THE QUEST FOR OUR ANCESTORS
- The beginning of my quest
- The liaison with Hein Boekema from Eindhoven
- The branches from Wijtgaard and from Warga
- The branch from Groningen
- A little bit of history
- "Loose ends"
- Frisian first names and family names: some data
The beginning of my quest
In 1967, I had the opportunity to return to the Netherlands for the first time since our emigration in 1954. In 1966 a befriended lady had told me about a book which she had borrowed from her friend ANNEKE KAMSTRA-LUBBERS and in which mention was made of a place called the BOEKEMA-PETTEN. That surprised me because, as far as I knew, our family name was rather uncommon and I figured that there were not so many Boekema's either in Friesland or elsewhere. A schoolfriend of my father, Tjeerd van der Zweep, living on a farm in Morrisburg, Ontario, and whom I visited regularly in those days with my Mom and Dad, told me that he had been haying on that piece of land owned by a farmer living in Warga and whose name was JAN JANS BOEKEMA .
I stayed for three weeks in Holland and before going to Friesland, where I would join my parents who were also on vacation, I remained with my spiritan confreres in Gemert, Noord-Brabant, during the Holy Week. One of my confreres brought me to Eindhoven to pay a visit to the inter-community theological institute where Spiritans were teaching or followed, as seminarians, their courses.
The liaison with Hein Boekema from Eindhoven
Because I had to wait for somebody to bring me back to Gemert, I checked for the fun in the local telephoneguide to see if there were Boekema's living in Eindhoven. I found several names listed and decided to pay a visit to Mr. Hein Boekema living on a street nearby. Marianne was of course very surprised when she opened the door and I presented myself as Father Cor Boekema. This visit meant the real start of my genealogical research because it appeared that Hein was also interested in the genealogy of the Boekema's and had already done some research. Since then we have always remained in touch and exchanged regularly our data. Before working with a computer and using Internet, I had mainly to work with correspondance. I returned to the Netherlands for ten days in 1975, when I stayed over for a full day with Hein and Marianne, and was again back in Friesland only more recently in 2000, when I managed to do several hours of research in the Archives in Leeuwarden. Hein himself spent inthe 70ies and 80ies regularly some time during his summervacations in Friesland and did research in the archives and so on.
The branches from Wijtgaard (JAN JACOBS) and from Warga (CLAAS DURKS)
Because Hein's ancestors came from Warga and my family from Wijtgaard we were used to speak about a branch from Warga and one from Wijtgaard. Warga stood then also for Wartena and even Swichum, while the Boekema's from Wijtgaard have also lived in Nijega, Scharsterbrug and surroundings. My dad had me already told that according to my grandfather Knillis our family was related to the Boekema's in Warga, but when I asked my grandfather about it in 1967, he did not know exactly to what degree we were related. In his prayerbook though he had a "bidprentje" from a Boekema from Warga. Indeed a proof that the two branches had been in touch with each other.
It was years later that Hein discovered that MARTSEN TJERKS the ancestor was from both our lines because she was first married to FRANS JANS from Swichum (branch from Wijtgaard) and after his death she married CLAAS DURKS from Dronrijp (branch from Warga) We do not know yet what the relation was between those two men. However, descendants of both man declared in 1811 BOEKEMA as their family name. Was that because both have lived and worked on what was called the Bucma-state or Boekema-state? Or had their ancestors already used this familyname?
The branch from Groningen (BOEKE)
In 1967, I did also some research in the chancery of Leeuwarden and checked a census from 1947, I believe. That helped me to track down Boekema’s in Groningen. Correspondance with JELTE BOEKEMA gave me data concerning that branch, but gave me also serious questionmarks about the origin of our familyname and about the relationship between the branch from Groningen and the two other branches already mentioned.
To understand better those questions you have to read the important and very interesting letter of SCHOOLMASTER DE VRIES . The main question is this: is our familyname derived from the « Boeken » (Frisian for « beechtrees ») which grew on the family farm of the Boekema’s in Warga, or is this surname derived from the first name BOEKE which is still common in the branch from Groningen? To shed more light on this question, I forward now some historical data. They will lead us to the very first half of the 15th century.
A little bit of history
My data are partly taken from the book of Henk Nota, 350 jaar parochie Wijtgaard 1631-1981 (Parish Wijtgaard 350 years: 1631-1981), Offsetdrukkerij Fa. van der Eems & Zn, Oosterend (Henn).
