Notes:

Possibly born in 1867 as tombstone states.

John Haan changed his name to DeHaan due to mail delivery confusion. The 1910 shows another John Haan family a few houses down, likely the cause of the confusion.

From www.alaska.net/~dsewell/:

According to a article that I have called "A Short Survey of Friesian History by Bernard J. Fridsma, Sr.", the first recording of the Friesians was about 1,000 years ago when they were living on the coast of the North Sea between the Ems and Rhine Rivers. Where they came from is pretty foggy but that they started reclaiming the muddy land from the sea is evident. Eventually the country called Friesia covered the whole coast of what is now The Netherlands and Germany. For centuries they fought off invaders. Unfortunately when they weren't fighting with others they fought with each other over control. (Sound familiar?) Finally, after a series of name changes and being divided and re-divided between 1798 and 1810 under Napoleon, Friesia lost it's ancient name. It now remains only in the province (state?) of Friesia in the north west corner of The Netherlands and in our beloved Ostfriesland (East Friesia) in Germany.


IN THE USA
From 1850 to 1900 there was a mass immigration from this the Ostfriesland area of Germany due to war and wide spread hunger. It was a chance for the common man to improve his families lot in life. Most of this group settled in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Wisconsin. In some of the German villages over half of the population departed. The port of entry for a large percentage of the immigrants was New Orleans. They then traveled up the Mississippi River to the Heartland of America.

For the settlement of the farm country of Illinois timing was everything. Much of this area was sparsely settled because the land was wet, heavy black gumbo, covered with deep rooted prairie grass. It was impossible to plow without stopping every few feet to clean the blade. Then the curved "self cleaning" plow was invented and perforated tile was installed around the fields and the land rush was on. A far seeing man named Scully bought a huge portion of the land and paid the fare for families from his native land to come and be tenant farmers. Of course many paid their own way and worked in other jobs.

This was an industrious group and they did well in their new land. For many years they kept their old customs and spoke Low German so named for the low, flat terrain of their native land, reclaimed from the North Sea. Then came WW1 and to be German was shameful in America. Everyone was anxious to appear patriotic so much of our heritage was lost. The few that appeared too loyal to Germany had their houses and fences painted yellow by "real Americans" in the middle of the night. My grandfather was one of them but his reaction was not of fear but of defiance (or stubbornness, depending on how you look at it). "If a yellow house means I'm German then I will show that I'm proud of it." he said (in German, of course). He painted the rest of the house yellow and that is the color it stayed until he died.

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John took the surname "DeHaan" when he arrive at Rock Rapids, IA. The story was passed down that this was done due to mail delivery problems with another John Haan family down the road. The census data confirms this was his first cousin married to Bessie Rieman.

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From "In and Around George" 1871-1912
John De Haan -- and his wife lived here from 1890 (perhaps earlier) until 1895. At. that time they lived near Lyon County First Presbyterian Church and near Rev. Henry Wortman's home. The children remember how often the Wortman children would stay with them when their parents were busy. In 1895 they moved to Riverside Township, and later they returned to George, living at 107 West Indiana Avenue. Their children were John (married Mabel Schlotfeldt); Ella (Mrs. Harm Meester); Agnes (Mrs. Harry Cone); Helen (Mrs. Charley Busch); Anna (Mrs. Charley Harms); and Elizabeth (Mrs. Elmer Williams).

On the picture with Mr. and Mrs. De Haan is their grandson Win Harms.

Johann married Hilka Garrels on 18 Aug 1887 in Grundy Center, IA. Hilka (daughter of Garrett F Garrels and Antje Klingenberg) was born on 23 Jun 1867 in Germany (Most Likely Ostfriesland); died on 6 Jul 1937; was buried in Colfax Center Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Grundy, IA USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Elizabeth Dehaan
2. Altje Dehaan was born on 31 Aug 1888; died on 25 Apr 1976; was buried in State Line Cemetery, Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Ellsworth, MN.
3. John Dehaan was born on 01 Jul 1890; died on 14 Mar 1919.
4. Agnes Dehaan was born on 17 Dec 1892; died on 2 Jul 1973 in Lyon County, Iowa, USA.
5. Hilka Dehaan was born on 21 Oct 1895 in Matlock, Sioux, Iowa; died on 30 Jan 1981 in Rock Rapids, Lyon County, Iowa, USA.
6. Anna Dehaan was born on 7 Sep 1898 in George, Lyon County, IA; died on 15 May 1975; was buried in Evergreen Lawn Cemetary, George, IA - Blot 1 Lot 47E.

Aeisse married Aaltje Janssen-Bruuns on 20 Mar 1853 in Hamswehrum, Hannover, Germany. Aaltje (daughter of Jan Berends Bruuns and Aafke Nankes Hinderks Terviel) was born on 5 Jan 1825 in Germany; died on 10 May 1899 in Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Jan married Antje Hanssen on 29 Aug 1819 in Groothusen, Germany. Antje (daughter of Geerd Janssen and Teelke Hanssen) was born on 27 Jan 1791 in Rysum, Germany; died on 8 Oct 1873 in Hamswehrum, Hannover, Germany; was buried on 12 Oct 1873 in Hamswehrum, Hannover, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Jan married Aafke Nankes Hinderks Terviel about 1810 in Wybelsum, Germany. Aafke (daughter of Nanke Hinderks Terviel and Geeske Boelmann) was born on 23 Feb 1793 in Twixlum, Hannover, Germany; died on 19 Jun 1872. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Supposedly, he was a farmer and coming to the United States in 1866, located in Illinois, later making a home in Grundy County, Iowa.

Geerd married Teelke Hanssen. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Berend married Sybilla Siepts on 9 May 1779. Sybilla was born on 14 Nov 1753 in Wybelsum, Germany; died on 24 Mar 1783 in Wybelsum, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Nanke married Geeske Boelmann. Geeske was born in 1766 in Pilsum, Germany; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]