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m. 20 Oct 1782 Birdaard, Dantumadeel, Friesland, Nederland
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Geert Oebeles took the surname "Hamstra" in 1811 during the civil registration of surnames mandated by Napoleon Bonaparte. Five sons + two daughters survived to take the Hamstra surname. The archives in Leeuwarden indicate that 27 different families took the surname "Hamstra". Hamstra (Frisian) is a toponymic name for someone living on a flood plain or water meadow, or land in a river bend, derived from Middle Low German "ham" (ie flood plain). The surnames van der Ham, De Ham or Hamster in other parts of the Netherlands come from the same root. Locally it probably referred to one who came from the "hamlet" of Drogeham between the towns of Bergum and Buitenpost in Friesland. The region between Bergum and Drogeham contains several large lakes and marshes, so the name Drogeham is apt. Some but not all of the 27 Hamstra clans can trace their roots to the vicinity of Bergum and Drogeham. Although Geert Oebeles Hamstra and his siblings were born at Birdaard, his parents married at Bergum (birthplace of Oebele Geerts and his ancestors) before moving northwest to Birdaard. References
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