Let’s try for a moment to understand this extraordinary woman who was to be the wife of Henry Walvoord and was to bear thirteen children. The survivors (five sons and six daughters) are the ancestors of many of the Walvoord clan alive today. Her story is one of triumph over tragedy.
Henrietta’s father, Friedrich August Gottlieb Theodor Eggerichs, was a prosperous and well-educated man who supervised the business interests of a Graf (a Count or Nobleman) in Hanover Province, Germany.
Friedrich married the first time to Sophie Elise (Schuster) on January 1, 1839. Friedrich was 27 and Sophie was 21 years-old when they married. Less than two years after the marriage their son, “Fritz” (Fredrich Wilhelm Eggerichs), was born on August 2, 1840 in Godens, Germany.
The marriage, however, was to end in tragedy. Sophie died at the age of 24 on April 8, 1842. The marriage had lasted less than four years. Friedrich was now 30 years old and his son (Fritz) was only 20 months old.
Friedrich, widowed at 30 with a small son, was soon to marry again. Henrietta’s mother (Himke Margaret) was his second wife (we do not know her maiden surname). They were married on February 4, 1844 less than two years after Sophie died. Himke was 22 and Friedrich was 32 when they married. Little Fritz was 3 years and six months old.
I suspect that the birth of Henrietta was an important day in the life of the young couple. On December 17, 1844 (ten months after the wedding) a new family was established. On that occasion Himke was a young mother with her first child (Henrietta). Fritz was four. I am sure the future looked bright for the young family.
Henrietta’s mother Himke was to have three more children with Friedrich–all boys. Anton George Eggerichs was born on November 12, 1846 and died on May 17, 1849 at age two. Her second son Anton Friedrich Eggerichs was born on January 23, 1850. He was named for his brother that died (but later he would die at age twelve). Himke’s third son, Louis Augustus Eggerichs, was born on January 10, 1852 and both he and his sister Henrietta were destined to immigrate to Sheboygan County, Wisconsin and live long lives.
In February 1852 Friedrich and Margaret celebrated their 10th anniversary with a living family that included Fritz (age 12), Henrietta (soon to be 8), Anton (age 2) and baby Louis Augustus.
But later that same year, the Eggerichs family once again is struck with an unexpected tragedy. On October 14, 1852 Friedrich–the patriarch and father of the family–died at age 41. Himke, Henrietta’s mother, was 30 years old with four children still to raise. Henrietta had already lost a two-year old brother before she was five. Now, just before Henrietta’s eighth birthday her father died.
The good news was that the Graf would help the family and would continue Fritz’s education so that he could return and be employed in his father Friedrich’s stead. So, at that time both Fritz and Henrietta could continue their education at a parochial Lutheran school in Germany.
Henrietta distinguished herself as the best writer in her school room. Because of this, she received a special seat in the room.
Henrietta’s mother, widowed with stepson Fritz and three children, was soon to remarry. She married a Mr. Janssen and was to have two daughters from that marriage (We do not have complete records on that marriage).
Marie was born about 1856 when Henrietta was 11 and Meta was born on January 20, 1857 when Henrietta as 12 and Fritz was 16. If Fritz remained with the Janssens, the family now had six children at home.
In 1859 tragedy struck the Janssen family. Henrietta’s mother and stepfather fell sick at the same time, and both died. Her mother died first and Mr. Janssen a few days later. They had one funeral.
In Germany, the barn was part of the house, with a hall in between. Their bodies were in the barn at the time of the funeral.
Henrietta (at almost 15 years-old) had now lost her father, her brother, her mother, her stepfather, and her new home. Because her mother died first, Marie and Meta would receive most of the inheritance (and they were both under five-years old).
Henrietta received $500 and none of the personal property. Uncles and Aunts (from the Janssen family) took control of the estate and looked after the children. (years later, Henrietta wrote for a remembrance and her aunt sent her a silver spoon).
Henrietta’s two young half-sisters went to live with an Aunt and Uncle from the Janssen family that had no children. They apparently had money.
Henrietta with her brothers Anton and Louis went to live with other Janssen relatives. Her stepbrother Fritz was nineteen and probably had already left to work for and live on the estate of the Graf.
The picture we have of Henrietta at age 15 is the earliest picture we have of this generation of “Walvoords.” It was taken about the time of her mother’s death (circa 1860).
On March 8, 1862 Henrietta’s brother Anton died. He was twelve and Henrietta was seventeen. Her other living brother Louis was now ten years old. Louis and Henrietta were the only ones still living from her mother’s children in the Eggerichs family.
As soon as she could Henrietta took a job working on a farm and began to save her money. It appears that Henrietta was an intelligent and self-reliant young woman.
When Henrietta was 20 years-old, she arranged with the Janssen family to allow her to travel alone to the United States. She probably used money she had saved or some of her small inheritance. She sailed from Bremen to New York in May of 1865. (The American Civil War had just ended). She made her way to Sheboygan County, Wisconsin near Gibbsville where she lived with an Uncle and Aunt Janssen (probably the brother of her stepfather).
