Tekoppel in the USA

The name Te(n) Koppel(e) occurs in different forms in the Achterhoek a part of the province Gelderland. A koppel was in the Middle Ages a communal meadow, often owned by the church. People who lived there were called Koppelman. That name still occurs in the family.

Eefsel or Het Meken?
On April 24, 1821 the 80-year-old Garrit Jan te Koppel (1741), son of ancestors Teunis te Koppele and Garritjen Laarburg, dies on Lievelde 91 (which is now on the Grensweg north of Lievelde). His son Antonius te Koppel dies in 1848 on Lievelde 97d, a few plots further along the Droebertweg opposite the current fish ponds, called the neighborhood Eefsel. This heritage (cadasternumbers 85 to 99, except 92) was called caterstede Druperink in the 19th century. Although we have no proof that the Koppels of Book 1 and Book 2 belong to the same family, it is still interesting that caterstede Droebert in 1830 is in the land register on the property of Garrit Jan te Koppele (1784) from Book 2, who in 1833 dies on Lievelde 54, two plots further on the current Droebertweg 2. And on Droebert two generations of Book 1 died, while they (at least according to the Land Registry Antonius) always worked and lived at Het Meken (“Op Mekes in den bosch” according to the cadastral map of 1828, see also below).

Het Meken was owned and/or in usufruct of Jan Derk Klein Ikink and consorts, according to the Land Registry of 1828. Those consorts, was that Garrit Jan (1741) among others? This has yet to be confirmed on paper, but given all circumstances, for example that he is married there and his children were born there, we may take this into account. And if you have to share a heritage with consorts, is not it a great reason to want to die with your own family on Eefsel? Incidentally, the above indicates that the aforementioned heritage was also a koppel. What exactly the definition of a koppel (medieval: coppel) was can be found in the chapter “Het Koppel in Avest”.

There in Eefsel, or at Het Meken, between Groenlo and Lichtenvoorde in the Achterhoek are apparently the first demonstrable roots of the Ten Koppel family. At least, so far we come now. If it turns out that the ancestors of father Teunis connect with Book 2, the roots are in Avest and the family tree goes back to the 17th century. The father of Garrit Jan, Teunis, is married to Garritjen Laarburg. The heritage Laarberg (error is normal at that time) is close to Avest, in that time belonging to the municipality of Groenlo. And see here: another important link to Book 2.

But for a conclusive paper proof for the connection of the two Books, we encounter various problems. The birth of Garrit Jan (1741) can not be found in Groenlo and Lichtenvoorde. We do not know where he was born. We can not find a birth certificate from one Teunis te(n) Koppel(e) or Koppelman around 1700 either. Perhaps this must be carefully looked for again. Ancestor Teunis from book 2 (married to Henne Huijskes) and ancestor Teunis from Boek 1 (married to Garritjen Laarburg) can not be the same person. From Teunis from Book 2 is certain that he died in April 1785. And because the marriage of Garrit Jan van Boek 1 in 1778 mentions that father Teunis has already died, this can never be the same. The connection must therefore take place even further back in time. Much research needs to be done here and that will not be easy.

Formally, we still assume that we are talking about different families until further research proves otherwise. As it now stands, only a DNA study will be able to give a definite answer about the blood relationship when it comes to the families in Books 1 and 2. But the above brings us quite close to a probability bordering on certainty that the Books 1 and 2 can be merged together.

Connection to Book 4 is also possible. Although we will never be able to prove it with DNA again, because the family branch has died. Predator Teunis te Koppele (about 1720) could be a brother of Jan te Koppele (ca. 1725) progenitor of Book 4. At that time it was common for sons to work as a servant to neighbors if there was no room on their own farm. And then more often a farm in the neighborhood is taken over from where they start a family again. Further in time we will see close mutual relationships in both family branches. Coincidence?

