My great-great-grandfather, Richard DeKorn, was a brick mason who worked on many public buildings in the Kalamazoo area. He was a brick mason on the beautiful Ladies’ Library Association in 1878-79 and lead brick mason on theKalamazoo Psychiatric Hospital Water Tower in 1895. According to his obituary he was the contractor for the Pythian building and the Merchants Publishing Company building.
Richard was born on August 21, 1851* in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands to Boudewijn and Johanna (Remijinse) DeKorn. When he was four or five years old, the family immigrated to Zeeland, Michigan. I have not yet discovered when or why Richard moved to Kalamazoo.
Richard was sometimes called Dick or Dirk, but more importantly, his birth name was Derrick and it’s likely that Richard was actually his middle name.
On May 10, 1872, at the age of 20, Richard married Alice Paak in Kalamazoo. They lived in Kalamazoo, in the Burdick and Balch Street area, for the rest of their lives. For much of the time, they lived in a house which Richard built with his characteristic style: dark brown brick with stripes of light brick or stone.
Richard and Alice had three children: Joseph, Cora, and Jennie. After Alice’s death in 1908, he married Jennie Sootsman who had two daughters, Marian and Marge.
The family refers to him as “Richard DeKorn” with great respect for the reputation he achieved as a wonderful craftsman and contractor. Richard did a little gardening on the property, but he really enjoyed relaxing with a pipe and spending time with his family. His door was open to any friend or family member and he was a good stepfather to his 2nd wife’s daughters.
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*On his marriage document, Richard’s birth date is given as 1852, not 1851, and it states that he was born in Kapelle, not Goes.
Richard DeKorn’s home at the corner of Burdick and Balch, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Richard surrounded by family, including son-in-law Lou Leeuwenhoek (L), daughter Jennie (to Richard’s right), wife Alice in front.
Richard picking strawberries
Richard with his beloved pipe
Richard holding unidentified baby
Richard with his granddaughter Alice Leeuwenhoek (Moerdyke)
Richard DeKorn crew at work in an area which would become The Kalamazoo Mall
Lou Leeuwenhoek and Richard DeKorn
Ladies’ Library Association, Kalamazoo, MI
Photo from LLA website
KPH Water Tower, Oakland Drive, Kalamazoo, MI
KPH Water Tower article, February 2010
Here’s a video which shows a climb up the inside of the tower!
The Family Kalamazoo 
What a wonderful person to be descended from! The Ladies Library and the Water Tower are two of the most beautiful and beloved structures in Kalamazoo. Isn’t it thrilling to have one’s work live into the future that way, enthralling generation after generation of people!
Yes, it’s really exciting, Wilma. We’re so lucky that those two buildings still exist. And so does his house, btw.
According to his birth record, Richard DeKorn was born as Dirk de Korne in Kapelle, Zeeland, the Netherlands on 21 August 1851. His parents were Boudewijn de Korne, 35 years old, laborer, and Janna Remijnse. The record says that Boudewijn was unable to write, so does not include the father’s signature.
I found this birth record through the Zeeland index of genealogical records at http://www.zeeuwengezocht.nl/en/ (a product of the Zeeland provincial archives) and then retrieved the scan of his birth record from Familysearch: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-11565-38384-22?cc=1831469&wc=10706852
Dirk de Korne did not have a middle name, as that was not a custom in Zeeland. Like many Dutch emigrants, Dirk got his name Americanized after emigration. Because Dirk sounds like Dick and Dick is a known variation of Richard, several Dutch people named Dirk got changed their name to Richard in the US. However, the Dutch name Dirk is a variation of Theodorus (Theodore in English), not Richard.
You can find more information about Dirk’s ancestors by using the Zeeuwen Gezocht website in combination with the civil registration records on Familysearch. You should be able to get back to 1811, when the civil registration was introduced in the Kapelle area.
Before 1811, births, marriages and deaths were recorded by the church. Depending on where your ancestors lived at that time, that information may not available online but would require a visit to the Zeeland archives. There is a lot more information available there as well, about your ancestors’ property, occupations, military service and possible encounters with the law. Please contact me if you need a Dutch genealogist to help you with your research.
This is absolutely thrilling information. I am such a rookie. I have all these wonderful photos and some basic information I have collected, but no knowledge of how to find information such as this. Thank you so much for your generous information. Let me process what I do have and do not have and I will contact you in the future. Thank you.
I’m glad to be of help 🙂 Another tip: the website http://www.geneaknowhow.net/digi/resources.html has an overview of internet links for records from all provinces, including Zeeland. It is a very useful portal website for people searching for ancestors in the Netherlands. This website is available in English, but most websites that it points to are only available in Dutch.
In the Research -> Dutch terms section of my website, I’ve got some translations for common terms. Another way to handle Dutch sites is to install Google Chrome as your browser, because it offers to translate pages for you. Beware that it sometimes translates names as well, so a person named De Koning could suddenly be called The King!
Here’s a link to a blog article about Christmas at the “asylum” which is where the water tower was located.. http://kalamazoogenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/12/an-asylum-christmas.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BushwhackingGenealogyKalamazooAndBeyond+%28Bushwhacking+Genealogy%3A+Kalamazoo+and+Beyond%29
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