Daughters of Harmen Jan te Selle and Johanna Br...
Traditionally, genealogy records trace only the male branch of the family tree. What happens to the women? They simply vanish from the TeSelle genealogy! If your maiden name is TeSelle, or if one of your female ancestors was a TeSelle by birth, then you may be curious about your TeSelle ancestry.
Here is an excellent example from my own branch of the family tree. My great-grandfather, Harmen Jan te Selle and his wife Johanna Brethouwer had seven sons and five daughters. The TeSelle genealogy shows all the sons, their spouses, and all their children. However, for the five daughters the genealogy shows only their spouses, but offers no information about their children.
Some of you reading this may, in fact, be direct descendants of one of these five daughters, but might have a difficult time tracing your genealogy back to the TeSelle family tree. By the same token, I probably have several cousins descended from these five ladies who are totally unknown to me.
Janna te Selle Bloemers (1796-1870)
Another example of a “vanishing” TeSelle woman is Janna te Selle (1796-1870). Janna was the older sister of Jan Albert te Selle (1800-1845), who was the father of Jan Hendrik te Selle and Harmen Jan te Selle, the two brothers who emigrated to the United States in the 1865, as well as Gerrit Jan te Selle, a third brother who emigrated in 1872. Much is written about these three brothers in this website.
Janna actually emigrated to the United States almost 20 years earlier, in 1846, with her husband Gerrit Willem Bloemers. Janna and Gerrit had six children, but according to the male-oriented genealogical custom, no mention of the Bloemers’ children or their descendants is found in the TeSelle genealogy. To learn about them, you need to find and research the Bloemers family tree, and many other family branches if you are descended from a female member of the Bloemers family.
For more information about tracing your female ancestors, please read this excellent article and the related links. Good luck on your genealogical journey.
Are you descended from a female TeSelle? Perhaps the Genealogy section of this website can help you find your connection to the TeSelle family. Please leave a comment about your TeSelle ancestors. What do you think are some effective ways for descendants of female TeSelles to discover their TeSelle roots?
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