Family parents at ’t Meken
Back to the origins of the family branch of Book 1. In 1778, in Lichtenvoorde, the 37 year old Garrit Jan te Koppele married “op ’t Meken” (as mentioned) with the 23 year old Willemina Störteler from Lichtenvoorde. At the time of Garrit’s marriage, Father Teunis had already died. ’t Meken (or “Op Mekes” as old maps also show it) was a farm located next to the current Poelhuttersslatdijk number 2, between the Berkendijk, the Voshuttendijk and the Boslaan in “den bosch”, an area north of the village of Lichtenvoorde. The oldest residents /successors inherited the farm as always in the past. Marriage with a Storteler is not that surprising. The heritage of Storteler is a few minutes walk from Het Meken, on the Stegge. And that is again in the direction of Avest. Keep an eye on it!

First son: pedigree is dead
The eldest son, Antonius (1779), therefore takes over the farm according to traditions. Antonius (1779) had a son Jannes in 1822, who emigrated to the US at the age of 24 and produced the Tekoppel family in Evansville, Indiana.

In the beginning of the 20th century, according to the land register “at Meekes in den bosch”, there was still a Te Koppel. Around 1905 there lived on B64 (cadastre) Antonie te Koppele (1843, grandson from Antonius 1779) with his wife Johanna Rondeel and his sister-in-law J. Rondeel. They had no children. An old relative of the Wessels family from Vragender (Lichtenvoorde) told us that the family did have an adopted child named Klein Gunnewick. This would later take over Het Meken and the name Ten Koppel therefore disappears at that location. Until then, at least five generations of Koppels lived there. In 1993 A. Klein Gunnewiek lived in the De Huurne or Huurneman farm.

Stamboom Boek 1

Second son: family tree expands in the Netherlands
The second son of Garrit Jan, Jan Berend ten Koppel, goes directly after his marriage on February 2, 1815 with Geertruij Bloemendaal from Lichtenvoorde to Barneveld, to continue his life as a saddler. The farm was probably too small for several successors. In the first half of the 19th century the population expanded considerably in the Achterhoek and there was relatively far-reaching mechanization, which caused a high level of unemployment. A second important cause may have been that residents from the Westphalian region were afraid of German military service in the Napoleonic era. There are indications that a large part of the population around that time (in retrospect, wrongly) escape the war urge of politics.

Apparently our family did not really want to make themselves known as a Catholic. This is evidenced by the fact that in the list “Catholic residents, from the Münsterland, in the population register of Barneveld of 1827” it is mentioned that the Berendina Benning born in 1741 in Bocholt lived with Jan Berend. She had already reached the age of 86 at that time. But the name of Jan Berend and his family themselves are nowhere in the lists. They were still relatively young. It was then apparently not always convenient to come out in such a closed community. Reformed marrying in Barneveld, and then a month later marrying Catholic in Achterveld was also no exception at that time. This was also evident from the various double marriages with the Strik family. It is possible that this has also played with our family, but that has not been searched for.

Incidentally, it was customary then that migrants helped each other and catch up on arrival in the new residence.

From Barneveld the family tree splits further into the Netherlands in what we call the “Barneveld branch” and the “Zwolle branch”.

America was discovered by the emigrant. Initially the wave emigration started around the Teutoburg Forest in the Kreisen Minden and Teckelenburg (Germany). The wave then spread to the west. However, inspirational messages from America must have reached faster than the movement of this wave of East Netherlands. In a letter written on April 27, 1845 by the District Commissioner in Zutphen to the Gouverneur van Gelderland (the current Queen’s Commissioner), we read that the relocations from the municipalities of Eibergen and Winterswijk in the previous year “should be attributed to the favorable reports by emigrants from the neighboring Prussian congregations to their relations there about the improvement of their condition in America as a result of several merits notwithstanding reduced labor because they had to pay no or little taxes“. Relatively speaking, the Achterhoekers make a large part of the emigration in East Netherlands and Prussia.  And if we look at the statistics, the number of emigrants to other countries in those years was negligible.

