Ipina JANSONIUS
Birth: 28 Mar 1884 in Ackley, Hardin County, Iowa
Christening: Westfriesland Presbyterian Church, Ackley, Hardin County, Iowa
Death: 28 May 1966 in Aplington, Butler County, Iowa
Burial: 31 May 1966 Westfriesland Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Ackley, Hardin County, Iowa
Mother was the fifth of ten children of John and Margaret Nymeyer Jansonius. One brother and three sisters were older and two brothers and three children were younger. She was born in the Island Grove area northeast of Ackley, Iowa on the farm in Grundy County to be nearer the school. Mother went to Cedar Falls to school for six weeks and taught country schools until her marriagae on March 16, 1905.

Dad was the fifth of a total of 13 children born to Ubbe and Margretha (Weichmann) Harken in Butler County, Iowa. I believe they were all born on the farm two miles south and 3/4 mil east of Austinville. At the age of 6 1/2 his 5 year old sister died and I remember Dad talking about his pretty younger sister. At age 9 a 15 year-old brother died; at age 15 a 4 year-old brother died. These boys were named Klaas. At age 20 his father died and Dad was the oldest boy at home. Uncle Corneal Harken was married and probably lived down the road, but Grandma was left with girls 23, 22, 15 and 11 years of age and boys 20, 17, 13, 8 and 2 years of age.

Dad talked of going to school thru the winter quarters until he was well into his teens. They were taught on an individual basis and he learned enough math to help me with algebra when I got to high school.

One of my cousins told me that when Grandpa died Grandma told her boys that if they would stay home and work they could have a farm rent free for one year after they were married. After Dad and Mother married, they joined the Westfriesland Presbyterian Church and farmed on Grandma's farm for four years. Margery and John were born on this farm 2 miles southand 1 1/2 miles east of Austinville. As Uncle Isbrandt Harken got married in 1909 I assume that is the spring they moved to the Meickley farm 1 mile south of where they were living. Urban and Fred were born on this farm which was larger than where they had been living.

In the spring of 1912 they moved to a small house in Austinville where Cornelius and Gertrude were born. They moved the house 3/4 of a block north and built the new house where Bernice, I and Anna Marie were born. Dad worked for R. C. Bode in the general store after moving to Austinville and later purchased the store in partnership with his cousin, John R. Harken. They sold the business in 1931 and Dad then did carpenter work, sold Raleigh Products and Davis Paint, and worked in the WPA program, not necessarily in that order.

In 1934 Dad started driving a school bus to Aplington for high school students. He worked his carpenter work around this and probably drove until 1945 when he was 65. He also worked for Jack Limburg in the grocery store even after his 1st heart attack in, I believe, 1949 or 1950.

Dad and Mother were both active in the Westfriesland Presbyterian Church. Mother was in Ladies Aid and taught Sunday School, and Dad was an elder, (over 30 consecutive years as elder and Clerk of Session), Deacon, and Sunday School teacher. Before the Christian Reformed Church in Austinville started, my parents were very instrumental in starting a nondenominational Sunday School in Austinville of which Dad was superintendent. He also served several terms on the Austinville School Board.

Through good times and bad, there was always food on the table, clothing to wear, juicy fruit gum on Sunday and a penny for Church and Sunday School.
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Marriage 1 Reemt U HARKEN b: 27 Apr 1882 in Austinville, Butler, Iowa c: in Westfriesland Presbyterian Church, Ackley, Hardin County, Iowa
Married: 16 Mar 1905 in home of the bride, Ackley, Hardin County, Iowa
Children
Margretha HARKEN b: 6 Jan 1906 in Austinville, Butler County, Iowa c: in Westfriesland Presbyterian Church, Ackley, Hardin County, Iowa
John Bert HARKEN b: 25 Nov 1907 in Austinville, Butler County, Iowa c: in Westfriesland Presbyterian Church, Ackley, Hardin County, Iowa
Urban HARKEN b: 22 Dec 1909 in Austinville, Iowa c: in Westfriesland Presbyterian Church, Ackley, Hardin County, Iowa
Fred Henry HARKEN b: 10 Jan 1912 in Austinville, Butler County, Iowa c: in Westfriesland Presbyterian Church, Ackley, Hardin County, Iowa
Cornelius Edward HARKEN b: 19 Jul 1914 in Austinville, Butler, Iowa c: in Westfriesland Presbyterian Church, Ackley, Hardin County, Iowa
Gertrude Kathryn HARKEN b: 1 Sep 1916 in Austinville, Iowa c: in Westfriesland Presbyterian Church, Ackley, Hardin County, Iowa
Bernice May HARKEN b: 14 May 1919 in Austinville, Iowa c: in Westfriesland Presbyterian Church, Ackley, Hardin County, Iowa
Robert Arthur HARKEN b: 26 Apr 1921 in Austinville, Iowa c: in Westfriesland Presbyterian Church, Ackley, Hardin County, Iowa
Anna Marie HARKEN b: 29 Mar 1924 in Austinville, Iowa c: in Westfriesland Presbyterian Church, Ackley, Hardin County, Iowa
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Ipina JANSONIUS
Services were held Tuesday at West Friesland Presbyterian Church near Ackley for Mrs. R. U. Harken, 82, Austinville, who died Saturday at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Peter Schaap of Aplington, where Mrs. Harken had been living. Burial was in the church cemetery.

Surviving are 4 sons: John, of Holland, Mich.; Fred, Alma, Mich., Cornelius, Waterloo, and Robert, Ackley; four daughters, Mrs. Louis Ontjes and Mrs. Elmer Younker, both of Ackley; Mrs. Paul Rewerts, Grundy Center, and Mrs. Schaap.

Mrs. Harken was preceded in death by her husband in 1961 and a son, Urban, in 1956.