SHEBOYGAN HISTORY

Evert Ruesink, Page 568

EVERT RUESINK, a merchant of Oostburg, is a native of Aalten, Guelderland, Holland, born August 16, 1852.  His parents, John W. and Grade Christina (Rensink) Ruesink, are natives of the same place.  The former was born August 17, 1816, and is a son of Derk Ruesink.  His wife was born in Varsevelt, Guelderland, November 28, 1815.  They had eight children, four boys and four girls, of whom four are living:  Derk, who is a farmer of Sioux County, Iowa; Minnie, who wedded J. W. Beverly, of Grand Rapids, Mich.; Lydia, who became the wife of John Te Ronde, a furniture dealer of Cedar Grove; and Evert, whose name heads this record.  In 1855 the family came to the New World, setting sail from Rotterdam on August 2, and forty-two days later landed at New York.  Coming on to Milwaukee, they made that city their home for about two years and a-half, the father working as foreman in a lime-kiln at $1 per day, his wages being subsequently advanced to $1.25.  In the spring of 1857 the family sought a home in Holland Township on the farm of D. A. Walvoord.  Having remained in his employ about two and a-half years, cutting timber for shipment from the pier of Amsterdam, he purchased ten acres of land, paying therefor $200.  Some six years later he added ten acres, for which he paid $150.  In 1882 he retired from active life, and removed to Gibbsville, where he is enjoying the fruits of his toil of former years.  It is doubtful if any man in the county has done more hard work than this sturdy Hollander.  It is estimated that he has cut about twenty-eight hundred cords of wood, receiving from thirty-two to seventy-five cents per cord for his labor.

    Evert Ruesink was about five years of age when his parents landed in Holland Township.  He has, therefore, made this his home for thirty-six years.  When fourteen years of age he began to make his own way in the world.  His first experience was as a farm hand for H. J. Te Selle, a farmer of the town of Holland, with whom he remained about two years.  Subsequently, he went to Fond du Lac County, where he worked six years, for four years receiving, respectively, $70, $100, $120 and $152.  Having carefully saved his earnings, which by that time had amounted to $800, he embarked in merchandising in Gibbsville, and after pursuing that business about eight years he disposed of the store and turned his attention to market gardening for some five years.  In the fall of 1887 he purchased his present business in Oostburg of Henry Merion.

    Mr. Ruesink was married to Miss Jane, a daughter of Grades and Wilhelmine (Wislink) Heinen.  The bride was born in the town of Holland, April 19, 1858.  Mr. and Mrs. Ruesink had five children, of whom four are living:  Wilhelmine, born January 18, 1883, in Gibbsville; Gerret, born in Oostburg, June 29, 1888; Geertruida, born March 17, 1890, in the same village; and Johanna, born June 16, 1892, also in Oostburg.  John W., the eldest child, was born September 24, 1879, and died November 6, 1888.  Mr. and Mrs. Ruesink are members of the Dutch Reformed Church, and, politically, he, like his father, is a Republican.  Mr. Ruesink is essentially a self-made man.  Commencing as a day laborer, he has accumulated what he has by industry and close application to business.