The factors that made emigration mature accumulated:
a) population increase;
b) inflation: although wages did not rise (a day laborer earned about 8 pence per day),           this was not the case with the prices of meat and butter. In some cases they went up           200%; rye price fell very sharply;
c) unstable secondary occupations, mainly caused by mechanization;
d) the tax burden, between 5 and 10% for various acts such as handling and
slaughtering cattle. In front of that time increasingly a noose around the neck.
e) The potato crises of 1840 will also have its bit contributed to mass emigration.

In 1832 there was a nationwide cholera epidemic.

In 1847 there was a devastating famine. Potato diseases, failed grain harvests etc., everything came together. A lot of people came through it to life. Families often had to pass from several family members dying farewell in a very short time.

In the initial period, the following numbers are from the Eibergers to the US left:
30 to New Orleans
12 to Evansville
5 to Louisiana
5 to Louisville
13 to New York

It is thus, inter alia, against the stream over the Mississippi.

From New York the emigrant went to Evansville and Louisville. In that neighborhood there may still be an Eibergen settlement. We come across many Dutch and German (Prussian) names in the area of Evansville.

The move was all the more remarkable because the life of the Achterhoek farmers was claimed by a large degree of stability. Many letters returned from the many emigrants to the Achterhoek. There remain very enthusiastic stories, wearing those letters from hand to hand. Everyone noticed that it had to be great there.

For instance, from Lichtenvoorde in November 1845, Jan te Koppel [165] (family Ten Koppel), in April 1846 at age 24 Jannes te Koppele [182] (family Ten Koppel) and on April 23, 1849 at 34 years old his sister Hendrike [179] emigrated to America. We suspect that around this time several Koppels have emigrated to America. The family now lives (2012) in Evansville (Indiana) and is called Tekoppel.

As far as we know, no correspondence has been left from our relatives who left from the Netherlands to the US. But Jan te Selle, who emigrated from Winterswijk in 1865, wrote the following in dialect:

“Another letter Mother and Brothers, of which I can no longer remember my heart to write it to you. I often think of Holland as that Old Fatherland, when I think about how many people there are and also some of my own brothers. how they have to work from the early morning till late and then with a little compensation, I often think they were here, and I think of my own how to put it on the table three times a day so much bacon and meat if we only lust, oh what a stir I have with many of my brothers. The lord Thank you for giving me such a possession, but before I went to marriage I constantly prayed to the Lord and asked as David did, I will go up. When I left Holland, Brother Jan Hendrik had three times as much as I did, but now I have thirty times more than he, the times can change. In the sunday mornings I say to the servant, put the horses in front of the car and that is how I and my wife go in the car and drive to church. Many times tears come to my mind that I think how the Lord has given me such a blessing.”

This indicates that the situation in the Achterhoek was very bad or that in the US very good. And many researchers attribute it to both.

The NRC Handelsblad of 16 March 1847 reports that three ships with cargo are waiting for departure to Baltimore in the port of Rotterdam. Here were possible Achterhoekers who went to Rotterdam via Arnhem. The “Register van Zeetijdingen” reports that on 12 September 1850 the American frigate “Edwina” departed from Hellevoetsluis to New York. The passengers were boarded in Rotterdam. Further research into this has not yet been done by the Family Archive.

In 1862, the Homestead Act came into being in the US. It was specifically intended to attract farmers to the large flat areas. Every head of a family that was at least 21 years old was allocated an area of ​​160 acres from the state. If he settled there for at least 5 years, then only the registration fees had to be paid. That obviously attracted a lot of people.

In the period 1862 to 1873 138 people left from Eibergen to North America and nobody to the south. Much research will still have to be done to oversee the consequences of this “craze”. That there are several Koppels in America (and other parts of the world) is clear. Although it is of course not excluded, one can suspect that they are not all descendants of these few persons.

