The eldest son, Jan Hendrik, was known as the “Landbouwer van het buuschap Zuna”. He appeared in the community rolls, as soon as his father left the responsibility to him. Jan Hendrik became a member of the committee in charge of the appointment of a new schoolmaster at Notter. He signed the decision, adding: “owner of an estate and freeholder”.
Jan Hendrik and Hendrika Bartels were married on Jun 20, 1839. He was significantly older than she was.
Jan Hendrik died in 1865. In his will, he left his entire estate; his personal properties as well as the real estate, furniture, household effects, cash money, silver, gold, rights and shares and credit money, to his wife.
After his death, the eldest son Jan, marries and moves to Rijssen. The son, Berend Jan, is a farmhand for Steven van Keppel. The farm goes deeper into disrepair. None of the children is interested in maintaining the farm.
The topic of emigration is very popular, not only in Zuna, but throughout the area. The people hear many stories of the good life in America. The widow Hendrika eventually decides to emigrate, possibly as a result of pressure from her children.
Kamphuis and the other Ter Avest properties are put up for sale through a public auction. They are sold on May 19, 1869.
Egbert Jan Timmerman and Everdina Slettenhaar move from the yard Achteresch to Kamphuis. Egbert Jan builds a new farmhouse in 1871. The yard is renamed De Schaanse. Today, no longer used as a farmhouse, the building still contains a nice cobble floor with the initials “1871 E.T.M. - E.S.H.”
The Ter Avests traveled from Rijssen to Liverpool and arrived in Boston, on the SS Siberia on September 6, 1869. The group included Hendrika, Jan, his wife Hendriena, their baby daughter Anna Johanna, Jan Willem, Diena, Hermanus, Geziena, Gradus, and their cousin Roelof Bartels. Roelof was the son of Hendrika’s brother, Hermannus Bartels. Only Berend Jan remained in The Netherlands. He came later, in 1871, possibly with his employer.
From Boston, they traveled by train straight west through Massachusetts and New York, across Ontario to Michigan, then to either Grand Rapids or Kalamazoo and on to the train station at Fillmore Center.
The Ter Avests settled in Fillmore Township of Allegan County, Michigan. It should come as no surprise their farms were located near the small village of Overisel. Here they continued their farming way of life, surrounded by neighbors who like themselves had been immigrants from the province of Overijssel in The Netherlands.
Jan Hendrik’s widow, Hendrika owned 65 acres of land at the southwest corner of what is today, the intersection of Michigan highway M-40 and 138th Avenue. She lived here with all of her children, except her eldest son Jan. Jan and his wife owned 15 adjacent acres to the South.
Hendrika confessed her faith at the Overisel Reformed Church on Jan 30, 1871. She transferred her membership to Hamilton Reformed Church on March 24, 1896. She died on Feb 24, 1898 of “old age” after a “gradual decline” and is buried in the Hamilton cemetery.
