In 1864, the Degenaar family exchanged Aalten for New York State. A blended family left America from the house later known as Haartsestraat 10. Twelve years later, the widow Aleida Degenaar and two of the sons can be found together at one Albany address: 47 Odell Street.
A blended family in Aalten
Harmen Jan Degenaar was born in Aalten on 6 October 1811. His marriage to Dersken Duenk produced, among others, Johannes (1843) and Jan (1844). After Dersken died in 1846, Harmen Jan married Aleida Antonia Venderbosch on 7 June 1848. She had been born in Lichtenvoorde in 1820.
In Aalten’s population register, Harmen Jan is first recorded as a merchant and later as a weaver. He and Aleida lived at Aalten 264, the building now known as Haartsestraat 10 and later associated with the Old Post Office.
To Albany
Harmen Jan and Aleida left for the United States in 1864. Several children and other members of the Degenaar family appear in the same emigration cluster. Albany, New York, became the new home of a significant part of the family.
Harmen Jan died in Albany on 1 August 1873. He was buried at Albany Rural Cemetery, Section 95, Lot 246. Aleida remained in and around Albany afterwards.
47 Odell Street
The 1876 Albany City Directory provides a particularly concrete picture of the family. Three Degenaars are listed together at 47 Odell Street: “Alida Degenaar, widow”, “Herman J. Degenaar, carriagemaker” and “John Degenaar, baker”.
John was Jan Degenaar, born in Aalten in 1844, and thus worked as a baker. Herman J. was Harmen Jan Degenaar, born in Aalten on 14 February 1857. In 1876 he was a young carriage maker living with his mother.
The family at Albany Rural Cemetery
The records of Albany Rural Cemetery make the family visible again. Johannes Degenaar, born in Aalten on 3 February 1843, died in Troy on 7 March 1893 and is buried in Section 95, Plot 246. Jan Degenaar died in Albany on 3 March 1905 and was buried in Section 105, Plot 76.
Hendrikus Bernardus Degenaar, born on 6 February 1853, is also buried in the cemetery. He died in Jackson, Michigan, on 11 October 1940 and was interred in Section 95, Plot 247. Harmen Jan junior died in Albany on 20 April 1906 and lies in Section 105, Plot 378.
The burial plots and the Albany directory show how an Aalten family network remained recognisable in America after emigration. Parents, children and relatives lived close to one another, worked in the city and were later buried in the same cemetery.