Born Jann Geerds Klaassen Bokker. Jann was born in the small village of Uttum located in the Krummhorn district approximately 10 kilometers North of Emden. The Krummhorn has some of the oldest villages in Ostfriesland. Some are thousands of years old. This area is reclaimed marshland from the sea and is noted for some of the best farmland in Ostfriesland. Jann was born on April 1, 1830 to Klaas Peters Bokker and Tammel Heeren Dokter. Jann was the youngest child of four children; he had two older brothers and one older sister. Six months and six days after his birth his mother died. His father, Klaas Peters Bokker bas born in Rysum located west of Emden in the Krummhorn area and his occupation is listed as Arbeiter (laborer). Jann's father moved to the village of Uttum, where he met and married his first wife Tammel Heeren Dokter.
Jann married Diertje Hattermann in 1859 and together they raised 6 children: Lena (Tammel), Margaret (Grietje), Dirk (Dick), Klaas, Jan (John J), Anton (Tony).
Jann Bokker, his wife, and three of their children arrived in Baltimore, Maryland on 22 March 1883 with approximately 787 other passengers on the German ship named
"Braunschweig", which sailed from the German port city of Bremen. From Baltimore, they probably took a train to Chicago and from there to Forreston, Illinois, where they settled on a farm near Haldane, Illinois. I assume that Jann and his family traveled in 3rd class (steerage) as Margaret Bokker-Buss says in her short biography that the family didn't have much money. The other 3 children arrived on another ship.
Accommodations in steerage class in many ships were very crowded below decks and were dark, damp, dirty, and poorly ventilated. The "Braumschweig" was listed as having a total capacity of 667 passengers, however the passenger list showed 787 passengers(of course, many were children), but still, there is no doubt that they were crowed together for weeks living in poor conditions. Until the 1890s, many immigrants had to provide their own straw mattresses, as well as their eating utensils. Poor food and dirty, stale water were also a problem for such a large group, as well as poor sanitation, and sea sickness. Sickness, such as dysentery, Typhoid and Cholera were not unusual and many died on the passage over.
Jann and his wife did very well in American in the farming community.
Jann died at the age of 82, 29 years after coming to America to start his new life with his family. He is buried next to his wife Diertje.(bio added by aritha buss)