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Immigration and Western Movement
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America at Last
I, John Verboort, have officially arrived in America with my wife, Theodora, and only son, William. We came because of the large religious restrictions on us Catholics and are looking for good land in the New World. We only came with a spare change of clothes, our bible, and a few hundred guilder to start ourselves off. The people are very frustrating, because we don't speak the same language. We had to wait in lines for 12 hours, but eventually got through. -
New York City*
We have arrived in the fabulous New York City, which used to be New Amsterdam until 1664. Therefore, there are many people from our home country of Netherlands to help us out. But, I'm not sure if we should stay. The only good-paying job I know how to do is farming, and there isn't much farmland around here. Everything is very urbanized and complicated. Maybe we should start to move west like I've heard so many people doing. I heard of a state, Wip-something, that has plenty of cheap farmland. -
Wisconson Blues*
We have moved to Wisconson and although the land is plentyful, the soil is bad and crops are slow. Fortunately, a few of the crops grew, and those sell for steep prices. We earned just enough money to scrape by, but I don't know if this is going to work for us either. We have added a new family member in little Abigail. William loves his baby sister and will care for her plenty. I just hope there is better crop growth next year, or we may need to mve again. -
Head for the West*
We have decided to sell our land in Wisconson to look for better soil in the west. We haven't decided where yet, but there is a long journey to let us sit and think. We had to sell almost everything to afford this rickety old wagon and just enough food to survive the winter. This is a journey into much uncharted land. I sure do hope we make it alive! -
Oregon Territory
We made it! After a long winter journey and countless minutes of just sitting, we reached what we decided was a good place to mark our land in Oregon. Thanks to the Homestead Act, we only had to pay a couple hundred dollars for our 550 acres of land. We have built a small house and a chapel and the soil is great! The only bad thing is that the town is about 25 miles away, but we can have fun making weekly runs on Saturday to town and stocking up on neccesary supplies for the week. ahead -
A Wave of Sadness*
There is a disease, smallpox I think, that is coming through our area. Theodora has died and William is very sick. I am worried that the only ones left will be Abigail and I and that we may have to sell much of our land to pay for food. I sure do hope that we can survive as we did before. America has been so hard, but we can't give up now. William has grown up into such a strong, young man and Abigail has turned into a very proper young lady, but Theodora just completed the family.
