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Background:
As follow are excerpts from two letters from Nancy Sayles to Dave Jordan. Nancy's grandparents were Adrianus and Martha Vanderkloot. Her mother was Marie Vanderkloot who married John Denker. |
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January 22, 1977 Dear Dave, Our grandfather lived the last years of his life spending some time at our home, some time at Grace's and some time at Aletta's, so each of us probably has a few stories that are different. I know that Adrianus was born on the Isle of Texel. His father was the blacksmith there which meant he not only shoed horses, but made everything of metal on the island, including pots and pans, wagon wheels, church bells, etc. They had a big brick house next to the smithy and many beautiful flowers. Also fenced fields for the horses. They lived near the church and the Dominie would come over often to urge them to attend services, but both Matthijs and Trijntje would claim (M. in his smithy and T. in her kitchen) that the spouse was the one to make the decision and by each refusing to assume responsibility they were able to avoid church (probably Dutch Reformed Church). After services most of the congregation would assemble at the Vanderkloots for small glasses of brandy before dinner. I always understood that Martha Tanis was born in Haarlem but of course we have no birth record. At least she was living there when she met Adrianus. I'm not sure how they met, but one of her first cousins was Bertha Dros (I think) who lived on Texel so probably Martha was visiting her relatives on Texel and met Adrianus there. Bertha married Peter Vanderkloot, Adrianus' youngest brother, so Uncle Pieter and Tante Bertha's family and Adrianus' and Martha's were doubly related--their fathers were brothers and their mothers were cousins. Martha Tanis' mother died while she was a girl. I believe her father re-married or otherwise he died, too, and she lived with some relatives. Anyway I heard she was glad to leave Haarlem. I'm fairly positive her father never came to the U.S.A. I don't know points of entry but the reason Adrianus came to America was because there were so many brothers in his family the blacksmith shop couldn't support them all. Some Vanderkloot cousins had gone to Chicago and started the Vanderkloot Iron Works. They wrote to Texel and told them how great it was in Chicago. Adrianus went first, I was told, liked it, sent for Martha, other brothers to come and, as you have in your chart, even his parents arrived 6 years later. Brother Nicholas stayed home to run the smithy. They called him Swarte Smit-the blacksmith-really black hair and eyes. Aunt Nancy |
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1977 Letter Martha Tanis had a brother Derek Tanis, of whom she was very fond. He came to the U.S.A. to visit her and then took off for the gold fields and was never heard from again. She was always looking for a letter from him. |
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