Willemke de Jong, the subject of this sketch, was born Willemke Steenblok to Tallegien (Talligje) Steenblok on November 21, 1844 in Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.   She was Tallegien's second daughter, according to records found in Groningen.

Willemke Steenblok de Jong, about 1927

Willemke must have had a very hard life.  Her mother, Talligje Steenblok, had given birth to a daughter, Grietje, who was born 19 April 1839 at the Nosocomium Acedemium, a hospital in Groningen City, Groningen, Netherlands.  She was unmarried at the time and was in her 35th year of age.  On July 17, 1839 Grietje died at the age of 3 months.  The records list Talligje as a merchant woman by occupation.  Grietje died at her home on Driemolendrift S 264.

Five years later, when Tallegie was fourty years of age, she gave birth to Willemke.  The birth record does not list a father, indicating that Tallegie was still unmarried.

On April 29, 1846 Tallegie married Folkert Jans, who called himself de Jong.  Under Netherlands law, a child born prior to the marriage had the surname of the mother.  The groom could declare that the child was his during the marriage ceremony.  They he would become the legal father of the child (whether he was the biological father or not), and the child would receive his family name.  Therefore, on this date, Willemke Steenblok became Willemke de Jong.

Shortly after the marriage of Tallegie and Folkert Jans de Jong, the angel of death visited Tallegie once again.  Folkert died April 17, 1847 at the age of almost 54 years at the municapal hospital in Groningen City.  This left Talligje with a 2 1/2 year old daughter.  The family was living in Groningen on the shore at Diremolendrift 243.  Folkers occupation was listed as hawker.  In Europe, a hawker was a food vendor with a single food stall.

On January 6, 1859, when Tallegie was 56 years of age and Willemke was 13 years of age, the Groningen District Court tried them for vagrancy, according to the "Groningen List of Criminals."  Tallegie was sentenced to 45 days in solitary confinement, which she served from January 6th to February 20th, 1859.  Willemke was sentenced to six days of solitary confinement which she served from January 6th to January 12th, 1859.  Unfortunately, in those days there were no social programs like there are today to take care of the poor, and Willemke and her mother were probably found begging for food on the streets of Groningen.  This was treated as a crime.

At the age of 26 years, Willemke married Antoon Thiessens, the son of Hendrik Thiessens and Grietje Builthuis, on May 10, 1871 in Groningen.  They were favored with the birth of six children in Groningen, five of whom grew to adulthood and married.  These included:  Hendrik Thiessens, born Sepetember 5, 1872; Folkert Jan Thiessens, born April 12, 1874 who died on July 23, 1877; Hermannus Thiessens, born December 12, 1876 (my grandfather); Folkert Jan Thiessens, born January 20, 1878; Grietje Thiessens, born October 1, 1882; and Wilhelmina Antonia Thiessens, born September 1885.

She died in Groningen on April 27, 1931 at the age of eighty-six years.