I found something interesting about Tom Waldecker’s trip to the US. I had heard from someone that he was a stowaway. However, I found what I think is his name on a passenger list. The name of the ship is the Werkendam. It is a Netherlander ship. The ports of departure for this trip are listed as Boulogne, France and Rotterdam, Netherlands. His name as written by the people who transcribed the passenger list is Thye Waldecker, but I looked at the original passenger list, and it could easily be Thije, which is a name we have known him by. His estimated date of birth is 1871, and his age is 20, which fits exactly. The arrival port was New York City, and the arrival date was June 26, 1891. That’s the year we thought he arrived. Furthermore, as best I can make out, his intended destination is Aplington, Iowa. I looked this city up and it is about 247 miles from Ellsworth, MN, where they eventually settled. However, there is one strange thing. According to the passenger list he died en route! Did he somehow fake his death in order to get a refund sent back to his family and Kate so they could come?
A mystery…
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Interesting. And to add to the intrigue, when we lived in rural northern Iowa, we lived just outside of Aplington (2 miles away).
My guess is they might not have been able to get reimbursed for such things back then. Given the information we have received that he left Germany in order to avoid the draft, maybe faking his death was the only way to keep the German military from tracking him down.
Aplington was established in 1857. The Illinois Central Railroad passed through it by 1865 and a depot was established in 1867. By 1887 there were 427 residents.
fascinating! Do you know anything about this mystery, Poppop?
I wonder how Trintje would have felt if she had heard that Thije had died. Family history is awesome!
I wonder what it was in Aplington that attracted Thije. Some other relative, perhaps?
We have had much lively discussion about our ancestry. Maybe Kate and Tom planned an elaborate plan for him to “die” and then…well, I don’t know. But my Daddy suggested, and I am truly considering it, getting a major in IDS with concentrations in English, History and German and then write a historical fiction about our family history!Fun, fun!
This is all very interesting! I wish we could ask him!
I have never heard of such a thing. If it were true I believe that I would have heard something about it. The only story I ever heard was that while living in Holland, he and his future brother-in-law oncesaw a blacksmith with a long beard. Grandpa went up to him amd pulled his beard and said, “Baa, Baa.”
Whereupon the blacksmith struck him with an instrument that he had in his hand. Grandpa was able to move so as to avoid injury, but the instrument tore his clothing from top to bottom. Later they decided that they woul accost the man and do him harm. They waited in concealment for him to show on several occasions, but he never showed up.Grandpa told us that was good, for if he had shown up they intented to strike him down and throw him in the canal. Dad W.
Praise God, for preventing them from doing the man harm!
Yes, praise the Lord! Who knows, he may never have arrived in the U.S. – and then where would WE be?!
Here is a comment I received by email from Cecilia Waldecker Hinker (daughter of Fred Waldecker):
Gary– I heard too that he was stowaway, and that he sent for Kate after he had been here for a short time. No one knew where he obtained the money
for Kate to come to the USA. If he “died” on ship or jumped I never heard of this. That doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen. The older people [sometimes] keep things from their kids.