Genealogy – From Malaysia to Jever

FAMILY TREE Descendants of an adventurer from Sandelerhorsten travel back to their origins

BY THOMAS VAN LENGEN

(Photo by Thomas van Lengen) Justin Mann (center) shows Dirk Eilers and Anke Nannen the large family tree of the Westerhout family.

SANDEL – When Zioke Janssen registered on May 27, 1741, in the Dutch town of Hoorn with the chamber of the Dutch East India Company, founded in 1602, for a journey aboard the 600-ton ship Meerlust lying off Texel, he likely had little idea what awaited him. At age 19, he had long since left his parents’ home in Sandelerhorsten near Jever. Though his family owned a farm, land, and two pews in the church in Sandel, the local inheritance law favored the youngest brother—Zioke would receive nothing upon his parents’ death. That was reason enough to seek his fortune in the wider world. Driven by a thirst for adventure, he enlisted. From the chambers in Hoorn, Enkhuizen, and Amsterdam, the transport ships departed for the large merchant ships anchored in the deep waters off Texel. As many as 100 waited there for favorable winds. An incredible sight.

More soldiers than sailors aboard
    They were ships of fate. On these voyages, often up to 100 sailors and soldiers died, those who also defended the ships against attacks by other European colonial powers. Frequently, there were more soldiers than sailors aboard. In the ship logs, Zioke was henceforth recorded in Dutch as “Sjouke Jansz: Westerhout.” The addition is possibly a reference to “Westerholt,” the name of a farm in Sandelerhorsten.
     Zioke was lucky and, thanks to his rural upbringing, seemingly enjoyed robust health. On his many voyages aboard different ships, he escaped harm, overcame scurvy and other deadly diseases, and rose to the rank of lieutenant. From the money he earned, initially eight, later 48 guilders per month, he settled around 1763 in Malacca (Melaka), a port city in present-day Malaysia. There, he gained considerable wealth, married three times, drafted a will, and died in 1774. The name Westerhout endures to this day.

Zioke’s traces lead back to Jeverland
    The will of the adventurer from Sandelerhorsten is the reason why, over 250 years later, Justin Mann is sitting in the old schoolhouse in Sandelermöns. He hasn't come alone. The German-American from San Francisco, now living in Bochum, has brought his son. Also present in the village community center are relatives from Singapore, Perth, and Seattle, gathered over a cozy cup of tea. The clan is spread all over the world, in New Zealand, Canada, the U.S., Australia, the U.K., Singapore, and Malaysia. Their family WhatsApp group has 121 members. Since the 1960s, they’ve been researching their ancestry. In modern-day Melaka, they eventually discovered the will of Zioke Janssen, followed his footsteps, and arrived where it all began—Jeverland.
     This shortened version doesn’t do justice to the painstaking detective work undertaken by Justin Mann, a 12th-generation Westerhout. He’s reviewed countless church records and documents in the State Archive of Oldenburg and spoken with experts in Germany and the Netherlands. Along the way, countless pages written in Sütterlin script were deciphered. The result is a family tree that stretches nearly 2.5 meters when printed on paper.
     Two and a half meters of genealogical detective work, over decades. And some passages overlap with the Nannen family, which still resides in Grappermöns today.

Multiple family trees laid side by side
    Crucial clues came from the Oldenburg Society for Family Research, particularly Gerold Diers, as well as the Sandelermöns village community and its website, where the village chronicle of Grappermöns is published. There, the Nannen family tree is also listed. “I eventually laid theirs over mine and saw that there were matches,” says Justin Mann. “That was the first time it connected to the present,” he says. Anke Nannen is also seated at the tea table this afternoon, along with Dirk Eilers from Cleverns, who also appears in the family tree.
     It’s not Justin Mann’s first journey to Jeverland. On his first visit, he searched through church books in Sandel and went multiple times to the state archive with Mr. Diers. “From then on, the picture slowly came together,” he recalls. His genealogical research has now reached its conclusion. He now wants to show the rest of the family where they actually come from. The planned tour includes Jever (with city tour, museum visit, and brewery), Hoorn, Texel, Amsterdam, and the province of Zeeland, where Zioke Janssen once traveled. A large family reunion is scheduled in Jever in 2026. There will be plenty to talk about.