Nota mentions that before the reformation in 1580 Wijtgaard was part of the parish Wirdum. Wirdum was then the largest village in Oostergo - Friesland was divided in Oostergo and Westergo!- and in the deanery of Leeuwarden, Friesland’s capital. The parish was one of the first to be reformed and its priests were persecuted or exiled. Although Warga, Wartena and Swichum, were then in Idaarderadeel and not in Leeuwarderadeel, it seems that they belonged also to the deanery of Leeuwarden. The Boekema’s of that area remained catholic and schoolmaster de Vries mentions that they had even built on their property a clandestine church.
Nota gives a list of the parishpriests of Wirdum between 1439 and 1580. Three of them are of interest for us:
1439 Sir Rembert
Pastor Rembert marked with his sign on March 12, 1439, a salesletter passed before Tjepke Scheltama to Juw Bockama. (Nota, p. 9)
1496 Fercke Aytta
Ordained to the priesthood in 1496. He was the son of Gerbrant Aytta and Jets Buccama. (Nota, p. 9)
1500 Bernardus Bucho Aytta
Born in Swichum anno 1465. Died on December 3, 1528, in The Hague and buried there. He was also a son of Gerbrant Aytta and Jets Wytzesdochter Buccama. He was first pastor in Wirdum, where he succeeded his brother. He was among many other things councelor and regent in Friesland for Georgius, duke of Saksen, and later for Emperor Charles the Fifth, King of Spain. After he had left Wirdum he was first dean in The Hague and later again parishpriest of the parish Oldehove in Leeuwarden. He was the uncle of the famous Viglius van Aytta from Swichum. After his death in 1528 a monument in his honor was erected in Swichum. (Nota, p. 10)These three excerpts are most interesting. They show clearly that the name Bockama or Buccama existed already in the beginning of the 15th century. A little bit further I come back on JUW BOCKAMA, but I have the feeling that he and Wytze (the father of JETS BUCCAMA) were close relatives, even if the surname is spelled differently. The surname Bockama is also found in the familietree of the RIENSTRA’S and the BOKKEMA’S. Those families lived mainly in Westergo and we might think that they were not related to the BOCKAMA’S or BUCCAMA’S from Oostergo. However, more research has us shown that the situation is far more complex. Also in as far as religion is concerned, because we know now that all the Boekema's were not catholic. However, before the Reformation, all the Dutch were catholic of course, and religion cannot be considered therefore as a final criterion to determine the belonging to a familytree. Even if today we can distinguish a protestant branch (Groningen) and a roman catholic branch (Warga-Wijtgaard), it does not mean that they are not connected somewhere. Only further research can solve this problem.
We have to emphasize also that the first name BUCHO - typical frisian and not christian - was rather common in those years before the Reformation. Notice though that we met BERNARDUS Bucho Boekema. Bernardus was the Latin name of his patron saint, name received at baptism. At the end of this introduction I will deal further with this question of first names.
As for Gerbrant Aytta and his wife Jets Wytzes Buccama, Hein Boekema sent me in December 1983 a copy of the supplement of « Slucht en Rjucht » (« Straightforward and honest »), No 31, Sept. 2, 1905. It has an article by Sjouke de Zee concerning Swichum and the Aytta’s. The author got his data mainly from De Haan, Hettema and van Halmael, Stamboek van den Frieschen adel (Genealogical register of the Frisian nobility). Thus we learn that JETS BOEKEMA (De Zee does not maintain the older spelling) was the only child of WYTZE BOEKEMA and MINTS SCHUITSMA from Warga. Gerbrant resided in 1440 on the Ayttastate in Roordahuizum, but the eight children of the couple appear to be born on the Ayttastate in Swichum. Gerbrant died in 1484, but Jets much later in 1528. With great effort and big expenses she paid the studies of her two sons Fercke and Bernardus Bucho, uncles of Viglius (Wigle) van Aytta, at the Academy of Leuven. As the only child she had probably inherited enough to meet her needs. Viglius became an international renowned jurist, one of the founders of the University of Leuven, and like his uncle Bucho councelor of Charles the Fifth.
