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| Much of my research was obtained from church records in
the Protestant Reformed Church of Bentheim ("Evangelisch Reformierte
Kirche"). The Reformed Church was in Bentheim hundreds of years prior to
the Christian Reformed Church. Contacts with German churches and
governments by foreigners for genealogical purposes is not permitted in
Germany for privacy reasons, so the following information was researched
and provided through the generosity of local residents who were able to
research this information then forward it on. Individual churches do not
have names, they go by the name of the town they are located in. In this
area of Bentheim, the Reformed Church was more or less the state church,
just like it is in the Netherlands. The Dutch equivalent of the Bentheim
church is called the "Hervormde Kerk". The churches in Bentheim were
linked to the Dutch churches. Bentheim "Konfirmation" (in Dutch "Belijdenis")
or confirmation is the end of a child's religious education. This was
weekly religious education for boys and girls usually from age 12 to 18,
followed by an exam before the church council and a public confirmation in
the church. In earlier years in the County of Bentheim, the confirmation
happened at fixed times of the year - Easter (also called White Sunday),
Pentecost, St. Michaels Day at the end of September, and just before
Christmas. After they were confirmed, they became a full member of the
church. The earliest church record which could be verified as our ancestor
is the confirmation of Albert Tibben dated 9 April 1770 at the age of 18
at the Evangelisch Reformierte Kirche in Emlichheim. This church was one
of several smaller sub-churches to the "mother" Reformed Church in Uelsen.
Other church records researched include Publication of the Banns which was
a formal engagement announcement proclaimed in the church on three
consecutive Sundays. If there were no objections, the marriage was
allowed. In the Netherlands and western Germany, borders between communities were not mathematical. They are often centuries old and were originally based on property of landlords and marked by stones and easy to recognize trees, waterways, and other landmarks. Each community had its own government with a register office, where all births, marriages and deaths had to be registered (in earlier days this happened only in the churches). The less populated countryside is always part of the municipality of the central town or village. Although I have only been able to confirm our ancestors back to the year 1752 (birth date of Albert TIBBEN), I did find information on a 1680 TIBBEN family farm in Wilsum. I believe this farm may have belonged to Hindrik TIBBEN. It is possible he was a cousin or brother to an earlier ancestor I have not yet discovered. The information regarding this farm is probably very representative of many other farms during that time period. It was a small farm, under the jurisdiction of the central farm in Ootmarsum, Netherlands. The farm belonged to the Prince of Orange (in those days the "royal head" of the Netherlands). This means that yearly some part of the harvest had to be delivered as payment to the central farm. Also certain services such as transports were obligatory. People on the farm were also "property" of the landlord. It was not slavery, but people were not 100% free. The right to have the farm was inherited from father to eldest son or daughter. They had to pay to get the right to use the farm, or had to buy themselves free from the owner. This system which was called "hofstelsel" was centuries old and was finally abolished in the first part of the 19th century. The mentioned Prince of Orange was William III (1650-1702) who later became the King of England, Scotland and Ireland. References and Sources: - U.S. Census Records; Immigration Records and Ship Logs; Naturalization Records; Allegan County, Ottawa County and Missaukee County Public Records; cemetery records; WWI and WWII Draft/Enlistment Cards; early atlases and farm journals - Cemetery Records of Ruth Robbins-Monteith - Family History Sections of Grand Rapids Public Library and Herrick/Holland Library - Prior family trees and information compiled by Dorothy (Tibbe) Reinink, Shirley (Reinink) Graves and John Courtz Tibbe (via Carol Borg); Westenbroek Family Tree, DeRidder Family, Sharon Preising; VanIngen Family Tree; DeWitt Family Tree; Wyma Family, Joy Brasseur - sites.rootsweb.com/~minewayg (Newaygo County) - Early records of Graafschap Christian Reformed Church - www.uwpassieonline.nl/passie/sites/index.php?mid=200511&kid=2043&pagina=tekstpagina (Jack Van Den Eijkel, Netherlands - early Holland, Michigan) - Tibbe Families from "A Step Back in Time" (Life in Moddersville, Michigan) by R. J. (Rosalie Joan) Brown-Essing 1991 - "The Yesterdays of Moddersville" 1875-1900 by Cornelius Medendorp - sites.rootsweb.com/~mimissau (Missaukee County) - "Grant Area Yesterday - Today 1979" - Bentheim Church Records, Jan Boerrigter - www.dialogos-studies.com (Theo Davina NL, Laar records) - www.uelsen-und-umgebung.de (Uelsen and Wilsum) - www.emlichheim.de (Emlichheim) - "The County of Bentheim and Her Emigrants to North America" by Loren Lemmen and Swenna Harger - www.historiekamer.de (Historic Centrum Overijssel Archives, Netherlands) - Overijssel Emigrants 1881-1906 by Robert P. Swierenga 1996 - www.hardenbergsarchief.nl (Hardenberg record) - www.hardenberg.nl (Hardenberg) - http://home.wxs.nl/~ds.e.zijlstra/Orgel.html (Hardenberg churches) - www.postcardsfrom.nl (Netherlands pictures) - www.pleindedemsvaart.tk (Dedemsvaart list of churches + others) - www.pkn-dedemsvaart.nl (Dedemsvaart Reformed Church) - www.geneaknowhow.net/ (Overijssel records) - www.macatawa.org/~devries/Plasman.html (Dutch/Holland emigration) - "Netherlanders in America" by Henry S. Lucas - "Netherlanders in America" by Jacob Van Hinte - "Legends of the Dutch" by Adrian Van Koevering - http://home.zonnet.nl/coevorderstambomen/kollen.html (Kollen family research) |
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