Antje Tilstra

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Antje Folkerts Tilstra

There is a lot of confusion on the various shared family tree sites (MyHeritage, Ancestry, Geni, FamilySearch, etc.) about two daughters of Folkert Klazes Tilsma/Tilstra and Martha Annes Feenstra who each were given the name Antje. The quick explanation that should resolve the confusion is this:

On May 14, 1836, 31 year old Folkert Klazes Tilstra, the son of Klaas Symons (Tilsma) and Antje Oepkes, married 18 year old Martha Annes Feenstra, the daughter of Anne Jans Feenstra and Antje Sytzes (Politiek). They had 11 children together.

Their first child, a son, was born on March 19, 1837. Per Dutch child-naming traditions their first son was named after his PATERNAL grandfather. Klaas died on March 26, 1840, at the age of 3.

Their second child, a daughter, was born on April 16, 1838. Per Dutch child-naming traditions their first daughter was named after her MATERNAL grandmother. Antje married Jan Koehoorn on May 5, 1871, and they had 5 children together. Antje died on January 2, 1907, at the age of 68.

Their third child, a daughter, was born on December 10, 1839. Per Dutch child-naming traditions their second daughter was named after her PATERNAL grandmother. Antje married Jelle Jans Dokkum on May 2, 1863, and they had 11 children together. Antje died on July 9, 1886, at the age of 46.

Their next 6 children were all daughters: Dieuwke (1841), Janke (1842), Rinske (1844), Anna (1847), Klaaske (1849), and Martha (1853). When Klaaske was born, Folkert and Martha probably thought they wouldn't have any more sons and gave her the feminine version of her PATERNAL grandfather's name. After the six daughters, Folkert and Martha had two sons: Klaas (1855) and Jan (1858).

The facts in the quick explanation seem fairly straight-forward, but there is good reason why there is confusion about the identities of the two Antjes that requires a longer explanation.

A brief overview of some Dutch child-naming traditions

In the Dutch child-naming traditions that were common-place at the time, the first son was named after his PATERNAL grandfather, the second son was named after his MATERNAL grandfather, and subsequent sons were named after other relatives or very close friends. The tradition for naming daughters was a little bit looser and appears to differ a bit by region and family. In some regions, the first daughter was named after her PATERNAL grandmother and in other regions the first daughter was named after her MATERNAL grandmother. In the province of Friesland it's much more common to see the first daughter named after her MATERNAL grandmother, the second daughter named after her PATERNAL grandmother, and subsequent daughters named after other relatives or very close friends. These were long-standing traditions, not rules or laws, and there are plenty of examples that stray from these traditions.

Infant death and child-hood death were common until modern medical and health practices started to reduce childhood deaths in the latter half of the 1800s. When a child died, the next child with the same sex as the deceased child would be given the same name as the deceased child. This tradition of reusing the name of a deceased child seems very strange to many people outside of the Netherlands, but keep in mind that the deceased child had been named after a grandparent or other relative as a sign of respect and reusing the name was not an attempt to forget about the deceased child but a way to continue showing respect to that relative. When doing research on Dutch families living before the 20th century, it's common to find birth records for several children of the same two parents who were each given the same name and in almost all of these cases this reuse of names is due to the earlier child dying before then next one was born.

Researchers will occasionally come across families where half-siblings have the same name. This can happen after a wife dies, the husband remarries, and the new wife also want to have a child named after one of her husband's parents. This naming convention does not appear to be widespread, but there are enough examples to suggest that it was not a singular or rare occurrence.

One other naming convention that is not common, but has enough examples to suggest that it was not a rare thing, is a second or third wife naming her first daughter after her husband's previous wife. This appears to be more common when a man marries the sister of his deceased wife. This practice of marrying a sibling of a deceased spouse was also not rare but seems to be more common in smaller, less-populated communities.

Antje Tilstra (1838) and Antje Tilstra (1839)

There are certain given names that become very popular for a period of time and it's common to find grandfathers with the same name or grandmothers with the same name. Based on the brief outline of Dutch naming traditions given above and the number of times grandparents have the same given names one might think that it would be common for a family to have multiple living children with the same name, but this is not the case. This example of the same two parents, Folkert and Martha, having two living daughters with the name seems to be a singular case, and because it's such a rare thing it adds to the confusion.