Swichum has its own webpage since 1999.But let us return to JUW BOCKAMA who bought land from the parishpriest in Wirdum. I have written to Henk Nota to learn more about that salesact but he was unable to forward more data. Those data are probably to be found at the chancery in Leeuwarden. The letter of SCHOOLMASTER DE VRIES however mentions DOUWA JOUWS and REGINA BARBERA (Register of Declaration, 1511). In Wirdum was a Juwsmastate and JOUSMA is still a known familyname. However the salesacts and the data collected by schoolmaster de Vries show clearly that DOUWA JOUWS was a descendant from JUW BOCKAMA. In connection with the same landproperties as a matter of fact we find also mention of DOUWE NICOLAAS (Register of Declaration, 1580) and still later DOUWE NIKOLAAS SIJMONS (salesact , 1698), who is also known as DOUWE KLAAS VAN DE BOEKEN (salesact, 1716),and as DOUWE KLAAS BOEKEMA (courtprocedures, 1731). My hypothesis is that Douwa Jouws and Regina had a son named Nicolaas Douwe, that this man got a son named Douwe Nicolaas, who would have been the father of Nicolaas Thomas, father of Douwe Klaas. That gives four generations for one century which is quite normal even for those years.
This hypothesis and the incomplete data belong of course also to the « loose ends » dealt with hereafter. However, I mention them here to indicate in what direction the quest has to go on, not only to fill the gap between the 18th and the 16th century, but also to bypass the Reformation.
« Loose ends »
Until now, I have mentioned the main branches of our familytree: two main branches, which might however turn out to be two different trees, namely one from Groningen and one from Warga (Wijtgaard). It is not unlikely that the medieval Bockemas or Buccamas of the Frisian nobility and who owned big estates as well in Friesland as in Groningen are at the origin of those branches and that people who worked on their farms or in the peatmoss industry adopted Boekema as family name. This is highly possible for Pieter Bouwes and Baate Durks for instance.
As a matter of fact, the « Ryksargyf » (State archives) in Leeuwarden makes available through Internet the list of surnames which the napoleon law in 1811 made obligatory in the Batavian Republic. Besides Jan Fransens and Durk Klases was HAYE YEFS also known to us, but we knew only that he had a daughter Fetje Hayes married to a roman catholic (Jan Jacob van der Weide). However, when I first wrote this introduction we knew nothing at all about PIETER BOUWES, BAATE DURKS and ALBERT JANS, although an ALBERT BOEKEMA was listed on the Social Security Death Index of the States which I also checked out through Internet. We have now more data concerning all those men. The branch of Albert Jans is very interesting because a descendant of Albert Jans, Jisk Alberts"migrated" from Friesland to Noord-Brabant, during the Dutch-Belgian war. He married a girl from Noord-Brabant and became catholic at the same time. It were his descendants who at the end of the 19th century emigrated to the States. In 1999, Lisa Boekema,from Detroit, Michigan, and later on Cynthia Wainowski-Boekema got in touch with me. Those Boekema's are still catholic and their family name was not altered.
I collected also more data from the Mormon files. So, if you check now the different branches out, you will notice that we made much more progress. But maybe, before turning this page, you like to know a little bit more about Frisian first and family names.
Frisian first names and family names: some data
The data I use here come mainly from a booklet which I bought in Leeuwarden in 1967. Its author is J. H. Brouwer, and the title of the booklet is Fryske foarnammen en skaeinammen, Utjefte: N. Miedema & Co., Ljouwert, 1963. It belongs to the series Bûnte liuwen. Lân en folk yn wurd en byld, (Various lions (allusion to the lions in the Frisian coats of arms!). Country and Folk by words and images), Diel 5.Centuries ago, the Frisians, like other Germanic tribes, used to make first names up from two words, for instance Hildi-brand (battle + sword) for a man and Ger-thrud (spear + strenght) for a woman. The Greek had the same custom and it seems to have been a custom amongst indo-germanic populations. But because humans look always for an easier way, in the long run only one of those two words remained. We find then Brand and Trude, or Hille and Geartje (Geertje). That means that sometimes the last part survived, sometimes the first part, making it finally impossible to know which part survived or was skipped, because Brand could come from names as Ysbrand, Gerbrand, Herbrand, Brandger, etc, and Trude from Hildithrud, Brandthrud, Trudhild, etc.
It is remarkable though that so many Frisian first names remained, notwithstanding the influence of Christianity and the use of baptismal names in connection with saints chosen as patrons or patronesses. Even Gerland(tje) is still found in the 19th century in our familytree. However, we have to take into account another human factor: the influence of fashion. This explains the appearance of first names ending with -o - like Bucho!- because of the Latin which became a fashion. It is noticeable that this ending is more frequent in Groningen at a time when in Friesland the same first names end with an -e: Hajo vs. Haeije; Tammo vs. Tamme. We may therefore suppose that even if Bucho was used in the Warga area in the 15th century, it may well be that the names of Bocke or Boeke existed before this fashion, and were used all the way long or came to life again when the fashion had faded away. (Rienck Bockema, born c. 1350, took his name from his father, as a matter of fact, whose name was Bocke Doedingha, son of Doede.)
