Emigrants from Aalten to the US
In 1847, a large group of emigrants from Aalten emigrated to the United States by ship. They were part of a larger emigration flow from the Achterhoek in the 19th century. One of the ships on which these emigrants traveled to America was the sailing ship Katherine (Kath) Jackson, which departed from Amsterdam that year.
The Kath Jackson was a three-master with a square transom and a length of approximately 38 meters. The ship was built in 1833 by Fickett & Thomas in New York.
The ship sailed at the end of August 1847 and had 171 passengers on board. According to the passenger list , about three-quarters of the passengers – 131 people – came from Aalten. The other passengers came from Eibergen, Zutphen, Winterswijk, Leiden and Germany, among others.
After embarkation in Amsterdam, the ship left the Netherlands via the Nieuwediep near Den Helder, from where the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean began. The captain of the ship was W.W. Stafford. On September 28, 1847, the Kath Jackson arrived in New York City.
The year before, the Kath Jackson had already brought a smaller group of people from Aalten to America, namely the Grootendorst / Scheenk family.
