FATHER: Daniel Janssen (Johnson)
Van Gerpen (1806-1853)
MOTHER: Martje (Martha) Folker(t)s Vanderwerf (1809-1878)
MARRIED: HILKA RODENBECK (1850-1929)
April 11, 1872 (Pekin, IL)
CHILDREN:
Adeline ("Ada") Van Gerpen (Bruns) (1876-1957)
Martha Van Gerpen (Kendrick) (1878-1938)
Bertha Van Gerpen (Turner) (1882-1925)
HILDA ("TUDY") VAN GERPEN (ANDRE)
(1894-1976)
Edgar Van Gerpen (1877- c.1877)
Daniel Van Gerpen (1880-1950)
Claus ("Clausy") Van Gerpen (II) (1885-1889)
Henry Van Gerpen (1888-1963)
Opa arrived in the United States on June 28, 1868. He travelled on board the ship SS Magdalene, which ran from Bremen, Germany to New York City.
Read a biography of Claus Van Gerpen from a history of Hartsburg, Illinois.
On a rather strange note, I discovered in the course of my research that Opa had been the second Klaas Daniels Van Gerpen born to his parents. On January 28, 1842, fully seven years before Opa was born , Daniel and Martje Van Gerpen had a son named Klaas Daniels Van Gerpen...who died on February 25, 1847. Two years later they had another son, and gave him the exact same name. That son would survive until adulthood and become my great-great-grandfather.
An ardent supporter of the town, Opa involved himself with a number of town projects throughout his life, including helping to start a band and a school there, and endeavors for his church. As a grocer, his black Avery delivery truck (often driven by his grandson Harold Bruns) became a regular fixture through the first half of the 1920's. The truck also purchased butter, eggs and chickens on its routes. According to the centennial history of Hartsburg, "The man at the wheel always made sure there was plenty of stick candy, sugar candy and gum drops on the truck for the kids at the stops he made."
A member of Grace Methodist Church.
Historical Note: In the summer of 2001, my mom, cousin Kris and I went to Hartsburg. The bank is still there--in the original building, though a different part of it--and had just celebrated its 100th anniversary. The tellers let us take home some centennial souvenirs, as well as looking at historical memorabilia--including a bank ledger signed by Opa and his son Dan several times over. The house Opa built in Hartsburg is still there also; unfortunately the owners weren't at home at the time, so we were only able to stop by the front of it and take pictures. Beside it, the house where his daughter Addie lived is still standing also. And on a completely unrelated note, the bank also boasted a clock with a picture of Mabry's Mill--a historical working mill on the Blue Ridge Parkway just south of my hometown of Vinton, Virginia!
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