As explained in the overview of the naming traditions, when a researcher comes across a family where two or more children of the same sex have the same name, it's almost certain that the earlier-born child died before the next child with the same name was born. This would be the logical assumption when seeing a list of the children of Folkert and Martha. They had two sons named Klaas and there is a record indicating that the earlier-born Klaas died at the age of 3. Having a record of the childhood death of the first Klaas makes it easy to conclude that both the first and second Klaas were named after their paternal grandfather, especially since there aren't any other close relatives named Klaas. Most researchers who discover these two sisters who are both named Antje would probably determine that the earlier-born sister had died before the second sister was born. It's easy to jump to this conclusion even though there is no record of an Antje Tilstra dying between April 16, 1838, and December 10, 1839. The missing death record would be easy to explain away: The formal, state record keeping system had only been started in 1811 so it was still a relatively new thing. Prior to 1811, birth, marriage, and death records were kept by the local church and it was not uncommon for clerics to miss recording deaths, especially of very young children, so it's plausible that the first Antje's death had not been recorded. The literacy rate was not particularly high at the time and standard spelling rules, especially for names, varied from place to place, so maybe the first Antje's death was recorded with strange, alternate spellings of her name and the names of her parents. Maybe the first Antje was stillborn or died later on the same day of her birth but the record keeper only recorded her birth and did not indicate that it was a still-birth. With so many reasons to assume that the earlier-born Antje had died before the second Antje had been born and having only one explanation for why there would be two living daughters with the same name and that one explanation is not seen in any other families, anywhere, the only reasonable conclusion is that the first Antje died before her sister was born.

How does one come to the other conclusion that both Antjes survived into adulthood, as outlined in the quick explanation provided above? This conclusion can only be made after inspecting and comparing the known records for the two Antjes as well as the known records of their parents, grandparents, siblings, and children.

The records of the two Antje Tilstras

There are records for the births of both of the girls named Antje born to Folkert Tilstra and Martha Feenstra. The first Antje was born on April 16, 1838.^[1] The second Antje was born on December 10, 1839.^[2]

There are records of two marriages by a woman named Antje Tilstra whose parents were named Folkert Klazes Tilstra and Martha Annes Feenstra. In the earlier marriage record, dated May 2, 1863, a woman named Antje Folkerts Tilstra, daughter of Folkert Klazes Tilstra and Martha Annes Feenstra, married a man named Jelle Jans Dokkum, the son of Jan Willem Dokkum and Gelland Saskers Reidsma.^[3] In the later marriage record, dated May 5, 1871, a woman named Antje Tilstra, daughter of Folkert Klazes Tilstra and Martha Annes Feenstra, married a man named Jan Koehoorn, the son of Jerke Jans Koehoorn and Fok Pieters Falkema.^[4] In the marriage record from 1871, there is no indication that Antje Tilstra had been previously married. Information about previous marriages was always recorded for second and third marriages to help document the legality of the marriage. It doesn't matter if a previous marriage had ended due to the death of one partner or if the previous marriage had ended in divorce, that information would have been noted in all subsequent marriage records. If Folkert Tilstra and Martha Feenstra had only one of their daughters named Antje Tilstra who survived into adulthood, then in order for her to be able to legally marry Jan Koehoorn in 1871 after she had previously married Jelle Dokkum in 1863, then either Jelle must have died before 1871 or Jelle and Antje would have needed to be divorced. There is no evidence that either of these things happened. The marriage record with Jan Koehoorn does not mention any previous husbands for Antje and there is no record of a divorce between Antje Tilstra and Jelle Dokkum. The record of Jelle Dokkum's death on July 1, 1916, indicates that he was 76 years old when he died and was a widower of Antje Tilstra.^[5] The record of Jan Koehoorn's death on May 2, 1920, indicates that he was 84 years old at the time of his death and was the widower of Antje Tilstra.^[6]

There are eleven records of children being born to Antje Tilstra and Jelle Jans Dokkum spanning the years 1864 - 1882. There are five records of children being born to Antje Tilstra and Jan Koehoorn spanning the years 1871 - 1878. If the earlier-born Antje had died and only the second daughter named Antje survived, then how would it be possible for her to marry Jelle Dokkum in 1863 and bear his children from 1864 to 1882 and also marry Jan Koehoorn in 1871 and bear his children from 1871 to 1878? The only way this could happen if there is only one surviving daughter of Folkert Tilstra and Martha Feenstra named Antje is if Antje and Jelle Dokkum were divorced before Antje married Jan Koehoorn but Antje continued to bear Jelle's children, or there was no divorce and Antje was married to two men at the same time and bearing the children of both men during the time period of 1871 to 1878. While this explanation is possible, it is highly unlikely, and it is absolutely and completely impossible for Antje to birth the twins Fokje Koehoorn and her unnamed, stillborn sibling on July 1, 1871, and also birth the twins Jan and Klaaske Dokkum less than three months later on September 27, 1871, then perform this miracle again by giving birth to the twins Grietje and Baukje Dokkum on July 17, 1876, and also birth Folkert Koehoorn two months later on September 4, 1876. There can be only one explanation for this: Folkert Tilstra and Martha Feenstra had two daughters named Antje and both of the daughters survived into adulthood, were married, and each had children of her own.

