Contributed by:


Jane Goodrich



On May 11, 1882 Sybe (Siebe) Jans Palma from Hogebeintum, widower of Grietje Joekes Riesema and greatgrandson of the wellknown Secessionist Jan Sybes Palma (vide also: Secessionists Ferwerd), married at Grand Rapids, Michigan to Sara (Sarah) Gerrits Engbrenghof from Marrum.
While doing research in Michigan a couple of years ago, I found a bit more on Sybe & Sarah and some of Sarah's siblings:

-   Sybe Jans Palma b. March 18, 1855 Hogebeintum, Friesland, Netherlands, died: January 27, 1910 at Grand Rapids, Michigan of heart valvular disease.
 
    married, May 11, 1882, Grand Rapids:

-   Sarah Gerrits Engbrenghof b. February 5, 1854 Marrum, Friesland, Netherlands, died: May 11, 192 at Grand Rapids, Michigan of apoplexy.

       Sources:
       Sybe's and Sarah's wedding: Book 6, Page 219 Grand Rapids.

       Sarah's death: Book 11, Page 112 Grand Rapids.
       Sybe's death: Book 7 Pg 320 Grand Rapids.

Sarah and Sybe's children:

-   Anna Palma b December 31, 1883 Grand Rapids
-   Jan Palma b April 1885 Grand Rapids d August 1885 Grand Rapids
-   Jan Palma b July 17, 1886 Grand Rapids d July 1959 ? m: Kate Klaus
-   Sjoukje Palma b October 3, 1887 Grant, Michigan d May 1894 Grant, Michigan
-   Gerrit Palma b November 26, 1888 d February 15, 1959 Grand Rapids
-   Jantje Palma b December 29, 1889 d February 1956 Cutlerville, Michigan
-   Martha Palma b February 5, 1891 d September 7, 1891
-   Martha Palma b August 19, 1892 d Oct 23, 1893
-   Martha Palma b December 10, 1893 d February 15, 1970 m: John Spoelstra
-   Sadie Palma b October 10, 1895 d January 20, 1965 Grand Rapids
-   Sarah Palma b May 22, 1899 Grand Rapids, Michigan d June 11, 1991 Grand Rapids

Sybe was a "string butcher" in Grand Rapids which means he was a sausage maker. The family endured some hard times during the mid 1880's and moved north to Grant, Michigan and to some other addresses while Sybe did some farm work. The little daughter Sjoukje who died in Grant was buried there, but when the family was finally able to return to Grand Rapids when times got better, they had Sjoukje's body exhumed and moved back to Grand Rapids to be reburied. This was a somewhat unusual thing to do and may indicate the strong family ties as well as the ties the family had to the Grand Rapids area. Along with quite a few childhood deaths, the family was also plagued with children who were born mentally handicapped. Family history has it that one of the children was functionally "retarded" whereas two others were "slow" and never moved away from home or married. Gerrit, Jantje, and Sadie all lived together in their family home until they all finally died.

Sarah, the youngest child, lived some of her early years with her siblings and helped to take care of them. She worked all her life in a factory that manufactured industrial belting, never married and assumed financial responsibility over her siblings Gerrit, Jantje and Sadie. Despite this, Sarah earned her driver's licence, succesfully speculated in the stock market and led a fulfilling life as an early model of the "liberated woman".

Sarah Gerrits Engbrenghof's sibling Lieuwe Gerrits Engbrenghof and his wife Hiltje Douwes Jeltema were struck by misfortune too: there were many deaths for the children of Lieuwe and Hiltje who, so I've been told, owned a hardware store in Grand Rapids. Hiltje's name is also given as Helen and Lieuwe's name was sometimes given as Lewis. The below records show the children who died at a very young age:

-   Harmke Engbrenghof died March 17, 1890  Age 5 Book 3 Page 206 Died of "croup"
-   Antje Engbrenghof died April 12, 1890 Age 4, Book 3 Page 206. Died of diphtheria
-   Gerrit Engbrenghof died April 3, 1890 Age 3, Book 3 Page 206. Died of diphtheria
-   Douwminecus Engbrenghof  died August 18, 1889 Age 1  Book 3 Page 206 Died of "summer complaint"
-   Harmke Engbrenghof died October 1, 1897 Age 4, Book 4 Page 328. Died of diphtheria
-   Antje Engbrenghof died October 14, 1899, Age 2 Book 5, Page 121, Died of pneumonia
-   Nicholas Engbrenghof died July 28, 1899, Age 9 months, Book 5 Page 109, Died of "infant cholera"
-   Nicholas Engbrenghof died October 6, 1906, Age 6 yrs Book 6 Page 383.

In other words: none of these children lived to be older than 6 years. However, the obituaries of Lieuwe and Hiltje both show that nonetheless they were survived by three sons: Douwminecus (Menus), Garrit and Martin.

 

Garrit (Gerrit) Engbrenghof
Grand Rapids - ca. 1920

Courtesy of:
Linda Engbrenghof
California


Some of Sarah's other siblings who emigrated to the USA were:

-   Marten Gerrits Engbrenghof: died of tuberculosis in Grand Rapids, m: Baukje Jans Zoodsma.
-   Jacob Gerrits Engbrenghof: his wife had a first name of Tjietske and he was a celery farmer and junk dealer. He died May 7, 1923 in Walker Township, 
    Michigan age 58 years. Recorded in Book 11,
page 377.
-   Sjoukje Gerrits Engbrenghof: married Rienk Bergsma who was a building contractor and grocery store owner. They had the following children: Rose
    Bergsma, Gerrit Bergsma, Onke (Oscar) Bergsma.