Antje Paarlberg
Encyclopedia
Antje Paarlberg is known as the inspiration for the novel "So Big". Chicago area author Edna Ferber
used South Holland, Illinois
, its pioneers and onion farms as background for her 1924 novel about an ambitious widow in a Midwestern Dutch American farming community. The resilience of Antje Wagemeester Paarlberg, a widowed immigrant and determined pioneer, was allegedly the inspiration for the main character Selina Peake DeJong.
In 1847 Klaas Paarlberg and his wife, Antje, set off on a voyage from Spanbroek
, Netherlands
to America in search of freedom from religious persecution on the ship Doggersbank. They felt that the State Church was too liberal and the taxes unfair. The taxes in Holland were high; there was blight in the potato crop, and disease among the cattle. The couple heard about wonderful opportunities in America. They left North Holland, a province of the Netherlands with their seven children, the oldest being seven years old and the youngest three months old.
Klaas died of pleurisy
during the voyage and was buried at sea. He was 43 years old at the time of his death. Antje Paarlberg continued to America with their children with this single thought in mind, De Heere zal wel zorgen or "the Lord will provide".
The ship's captain offered to take Antje Paarlberg and her children back to Holland but she refused to go. The determined 'Widow Paarlberg', as she is referred to in South Holland, persevered even after the youngest child also died. The baby was buried in a small cemetery near Lincoln Park. Antje and her remaining six children settled near other Dutch pioneers 20–30 miles south of Chicago, buying eighty acres of land at seven dollars an acre by Thorn Creek. There she built a log cabin plastered with clay near what would become the village of South Holland, Illinois. Eventually all of her children acquired land in the area and developed farms. Antje Paarlberg died of a stroke in October 1885 at the age of 77.
Ferber highly fictionalized Antje's life and the Paarlberg family believes that she is somewhat misrepresented in "So Big". South Holland's Dutch descendants take exception to the literary license Ferber took with the character of the widow, creating a pushy flirtatious personality that South Hollanders say was nothing like the real Widow Paarlberg. Ferber gives a nod to the real Antje Paarlberg who appears in the novel as the "Widow Parlenberg". Ferber's "So Big" won the Pulitzer Prize and is considered among her most popular works. The book, "Lest We Forget" by Henry Paarlberg, one of Klass's and Antje's grandchildren, tells the family's version of the Paarlberg family's difficult journey.
Peter married Cornelia Van Oostenbrugge on October 31, 1870. They had eleven children together. Peter died on August 10, 1921, and Cornelia died on December 29, 1927. Peter's descendants donated the original Paarlberg homestead to the South Holland Historical Society in 1970.
A branch of the Peter Paarlberg family continues to farm in Kankakee County, 30 miles south of the original homestead which is today surrounded by suburbia. A second branch of the family farms in LaPorte County, Indiana
.
Paarlberg Heritage Festival: South Holland http://www.southholland.org/index.php?page=HeritageFest/paarlberg
Paarlberg Park: http://www.southholland.org/index.php?page=Parks/ParkInfo/paarlberg
Edna Ferber
Edna Ferber was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels were especially popular and included the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big , Show Boat , and Giant .-Early years:Ferber was born August 15, 1885, in Kalamazoo, Michigan,...
used South Holland, Illinois
South Holland, Illinois
South Holland is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States and serves as the seat of Thornton Township. The population was 22,147 at the 2000 census.-History:...
, its pioneers and onion farms as background for her 1924 novel about an ambitious widow in a Midwestern Dutch American farming community. The resilience of Antje Wagemeester Paarlberg, a widowed immigrant and determined pioneer, was allegedly the inspiration for the main character Selina Peake DeJong.
In 1847 Klaas Paarlberg and his wife, Antje, set off on a voyage from Spanbroek
Spanbroek
Spanbroek is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Opmeer, and lies about northwest of Hoorn.Spanbroek received city rights in 1414. It was a separate municipality until 1959, when it was merged with Opmeer....
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
to America in search of freedom from religious persecution on the ship Doggersbank. They felt that the State Church was too liberal and the taxes unfair. The taxes in Holland were high; there was blight in the potato crop, and disease among the cattle. The couple heard about wonderful opportunities in America. They left North Holland, a province of the Netherlands with their seven children, the oldest being seven years old and the youngest three months old.
Klaas died of pleurisy
Pleurisy
Pleurisy is an inflammation of the pleura, the lining of the pleural cavity surrounding the lungs. Among other things, infections are the most common cause of pleurisy....
during the voyage and was buried at sea. He was 43 years old at the time of his death. Antje Paarlberg continued to America with their children with this single thought in mind, De Heere zal wel zorgen or "the Lord will provide".
The ship's captain offered to take Antje Paarlberg and her children back to Holland but she refused to go. The determined 'Widow Paarlberg', as she is referred to in South Holland, persevered even after the youngest child also died. The baby was buried in a small cemetery near Lincoln Park. Antje and her remaining six children settled near other Dutch pioneers 20–30 miles south of Chicago, buying eighty acres of land at seven dollars an acre by Thorn Creek. There she built a log cabin plastered with clay near what would become the village of South Holland, Illinois. Eventually all of her children acquired land in the area and developed farms. Antje Paarlberg died of a stroke in October 1885 at the age of 77.
Ferber highly fictionalized Antje's life and the Paarlberg family believes that she is somewhat misrepresented in "So Big". South Holland's Dutch descendants take exception to the literary license Ferber took with the character of the widow, creating a pushy flirtatious personality that South Hollanders say was nothing like the real Widow Paarlberg. Ferber gives a nod to the real Antje Paarlberg who appears in the novel as the "Widow Parlenberg". Ferber's "So Big" won the Pulitzer Prize and is considered among her most popular works. The book, "Lest We Forget" by Henry Paarlberg, one of Klass's and Antje's grandchildren, tells the family's version of the Paarlberg family's difficult journey.
Paarlberg Historical Farm and Museum
Peter Paarlberg, Antje's oldest son, built the frame house on the Paarlberg farm that can be visited today in South Holland. The Paarlberg Historical Farm and Museum are nestled along Thorn Creek at the west end of a beautiful 16 acre park in the southwest corner of town on Paxton Avenue near 172nd Place. This park is host to the Annual Paarlberg Heritage Festival held on Labor Day. Tours of the original farm house, buggy barn, storage barn and the grounds are presented by the South Holland Historical Society members throughout the day.Peter married Cornelia Van Oostenbrugge on October 31, 1870. They had eleven children together. Peter died on August 10, 1921, and Cornelia died on December 29, 1927. Peter's descendants donated the original Paarlberg homestead to the South Holland Historical Society in 1970.
A branch of the Peter Paarlberg family continues to farm in Kankakee County, 30 miles south of the original homestead which is today surrounded by suburbia. A second branch of the family farms in LaPorte County, Indiana
LaPorte County, Indiana
LaPorte County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 111,467. The county seat is the city of La Porte. This county is part of the Chicago metropolitan area, Northwest Indiana and Michiana. The largest city is Michigan City...
.
External links
Paarlberg Farms: http://paarlbergfarms.com/Paarlberg Heritage Festival: South Holland http://www.southholland.org/index.php?page=HeritageFest/paarlberg
Paarlberg Park: http://www.southholland.org/index.php?page=Parks/ParkInfo/paarlberg