Gerrard Lambertes Van de Sterg

VAN DE STERG, VAN DE HOEF, VAN ZEE, HEIDEMAN, POLAND

Posted By: Volunteer
Date: 2/4/2010 at 18:34:56

GERRARD LAMBERTES VAN DE STERG was a native of Iowa, member of one of the pioneer families who came from Holland, and his career exemplified many of the substantial virtues of his people, industry, close attention to his own affairs and an honored relationship with his community.

Mr. Van de Steeg was born August 26, 1859, son of Garrett and Jacoba (Van de Hoef) Van de Steeg. His parents came from Holland in 1847 and joined the principal colony of the Hollanders in Iowa, at Pella.

Garrard L. Van de Steeg attended school at Pella, and was eleven years of age when his parents, in 1870, moved to Sioux County and settled in Orange City. During his early youth he worked on a farm, was clerk in a general store, and developed into a sterling business man. For fifteen years he held the office of postmaster at Orange City and afterwards was city clerk and was treasurer of the Sioux County Fair Association until his death on August 19, 1928. He is buried at Orange City.

Mr. Van de Steeg was a Republican in politics, was a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, and was active in church, being secretary and treasurer of his Sunday School.

He married, January 15, 1885, Miss Lena Van Zee, daughter of Steven and Judith Van Zee, who were also from Holland, coming to America in 1847. Mrs. Van de Steeg, who survives her husband and resides at Orange City, has three children. Her son Gerrit Jacob was born July 25, 1887, and is an electrician with the power company at St. Louis. He married, July 12, 1916, Pearl Elizabeth Heideman, and they have three children, named Edith Margaret, born June 9, 1918, Helen Marie, born November 26, 1921, and Doris Mildred, born April 26, 1924. The two daughters of Mrs. Van de Steeg are Judith Evelyn, born February 17, 1891, a graduate nurse at St. Luke's Hospital in Chicago, and Vera Vivian, born May 13, 1895, who married Spencer Carlyle Poland, proprietor of a drug store at Milford, Iowa.

A Narrative History of The People of Iowa with SPECIAL TREATMENT OF THEIR CHIEF ENTERPRISES IN EDUCATION, RELIGION, VALOR, INDUSTRY, BUSINESS, ETC. by EDGAR RUBEY HARLAN, LL.B., A.M., Curator of the Historical, Memorial and Art Department of Iowa Volume IV THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Inc. Chicago and New York 1931.