Lake County

The family of Jakob Scheeringa
by Sherry Scheeringa Kennedy

The Scheeringa family tree is an exciting area to study within my own genealogy. It seems that all Scheeringas in the USA may be decended from one family that came to America from Holland (The Netherlands). Considering that this family has been in America for less than 100 years, it is an amazingly large and complex family to try to study and document!

The patriarch of the family is the late Jakob Hemke Scheeringa. Jakob was born Feb. 16, 1856 in Holland, Netherlands. His wife was Grietje Heuker, born in 1864, in Holland, Reusel-de Mierden, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands. The couple was married May 9, 1885 in Marum, Groninggen, Netherlands. Jakob and Grietje (Heuker) Scheeringa departed in Rotterdam Netherlands and arrived in New York on May 8, 1912 aboard the Noordam. They came here with the youngest 7 Children. The 3 oldest boys came before the family. Henry and Egbert came to America together on May 9, 1911 and Hotse came the following year. Jacob and Grietje had 10 (kindren) children total. Henry, Egbert, Hotse, Harm, Max, Ralph, Margaret, William, Tony, and Rena. Jacob died in 1942. If you are decended from any one of these people, you are my cousin and I would love to hear from you!

Henry "Hank" Hempke Scheeringa came to America in 1911 at the age of 24. He married Winaria "Winnie" Van Slooten, also of Holland. Winaria came to America in 1912. They had six children, Edward, Grace, Gene, Alice, Jacob and John. By 1920, it is known they were settled in Calmut, Lake, Indiana.

Egbert was born June 9, 1887 in Holland, He arrived with his wife and children on May 9, 1911 on the passenger ship Roterdam. His wife was Margaret Baker Scheeringa, born about 1898 in the Netherlands. They settled in Highland, Lake, Indiana. Together they had seven children; Harry, Walter, Jacob, Ysbrand (Gilbert), Margaret, Grace and Henry.

Hotse Scheeriga came to America on March 20, 1912 by himself at age 20 yrs. He was born Nov. 30, 1891 in Holland and also settled in Highland, Lake, Indiana. He married Jennie Van Milligan, born about 1899 in Illinois. They had two children, Jacob and James.

The remaining seven children, Harm, Max, Ralph, Margaret, William, Tony, and Rena, came to America with their parents and arrived on May 8, 1912.

Harm Scheeringa, born Nov. 17, 1893, married Tena Schoon born 1901 on April 9, 1919, and they settled in Highland, Lake, Indiana. We do not have a record of their children.

Max Scheeringawas born March 28, 1896. He was married twice, to Jennie Terpstra and to Nell Stob. According to our family's records, he married Jennie Terpstra on Nov. 20, 1919. We do not have any record of children born to Max. Although his family always called him Max, we believe that Max Scheeringa may have changed his name to Martin when he came to America, possibly to have a more American sounding name. On his US World War Two Draft registration card in 1942, he clearly filled in his name "Martin Max Scheeringa." On his 1917- 1918 World War One draft registration card, he had signed his name simply "Martin Scheeringa."

Ralph Scheeringa was born April 22, 1897 in Sebaldeburen, Groningen, Netherlands. He married Julia Porter. We do not have a record of their children. Ralph may possibly be the ancestor of the Griffith, Indiana Scheeringas, because we know he died 14 Sep 1978 Griffith, Lake, Indiana.

Margaret Scheeringa was born 11 Aug 1898 in Sebaldeburen, Groningen, Netherlands. She was fourteen years old when she arrived in America. She was married to Peter Koekkock. By 1920, she was living in Calmut, Lake, Indiana. We do not have a record of her children.

William Scheeringa was born 20 Sep 1901 in Holland. He married Gertrude Kuiper. They settled in Manatee, Florida, where William died March 6, 1988. William and Gertrude had at least ten children. If I have this branch of the tree right (and I might not, because I think they had ten children, but I have eleven names) they were; Dirk, Henry, Anthony, Dorothy, Donald, Gerald, Robert, Lambert, Sidney, Marvin, and Loretta.

Tony Scheeringa was born 05 Sep 1903 in Holland. He married Ann Pluymert and they also lived in Indiana. We do not have a record of their children.

Rena Scheeringa born 05 Sep 1905 in Sebaldeburen, Groningen, Netherlands, married George Kuiper and lived the rest of her life in Indiana. We do not have a record of her children.