| Notes |
- THE BONGERS FAMILY GENEOLOGY
WHEN MARIA MARY COENEN WAS 18 YEARS OF AGE SHE CAME FROM ZEELAND, HOLLAND WITH HER FAMILY ON THE SHIP MARIA MAGDALENA. THEY LEFT THE PORT OF ROTTERDAM MARCH 10, 1848, ARRIVED IN NEW YORK MAY 10TH, AND REACHED LITTLE CHUTE ON JUNE 20, 1848.
WE KNOW FROM HENRY BONGERS NATURALIZATION PAPER OF INTENT THAT HE CAME TO AMERICA SOMETIME IN 1849. HE WAS 31 YEARS OF AGE, AND A SHOEMAKER. UPON ARRIVAL HE LIVED WITH THE ARNOLD VERSTEGEN FAMILY FOR A SHORT TIME. HE PURCHASED FARM LAND IN THE AREA OF KAUKAUNA, OUTAGAMIE COUNTY, WHICH HAD THE POST OFFICE OF LITTLE CHUTE, WI. HERE IS WERE THE FAMILY LIVED FOR SOME 30 YEARS. HE ENGAGED HIMSELF AS A FARMER IN THE EARLY DAYS OF HIS MARRIAGE.
HENRY WAS RESPECTED AND INVOLVED AS A LEADER IN THE SETTLING COMMUNITY. IN JUNE 1850, IT WAS FR. VANDEN HEUVEL AND HENRY BONGERS WHO WERE SENT TO GREEN BAY, WI TO ESCORT BISHOP HENNIE OF MILWAUKEE TO LITTLE CHUTE FOR MASS AND CONFIRMATION. UPON SUCH AN OCCASION, THE PEOPLE CLEANED AND COOKED AS THOUGH THE BISHOP WERE GOING TO STAY IN EACH OF THEIR HOMES. ALSO, IT WAS HENRY BONGERS WHO WAS ONE OF THE WITNESSES TO SIGN FR. T. VAN den BROEKS LAST WILL AND TESTIMENT.
SOMETIME BETWEEN 1850 AND 1860 HENRY WAS SCHOOLED TO BE A PHYSICAN. MOST PHYSICANS IN THE 1850S HAD ATTENDED MEDICAL SCHOOL FOR ONLY TWO SIXTEEN-WEEK TERMS. THEY TYPICALLY RECEIVED THEIR DEGREE WITHOUT EVER HAVING VISITED A HOSPITAL WARD OR EXAMINED A PATIENT. (TAKEN FROM THE ENDURING VISION VOL. 2 FROM 1865. D.C. HEATH CO., 1990, PAGE 689). IT WAS AFTER THE CIVIL WAR THAT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT MADE MORE STRINGENT RULES FOR THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. IN OUR STATE OF WISCONSIN, MILWAUKEE PHYSICANS FORMED LOCAL MEDICAL SOCIETIES IN 1845 & 1846; THE FIRST HOSPITAL IN WISCONSIN WAS OPENED IN MILWAUKEE BY THE SISTERS OF CHARITY.
THE COUNTRY DOCTORS EQUIPMENT WAS QUITE SIMPLE. BESIDES A HORSE AND SADDLE BAGS, THE DOCTOR CARRIED HIS OWN STETHOSCOPE, A FEW SIMPLE INSTRUMENTS AND SYRINGES, A SET OF TOOTH FORCEPTS, A FEW OBSTETRICAL INSTRUMENTS, SOME HOME MADE SPLINTS AND BANDAGES, A FEW DRUGS, PERHAPS A PEWTER BEDPAN, AND PEWTER OR CROCKERY HOT-WATER BOTTLES WERE TYPICAL. THE EARLY DOCTORS MADE THEIR OWN PILLS, TINCTURES, AND MEDICINES WHICH HE CARRIED IN HIS SADDLE BAGS. OFTEN TIMES, AN AREA DOCTORS OWN HOME WAS USED AS A CLINIC.
THE U.S. CENSUS OF 1860 AND 1870 RECORD HENRY BONGERS AS A PHYSICIAN. BY 1880 HE HAD RETIRED TO HIS FARM, HAD CANCER, AND DIED IN JUNE OF 1880. STORIES WERE TOLD OF GYPSIES COMING AROUND TO TELL PEOPLES FUTURE. THEY COULD NEVER TELL HENRYS, THEY SAID HIS WILL WAS TOO STRONG. THE 1860 CESUSU SHOWED HENRY OWNED $1,000 IN REAL ESTATE AND $800 IN PERSONAL VALUE; IN 1870 HE OWNED $800 IN REAL ESTATE AND $250 PERSONAL VALUE. BESIDES BEING A SHOEMAKER, DOCTOR, AND FARMER, HE WAS SORT OF A BANKER. HE WOULD LOAD MONEY TO NEIGHBORS TO BUY ASSETS, AND CHARGE THEM INTEREST. AT THE TIME HE DIED IN 1880, HE HAD AN ESTATE VALUE OF $5,000. $2,000 OF THIS WAS PUT INTO A TRUST FUND FOR HIS WIDOWS USE. THE EXECUTOR WAS JOHN COENEN, HIS WIFES BROTHER.