1864-03-14 Martha Dokkum
1870-08-20 Gelland Dokkum

1871-07-01 Fokje Koehoorn - (twin)
1871-07-01 Unnamed stillborn infant Koehoorn - (twin)
1871-09-27 Jan Dokkum - (twin)
1871-09-27 Klaaske Dokkum - (twin)

1873-08-03 Jan Dokkum
1874-05-20 Jerke Koehoorn
1875-01-24 Grietje Dokkum

1876-07-17 Grietje Dokkum - (twin)
1876-07-17 Baukje Dokkum - (twin)
1876-09-04 Folkert Koehoorn

1877-09-13 Folkert Dokkum
1878-09-16 Martje Koehoorn
1880-06-19 Grietje Dokkum
1882-03-12 Klaas Dokkum

There are two death records for a woman named Antje Tilstra whose parents are Folkert Klazes Tilstra and Martha Annes Feenstra. In the earlier death record it states that a woman named Antje Folkerts Tilstra, who was the wife of Jelle Jans Dokkum and daughter of Folkert Klazes Tilstra and Martha Annes Feenstra, died on July 9, 1886, at the age of 46 years. In the later death record it states that a woman named Antje Tilstra, who was the wife of Jan Koehoorn and daughter of Folkert Klazes Tilstra and Martha Annes Feenstra, died on January 2, 1907, at the age of 68 years.
(1886: https://www.openarch.nl/frl:148e215b-5160-4bbe-0afa-0a3effd9a120)
(1907: https://www.openarch.nl/frl:ed741697-f0fd-b77e-505b-93a2bb402f79)

Who married whom?

Perhaps one of the things that helps to maintain the confusion about the two Antje Tilstras is how their ages are reported in the marriage records. In both marriage records the age that is given for Antje indicates that it is the older sister who was getting married.

The marriage to Jelle Jans Dokkum took place on May 2, 1863, where the age of the bride is recorded as 25. The wedding date came after the older sister's birthday, April 16, and before the younger sister's birthday, December 10. Subtracting 25 from the wedding year gives 1863 - 25 = 1838, the year the older sister was born. If the younger sister had married Jelle Dokkum on May 2, 1863, then the bride's age should have been recorded as 1863 - 1839 = 24, then subtract one more year from her age because she had not yet had a birthday that year so the younger sister would have been 23.

The marriage to Jan Jerkes Koehoorn took place on May 5, 1871, where the age of the bride is recorded as 33. Again, the wedding date came after the older sister's birthday, April 16, and before the younger sister's birthday, December 10. Subtracting 33 from the wedding year gives 1871 - 33 = 1838, the year the older sister was born. If the younger sister had married Jan Jerkes Koehoorn on May 5, 1871, then the bride's age should have been recorded as 1871 - 1839 = 32, then subtract one year from that age because she had not yet had a birthday that year so the younger sister would have been 31.

The marriage records do not resolve which Antje was married to Jelle Dokkum and which was married to Jan Koehoorn. They both indicate that it was the older sister, which means that the earlier-born Antje did not die before her sister was married, and that causes additional confusion about what happened to the Antje who was born later. The simple solution to this confusion is that one of the two marriage records gives the wron age of the bride at the time of the wedding. There are a number of ways the incorrect age could have been recorded. Maybe the clerk was familiar with the family but was not aware of which sister was getting married and simply recorded the age of the older sister. Perhaps the person relaying the information to the clerk got flustered and gave the age of the older sister when the younger sister was getting married. Maybe the clerk referred to the birth records and mistakingly selected the birth record of the older sister when the younger one was being married. The only thing that can be concluded with some certainty is that one of the two marriage records has the wrong age for the bride.

The death records for the two sisters give some better clarity. One of the two sisters died on July 9, 1886, and her age was recorded as 46. Subtracting the age at the time of death from the year of the death should give the birth year of the sister, 1886 - 46 = 1840. The information is correct if the younger sister died on July 9, 1886, because she had not yet had a birthday that year when she would turn 47. If it was the older sister who died in 1886 her age should have been recorded as 1886 - 1838 = 48 because the older sister had already had a birthday that year.

