Hop relatives come to America

To find more information on the Hops in Michigan I searched Ancestry.com for individual given names I knew were related.  In a search for Jacob Hop, it came up with 9 Jacobs on passenger lists.  One of these was an Arrival in 1867 of Jacob born about 1866.  This fit well with one a Jacob I was interested in - son of Brand Hop and Lubbertjen Luchtenberg.  His mother was related to me on two lines - her mother was the sister of Aalt Lubbertsen Hop, her father was the brother of Pietertje Willems.  Aalt and Pietertje were the parents of Lubbertje Hop, wife of Willem Morren.  So, two of my great-great-great-great-grandfathers were Jacob's great-grandfathers.  Got that??  I think Brand Hop (father of Jacob) is also related to me, but not sure yet.

So. I pulled up the image of that passenger list   It was definitely the Jacob of interest.  Listed directly above him is Jan Witteveen, age 14.  This is Jacob's half-brother from his mother's first marriage, to Jan Witteveen. (Jan the father died in October 1852, and Jan the son was born in February of 1853.) Next above on the passenger list are Wilhelm ", Jeannette  " and above that Hendrik  ".  I believe them to be Willem, Jannitje and Hendrik Luchtenberg - the brother, sister and father of Lubbertje.  Then is Lubbertje Luchtenberg  and listed above her name, Brand Hop.

So, clearly, this is the Luchtenberg family related to me..  It certainly helps that on this list the women are listed under their own surnames in the Dutch manner, not under the husband's name.

But - the real find of this story is this:
Since I was already browsing the list to find who was traveling with Jacob, I continued to scroll up the list.  Next was a Timmer family.  I know there are Timmers from the same village and who married Hops (although so far not proven to be related).
Next up the list -- my Morren family!! But that is a whole other story...

more on the Morrens

So now I know that the woman listed with the family in the church register is NOT the mother of the children.  But another interesting finding is that one of the children listed, Cornelia, actually died in the Netherlands and never was at the North Holland Church!

On the 17 April 1866, Cornelia Morren, age 14, daughter of Willem Morren and Lubbertje Hop, deceased, died.  It reported and signed by Willem Morren, father.  Signature is the same as on his marriage record.

Morren marriages

Once I found the birth registrations for the Morren children naming their mother as Lubbertje Aalts Hop, I had to resolve this conflict. Up 'til then, I had named Neeltje Dekker as the mother. After all, she is named in the list of the family in the North Holland Church register, census records and she is buried beside Willem Morren. SO next up was a search of the marriage registers.

Here is the marriage certificate of Willem Morren and Lubbertje Aalts Hop.

What this says is (briefly) that on the 19th of January 1848, Willem Morren, bachelor, age 24, farmer, born in Ermelo, living in Harderwijk, son of Jan Morren and Cornelia van Welsum
and Lubbertje Aalts Hop, maiden, age 24, no occupation, born and living in Harderwijk, daughter of Aalt Lubbertsen Hop and Petertje Willems, both deceased
were married, having filed the following papers: certificate of groom's military service, extract of the groom's birth record, extract of the bride's birth record, and extracts of the death certificates of both of the bride's parents. (That last part I cropped off)

Next to find was if there was a death certificate for Lubbertje Hop.  And, for sure, it was there.

It starts out with a staement of who is making the report of death and then states that on Wednesday the 26th of December 1860, Lubbertjen Hop, wife of Willem Morren, born and resident of Harderwijk, daughter of Aalt Lubertsen Hop and his wife Petertje Willems, died at the age of 36.

Thanks to all the detail in these records, it is easy to see that they are talking about the same person.
Just to put the final piece in place, I next found a marriage record for Willem Morren and Neeltje Dekker. I don't have the certificate scanned, but here is the online extract of the marriage:

This gives Willem's parents, so we know it is the same Willem, and also identifies him as the widower of Lubbertje Hop.  In 1865, Willem married Neeltje and a couple years later they came with the children to America.

Morren children

At the Family History Library, I set out to get copies of the birth registrations for the immigrant ancestors - or as many as possible. For the Morren family, I had birth dates as recorded in the North Holland Church register. [see Dec. 6 post] So it was not necessary to look in the tien-jarige tafel (10-year index). I started with Aaltje Morren, as she is my direct ancestor (great-grandmother). I pulled the film covering the time of her birth (according to the church record) 30 Nov 1854.
What this says is that on the first of December, 1854, Willem Morren, age 30, farmer, came to the the registrar in the town of Harderwijk to report that on the 30th of November in the village of Hierden, his wife Lubbertje Aalts Hop, age 29, gave birth to a female child named Aaltje. Hmm, right date, but not the mother I'm looking for. Could there be 2 Willem Morrens having 2 daughters named Aaltje? Born on the same day????
Well, maybe a mistake was made.

What about the other children? The oldest was Petertje, born 11 May 1849.

Hmm, right date and name, same other woman for the mother.


Kornelia, born 3 November 1851. Same story. Aaltje was next, born 1854.





Jan was the next child after Aaltje, born 2 September 1857 according to the church, and his birth registration -- and also the child of Lubbertje Hop.



And the youngest was Willempje, born 18 December 1860.


Not likely that an error was made in recording the name of the mother 5 times!! Not likely that there are 2 Willems each having five children of the exact birthdates and names! No, clearly the mother of the children of Willem Morren was Lubbertje Hop. So who is Neeltje Dekker, named in the North Holland (Michigan) Reformed Church register and buried beside Willem Morren in North Holland Cemetery???
A new puzzle to solve.