This post starts a new series about my Dutch ancestors, and I need to get a little of the basic information out of the way here. Please bear with me.
Once again, I have been the recipient of good information from Yvette Hoitink at Dutch Genealogy. She did further research on the Mulder branch of my family, but because of the “Intriguing Coincidence” I’ve written about earlier, this also meant further research on the Zuidweg branch.
My grandfather (the one of the 12 part story) was a Zuidweg and my grandmother (his wife and the creator of the scrapbook I’ve posted on here) was a Mulder. And they share a common ancestor: one Carel Mulder from Goes, the Netherlands.
In Yvette’s initial research she discovered this Carel Mulder in the Zuidweg family–an ancestor of my grandfather, Adrian. He was born about 1781. She found that on 5 May 1836 he was listed as a jailor’s hand in Goes. He died on 19 May 1847 at the age of 66 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.” At that point, because I recognized the name I researched and found that this man was an ancestor of my grandmother, Edna.
HERE IS A MODIFIED FAMILY TREE SHOWING HOW THE MULDERS AND ZUIDWEGS ARE CONNECTED THROUGH CAREL MULDER:
MULDERS ARE BOLDED. ZUIDWEGS ARE ITALICIZED.
- Carel Mulder (1780 – 1847) married Johanna Cornaaij (1782 – 1863)
- Carel was from Goes (a town in Zeeland) and Johanna was from Middelburg (a town in Zeeland)
- Carel’s parents were Johannes Mulder and Jacoba Verhoef
- Carel and Johanna had ten children. One of their children (not my direct ancestor) immigrated to Holland, Michigan, in 1860.
The information for their descendents is in the following image as WordPress wouldn’t allow me to indent as I wished. Click on the image to see a larger version.
So when Adrian Zuidweg and Edna Mulder got married in 1932, they were re-linking the family lines. The jailor’s hand, Carel Mulder, was Grandpa’s great-great-grandfather. The jailor’s hand was Grandma’s great-great-great-grandfather.
It also means that Grandpa’s family at one time was a Mulder one, also.
I see some areas for further research based on this portion of the family tree.
* Jan Mulder, born not in Goes, but in Kloetinge, could not have immigrated to New York on his own, at the age of one year. What is this mystery? If there was a Jan born to the family, it would seem that he didn’t survive. Did someone steal his identity? Why would he not be born in Goes, where the family lived and where Great-Grandpa was born a year earlier? Maybe it’s an error. That needs to be checked on.
UPDATE ON JAN MULDER: Jan, or John, Mulder was born in Kloetinge in 1886 and immigrated with his parents and brother to Michigan. Unfortunately, he died in Kent, Michigan, before he was a year old. How sad to uproot your lives and travel all that way with your young family only to lose one of your children! (Info courtesy of Adri Van Gessel). I should have known Yvette, with her extremely meticulous research, would never let an error like that slip by! 🙂
* Are there any records which could verify that Lucas really did die by falling on an anchor? And would he have been at sea or in port?
* Who is this Rose Melanie Bataille, a French woman, and why was she in Holland?
* I’d like to find out more about Johannes Mulder, born 1809 in Goes, to that “first generation” Carel and Johanna Cornaaij. He is a sibling of both Karel and Johanna, my ancestors that led to the Mulder and Zuidweg lines. But before anybody else in the family immigrated to the U.S., he came to Holland, Michigan. What happened to him and his line?
THANKS FOR READING THROUGH THE MATH AND SCIENCE PORTION TODAY. I PROMISE THE NEXT POSTS SHARING THE RESULTS OF YVETTE’S RESEARCH WILL BE MORE ENTERTAINING! AND AS A REWARD FOR SLOGGING THROUGH THIS ONE, HERE IS MY FAVORITE PHOTO OF GRANDMA AND GRANDPA, TAKEN BEFORE THEY WERE MARRIED.
The Family Kalamazoo 
I wonder how many families could trace this kind of coincidental reconnection…interesting…and the picture was worth the small print! 🙂
Probably most people whose ancestors come from small villages? I was surprised that my dad’s family is the same way–from one area for generations and generations. Man, they really didn’t get around! I’m glad you enjoyed the pic. They look so happy and comfortable together.
All very interesting. I have quirky stuff in my family tree too and, as you say, it has to do with the small population in a village or county.
Is Johanna Cornaaij is a mutual ancestor too?
Yes, Johanna Cornaaij is a mutual ancestor, too. Of course, her name didn’t pop up the same way since every other female was named Johanna . . . .
The picture of your grandparents is great. I can see why it is your favorite photo of them.
Thanks, Sheryl! They do look so cute together.
Your Grandparents look very much in love. Isn’t is fascinating how family ties can overlap? I’ve connected to a distant cousin on my Mom’s side. Her father’s name is the same as my maternal Great Grandfather. AND my maternal Gradnfather’s mother was a godmother to one of my distant cousin’s relatives.
Yet, we can’t find the link that connects us after going all the way back in the Agropoli Italy lineage up to 1832. It must go even further back.
Congrats on finding the link and recreating the timeline. It’s a bit of detective work, isn’t it?
Thanks so much, EmilyAnn. In genealogy, one should never give up, I think. You will eventually find the connecting link. This is what I think is happening in some of my DNA connections–we don’t info far enough back for that link to appear.
[…] recently, Adri read my post about the link between the Mulders and Zuidwegs and has given me some valuable information on the Mulders in […]
I started late on your blog so this is great context for me.
Wonderful!
Maybe I should put a link to the post up permanently?
no downside!