#52 Ancestors, Week 14... Begins with a Vowel

 Week 14 of #52Ancestors already!  

This week's theme is "Begins with a Vowel"... which means you could essentially come up with ANYTHING for this.  First name, last name, town, country, occupations, etc.  But I went with an ancestor with a first name starting with a vowel.

Meet my 2nd Great Grandmother, Amke Feyke Sterrenberg...  Not a lot is known about her.  Nothing on a personal level, for sure.  No pictures... no physical descriptions, etc.  What we do know, is what can be found on paper.  And honestly, that's true for most ancestors... not just mine.

But today I focus on Amke.

We know she was born on November 6, 1840, in Oldendorp, Lower Saxony, Germany.  Her parents were Jan Peter and Fijke Willems (Bley) Sterrenberg.  Jan Peter passed away in 1856.

marriage record for Jaus Wubbena and Amke Sterrenberg, 1868

On July 5, 1868, at the age of 27, she married Jaus Wubbena (changed to Wabbena in America).  Shortly after they were married, they came to America with Amke's mother and four siblings (2 sisters and 2 brothers).  They arrived on the Bremen Ship Admiral at New York on September 7, 1868.  They had all marked their destination to be Illinois.

passenger list Bremen Ship Admiral, 1868

I don't know why, but Amke and Jaus wound up in Kansas.  They had two children... the first one was born in 1869, in Woodford County, IL.  The second was born in 1872, in Labette, Kansas.

Amke died at the age of 33, in Labette, Kansas, in 1873 (date and cause are unknown).  After her death, Jaus and the young children went back to Illinois.  They settled in Iroquois County.