The other sister died on January 2, 1907. The death occurred very early in the year, before either sister would have had a birthday, so we expect her age to be one less than indicated by subtracting the birth year from the year she died. Another way to describe it is that we need to add one to the age at death before subtracting that age from the year of death to find the year the sister was born. The age of the sister who died on January 2, 1907, was 68. That sister would have turned 69 on her birthday in 1907, so 1907 - 69 = 1838, the birth year of the older Antje.

From the death records we can conclude that the Antje who was born in April, 1838, married Jan Koehoorn in May, 1871, and died in January, 1907, when she was 68 years old. The Antje who was born in December, 1839, married Jelle Dokkum in May, 1863, and died in July, 1886, when she was 46 years old.

Conclusion

In many ways the details of Antje Tilstra and her sister, Antje Tilstra, and who they married does not matter. Descendents of either of these two sisters will eventually trace the birth, death, and marriage records or their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents to either Antje Tilstra and Jelle Dokkum, or to Antje Tilstra and Jan Koehoorn. Based on those records it will be clear whether their ancestor is Jelle Dokkum or Jan Koehoorn and there will be no confusion about which lineage to follow further back in time. Also, it doesn't matter which of the two sisters named Antje Tilstra they find in their lineage because both of them were daughters of Folkert Tilstra and Martha Feenstra and there is no confusion about following the lineages of Folkert and Martha not matter which Antje is recorded.

However, genealogists, historians, family archivists, etc., should take care to record the histories and lineages as accurately as possible. These two sisters appear in too many publicly available family trees where the earlier born sister is assumed to have died before the second sister was born and then the younger Antje is listed as being married to both Jelle Dokkum and Jan Koehoorn with various numbers of children of both sisters and having all the children with the surname Dokkum or Koehoorn, or sometimes both surnames are provided for some children. The free flow of family records information through the internet has been a blessing for those who are researching family histories from far away places, but that same free flow of information has been a curse when bits and pieces of incomplete research and incorrect information are shared so widely and so quickly. Hopefully, researchers who discover Folkert Tilstra, Martha Feenstra, and their two grown-up daughters in their family tree will also stumble across the information presented here and some of the bad information will be corrected. Also, if a future researcher finds errors in the information presented here and the conclusions there are drawn from that information, they will be able to correct those mistakes and pass on their better information to the generations that follow after them.

Sources

1. ↑ AlleFriezen in Leeuwarden, Civil registration births Burgerlijke Stand Wonseradeel - Tresoar, Bron: boek, Part: 1024, Period: 1838, Wonseradeel, archive 30-42, inventory number 1024, April 18, 1838, Geboorteregister 1838, folio 56
2. ↑ AlleFriezen in Leeuwarden, Civil registration births Burgerlijke Stand Wonseradeel - Tresoar, Bron: boek, Part: 1025, Period: 1839, Wonseradeel, archive 30-42, inventory number 1025, December 11, 1839, Geboorteregister 1839, folio 142
3. ↑ AlleFriezen in Leeuwarden (Netherlands), Civil registration marriages Burgerlijke Stand Hemelumer Oldeferd - Tresoar, Bron: boek, Part: 2009, Period: 1863, Hemelumer Oldeferd, archive 30-17, inventory number 2009, May 2, 1863, Huwelijksregister 1863, record number 8
4. ↑ AlleFriezen in Leeuwarden (Netherlands), Civil registration marriages Burgerlijke Stand Hemelumer Oldeferd - Tresoar, Bron: boek, Part: 2011, Period: 1871, Hemelumer Oldeferd, archive 30-17, inventory number 2011, May 5, 1871, Huwelijksregister 1871, record number 4
5. ↑ AlleFriezen in Leeuwarden (Netherlands), Civil registration deaths Burgerlijke Stand Hemelumer Oldeferd - Tresoar, Bron: boek, Part: 3035, Period: 1916, Hemelumer Oldeferd, archive 30-17, inventory number 3035, July 3, 1916, Overlijdensregister 1916, record number 49
6. ↑ AlleFriezen in Leeuwarden (Netherlands), Civil registration deaths Burgerlijke Stand Hemelumer Oldeferd - Tresoar, Bron: boek, Part: 3039, Period: 1920, Hemelumer Oldeferd, archive 30-17, inventory number 3039, May 3, 1920, Overlijdensregister 1920, record number 29