Oggel Family. Papers, 1841-1981.

The major part of the Oggel Family collection and all of the Dutch Immigrant Collection (Wisconsin) were donated by Mr. Dingeman J. Oggel, Axel, Zeeland, the Netherlands, in 1975. Some of the material in the Oggel Family collection was donated by Dr. Eugene Scholten of Holland, Michigan, in 1980.

The Oggel Family Collection consists mainly of the "American" letters of the eight children of Johannes Pieter Oggel and his wife Adriana de Pree Oggel: Johannes P. Oggel, (1828-1914), Rev. Pieter J. Oggel, (1829-1869), Dirk C. Oggel, (1832-1900), Marinus J. Oggel, (1838-1910), Dena Maria Oggel Welle, (1840-1930), Rev. Engelbert C. Oggel, (1841-1910), Hendrik P. Oggel, (1844-1926), and Jacobus M. Oggel, (1839-1926). Johannes, Dirk, Marinus, and Hendrik left for America on April 28, 1855, and Pieter, Jacobus, Dena, and Engelbert departed on April 29, 1856. The letters are written to their stepmother, Krina van Zuinjen Oggel; to their half-brother, Dingeman Jacobus; and half-sister, Maria, who married J. M. Wieland, both of whom remained in the home village of Axel, Zeeland, the Netherlands. The father, Johannes Pieter Oggel, died in 1856. Almost all of the letters are in Dutch, but English translations are included in the collection. Some of the other correspondents with the Oggel family in Axel were relatives of the family, e.g. Jan and Dirk de Pree. Two key correspondents with Johannes Pieter Oggel, were the Rev. Albertus C. Van Raalte and the Rev. Cornelius Vander Meulen, leading ministers in the Afscheiding movement which Oggel had joined.

Other correspondents are: L. de Linn, J. H. Donner, Jennie M. Welle, Dirk C. De Pree, Mrs. E. C. Oggel, Eleanor van Bruggen, Mrs. H. P. Oggel, D. Minderhout, Jan de Pree, Mrs. A. de Pree, F. van Driele, Ary van Driele, Jan den Herder, James Ossewaarde, P. Marijs, and H. G. Keppel.

The material donated by Dr. Scholten consists of wedding announcements and invitations, correspondence, clippings, photographs, and a genealogy of the Oggel and De Pree family.

The Dutch Immigrant Collection (Wisconsin) consists of copies of letters in Dutch by settlers in Wisconsin to relatives in the Netherlands. Mr. Dingeman J. Oggel of Axel, Zeeland, The Netherlands, made these copies from originals in the archives of the Axel town hall. Because the letters are in longhand and rather difficult to decipher, Mr. Oggel supplied typed transcripts for most of them. Most of these letters were written by Pieter van Ouwerkerk of Holland Township, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, and by Abraham Pieter Brill of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to relatives in Zuidzande and other towns in Province Zeeland, Kingdom of Holland (Netherlands).