HENRYS LAST WILL AND TESTIMENT, ALONG WITH TRANSACTIONS IN PROBATE, ETC., TOTALED 65 PAGES. (IT MAY BE LOCATED IN ENTIRETY AT THE CLERK OF COURTS OFFICE IN APPLETON, WI) HE WAS CAREFUL TO PROVIDE WELL FOR HIS WIDOW AND CHILDREN WHO WERE STILL AT HOME; THE YOUNGEST CHILD BEING ONLY 8 YEARS OF AGE WHEN HENRY DIED. IN HIS WILL HE STATES: SHOULD MARY HIS WIDOW) CHOOSE TO REMARRY SHE MAY ONLY TAKE HER PERSONAL BELONGINGS AND A GOOD BED. THIS WAY, A SUITOR WOULD BE DISCOURAGED IF HE THOUGHT HE COULD TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HER MONEY OR PROPERTIES. MARY REMAINED A WIDOW. AFTER HER CHILDREN WERE RAISED SHE SPENT HER FINAL YEARS LIVING IN PHLOX, WI WITH HER OLDEST DAUGHTER, MARY BONGERS EGGINK.
THE FIRT DOCTOR IN LITTLE CHUTE
DEATH OF DR. HENRY H. BONGERS OF LITTLE CHUTE, WI SATURDAY JUNE 12, 1880 AT 7PM, DR. H. BONGERS OF LITTLE CHUTE DIED AT THE AGE OF APPROXIMATE 61 YEARS AFTER A LINGERING ILLNESS, THE CONSEQUENCES OF WHICH HE WAS WELL AWARE.
HE LEAVES BEHIND A WIDOW AND 7 CHILDREN TO MOURN THEIR IRREPLACEABLE LOSS.
DR. BONGERS WAS BORN IN RAVENSTEIN, NORTH BRABANT AND WAS ONE OF THE MOST RESPECTABLE CITIZENS OF THE DUTCH SETTLEMENT IN WISCONSIN. ALL WHO KNEW HIM WILL PARTICIPATE IN MOURNING WITH THE RESPECTFUL FAMILY. THE SOLEMN FUNERAL MASS WAS HELD ON THURSDAY AT 9AM.
UNNECESSARILY TO MENTION THAT A LARGE CROWD WENT TO CHURCH TO SHOW THEIR OLD FRIENDSHIP FOR THE DECEASED WITH FERVENT PRAYERS AND A CONSIDERABLE GROUP THAT ACCOMPANIED THE FUNERAL PROCESSION WITH THE MORTAL REMAINS TOWARDS THE OPEN AND SOMBRE GRAVE.
LATER: AFTER THE FOREGOING WAS PUT INTO PRINT AND READY TO GO TO PRESS, WE RECEIVED THE FOLLOWING NOTE FROM A MESSENGER WHO WAS PRESENT AT THE CEREMONY.
THE FUNERAL AT 9AM THE MOURNING PROCESSION MEARED THE CHURCH. THE BODY OF THE BELOVED DECEASED WAS FOLLOWED BY AT LEAST 60 CARRIAGES HOLDING RELATIVES AND FRIENDS WHO HAD COME TOGETHER FROM FAR AND WIDE TO SHOW THEIR PARTICIPATION IN THE GENERAL SADNESS.
THE ALTER WAS DRAPED IN BLACK AND THE OLD GREGORIAN REQUIEM MASS WAS SUNG IN THE MOST STATELY MANNER. AFTER THE RELIGIOUS SERVICE THE BODY WAS MOVED TO A CEMETERY APPROXIMATELY 10 MINUTES AWAY. THE PASTOR IN FULL ROBES WAS HEADING THE FUNERAL PROCESSION. THE CHOIR SANG THE MISERERE AND A LARGE CROWD WITH THEIR HEADS UNCOVERED FOLLOWED.
AFTER THE LAST BLESSINGS AT THE CEMETERY HAD TAKEN PLACE, PASTOR C. De LOUW MADE A SHORT SPEECH IN WHICH HE SAID THAT ALTHOUGH IT WAS CONTRARY TO THE RULES OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TO SPEAK AT THE GRAVE SIDE BECAUSE THE CATHOLIC CHURCH CONSIDERS IT MORE APPROPRIATE TO PRAY FOR THE DECEASED MEMBERS, HE WAS GOING TO MAKE AN EXCEPTION AT THIS TIME AND IN DOING SO TRYING TO BRING SOME CONSOLATION TO THE GRIEVING FAMILY FOR WHICH THE DECEASED WAS OF SUCH GREAT SUPPORT. THE PASTOR WENT ON TO GIVE A SKETCH OF THE GOOD QUALITIES OF THE DEPARTED AS MAN, FATHER, AND ESPECIALLY AS A BRAVE CRISTIAN, AND HE HAD THE CONFIDENCE THAT HIS SOUL HAD ALREADY ENTERED INTO THE BETTER LIFE WHERE ALL OF US HOPE TO BE REUNITED AT SOME TIME. MEANWHILE HE COMMANDED THE PIOUS PRAYERS FOR THE SOUL OF THE DEPARTED AND FINISHED WITH SAYING 3 OUR FATHERS FOR HIS SOULS REST. AT THE CEMETERY IT BECAME QUITE CLEAR THAT THE DEPARTED WAS HIGHLY REGARDED AND LOVED BY THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY AND THERE WAS NOT A SINGLE PERSON IN THE FUNERAL PROCESSION WHO DID NOT LEAVE A TEAR OF EMOTION AFTER THE PASTORS ADDRESS.
|
1817 - 1880 (63 years)