LOCAL HISTORY 121 Relatives from seven countries plan meeting in Sandelerhorsten

BY DIETMAR RECK

SANDELERHORSTEN - In 1974, at the corner of L813/Horster Weg in Sandelerhorsten, an old farmhouse was demolished that had long been home to a family that today draws interest far beyond the region. In 2020, genealogist Justin Mann discovered that his maternal ancestors hail from the Jeverland—and not, as previously assumed, from the Netherlands.

From Farm to Sea
    In 1741, the then 19-year-old Zioke Janssen left his parents’ farm to sign on as a sailor aboard a ship of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Life in the region was tough at the time: inheritance rules in the parish of Sandel favored the youngest brother. Zioke's half-brother Harm Johansen (Westerholt) inherited the farm — Zioke, as the eldest son, had no claim to it. So he looked to the sea for his future.
    At recruitment in Hoorn, his name was translated into Dutch as Sjouke Jansz Westerhout, van Jeverlandt — a family name still carried today. “Westerhout” and “Westerholt” mean “west of the forest,” referencing the farm’s location west of the Upjeversche forest. Many young men from Jeverland emigrated to the Netherlands at the time due to economic hardship and no inheritance prospects.
    Zioke started as a junior sailor earning 8 guilders a month and rose to the rank of lieutenant, earning 48 guilders monthly from 1758 on. Around 1763, he settled in Malacca (now Malaysia), married three times, and died in 1774. His 1774 will precisely states his parents’ birthplaces: Cleverns and Sandelerhorsten.
    Research into the Westerhout lineage began back in the 1960s with clues from an 1840s will. In 2005, the 1774 will was discovered in the Netherlands, leading to a breakthrough. In 2008, a branch of the family from Singapore contacted the Oldenburg Society for Genealogical Research. Parish records from Sandel (*1) confirmed roots back to 1605 and documented additional farmsteads in the parish.

Return to the Homeland
    Today, the Jeverland family tree of the Westerhout family includes more than 150 names and over 50 marriages. Justin Mann, 12th generation, returned to Germany in 1977, and his children are the first generation in centuries to be born in the Jeverland (*2) again. The family WhatsApp group now includes 121 families spread across New Zealand, Canada, the USA, Australia, the UK, Singapore, and Malaysia.
    A major family reunion is planned for 2026 in Jever, with participants expected from around the world. In preparation, Justin Mann traveled with family members from Singapore, Perth, and Seattle to the “old homeland” and met in the Dörphuus of Sandelermöns with chronicler Alfred Hinrichs and more relatives from Cleverns and Grappermöns.

(Image 1)
Justin Mann (left) and Alfred Hinrichs with a 1910 photo of the farm Sandelerhorsten No. 3, corner of Horster Weg. It was the parental home of Zoike Jannsen. The barn was modernized in 1913, burned down in December 1920, and rebuilt before the farm was purchased and demolished by the government in 1974. PHOTO: REPRO DIETMAR RECK SOURCE: STATE ARCHIVE OLDENBURG

(Image 2)
The Westerhout families (from left): Geoffrey Morris and wife Nanette Westerhout (Singapore), Justin Mann (Bochum, his mother was Katherine Westerhout), Alfred Hinrichs and Edith Hinrichs, Scott Westerhout (Seattle), Anke Nannen, behind them Rainer Köpsel, Dirk Eilers, and Garreth Mann, son of Justin Mann. PHOTO: DIETMAR RECK

(*1) "Parish records from Sandel confirmed the roots back to 1605 and documented additional farmsteads in the parish."
Correct is:
Sources for further farmsteads and roots back to around 1605 were provided by documents from the Lower Saxony State Archive in Oldenburg; entries from Sandel’s church books begin only in 1671 and are fragmentary.

(*2) "and his children are the first generation in centuries to be born again in the Jeverland."
Correct is:
"In Germany" instead of "in the Jeverland"