Het Koppel in Avest
In “Zettel aller feuwrstetten im kerspell Eyberghe. Verzeignett am 6en septembris anno 1584 “, or a list of all the fireplaces and hearths in Eibergen, has already included a Koppelman in the list of heirs and small farms from Beltrum, Lintvelde and Avest. What a pity that the guardian in the list of Avest did not make a distinction between large and small heirs, which was done in most neighborhoods. This list was drawn up by the guardians of Borculo on behalf of the Commissioners of Münster. The purpose of this was to ascertain which rights had then expired to the bishop of Münster. The list contains a statement of renters, a form of tax, paid in poultry.

Het Koppel has been the residence of Koppelman for many centuries, as they were called in that area, from Book 2. It was on the current Spilmansdijk number 3. The Geessink family now lives there. The yard is located between the Spilmansdijk, Horsterweg, Meenweg and Deventer Kunstweg in Beltrum, near the border of Eibergen. Het Koppel fell under the “rot” Nahuis (population 1804), fief of the lords of Borculo.

Het Koppel is indicated on one of the first official maps of Beltrum. At the same time, between 1817 and 1825, the farm names and owners were also published.

From an undated document, the “Verbaell van Beltrum”, by the regional archivist of Gelderland Mr. H. Nijman estimated around 1650, in Avest, a neighborhood of Beltrum, d’Coppele is mentioned with vague dimensions. The document provides a summary of 18 farms with the assets mentioned. d’Coppele is described as follows:
d’Coppele, 3 mlr. saet groet, met een mathe van 1 1/2 dach meiens (or: De Koppele is 3 molder seed large with a meadow of 1.5 days of mowing).

From the same document we can conclude that we are talking about the same Koppel here as the Koppel mentioned in the land register of 1832.

A molder seed was an expression in the amount of sowing rye that one needed to sow the land. The following calculation was generally used:

1 molder seed is 4 bushel. 1 bushel is 4 spins. And 1 spin is an old measure for dry goods, 5 cups, the twentieth part of a hectolitre. So 1 molder seed was equal to 4x4x1/20 hl = 80 liters. In order to sow d’Coppele with rye, 240 liters of sowing rye were needed. According to the assumptions of municipal archivist B.J. Dorrestein (periodical Society for Archeology in Lichtenvoorde, number 14 of December 1982 page 8) is the Borculose molder at that time 4/9 hectare. Which means that 3 molder is an area of ​​approximately 13,333 m2.

In 1820 it was standard that 10 bushes were equal to 1 hectare. In other literature, however, there is 1 Gelderland bushel that is 1,450 m2. In that case, d’Coppele must be calculated as follows:

3 molder x 4 = 12 bushel. 12 x 1,450 m2 = 17,400 m2. You see it. That saves 0.4 hectares, but in different regions quite different sizes were followed, so that actual calculation is not possible, but an approach. That confusions are possible is evident from the fact that there are also sources that indicate that a bushel is equal to 10 liters of dry commodity and a spint is 7 liters. Wikipedia indicates that the Zutphen spint is a surface area of ​​196 m2.

Incidentally, in the “Verbaell van Beltrum” there is also called a farm d’Coppelenboom with almost the same size.

To gain further insight into the size, the following. The mission of “Avest Neighborhood” counted a total of 63 molder (over 28 hectares according to the first calculation method – apparently only about agricultural land) or 10.5 days of mowing. Molder is indicated on 16 farms. With an average of 3.9 molder, with a reasonable distribution among the farms, the size of d’Coppele was almost 1 molder below average. With a large number of farms, the number of days of mowing was not specified.

In the literature it is also indicated that a “Dagmaeiens” (day mowing) is the area that can be mown by one man in one day. One dagmaeiens would be 5 bushes, which is more than half a hectare. If we then calculate an average of 1.5 days of mowing per farm (of 7 farms this was specified), this should not be seen as representative. It is safe to say that a modal farmer in Avest had to work a piece of land for himself of 1.5 to 2 hectares.

