The Vanderkloot Story

Introduction

Prelude

by Dave Jordan

In November 1978, I wrote The Story of Adrianus and Martha Vanderkloot . Since that time, much new information has been found. In addition other stories about other branches of the Vanderkloot Family have become available. With the creation of Our Vanderkloot Family web pages, I have decided to update and expand the various stories into a larger framework. The resulting, The Vanderkloot Story , is a collection of short stories by various authors about different chapters and branches in the lives of descendants of Adrianus and Maatje Vanderkloot. With time, others may contribute their own stories leading to a growing work on the origins and history of the Vanderkloot Family.

The stories are collected into two major parts. The first called Our Origins in the Netherlands focuses on our roots back to the late 1700s while the second part The Vanderkloots in America focuses on the period from the late 1800s until the early part of the twentieth century.

Contributions to Our Origins in the Netherlands include Cocksdorp, Home of the Vanderkloots by Aletta Schodrof, which describes the ancestral home of Matthijs and Trijntje Vanderkloot in Cocksdorp Texel. This story is short and easily read on-line. The Origins of the Vanderkloot Family is broader and discusses the early history of the Vanderkloots in the Province of South Holland. And Going further back in time, Fred Vanderkloot, grandson of Cornelius Vanderkloot has researched and contributed Origins of our 18th Century van der Kloots and Origin of the van der Kloot Name .

For those readers who are descendants of Adrianus Vanderkloot and Martha Tanis, they may wish to read The Origins of the Tanis Family . This story relates the history of Cornelis Tanis, his son Dirk and his grandson Aart. The Tanis family connects by marriage to Adrianus Vanderkloot.

The Vanderkloots in America include stories for the two main families that came to America. The Marinus and Meis Vanderkloot family came first in 1868. Marinus was the founder of the Vanderkloot Ironworks. Besides The Marinus and Meis Vanderkloot Story, there is an interesting article from The History of Chicago about Marinus Vanderkloot and the origins of his company. And since the Ironworks is of interest to all Vanderkloots, I have collected remembrances from various contributors into a short story called The History of the Vanderkloot Ironworks.

A few members of the Matthijs and Trijntje Vanderkloot Family began arriving around 1881 and by 1886 most of the family had arrived. The Matthijs and Trijntje Vanderkloot Story describes the couples life in America. This is followed by stories of two of the sons, The Adrianus and Martha Vanderkloot Story and Memories of Cornelius.

While readers may wish to initially focus on stories in their branch, for those interested in every nugget of information on the life and times, you may wish to read the other stories to gain additional insights and find connections between them.

If you wish to make a literary contribution, please contact Dave via e-mail.

Notes

1. Initial Web Publication Date: late 2000
2. Modified: 11/26/2009
3. Desktop Master file: Stories_Vanderkloot