Henrietta’s only living brother Louis would later follow her to Sheboygan County as would her half-sister Meta. Meta, in fact, came to live with Henrietta after her marriage to Henry Walvoord and as sisters they remained life-long friends.
In her year-and-a-half as a single woman in Sheboygan County she did housework for other families around Cedar Grove and was considered one of the best dressed women in the County. Everything in America at the time was in the pioneer stage. Women wore cotton dresses and wooden shoes when going to church or parties. Men wore overalls. People wore homespun clothes and home-tailored suits. People knit their own stockings and mittens.
And so, if we could reconstruct, we might assume that out of this series of family tragedies, Henrietta had a deep need for family roots and stability, a keen sense of independence, self-reliance and obvious intelligence. When she was single in Cedar Grove, she was known for both her hard work and the way she dressed in fashionable clothes she probably made for herself. She was an educated woman who first spoke German, then learned Dutch which was the main language in her new home.
Henrietta didn’t fall in love with Henry Walvoord when she first saw him. They were probably the two most eligible young adults in the County. It seemed inevitable that they would marry. Henrietta married him on December 5, 1866. She was twenty-one at the time.
Like Henrietta, Henry’s life had been touched by tragedy and loss. Henry had lost his father (Gerrit Jan Walvoord) when his father was 30 and Henry was only eight in an accident at the family pier preparing logs for shipment. As an only son, Henry had inherited his father’s property. After his father’s death, he was close to his grandfather (Hendrik Walvoort) and spent most of his time on his grandfather’s farm. But Henry’s grandfather died only a year before the wedding on December 21, 1865. From his grandfather he had inherited a significant amount of property in Sheboygan County.
Just a year after his grandfather died, and a few days after celebrating his nineteenth birthday, Henry was married to Henrietta. They were off to an auspicious beginning.
Henry and Henrietta had thirteen children: seven sons and six daughters, two of which (boys) died at infancy. All of the eleven surviving children grew into adulthood, and all were married except one (Louise Walvoord).
These children were:
- Anna Margretta, who was born September 18, 1867, in the town of Holland
- Frederick, who was born March 13, 1869;
- Gertie, was born December 19, 1870;
- John Garrett, was born September 22, 1872;
- Henry E., was born June 8, 1875;
- William, was born October 9, 1877;
- Meta Marie was born April 21, 1879;
- Elise Henrietta, was born January 27, 1881;
- Louise Antoinette, was born February 14, 1883;
- Anthony, was born November 11, 1884; and
- Ada Adeline, the youngest, was born May 6, 1889.
The rest is Walvoord history and legend. It is not surprising that their marriage was the beginning of a legacy that we still celebrate today. Henrietta had a long and meaningful life. Her children scattered and made a name for themselves.
Henrietta’s husband Henry died in 1909 at the age of 61. Henrietta’s half-sister Meta and her husband Abraham Ketman were visiting from Iowa at the time of his death.
Henrietta learned a recipe for bread dumplings from her mother, Himke:
2 cups bread (white or whole wheat); 1 1/2 cups water; 1/4 tsp. nutmeg; 1/2 tsp. salt; 3 tbs. flour. Take wheat bread (dry or fresh). Pour boiling water on it to soak and boil until fine. Then sift in wheat flour and stir until thick. Put in salt and nutmeg to taste. Take off stove and when cold stir in beaten egg. Drop into boiling soup by spoonfuls and let boil until done. Do not look at dumplings until done—leave cover on. Takes about 12 to 15 minutes.
On Sunday, March 11, 1928, Louise and her mother Henrietta made the dumplings together. Henrietta Elise Walvoord died on February 5, 1929 at the age of 84.
If Henrietta’s mother (Himke) and father (Friedrich Eggerichs) could have seen her life and growing family in the new world—surely, they would have been proud. From their tragedies came the seeds of a family that took root, endured and prospered.
What happened to Henrietta’s siblings?
Half-brother, Fritz Eggerichs married and had four children (two boys, two girls).
The oldest son, also named Fritz, came to America in 1909. He married here.
The second son, a German Lieutenant in World War I, died in a hospital from tuberculosis. He worked in banking before the war.
One of Fritz’s daughters was a nurse.
The other was a cook. One of the daughter’s names was Tonia.
Brother, Louis Eggerichs emigrated to America in 1867 (two-years after his sister, Henrietta). He married Adeline Estelle Lawson a native of Holland Township, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, on December 15, 1876, in Fillmore County, Minnesota. Louis was 24 and Adeline was 26. They had seven children. Five boys and two girls.
Half-sister, Marie Janssen, married Bernard Harms. They had a son, Bernard, Jr. and adopted a niece. They all stayed in Germany.
Half-sister, Meta Sophie Janssen Meta came to America as a young woman and lived with the Henry Walvoord family before her marriage to Abraham Ketman (a native of Sheboygan County, Wisconsin). They married on October 18, 1883 in Dakota City Iowa. They had nine children. Meta and her family lived in Iowa until the family moved to Palo Alto, California in the 1920s.
Abraham Ketman died in Santa Clara, California on January 17, 1929. He was 71. Meta died in Santa Clara, California on December 13, 1945. She was 88.