What we know about our Drost family
begins in the 1700s on the coast of current day Germany. At this time and in that location, the Drost
ancestors were living in an area called East Frisia. East Frisians trace their origins back to an
eastward migration from Frisia, or present day Netherlands, in the 12th century.
East Frisia was a part of the Netherlands but maintained a level of
independence throughout the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. However, that independence was lost in 1744 when
taken over by the Kingdom of Prussia.
Though having lost its independence, Prussia allowed the East Frisians
to maintain autonomy. East Frisia
made up the coastal regions of present-day northwest Germany. The East Frisian people are closely connected
with the Dutch in many ways and though they became Prussian and later German,
they maintained their Dutch customs and Dutch occupations, which were predominantly farmers
and mariners.
East
Frisia, or East Friesland, (left) became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1744
(light brown denotes Prussian acquisitions between 1600 and 1772
A Claes Janssen was born circa 1720,
probably in East Frisia, and had at least five known children. His first marriage was to Gretje Janssen on
12 June 1745. Claes and Gretje had three
children before Gretje’s death in December 1752 at Nesse, East Frisia (21
December was likely a burial date). It
appears, from regional records, that by 1752, the Claes Janssen family was
living in Nesse, a part of the larger district of Aurich. Claes was married secondly to Gesche Janssen
on 27 January 1753 and then after her death (on 13 December 1767 in Nesse),
married Trientje Folpts (she was born in 1749).
Claes was an arbeiter, which was probably a day worker or laborer, in
the Aurich district.
Claes Janssen known children:
1. (with
Gretje Janssen) Fente, born 19 January 1746 (female child)
2. (with
Gretje Janssen) Jan Claessen, born 19 July 1748 (male child became Drost)
3. (with
Gretje Janssen) Aleid, born 23 March 1751 (female child)
4. (with
Gresche Janssen) Jan Nannen born circa 1755 (male child)
5. (with
Trientje Folpts) Folpt Simens, born 25 October 1769 in Nesse (male child became
Drost)
Presumably at some location near
Nesse, Claes Janssen died between 1769 and 1794 (last known child’s birth in
1769 and widow’s death in 1794). The
death was probably nearer to 1794 since records show his third wife was at the
time a widow (and probably would have remarried). On 3 May 1794, Claes Janssen’s third wife
Trientje died in Westdorf, a small village located west of Nesse.
Nessmersiel
was a small coastal village in Aurich (green).
Smaller communities that closely adjoined Nessmersiel less than half
mile to the west include Deich-und Sielrott and Westerdeich. Osterdeich adjoins to the east within half
mile and Nesse to the south within one mile.