As a matter of fact, in the 16th and the 17th century many first names were transformed in Latin or even Greek names, people wanting to show their knowledge of the Classics. Buccho’s nephew Wigle became famous as Viglius van Aytta and Brouwer gives these examples: Bocke became Boccacius; Douwe Dominicus, Hette Hector and Harke Hercules. The case of Dominicus (also a patron saint) is interesting because it gave as first names Minekus or Minne, showing that again half of the name was finally long enough. Johannes could give: Johan, Jan, Hannes, Hâns, Johanne, Johantsje, Hanne, Jo, Joke; Jacobus could change in Jakob, Japik, Jaep, Kobus, Koop, Japke, and Nicolaas in Nico, Nyk, Nykle, Lykle, Klaas, Klaske, etc. And as far as fashions are concerned, today we have to do with the most « outlandish » names, coming from far away countries and even from « outerspace », via the film industry, the television and probably via Internet.
Before getting to the family names, let me make two more remarks. First in regard of the spelling. The examples here above show that the same name can be written in different ways. Has it to be Klaes, Klaas, Claes? Is it Clasis, Klasis or Klases? etc. Is the name Jacobus, Jakobus, Japik, Kobus? etc. In my genealogical data I have mentioned sometimes what the usual name was, but it is sometimes a complicated matter. One spelling is of course of an earlier date as another (Claes vs. Klaas), but there is also the impact of somebody who is bilingual (Frisian and Dutch) or who knows only the Dutch language. « Bidprentjes » in particular are not always trustworthy because the printers did not always know Frisian.
My second remark had to do with traditions. When I was born , it was still the tradition to name the first born son after his paternal grandfather, the second son after his maternal grandfather, the third one after his father’s oldest brother, the fourth one after the mother’s oldest brother and so on. For the girls, it was the same but the other way around: the first born girl had to be named after her maternal grandmother, the second after the paternal grandmother, the third after the oldest sister of the mother, the fourth after the oldest sister of the father, and so on. When this rule was broken, it was always because of a very serious reason: not forgiven quarrels, or a sudden death of a family member who was then named before another one, etc. This tradition helps to build up the familytree with the help of hypotheses. For example, I started the branch of Wijtgaard with JAN FRANS (?). The questionmark indicated that I suppose that Frans Jans is the oldest son of Jan and is named after his paternal grandfather Frans. But is Frans Jans really the oldest son? We have also the names of Durk Jans and of Meindert Jans, so his paternal grandfather was maybe called Durk or Meindert (however this last name does not come back in our familytree and belongs probably to the mother’s line). The hypothesis of JAN FRANS therefore has to be verified. As a matter of fact we bring now this branch back to Eelcke (Jacobs?).But let we now take notice of some data concerning family names.The bulk of Frisian family names go back to the French period with Napoleon in 1811-1813. But not all of them of course. P. Sipma in his Fryske Nammekunde (Knowledge of Frisian names), Drachten, 1952, mentions that he could find only 60 surnames between roughly 1150 and 1300. I was unable to consult this book so I do not know if the name of Buccama or Bockama was amongst those names. Between 1300 and 1400, Sipma found 300 surnames and our name belongs certainly to this list.
But how are family names formed? In connection with the branch of Groningen and the letter of Schoolmaster de Vries, I have mentioned that our name originates either from Boeke (or Bocke, etc.) or from the place with the « boeken » (beeches). Anyhow, surnames ending with -ma have their own history. Sometimes, first names became surnames, like for instance Jansen (originally: son of Jan). Frisian family names end usually with an -a, which had also the meaning of: « son of », for instance Tjaard-a, Alger-a. The oldest Frisian surnames however end with -inga, meaning: « descendants of », like Hette -> Hettinga, Tamme -> Tamminga, Bocke -> Bockinga. Brouwer indicates that another author, Fokkema, believes that BOCKINGA became later BOCKEMA. However, names of places, villages and so on can also be at the origin of family names, like Rauwerd-a. Because many Frisian localities end with - um (Jirnsum, Dokkum, etc.), it is possible that such names change also into surnames by adding -ma to it: Dokkuma, Dantuma, etc. I do not insist on names in connection with a trade etc., nor on surnames ending with -sma, -(e)na, -nia or -stra. Let us only take notice of the fact that surnames with -inga existed already around 400, those with -a showed up in the 12th century, while the first surnames with -ma are found in Groningen around 1250 and in Friesland around 1325. Surnames ending with -sma show also up in Friesland around 1325, while those with -stra are still later and are hardly found before 1400.
