Source: Prophet, Norma TeSelle, "The Start in the United States", Firth, Nebraska, December 2000

Norma TeSelle Prophet wrote a detailed history of three Te Selle brothers that emigrated from the Netherlands to the United States in the mid-1800’s to raise their families and to seek a better living. In October 1865 Harmen Jan te Selle (Norma’s grandfather) traveled from Holland via steamship with his older brother Jan Hendrik. They spent the first few years in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, and then later homesteaded fertile farmland in Lancaster County, Nebraska. A third brother, Gerrit Jan te Selle, later joined his brothers in Nebraska in 1873.

Norma TeSelle Prophet (1923-2009)


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Norma Norvella (Te Selle) Prophet was born on July 26, 1923, in Firth, Lancaster County, Nebraska to Benjamin F. and Alma (Dietz) Te Selle. She died on December 17, 2009, in Lincoln, Lancaster County, Nebraska, at the age of 86. As with all of us, the importance of her life was not the dates of… Read more »

“The Start in the United States” – by Norma TeSelle Prophet


Norma TeSelle Prophet wrote a detailed history of three Te Selle brothers that emigrated from the Netherlands to the United States in the mid-1800’s to raise their families and to seek a better living. In October 1865 Harmen Jan te Selle (Norma’s grandfather) traveled from Holland via steamship with his older brother Jan Hendrik. They spent the first few years in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, and then later homesteaded fertile farmland in Lancaster County, Nebraska. A third brother, Gerrit Jan te Selle, later joined his brothers in Nebraska in 1873.