Jan Frederik Folskenk emigrated to South Africa in 1732
Hello
I am trying to find out more about Jan Frederik Folskenk who emigrated to South Africa in 1732. He later changed his name to Volschenk (presumed to fit in with the Dutch), married a van Graan and had six children.
He lived in Frederiksstad (as it was known then)
Any suggestions welcome
James
Answers
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Do you know when he was born, and whether Frederiksstad was his birth town?
Frederiksstad in Danish is Friedrichstadt in German and is a town in Schleswig-Holstein. According to MeyersGaz.org (see Ecclesiastical heading at https://www.meyersgaz.org/place/10520001), there's both a Catholic and a Protestant parish in Friedrichstadt.
You can find church records at https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/results?count=100&placeId=50282&query=%2Bplace%3A%22Germany%2C%20Preu%C3%9Fen%2C%20Schleswig-Holstein%2C%20Friedrichstadt%22&subjectsOpen=373613-50
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Thank you for your reply. It would be in Frederiksstad in Norway ( which was the name for Fredrikstad before 1877) -- sorry I should have made that clear.
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Okay, thanks for clarifying. Do you know when he was born? How old was he when he emigrated? Do you have his marriage record (which might list his birth date or his age)? His parents' names? Any information you have helps.
According to the FamilySearch Wiki (linked), Frederikstad parish in Norway was 3 separate parishes: Østre Fredrikstad , Vestre Fredrikstad and Glemmen.
There are various church books for Frederikstad, Norway, available (click on the blue text to view; the search includes all of the Frederikstad parishes, including Glemmen). Most of the books don't start until after Jan Frederik Folskenk left, but there is a 1717-1731 parish book (linked).
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This is very early to find out much.
I notice an Evert Jansz Volscenk (1702-1745) in the FamilySearch Tree LCC9-V3M
He was supposedly born in the very early 1700's in Frederikstad and was married in 1732(ish) in Cape Province, South Africa to Sara Van Graan. This Evert must be a relative of your Jan Frederik?
Does the origin of Jan Frederik come from a marriage record in South Africa?
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Thank you for the links
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You're welcome, James. I hope the links help. If you have any information about his birth date and would like further aid, please let us know.
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Hi James,
Ewert Jansen Folskenk lived in Frederikshald (now Halden) in the region Smaaleneness (now Ostfold) in Norway. He was probably born there too.
His mother is Sophia Detlofsdotter (or Detlofsdatter). His father's name was probably Johannes (Jan) Folskenk.
Ewert joined the VOC on 29 May 1729 as sailor on the ship "Land van Beloften". His name was then translated into the Dutch language in the VOC records as Evert Jansz Volschenk. The ship left Texel (Netherlands) on 29 May 1729 and arrives at the Cape of Good Hope on 1 January 1730.
I will attach a link to his entry in the VOC records [1].
Note that Scandinavian people often didnt have surnames. The few who did (like in this case) did not always use their surname in official documents. So he would often be documented as Ewert Jansen or Evert Jansz in the records.
Evert married Sara van Graan on 29 June 1732. They have 6 children (Sophia, Johannes Ernst, Maria Sophia, Anna Catharina, Evert, and Magdalena Elizabeth).
Evert died around 2 June 1745 at the Cape.
His death is recorded in the VOC records [1].
[1] https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/index/nt00444/c8825310-c864-11e6-9d8b-00505693001d
There might also be some more information on http://volschenk.org/
I attach his original signature here too.
It would be really wonderful if someone could find out more about his father (name, birthdate, birthplace, parents). I have not been able to get much information on him.I have found some even older mentions of the Folskenk surname in Copenhagen - Denmark. This makes sense, since Denmark and Norway were one country until 1814. So some Folskenk family members may have relocated from Denmark to Norway.
https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinholt_Hansen
https://www.geni.com/people/Reinhold-Hansen/319620875630004553
https://www.geni.com/people/Hans-Reinholdsen-Folskenk/319618209560003292
https://www.geni.com/people/Niels-Hansen-Folskenk/319619275660006351
Notice Reinholdt Hansen (a merchant and the mayor of Copenhagen) had the surname Folskenk, but generally did not use it in documents [3]. He was the son of Hans Reinholdsen Folskenk.
The family seems to have been quite important in Copenhagen. They were merchants, mayors, and councilmen for Copenhagen. As stated earlier, very few people in Scandinavia had surnames in those times. The clergy would pick latin-derived names and the artisans and merchants would pick german-derived names. Latin and German were the prestige languages in Denmark (rather than Danish).
Folskenk is very clearly derived from old German. It was sometimes spelt Folskenck, Follschenck, and some other ways.
[3] http://runeberg.org/dbl/7/0045.html
Another possibility for the origin of the name could have been as a title instead of just the artisanal occupation of wine-making.
It is possibly related to being the cup-bearer (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup-bearer) of a king/lord.
in other languages: Mundschenk or Hofschenk (German https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mundschenk),
Schenk or Mondschenk (Dutch https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schenk_(titel)),
Mundskænk (Danish https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mundsk%C3%A6nk).
A cup-bearer was an officer of high rank in royal courts. One additional duty was to actually be the person to serve his lord/the king wine. This meant that the lord/king must have placed high trust in this member of the royal court. The schenk would often be in charge of some town or even city of the lord/king The schenk was a member of the Ministerialiteit (https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministerialiteit): Schenk (Mondschenk) (lat. Pincerna, mundschenk), lid van de hofhouding van de leenheer, belast met het toezicht op de wijnkelder.
Other titles in the Ministerialiteit include: Bannerheer, Borgemeester, Drost, Maarschalk, etc.
So Folskenk may have been a title in the royal court.
This could be the case, since we see the Folskenk family in Copenhagen being merchants, mayors, and councilmen in Copenhagen. So this aligns quite well. In fact when Hans Reinholdsen Folskenk died in 1601, his his widow married Christian Schammelsen who became the cupbearer for the king in 1601 [2].
So perhaps Hans had this responsibility before Christian? In those time people commonly "married the title, not the person".
If this is the case the name could refer to both the title of cupbearer to the king as well as the artisanal practice of wine-making and trading (mercantilism).
[2] http://www.tjocka.nu/heritage/f6.htm#113
But really, right now we do not know until some more research is done on this.
I have some more information and sources on this but it would become an even longer message if i put it all here. I want to make a single family tree on this site when i have the time with all the info i have. Let me know if you are interested in that.
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