Here are some maps of the van der Waal area in Holland. This first one gives a general idea of where the van der Waal area (circled in red) is found in the Netherlands as well as in relation to western Germany:
This next map gives a general idea of where the van der Waal area is found in Holland in relation to the city of Rotterdam. Again, the area is circled in red.
And this last map shows exactly where in South Holland the American van der Waal family under discussion here comes from. That area is circled in red and the towns mentioned earlier are underlined.
Wikipedia says this about the Dutch immigrants to Pella, Iowa:
The Dutch came to Iowa in 1847 while under the leadership of Reverend Hendrik (Henry) Pieter Scholte. There are several reasons for their immigration. Many did not like the new leadership of the Netherlands, that of William I. Economic conditions were poor in their homeland, worsened by a potato crop failure. There was also a desire to obtain religious freedom, after having been treated poorly on account of religion in their home country. It is likely the latter motivation that led them to name their first Iowan colony Pella, in reference to a religious place of refuge. Once initially established, letters from early Dutch immigrants were published and circulated in the Netherlands, increasing subsequent immigration. A fine example of this is an 1848 piece by Scholte himself, Eene Stem uit Pelle (A Voice from Pella). Additional Dutch immigration continued to Pella, and in the following years a daughter colony was founded at Orange City.
[Note: Pella is in Marion County, Iowa but is only two miles west-northwest of where Arie has his original farm of 160 acres in Black Oak Township, Mahaska County.]
And from "immigrationtounitedstates.org" here is some more on Dutch immigration that mentions Pella:
Economic hardships including potato and rye crop failures in the Netherlands during the 1840’s, were among the motivations for the second wave of Dutch immigration to the NewWorld. However, religious tensions in the Netherlands constituted its most significant motive force and resulted in its longest-lasting effects. Immigration was significantly encouraged by a “seceder” movement within the official Dutch Reformed Church in the Netherlands. Starting fairly early during the nineteenth century, some congregations and individuals rejected what they perceived as a liberalization of the Dutch church, a moving away from its deep commitment to Calvinism. The Dutch government responded by attempting to repress the seceder movement by breaking up the movement’s meetings, billeting soldiers in the homes of separatist families, and imposing fines on its pastors. Official state hostility continued until 1848.
In 1834, the Dutch seceders officially broke from the Netherlands state religion. Some of their congregations, led by their pastors, emigrated as groups to the United States during the 1840’s and 1850’s. Many, perhaps most, settled in the Midwest, founding such towns as Oostburg and Holland (now Cedar Grove), in Wisconsin. In Michigan, they settled in the western part of the Lower Peninsula, founding the communities of Holland and Zeeland. Pella, Iowa, is a final example of what became a host of new Dutch immigrant-founded communities. These communities continued many of the traditions of their homeland for generations. Indeed, all the communities discussed here continued to retain traces of their Dutch origins into the twenty-first century. As late as 1990, more than one-third of the citizens of Holland, Michigan, were of Dutch descent. As farmland in the United States grew both less plentiful and more expensive near the end of the nineteenth century, newly arrived Dutch immigrants began to settle in such American cities as Chicago and Grand Rapids.
And from http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kallemeyn/04Dutch1847.html:
In October of 1846 a small group representing an emigrant association formed by H. P. Scholte in the Dutch province of South Holland set out to explore settlement opportunities in Iowa. Their trip resulted in a group of approximately 800 immigrants leaving the Netherlands in April of 1847, bound for Marion County, Iowa. More followed the next summer. Another large group, consisting of about 250 individuals, came in 1849. Others continued to arrive during the 1850's and then slowed to a trickle during the early 1860's.
With the end of the American Civil War in 1865, Dutch immigration to the Iowa colony took another jump. Faced with a shortage of available land in the area of the Pella settlements, the Hollanders mounted an expedition to find suitable area to handle the overflow. They decided upon an area in Sioux County in far northwestern Iowa, where good land could still be had at reasonable prices. The result was a second Dutch colony where some of the original settlers from Marion county and many new arrivals subsequently located.
To get from New York to Pella, one route to take was to go by ship through the Great Lakes, Chicago, and down to Peoria, Illinois. They would then have their belongings transported by boat down to St. Louis and back up to Keokuk, Iowa. They themselves would probably go by stagecoach from Peoria to Keokuk. Once everything was in Keokuk, they would go by covered wagon on a three or four day trip to Pella. For details on that kind of trip see this link:
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Iowa/_Texts/journals/IaJHP/10/3/Diary_from_The_Netherlands_to_Pella*.html
A "Souvenir History of Pella, Iowa" (1922) says this on p. 83: "The years 1853-54-55 brought many additions to the population. There was a strong emigration from Holland during those years and much building and other development in Pella and vicinity." Then it names the settlers who came in those years. Arie and Mrs. Arie van der Waal are mentioned as well as their son Aart. However, their daughter Antje is not mentioned. That might be because she was not alive at the time or that she died during the trip over. My guess is that she died young in Iowa.
