Drenthe Emigration and Immigration

The emigrant database on this site is compiled by the researcher Hoogeveense Eagle Everts. He searched all public records of the 34 (former) Drenthe municipality and adjacent municipalities in Overijssel and Groningen on 'emigrants' from the period 1840-1930. The collected data he checked the information in the archives of Holland, Grand Rapids, Orange City and Pella in America.

The database is an excellent addition to the indexes on emigrants (passenger lists 1820-1880 and U.S. population registers 1850-1870) by Robert Swierenga. These records are available for inspection in the Drenthe Archive.

More information about emigration to America, see the factsheet on the website of the emigrants National Archives.

Arend Everts, the maker of the database, discovered years ago in the old cabinet of his grandparents more than 60 letters from emigrant relatives. That was the beginning of his research for the names of Drenthe's emigrants.