Renistra

Christian and Anna Renistra b. 1800

/ Kirstin Miller

Christian and Anna Renistra, 4th great grandparents on RootsMagic tree.

Christian and Anna have one record each. They were probably born in 1800, lived in Harlingen, Friesland, Netherlands. Christian probably died in 1845, Anna probably died in the 1860s. Their 2 records are for the marriage and then death of their daughter Catherina who married Garbrand Roos. Christian and Anna probably had additional kids.

Anna, her last name unknown, is on Catherina’s marriage record of June 14, 1846. The marriage record is handwritten and in German, so it’s a mystery what’s actually written. Catherina and her mom Anna are on the record, dad Christian is not, so probably deceased. Catherina’s husband Garbrand Roos with his parents Jan and Meenke Schroder are also on the 1846 record.

Roos, Garbrand and Catharina Renistra 1846 marriage

Christian and Anna lived in Harlingen, Netherlands, near the Wadden Sea, a strange space -intertidal- on the coasts of Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. The Wadden Sea at high tide is a regular coastline with water, waves. At low tide the sea disappears and the ‘bottom’ of the ocean is exposed for miles, it’s called ‘mudflats’. There are six-and-a-half hours between high tide -1.5 meters, about 5 feet deep; and low tide -mudflats.

Probably shortly after Anna’s death, daughter Catherina with Garbrand and their Roos family migrated to America in 1862, first Illinois, then Grundy County, Iowa. Their son Johan married Lena Wisbar, whose son George Roose and wife Mary Frerichs had a son Stanley Roose, who married Elizabeth Speedy. When Catherina died in Iowa, in 1909 her dad Christian is on her death record, her mom’s name isn’t on the record.

Sources

Catharina Renistra b. 1820

/ Kirstin Miller

Catharina Renistra 3rd great grandmother on RootsMagic tree
Catharina was born the 20th of September 1820 in Harlingen, Friesland, Netherlands.

In 1846 Garbrand Roos crossed the Wadden Sea and married Catharina in Harlingen where their oldest son Jan was born in 1847. The family sailed to New York arriving on August 18, 1862 then went on to Freeport, Illinois where youngest son Johann was born: Johann, father of George Roose, father of Stanley Roose. By 1870 the family was in Iowa, first Grundy then Butler County. They owned land and farmed. Catharina was a widow in 1888 and on the 1900 census she is 78, head of household, living in Butler County. Her occupation was a capitalist: Persons living on income from land, stocks, etc., were to be reported as “Capitalist.” Her income was from farm land.  Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS).

Renistra, Catherina headstone snapshot

This summer, I searched for Catharina’s headstone at the Pleasant View Cemetery in Aplington, Iowa. Catharina’s husband, sons, a daughter, grandchildren all were buried in the cemetery but there was no record or photo of Catharina’s headstone. It turned out Catharina shared a headstone with her husband, her hame, birth and death dates on the alternate side, just not photographed or documented.

Sources

  • Netherlands marriages 1565-1892 database at Family Search

  • New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 at Ancestry

  • Iowa deaths and burials 1850-1990 database at Family Search

  • 1900 United States Federal Census at Ancestry