Emigrants from Aalten to the US
Between 1845 and 1880, hundreds of emigrants from Aalten and Winterswijk settled in Clymer, a town in the west of the state of New York. In 1854, Berend Hendrik Legters and his family also left for the United States, with Clymer as their final destination. A sinister story is still circulating within the family about their journey…
Berend Hendrik Legters was born on 18 January 1827 at Klein Goorhuis in Heurne in Aalten. In the mid-30s, the family moved to Nieuw Hoornenborg on the Haart. After the death of his mother, his father remarried in 1845 and they moved to the Koks farm in Ratum.
On 18 June 1847 Berend Hendrik, a weaver by profession, married Anna Catharina Hellekamp (Miste, 31 August 1810). They went to live at her parental home, Hellekamp in Miste. In June 1854 they left for America with their two young sons, together with the Oonk-Kortschot couple, who also lived at Hellekamp.
The crossing to New York took a long time and was tough. It became too much for Anna Catharina; after 30 days at sea, she died, just days before they were to arrive in New York. Berend Hendrik had seen what happened to the bodies of deceased passengers: they were given a watery grave. He wanted to spare his wife that fate. So he and his travel companions came up with a ruse. They pretended that Anna was seriously ill and thus hid the fact that she had died. Despite illness, you were counted on with the food. An additional advantage was that they now had an extra portion of their own!
Once they arrived in New York, they had to leave the ship via the gangway. They held the deceased between them and put her arms over their shoulders. Carefully they kicked her legs so that it looked like she was walking herself. The trick worked and they managed to get her off board safely.
They had her buried in the first cemetery they came across, with the intention of having her remains later transferred to their final destination, Clymer. However, in the first few years, they did not have the means to do so. When they finally had enough money saved, they returned to pick her up. But unfortunately, they could not find the grave again…
After widower Berend Hendrik had settled in Clymer with his two sons, he asked the pastor what he should do. On his advice, he remarried to Gesina Berendina “Minnie” Schreurs (Barlo, 20 April 1820), widow of Gradus Kobus. She died in 1865 and Berend Hendrik married again, this time to Geertruida Johanna “Kate” Schreurs (Winterswijk, 13 December 1840). Berend Hendrik (Henry) Legters died on 25 January 1910 in Clymer.
The above representation of this story is based on the sources mentioned below. However, these sources contain varying information about the course of events. We have combined the (in our opinion) most plausible information into the above version. Additions/corrections are welcome!
Sources
- ECAL
- netherlandsgenealogy.com
- nationaalarchief.nl (by Yvette Hoitink)
- sites.rootsweb.com/~nychauta
