have felt partially at home, surrounded by neighbors who spoke Dutch, and within easy walking distance of the First Dutch Reformed Church, the center of community life.[10][21] Tjeert and Imke did change their names, to George and Emma, one of the few concessions they made to living in a new country. They had come to America not to become Americans, but to live a better life. They had no desire to give up their Dutch identity, and in this respect they were little different from other Dutch immigrants to Chicago in the latter part of the nineteenth century.[16]
By the time George and Emma arrived, however, the area was becoming a destination for immigrants from eastern Europe, those for whom Jane Addams created Hull House near-by. It was probably not the better life they had envisioned when they emigrated. By 1880, George and Emma and three of their children were living west of Chicago in an area heavily populated by German immigrants, most of whom were farmers, and George was renting a farm. The older children continued to work in Chicago, while the baby, Jana, and another daughter, “little lame Anna”, had died[11]
▼ Minnesota
Even with the move out of the city centre, George and Emma were still not happy, and it wasn’t long before they moved again, this time to the settlement of Roseland in Minnesota, another community of Dutch immigrants. Here George and his son William were able to buy land. They bought from a land development company, based in Chicago, Minneapolis, and the Netherlands and supported by Chicago’s Dutch churches, that promoted a “Nieuwe Hollandsche Kolonie” near Olivia, Minnesota. In 1885, George and William purchased 320 acres of land.[22]
As important as the land was, it was only part of a better life. By 1886 George, his family and neighbours, had organized a church, the Roseland Reformed Church. The first services were held in William’s barn. By 1890 they had built a church.[23] During this time as well, George’s children, all except his oldest daughter Grace, settled near by, beginning and raising their own families.
George died 21 February 1897, at the age of 72, secure in his church and his community, having gained the better life he sought for himself and his children, the first in a long line to leave a landed estate.
