Fiegenbaum, Johann Wilhelm

Other Events:

• Immigration: Between 1790 and 1795, The Netherlands
• Occupation: Between 1820 and 1845, The Netherlands; lay preacher in the separatist church movement

Notes:

Immigration:
In Dutch, the surname became Vijgeboom.
     In 1822 he published a short book, Korte beschrijving van de voornaamste lotgevallen van en door Johan Willem Vijgeboom (Short description of the most important live-events of Johan Willem Vijgeboom). He mentions the variety of jobs he held: employee in a tobacco-factory; gardener with his brother; farming and agriculture; businessman. About 1820, he was bankrupt.

Occupation:
From about 1820, Johannes Willem Vijgeboom became involved in the movement to separate from the state church in the Netherlands, the Dutch Reformed Church. He was a lay preacher at Delfshaven and Schiedam, then small fishing communities on the North Sea, and also at Axel, in the province of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, near the border with Belgium. His work was also known in the provinces of Zeeland, Friesland, and Groningen.
     He was repeatedly arrested and fined for his participation in religious gatherings under the Code Pénal, laws surviving from the Napoleonic occupation which forbade the unsanctioned assembly of more than 20 people.
     In 1823, he and his followers, known as the 'Vijgeboomianen,' separated from the Dutch Reformed Church and called themselves 'Herstelde kerk van Christus'."
     Johannes petition the King in 1824 for freedom of religion, but his appeal was not accepted.
     In 1835, this group joined with the larger national separation movement, the Afscheiding. The movement was suppressed by law enforcement agencies and many dissenting groups immigrated to the USA.
     The Afscheiding did not recognize Johannes Willem Vijgeboom as a minister in full standing, but only as an 'oefenaar,' or volunteer preacher. He rejected this verdict and in defiance adopted the clothing and symbols of an official minister of the movement.

Johann married [---?---], [--?--] 1814, The Netherlands. [--?--] died Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Married:
There is currently no further information about descendants.

Notes:

Birth:
This person's name may also be Johann Diderich Fiegenbaum.

Johann married Priggen, Catharina. Catharina died Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Birth:
His given name may also have been Johann.

Hermann married Fiegenbaum, Anna Elisabeth 28 Feb 1734. Anna (daughter of Fiegenbaum, Gerdt and Bremer, Gertrude) was born 4 Feb 1711, Ladbergen, Grafschaft Tecklenburg; died 29 Apr 1770, Ladbergen, Grafschaft Tecklenburg. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Married:

     Lieselotte (Freese) Fiegenbaum states that Anna Elisabeth was her father's heir (in German, Erbtochter). It was often the case, but not always so, that the spouse of an heiress would changed his surname at marriage so he would have the farm's name. Such was the case in this instance, and the eleven children assumed the surname Fiegenbaum. This practice, not completely unknown even in the 20th century in Ladbergen, is mentioned in Friedrich Saatkamp, Ladbergen: Out of the History and the Present of the 1000-year Westphalian Village, edited and translated by Dean R. Hoge (New Knoxville, Ohio: New Knoxville Historical Society, 1985).

Gerdt married Bremer, Gertrude 1707. Gertrude died 1715, Ladbergen, Grafschaft Tecklenburg. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Died:
Dorothy and Edna Hilgemann report that Gertrude died in childbirth. They do not say if the child survived.

Notes:

Married:
Dorothy and Edna Hilgemann state that Gertrude was Gerdt's first wife and that the couple had 3 children, but provide further information for only one daughter.

In 1707, Grafschaft Tecklenburg was sold to Friedrich I, King of Prussia. The citizens of Ladbergen no longer owed their allegiance to the Counts of Tecklenburg. The village became a part of the Kingdom of Prussia, within Kreis (District) Tecklenburg.