Jannes (or: Jan) te Koppel
Jan te Koppel born in 1788 at “Het Meeken” in Lichtenvoorde (Boek 1) emigrated to the USA in 1845. The son of his brother, Jannes (born 1822) went later to the USA (see below). We know that Jan arrived with his wife Hendrika Gebbink and daughter Berendina in Baltimore. It is possible that there were only girls in the family so that the name Tekoppel disappeared. We are not sure about that.

The common ancestor of the Dutch family, Ten Koppel, and the USA Tekoppel family was Garrit Jan te Koppel, born in about 1741. He had five sons and lived in Lichtenvoorde (Lievelde), a little village in the east of the Netherlands. One of the sons we mentioned here before, Jan (1788).

Garrit Jan had a son Antonius born 1779 and a grandson Jannes born 1822 who crossed the ocean and arrived on june 18th, 1846 as a bachelor in New York with the ship “Factory” from Rotterdam. He probably not moved immediately to Evansville. In 1855 he arrived in Evansville. There arose the Tekoppel family. His sister Hendrieke, born in 1815, also emigrated and came to the USA in 1849,

Another son of Garrit Jan, named Jan Berend, moved to Barneveld in 1815. There arose the Ten Koppel family.

The economic situation was the reason that people left their homeland. There was not enough property and employability for all the sons in the family. It was economically a very bad time in the first half of the 19th century.

Click here for decendants John Tekoppel 1822 (Jannes te Koppele)

John (Jannes) merried in the USA with Elisabeth ten Hünfeld born in the Pruissen, the same environment, but the current German side. Jannes died in 1861 when he was 39. Elisabeth merried in 1862 with John Nunning. So the Nunning family is close to our Tekoppel family in Evansville.

In Boek 1: Ten Koppel heeft u kunnen lezen dat Jan ten Koppel, die in 1788 op Het Meeken aan de huidige Poelhuttersslatdijk is geboren, in 1845 naar de Vereningde Staten is geëmigreerd. Hij kwam daar samen met zijn vrouw Hendrika Gebbink en dochtertje Berendina van 1 jaar aan in Baltimore, Maryland. We moeten hun spoor nog zien te vinden, maar het is niet uitgelsoten dat er geen mannelijke nakomelingen meer zijn geweest van die familie.

Jannes te Koppele die in 1822 ook op Het Meeken is geboren, zoon van broer Antonius van de zojuist besproken Jan (1788), is in 1846 naar de VS geëmigreerd. Daar kwam hij als vrijgezel aan in New York met het schip Factory vanaf Rotterdam. In 1955 is hij in Evansville ingeschreven. En daar is de familie verder ontwikkeld.
Zijn zus Hendrike is volgens het bevolkingsregister op 23 april 1849 naar Amerika verhuisd, 3 jaar na haar broer Johannes. Zij is op 30 september 1849 aangekomen in Baltimore, Maryland, met het schip Pioneer.
Van Jannes en zijn nakomelingen hebben wij inmiddels heel veel gegevens, maar van Hendrike nog niet. Hiernaar moet nog onderzoek worden gedaan.

Jannes gaat in de VS trouwen met Elisabeth Ten Hünfeld die ook uit de omgeving van de Achterhoek komt (Pruissen) en zijn nageslacht gaat verder onder de familienaam Tekoppel. Jannes overlijdt echter op jonge leeftijd van 39 jaren in 1861, maar laat wel voor het nageslacht in de VS drie kinderen achter, waarvan twee jongens. Echter weet Ancestry.com wel fijntjes uit te rekenen dat de Tekoppels gemiddeld langer leven dan de gemiddelde tijdgenoten die in hun omvangrijke database zijn geregistreerd.
Echtgenote Elisabeth gaat na het overlijden van Jannes in 1862 trouwen met John Nunning en krijgt met hem ook weer kinderen.

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