In 1818 a seventeen years old youngster from the village of Lienen in the German country of Westphalia, Conrad Hindrich Bardelmeier, parted from his family to seek his fortune in Holland.
The Napoleontic occupation of Westphalia at the beginning of the nineteenth century had left the peasantry in deep poverty and for many sons and daughters no other choice was left than emigrating to better regions. And they did so, sometimes in large groups, either by ship to the Unites States, or on foot to nearer countries like Holland.
Conrad Hindrich arrived in the village of Linschoten where his uncle Johan Hermann Gersie (1757-1831), who had settled there several years before, helped him to find an accommodation where he started work as a clog-maker. He married and got no less than 14 children, of whom only two survived long enough to continue the family line. As far as I know all present-day Dutch Bardelmeijers belong to this family tree.

Birth certificate of Conrad Heinrich Bardelmeijer

Conrad Heinrich Bardelmeijer, son of the married couple Conrad Heinrich Bardelmeijer and Christine Gersie, has been born on the sixteenth of January one thousand eight hundred and one (16 January 1801).
Which is certified on the ground of our church book.
Lienen, 13 August 1826. Kriege, pastor.

This birth certificate of Conrad Heinrich, the founding father of the Dutch Bardelmeijer family tree, has been provided by pastor Kriege of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Lienen. It was required because of the intended marriage of Conrad Heinrich to Catharina Hillegeman in 1828 and destined for the authorities in Linschoten, Netherlands, the place of marriage.