Alice Paak DeKorn (Aaltje Peek)
This lady was my great great grandmother, Alice Paak DeKorn.
She died May 5, 1908. My grandfather, her grandson, was born October 31, 1908, so she never even saw him. I think she has a kind face, but I don’t know any stories about her.
Yvette Hoitink observed that Alice’s marriage certificate states that she was born in Leymond.
Yvette says that this is “presumably Lexmond in Zuid-Holland. The Lexmond birth records are indexed on Genlias.nl. A search for Peek children born between 1850 and 1855 showed one candidate for Aleye Peek: Aaltje Peek b. 9 September 1852, daughter of Teunis Peek and Jacoba Bassa. The birth month and year match perfectly with Alice’s listing in the 1900 census.”
I noticed that Alice lived for 55 years. Her daughter Cora, my great grandmother, died at the age of 57, so I can’t help but wonder if they both died of the same cause. Cora died of leukemia or “cancer of the brain.” Alice’s other daughter, Jennie, who was in last week’s post died at the age of 95. Alice’s own mother died at the age of 41.
If you are working on your own family history, you might have noticed that you are interested in the age at death of your ancestors–for reasons of self-interest.
Although she was known as Alice for most of her life in the U.S., her American marriage certificate shows Alice as Aleye, which would have been Aaltje in the Netherlands. I’m going to guess that some of the people filling out the documents in Kalamazoo were not Dutch.
Growing up in Kalamazoo, I had no idea that one of the family lines of my ancestry was Paak/Peek. I went to school with kids with names like Peek and Peake, and I wonder if there is a connection.
Yvette discovered that Alice’s father, Teunis Peek, was found in the lists of emigrants at the National Archives website and that he left Lexmond for the U.S. in 1868. She shows Alice emigrating in 1869, but it’s possible that they came together.
Jacoba had passed away in 1865, before her family emigrated. Alice was one of six children, and I am guessing that Teunis brought all his children to the U.S.–or at least most of them. The eldest was Joost, and he was 19 when the family moved. It’s possible he stayed behind.
I’ll pick up the story of the Peeks in a future post.
The Family Kalamazoo 
Nice blog. You are right about people looking back at death ages to see their future. My parental grandfather died at age 58 and so my father was sure he too would died at that age and so every birthday from age 58 on he would say that it was the last one. He was finally right on his 96 birthday.
Jose, I love your story. It’s heart-warming, and it’s also so hysterically funny. “He was finally right on his 96 birthday.” That’s great.
Speaking of age of death, one of my grandfthers died at the age of 106. He was plowing his field at the time.
This story is amazing! Plowing his field–I love it! I remember going to visit my Grandma’s uncle with her and my grandfather. He had gone completely blind (and was elderly) and walked down the street to get to his field, which he still plowed. We watched him get up on the tractor and wave goodbye.
LOVE these stories! This is so cool that you’re doing this for your family!
Thank you so much for reading and your sweet comment! I hope at least one of the younger people will take an interest . . . .
Are you using that name because you are a Shellaker descendant? If not then please forgive the intrusion… @Shellaker
You resemble this Alice, right down to the intensity in the eyes, what I have called the Natalie Wood look.
Well, that is strange. I didn’t think I looked like her at all, but she is Cora’s mom. Thanks for that Natalie Wood comment LOL ;).
Last week I visited the little cemetery where my paternal grandmother’s grandparents and great-grandfather are buried. I was at the site with two of my cousins and I love the feeling of continuity and connectedness I feel when I visit that old burial ground. I was away from Texas for more than 40 years but came back here three years ago. Imagine my surprise to discover I lived fewer than 20 miles from the cemetery of my ancestors. Life is strange.
Sheila, that’s amazing and a bit of very nice serendipity. It reminds me of that ancestry.com commercial where the lady discovers she lives so close to where her grandmother used to live. Thank you so much for letting me know your beautiful story.
You are right on the mark about reviewing death certificates for ages and causes of death. As I go over the death certificates for my paternal grandparents, great grandparents, and great-great grandparents (as well as some of their children), I see a direct line of illnesses and conditions that go way back and continue to occur today. While in the current generation we are all living longer, the same illnesses recur from the paternal line such as diabetes, heart disease and respiratory problems.
EmilyAnn, I haven’t even begun to approach my project in such detail as following illnesses, but you’ve really caught my attention here. Really good point. Out of curiosity, have you had a DNA test done on yourself or have you considered it?
[…] and more horrific family disaster. And this one happened to my very own great-great-grandmother, Alice Paak DeKorn, Mrs. Richard DeKorn (born Aaltje Peek in the Netherlands), on May 26 […]