The family seal has been designed in 1960 by R.G.G. Wortelboer. It has been registered (aug 25, 1971) by the Dutch central agency for genealogy (no 4.7.5904) by his son, Johannes Paulus Alexander Wortelboer (Groningen, oct 18, 1948) . The family seal symbolizes the tradition of shipbuilding and shipping, in the form of the blue wave. It also reminds of the small river 'de Pekel A' where our ancestors settled down. The three clover leaves represent the land and farms, cultivated by the first Wortelboer Family. (click on te seal to enlarge)

An acceptable explanation of the name Wortelboer has yet not been found. The name refers to farmers who lived in a farmhouse in the city and had all their land and cattle outside the city walls. They used to fed their cattle with carrots.  It is not clear that this applies to our family name, because the early known (1700) 'Wortelboer' people lived in de Pekel, Veendam or Wildervank and not in a city. It is however possible that those early people who named themself 'Wortelboer' had their roots as farmers living in the city.

The name Wortelboer for our family was first found in 1723 when Frerik Wortelboer owns land in  the 'Pekela'. He would be the same person as Frerik Jurriens, the father of Trijntje Freriks: 

Frerik Jurriens married Antje Lammerts before 1700. 
They had the following children:

1. Lammert Freriks, died before jan 28 1764, married Ida Meewes (Midwolda,  nov 8, 1732). They had two children, Trijntje Lammerts (baptised Midwolde jun 26, 1735) and Wupke Lammerts (baptised Midwolde march 29, 1737). He also married Helena Clasens (Midwolda, nov 28, 1740), probably identical to Hillena Harms, died before dec 19, 1753. 

2. Trijntje Freriks, died after may 28, 1771, married Geert Geerts Wortelboer (Oude Pekela, jan 1, 1720), died before jan 1, 1752 and after oct 18, 1757.
   They had the following child:
   Geessien Geerts Wortelboer, baptised Oude Pekela, dec 15, 1720, died before march 31, 1803
   married Jan Hindriks Wilkens Wortelboer (Oude Pekela, oct 15, 1741), born 1711?, died Oude Pekela, dec 11, 1795. He was the son of Hindrik Wilkes and Gijssel Jans Deuling and lived in Germany (Heede), only a few miles away from Oude Pekela in the Netherlands. A research in Heede had no results (Catholic recording started in Heede at 1720).

It was in the German 'Munsterland' common practice that the family name was adopted via the female family line. The man who married a farmers daughter (and the farm) took the name of the farm. When he changed to another farm, he changed his name as well. That makes it difficult for genealogist to find the correct track.

The oldest male Wortelboer ancestor is  Manningh Kloeke from Sustrum. He was probably born there in the "Kloeken Hause" which has been found on a list of the 'Steinbilder Faëhr' (1604) under Sustrum. Manningh was married to Geessken and lived in her parents farm in Walchum. The track leads us from Walchum to Heede. The name of Wortelboer was found in a formal document from 1759. In that document, the name of Trijntje Freriks, widow of Geert Geerts Wortelboer, has been found. The name of Wortelboer has been added. Trijntje Freriks  probably remarked during the reading, that her husbands name was Wortelboer after which the name was added to the document.

Geessien Geerts Wortelboer, the only child of Geert Geerts and Trijntje Freriks married in 1741 Jan Hindriks Wilkens. J.H. Wilkens called himself in 1764 Wortelboer. After that time, he was known under different names. Marriage contract of Jan Hindrik Wilkens and Geessien Geerts (Wortelboer)

Farmers, blacksmiths, shipbuilders and merchants, these are the global categories of the professions and jobs of our Wortelboer ancestors in the 18th and 19th century.  Even in this age, we still see sons following their fathers footsteps in profession. This was normal for farmers, but it is remarkable for blacksmiths and shipbuilders.

Shipyard "De Hoop" at Lobith, the Netherlands

More then 100 years old imitation of the shipyard, owned by Fredericus Wortelboer (born aug 19 1810) at Oude Pekela, brought to Argentina by his son Gerhardus Johannes (born July 22 1843) (Gerardo Juan) and now owned by his granddaughter Ana (Azul). 

Our ancestors lived during the 18th century in the North side of the 'Down Pekel A' , which referred to the village Oude Pekela or Old Pekela. 'Upper Pekel A' referred the village Nieuwe Pekela (New Pekela).

In the 19th century, the Wortelboers spread out not only over the Netherlands (in particularly to Amsterdam) but also to the West of Germany (Meppen, Rütenbrock and Bremerhaven). Even today many Wortelboers lives at Rütenbrock. Some Wortelboers with an enterprising spirit went to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean to Argentina and the USA (Michigan). Also, in this century, there are a lot of Wortelboers moving to other parts of the world. By this web-site contact has been made and still can be made to complete this genealogy for the descendants  who went abroad.

The Wortelboer family is not one of the oldest Roman Catholic families in the Dutch Groningen peat district. Jan Hindriks Wilkes came to Oude Pekela in the beginning of the 18th century when other Roman Catholic families were already living there at 1700 or even earlier.

Oude Pekela

Oude Pekela

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last edited © 22 september 2008