VAN BEEK, GYSBERT AND GYSBERTJE (DE MOTS)
The family of Gysbert Van Beek and Gysbertje De Mots came to the site of Sioux Center with the very first oxen driven wagon train in October of 1871. They were with a group of 34 people who came from the province of Gelderland Holland by way of East Olive, Michigan and Greenleafton MN. The Gysbert VanBeek family lived just a little north of the big Reformed church in West Branch township. Shortly after arriving they lost their home in a fire. Their early home was small with an attic loft where the five boys slept. The boys would climb up on a box and then on mother's back and disappear through a trap door and in the morning would descend in like manner.
During a diphtheria epidemic in 1880 they lost their youngest son, Jacob, and many of their friends lost children, also. A month after the death of their son the Van Beeks were blest with a baby daughter, Jennie. The Sioux County Herald, a newspaper from Orange City IA, in October of 1880 relates that Mr. Van Beek of Sioux Center feels as proud as the president of the United States of his baby girl. Jennie Van Beek later became Mrs. Henry Willemsen and was a life long resident of Sioux Center.
Gysbert VanBeek with his third wife Jacoba
(Van Thielen) VanBeek. Picture taken about
1900.
Gysbert's first wife, Gysbertje De Mots, died November 2, 1886 when her daughter Jennie was only 6 years old. Gysbert remarried a Mrs. Ettje Lever on September 22, 1887 and she died in a tragic fire in their home on June 11, 1889. It appeared that Mrs. Van Beek was sick so Mr. Van Beek and the young daughter, Jennie, were sleeping in a separate room. Upon awaking, the room in which his wife slept was filled with flames and he and his small daughter escaped through the window. It was believed that his wife had tipped over a lamp. Gysbert remarried a third time to Mrs. Jacoba Van Thielen on June 26, 1890. This Mrs. Van Beek had a daughter, Lena, who was the same age as Gysbert's daughter, Jennie. Gysbert Van Beek died April 28, 1903 in Sioux Center and was buried with his wives in the local cemetery where a small marker still marks his grave.
The two children of the Gysbert VanBeek family that remained and propagated in the Sioux Center area were the families of Cornelius Van Beek 1861-1945 and the family of daughter Jennie Van Beek (Mrs. Henry Willemsen) 1880-1962. The Cornelius Van Beek and Henry Willemson Families have separate stories in this book.
by Wilma J. Vande Berg
Top of stone is hard to read but it is G. not C. Van Beek. Location: NE Section row 4 from east fence.
Location: NE section row 5 from east fence.