The obituary of his daughter Lena (van der Waal) Van Donsellar says Lena was born in Marion County about three miles north of Pella on June 15, 1856. That must be where Arie was first living after he came over in 1855. Maybe that was somewhere near the bend of the South Skunk River.
Probably around 1869, Arie had bought 160 acres of land about two miles east-southeast of Pella, Iowa. Pella is in Marion County, but their farm was in Mahaska County in Black Oak Township. They were very close to the border with Marion County.
Here is a map of Mahaska County which shows where Black Oak Township was located. And Arie's land was in section #18 which appears under the "B" in Black Oak. This is a county map from 1930:
Here are some maps of this 160 acres. This first one is from 1871 and would be about two years after they first moved there:
Here is the same area in 1884:
Here is the same area in 1895:
Here is the same area in 1914. By 1905, the name Antonie Vanderwaal now shows up as the owner. Notice that Antonie now owns an additional 140 acres east of his orginal property:
And finally here is the same area in 1930:
Here is some census info on this family.
1860 Census of Lake Praire Twp., Marion Co., Iowa
Arie is 42 and born in the Netherlands. His wife is Willemyntje Van Der Waal. She is 31 and born in the Netherlands. Their children are Aart (male, age 8, born in the Netherlands), Lena (female, age 4, born in Iowa), Anthony (male, age 2, born in Iowa), and Antje (female, age 3/12, born in Iowa). The Antje who emigrated to America must have died by this time as she is not mentioned in this census and they also have a new daughter they have named Antje. They would not have done that if the first Antje were still alive.
Arie's last child, Gerrit, was born in Marion County in Sep 1865. So in between then and the 1870 Census, Arie and his family moved out to their farmstead in Black Oak Township in Mahaska County. Property records should be investigated to find out exactly when he bought his land. The obituary of Arie's son Antonie says Arie moved to Black Oak Township when he was a boy of eleven years; so that means the family moved out there in 1869 or early 1870.
1870 Census, Black Oak, Mahaska Co., Iowa
This was a very tough census to find. One has to search on Wilkice Vandawal or Aart Vandawal. Arie (listed as just "A") is 50. Wilkice is 40. Both are born in Holland. Son Aart is 18 and born in Holland. Lena is 13, Antony 11, Antje 10 (listed as "idiotic"), Arie 8, Girtje 6, and Garrit 4. All those kids are born in Iowa.
Weekly Pella Blade of Oct 7, 1879
A short notice says "Mr. A. G. Vander Waal" purchased last week the old Simpson farm, three miles this side of Monroe, 400 acres, at $28 per acre. I'm guessing that would be this Arie van der Waal since that was a lot of money and I doubt his sons could have afforded that yet. The interesting thing is the middle initial "G." I have never seen that in any records. I would not doubt is stands for "Gerrit," but that is just a guess.
In the same newspaper mentioned above, a short notice says that "Mr. A. vander Waal, one of our substantial Holland farmers, left yesterday for a trip to the old country." He must have been doing quite well as a farmer that he could travel back to Holland. It would prove interesting to research this trip to see if anything exists in the records about it.
1880 Census, Black Oak, Mahaska Co., Iowa
Arie (age 59, b. in the Netherlands as well as his parents). His wife is named Wilemina (age 52, b. in the Netherlands as well as her parents). A daughter Antje is also listed (age 20) a, son Gerrit (age 21), and a son Antonio (14). The 1880 Census information seems a little messed up as far as some of the ages or names go. "Antonio" was actually more like 21 years old and Gerrit is more like 14. So the census taker must have gotten Antonio's age confused with Gerrit's age. A servant Aartje De Graff (female, age 17) is also listed.
1885 Iowa Census of Black Oak, Mahaska County
Two children are found in this census: Garret (age 19, b. Marion Co., IA) and Annie (age 23, b. Marion Co., IA). She is listed as "Idiotic" which probably referred back then to someone with Downs Syndrome. Arie is listed as age 64 and born in Holland. He's a farmer. His wife is "Welby" and she is age 56 and born in Holland.
The Pella (Marion Co., IA) Blade of April 6, 1886
An annoucement saying a Dr. A. Guthrie has sold his fine residence to Mr. A Van der Waal, who lives several miles south east of town. We supposed that Mr. Van der Waal is tired of farm life and will bring his family to live in town soon.
The Pella Blade of April 26, 1886
It says Arie was very sick out on his farm and that they were supposed to move into Dr. Guthrie's old residence with his family that week.
