I have been researching my family history since doing my DNA in 2019. I have been stuck on researching Prussian ancestors and everyone had assumed they were of German origin, however I recently visited the area (near Gdansk) and found a lot of mennonite cemeteries in those towns, which lead me to search in other places for the name Boek (Boeck) which appears to be most popular in the Netherlands.

There are no DNA matches in that area at all, it seems Europe doesn't necessarily use Ancestry for DNA, or maybe it's just not popular to do it at all. I am Australian, my 3rd great grandfather was born in Prussia in 1826, and it his father I am now trying to track down.

Carl Johann Boek (Boeck)

What is the best way to start in the Netherlands?

Thanks
Jodi

Hi Jodi,

the 21,700 ha [54,000acres] east of Danzig [its German name] was in the 1600's part of the Kingdom of Poland. They needed people to develop this delta of the river Vistula.

The king offered very low lease costs, freedom of religion and tax breaks. The only major condition was that non RC were not allowed to preach their religion or intermarry with the local people.

The Mennonites, followers of the Friesian Menno were not exactly welcome in the Calvinist Netherlands. They took up the King's offer. After 1795, Poland was divided between Russia, Prussia and Austria. The Mennonites were a mixture of Friesians, Dutch and Germans

The Mennonites were pacifists and refused to join the Prussian army. Between 1830 and 1840, one part emigrated to the USA and one part settled along the Volga river in Russia. However around 1870 they were forced into the Russian army and the majority resettled for a second time in their live, this time in the USA.

In the early 1940's Stalin sent these people into Kazahkstan, he was afraid that the Mennonites would help the Nazi's. After the des-integration of the Soviet Union, these people wanted to go to Germany. What happened in the end was, that Germany bought farms in Kaliningrad [the former East Prussia], where they got settled. They speak a mixture , mainly "plat Deutsch"  If you speak Dutch and German, than it won't give you any problems.

I suggest that you find the following book, I bought it in Adelaide.

"Mennonite furniture, a migrant tradition 1766-1910", written by Ad Janze. Publicide by Good Books, Intercourse, PA1534, printed in 1991. I can't find an ISBN number. PA probably stands for Pennsylvania. There is an index, but Boek/Buch are not mentioned.

Off the cuff a few comments. 

First, I wouldn't expect that people from the environs of Danzig had Dutch ancestors... (It's usually the other way around).

The name "Boek" in Dutch could be from the word for (a) book. It could, hypothetically, also be related to "beuk" (the word for a beech tree).

Anyway, I should start with googling the names you have. There is an awful lot of Dutch genealogy to be found on line, though everything should be checked, rechecked and triple-checked against the original sources.

Next: use the site WieWasWie in voce the name Boek of Boeck (this site covers a lot of the country, but not all, and it's by no means complete yet -- very much a work in progress). Just try it. It's free. For the full scope of this database you'll need a subscription, but I'd wait with that until you have reason to believe that your ancestors were, indeed, Dutch.

I hope that you'll get more suggestions from others on this Forum. 

Have you tried Familysearch.org yet? you will need to register first, but it is free of charge. A search on your ancestor's name finds many related names in East Prussia.

Do you know the exact birth date and place your ancestor Carl Johann Boek (Boeck) was born?

The German word Buche means beech tree. 

Hi there,

My 3rd great grandfather was Ferdinand Carl Boek / Boeck / BECK is his australianised name per his naturalisation certificate) was born Feb 22 1826 in Tiege (NOW Tuja, Poland).

His father was Carl Johann Boek / Boeck (no birthdate, only assumed dates from his age as a father) and mother Elisabeth Schier. Back from here it becomes very difficult to track, I have been down many paths and had no firm confirmations. I was in Poland at his birthplace to try and find traces of his family name, but they empty out all the old cemeteries and install newer graves, some were completely barren, so no signs of his mother or father or the family name.

I have spent so many hours and when I made the connection between the mennonite cemeteries and discovered Boek was most popular in the Netherlands I had an aha! moment. But maybe that was misdirection, if, as some have said, people migrated in the opposite direction.

Ferdinand himself spent time in the Black Sea and fought in the Prussian Army - so that might indicate that if his father was a mennonite, he certainly strayed from the pack. So maybe this is a dead end also!!

After that he went to Central America (hoping to get to California) then Rio, then headed to Australia to the goldfields.

I have a full Ancestry membership, but there are so many dead ends, misdirections and assumptions it becomes fraught!

Thanks for your help!

Thanks for the advice, this was my first entry into dutch genealogy so wasn't sure the best way to go.  

No I don't have his birthdate, just his son's. Estimating late 1700s early 1800s based on the 1826 birth of his son Ferdinand

Don't know if you have this: 

death Elisabeth Schier/Schirr:  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZQB-72VW :

:

daughter Helena born in 1829: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZMX-B827

Daughter Carolina baptised in 1822: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZMF-HL39 

Have you tried contacting the Tiege/Tuja archives to ask whether they have birth and marriage archives available? Perhaps they can check for you in the parish or diocesan archives?

Also son Wilhelm born in 1822: [here]

Thanks for these - I had got that far with the siblings but no further with Carl. 
I went to the Tiege cemetery but it was completely bulldozed apart from 1 broken tombstone. The church was closed as it was (of course) a public holiday. I contacted the archives in Warsaw by phone and they referred me to marienberg (now Malbork) but when I went there they said I couldn't visit the archives. i really appreciate the research :-)

Death of Carl in 1874: [here]

Maybe the names of his parents are mentioned in the death certificate.

If you want to see an image of the original death certificate: 

• Access the site at a FamilySearch center.
• Access the site at a FamilySearch affiliate library.

Be aware that Mennonites and children being baptized are mutually exclusive. So the Mennonite link - to me - does seem unlikely. Further, if you look at the (German) genealogy site Genwiki, more specifically Metasuche ('Metasearch') the last names Boek and Boeck seem to be quite prolific in Germany. Unfortunately no match for the names you are looking for. The name 'Elisabeth Schier' does give some matches in German speaking communities in Hungary.

So: 'Boe(c)k' and 'Schier' may sound and look Dutch. But I do not see any specific reason for these people to be of Dutch origin.

Ik vond op de website allefriezen.nl een geboorteakte van ene Karel Buck uit 1841. het kind werd blijkens de aantekening op de akte bij huwelijk ge-echt. Zie de url:

https://allefriezen.nl/zoeken/persons?ss=%7B%22q%22:%22Karel%20Buck%22%7D&sa=%7B%22person_1%22:%7B%22search_t_voornaam%22:%22Karel%22,%22search_t_geslachtsnaam%22:%22Buck%22%7D%7D&sort=%7B%22order_i_datum%22:%22asc%22%7D&page=20

Weliswaar een Karel (Carl) uit later tijd, maar de naam lijkt te duiden op een voorvader die ook Karel als voornaam had.

Theo Prangsma