Person talk:Frijdus Swieringa (1)

Swierenga Family Genealogy [12 February 2016]

[1]

a5. Frijdus (Friedus) Bartels, born Nov. 28, 1824 at Stedum in House No. 16. He married Anje Wieringa, who was born Nov. 25, 1820 at Ten Boer, on May 30, 1856 at Ten Boer. The family lived in House No. A.W.127 in Stedum, where Friedus was a farmer (akkerbouw). The family belonged to the Christelijk Afgescheiden Church, according to the Stedum Bevolkingsregister of 1850-1880. The register also lists two children: Aaltje (Alice), born May 3, 1857 at Stedum who married John Hoffenkamp; and Hendrik (Henry), born Nov. 3, 1860 at Stedum, who married his stepsister Dora Sietsma on Mar. 31, 1883, had 10 children, and died in Chicago on May 8, 1942 at 80 years of age. Dora died in Chicago on Aug. 19, 1936. Six of Henry and Dora's ten children were Fred, Annie (Mrs. Jake Molter), Cornelius married to Theresa Wierenga who had two children, Effie Swierenga, Alice (Mrs. Pete Doornbos), and a son of Dora by her first marriage, Rynie Sietsema, married Jennie, died in Cicero. According to the 1885 Chicago City Directory, Henry was a varnisher living at 457 South Wood Street. He served as a deacon in the First Christian Reformed Church of Chicago, according to the Church's seventy-fifth anniversary booklet of l942. In 1928, Polk's Chicago Directory gives the family's address as 928 South Wood Street.

The entry in the Stedum Bevolkingsregister concludes with the comment that the Friedus Swierenga family had emigrated to "Noord Amerika Michigan" without giving notice to municipal officials. Friedus, according to the written reminiscences of his nephew Hendrik Swierenga (1875-1952), suffered financial difficulties and bankruptcy in the agricultural depression of the 1860s and in 1867 emigrated to Chicago with his family, where he took on the name Fred. He was a day laborer (dagloner) at the time. The family joined the newly formed (1867) First (Old Fourteenth Street) Christian Reformed Church. The seventy-fifth anniversary booklet of the church lists a "J. Swierenga" elected as deacon in 1868. This was likely Fred, since no other Swierenga was known to be living in Chicago at the time.

Fred's first wife, Anje, died in Chicago and he married a widow Sietsma with whom he had three children:

(1) Maggie who married Fred Goris and died in Chicago in July, 1921, leaving two children, Tessie and George;

(2) Barteld F., born Sept. 4, 1870, in Chicago, married on Aug. 4, 1897 by Rev. John Riemersma to Mary Speyer (born Jan. 8, 1875 at Three Oaks, MI, and died Oct. 24, 1945 in Denver) and who died on Nov. 2, 1933 at Alamosa, CO, after fathering nine children: Tessie, born Sept. 10, 1898 in Chicago, died Grand Haven, MI. Dec. 12, 1961; Effie, born Mar. 13, 1900 in Chicago, died Feb. 23, 1929 at Cicero, IL.; Fred, born Oct. 9, 1902 in Chicago, died Dec. 4, 1963 at Alamosa, CO; Mina, born Apr. 24, 1904 in Chicago, married June 25, 1930 in Cicero, IL to Harry Overset; Martha, born Apr. 8, 1909 in Alamosa, CO, died May 5, 1909 at Alamosa; Marthe Alice, born Oct. 30, 1910 at Alamosa, married Jan. 24, 1931 at Cicero, IL to Ervin A. Lustig, died June 14, 1941 in Chicago; Margaret Ruth, born July 26, 1913 at Alamosa, married Adrian Ed Witt on Nov. 21, 1935 at Kiowa, CO, died Jan. 8, 1978 in Denver; William Edward, born Apr. 15, 1916 at Alamosa, married Sept. 19, 1940 at Denver to Hendrika Elizabeth Ritsema, died Jan. 28, 1976 in Grand Rapids, MI, Chaplain at thr Michigan Veterans Facility; and Henry Harold, born Oct. 24, 1918 at Alamosa, married Mar. 9, 1944 in Denver;

(3) John F., born at Chicago, married June 1, 1904 to Geertina Oosterheerdt at Cicero, IL, and had four children: Fred John, married in 1929 to Anne Brouwer with two children: Geraldine, married to Pete Woldman, and Roger, married to Marilyn Wierenga; Stella, married in 1936 to George Vande Werken, with one child, son George John of Highland, IN married to Gayle Bremer of Holland, MI; Pieter John, married Katherine Potts, two children: David formerly of Fairfax, VA, and Charlene Vanderveen of Calgary; and Tessie, who married John E. Klunder, with three children, all in Mt. Vernon, WA: Clarence married to Eleanor, John married to Deana, and Jim, now deceased, married to Judy.

Freidus Swierenga later married for the third time died in Chicago.--henk 08:59, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

1870 and 1880 Census [12 February 2016]

"United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M645-SYV : accessed 11 February 2016), Fred Swear, Illinois, United States; citing p. 560, family 4668, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 545,702.

"United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXNG-2BS : accessed 11 February 2016), Fred Swoosersgoff, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States; citing enumeration district ED 78, sheet 396B, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 0191; FHL microfilm 1,254,191.

Both censuses describe a wife of the same age, born about 1839, one is named Ida, the other Maria. n.b. Sietsema may be her first married name. Some unsourced Ancestry trees call her Tessie Medendorp. --pkeegstra 11:30, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

Death of Second Wife [12 February 2016]

"Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1878-1994," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2M3-1DF5 : accessed 12 February 2016), Freidericka Sweniger, 15 Aug 1881; citing Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States, source reference 9734, record number , Cook County Courthouse, Chicago; FHL microfilm 1,031,435.

My guess would be that the informant was confused, and feminized the husband's name. --pkeegstra 11:49, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

Marriage to Third Wife [13 February 2016]

"Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871-1920," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N7XP-4HC : accessed 12 February 2016), Friedrich Swieringa and Afga Kaak, 21 Jan 1882; citing Cook, Illinois, 59304, Cook County Courthouse, Chicago; FHL microfilm 1,030,122.

Another record visible on Ancestry spells her name Alga. Kaak is almost certainly a married name (and garbled). --pkeegstra 11:42, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

Note that this death record is for Dora's mother, so Aafke Kraak Sijtsema is evidently the third wife, who outlives Frijdus and remarries.

"Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1878-1994," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N7FB-HGW : accessed 13 February 2016), Aafke Netelborg, 13 Feb 1913; citing , Cook, Illinois, United States, source reference certificate #4583, record number 493, Cook County Courthouse, Chicago; FHL microfilm 1,287,696.