The Pella Blade of August 27, 1889
Mr. Arie van der Waal has bought Mr. Arie de Jong's house and lot on Franklin Street.
The Pella Blade of Oct 7, 1890
It says another family was moving into the Van der Waal house that Arie had bought from Dr. Guthrie.
1895 Iowa State Census
I cannot find this family in this 1895 Census. Willemijntje had died in 1890 and Arie in 1894.
Steve Lovell found Arie's obituary in the Feb 13, 1894 edition of the Pella Blade:
After a long and severe illness Mr. Arie van der Waal died last Saturday morning at his home in this city at the age of 75 years. Deceased left a number of children all married. The funeral service was held yesterday in the Presbyterian church.
And Carla Huebler found another obituary for Arie in the Pella Advertiser of Feb. 13, 1894:
A. van der Waal
Pella Advertiser, Saturday: "A. van der Waal, one of Pella's oldest and most respected citizens, died at this home on East Washington street this morning at 4 o'clock. He had been sick for some three or four months when death relieved him of all his sufferings. He was 75 years of age at the time of his death and leaves three sons, Gerrit, Anthony and Arie, with a host of relatives and friends to mourn their loss. The entire community extend their heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved family in this their said hour of bereavement. The funeral will take place Monday from the True Reformed church."
See the image of his wife's tombstone on her Notes page. Arie's name is not inscribed on this tombstone, but it's still possible he is buried in the cemetery. Maybe an inscription was never made and the burial was never recorded. Steve Lovell from Mahaska County, Iowa went out to Black Oak Cemetery and inspected Arie's wife's tombstone. He found no indication of anything on there regarding Arie himself or even that some other stone for Arie would have been in that section.
Carla Huebler said there are two pages of names in the Black Oak Cemetery book that had names of people buried there but with no stones. Arie's name was not on that list either. Nor could she find him in any other listed cemeteries.
Arie died on Saturday, February 10 and from the Pella Blade of Tuesday, February 13, it looks like there was a bad snowstorm, a blizzard actually, on Sunday and Monday. The obit from the Pella Advertiser says his funeral was going to be on Monday. The one from the Pella Blade says it did take place on Monday. The Pella Blade of February 20, 1894 confirms that Iowa had one of the worst blizzards in memory on February 11-12. This might well have interfered with the funeral and somehow the stone never got inscribed or he just never got buried in Black Oak Cemetery. What would have happened to Arie? I wonder if he had to be buried somewhere else like in Pella itself somewhere - maybe near the church where his funeral was held. (That church is called the "Presbyterian church" in one obit and the "True Reformed church" in another obit. That, I believe, is the same church that went by two different names.) In summary, what could have happened is that due to that blizzard, maybe Arie was buried somewhere near or in Pella instead of going all the way out to Black Oak Cemetery in dangerous conditions.
The Pella Blade of April 3, 1895 (p5) announced that Arie van der Waal Sr. had a last will and testament in Marion County. There would be a hearing on it on May 1, 1894. It was announced again on April 17. This is something else that needs investigating to see what the will and the probates say.
There may have been a will by Arie written May 11, 1893. I will need to check to see if that is actually recorded in the Probate Records of Marion County or if it was just something Arie had done on his own and it was never recorded. I did find his purported will from August 11, 1893 that had been transcribed into the Marion County Probate Records on October 19, 1894. This is in Book #27, p. 315. It doesn't give any genealogical information except to say that Arie had supposedly left everything to his son Gerrit van der Waal and that he wanted "G van Vliet" appointed as his executor. This is the will that was accepted legally as Arie's last will and testament and abrogated any others that had been written.
[Note: Personally, having read more on all this in the probate records and having seen other things Gerrit van der Waal was involved in (some very shady business dealings recorded in court records), I get the feeling that Gerrit and his associates forged this will.]
In the final accounting of this will, in Book #28, p. 156 from Feb. 12, 1896 it is noted that an Arie van der Linden had sought to recover $8 for what must have been some informal services he had provided at "the time of death and funeral of the descedent." However, the executor said that "the funeral expenses of said descedent were all paid by the relatives" and that therefore Arie van der Linden had only performed "neighbor acts" and should not be reimbursed.
[Note: I do not find any "van der Linden" family out in Black Oak Township close to Arie's original farmstead. So I assume this Arie van der Linden was a friend or neighbor from Pella itself near where Arie lived in town at the time of his death.]
Here are the pages in the Marion County Probate Records marked in the Index (LDS Film 1019722 under "W" and not "V") regarding Arie's will and probates: Book #27: pp. 25, 30, 127-130, 133, 169, 181, 247, 315, 346, 369, 379 and 384 (a final inventory mentioned here on 12-12-1894 but not shown); Book #28: pp. 154-157 (final report).