Last week I wrote about my grandfather’s cousins, the Van Liere boys of Kalamazoo.
After I published that post I was given supplemental information by the very kind Adri Van Gessel, so I would like to add a little information and eventually I will go back and update the earlier blog post.
Marinus van Liere was born in 1874, not 1875. Goes is the correct location. His birth date was September 29, 1874, and his parents were Jacob and Katharina. Marinus was the 3rd boy named Marinus born to the couple, but the first two had died as infants. Out of 12 children, only five lived into adulthood. Pieter also immigrated to the United States. Here is the info on Pieter:
Pieter Marcus van Liere (Peter), son of Jacob van Liere (I) and Katharina Barbier, was born on March 9, 1868 at Goes, died on January 8, 1953 at Kalamazoo (MI).
Pieter was married on July 31, 1890 at Kloetinge to Pieternella van Haveren (Nellie), daughter of Cornelis van Haveren and Pieternella Louisse. Pieternella was born on October 20, 1871 at Wolphaartsdijk, died on January 13, 1941 at Kalamazoo (MI).
From this marriage:
1 Catharina Van Liere was born on May 29, 1893 at Goes.
Catharina was married on May 6, 1915 at Kalamazoo (MI) to Dirk Goldschmeding (Dick), son of Johannes Leonardus Goldschmeding and Gijsbertje de Haas. Dirk was born on August 2, 1891.
2 Cornelius Van Liere was born on November 8, 1895 at Goes, see III-A.
(Peter has emigrated with his wife and his two children to America on March 13, 1909. He was a painter).
The question is if this Pieter is the same Peter Van Liere who shows up in the Kalamazoo Gazette. Because there are several articles spanning a period from 1888 to 1911, it becomes clear that the Peter Van Liere in the paper is older than Pieter and was already causing a ruckus in Michigan before our Pieter was married in the Netherlands.
As a reminder, here is the photo of the sons of Marinus and Johanna (my great-grandfather’s sister).
From left to right they are:
Eugene (the tallest), Luke, Jake, Jim, John, Renny. Jane wasn’t sure about the last two, but if the others are correct perhaps Adrian and then Peter.
Here is updated information on dates. This changes the birth order to Eugene being 3rd born, not Adrian. Adrian is #4. It also adds a sad note to the family history by noting a stillborn baby in 1913.
1 Jacob Van Liere (Jake) was born on April 14, 1902 at Goes, see III-B.
2 Johannes Van Liere (John) was born on April 23, 1903 at Goes, see III-C.
3 Eugene Van Liere (Curly) was born on June 28, 1904 at Kalamazoo (MI), see III-D.
4 Adrian Van Liere (Ade) was born on October 7, 1905 at Kalamazoo (MI), see III-E.
5 Peter M. Van Liere was born on October 24, 1907 at Kalamazoo (MI), died in October 1965.
Peter was married on May 2, 1936 at Kalamazoo (MI) (1) Louise Watson, daughter of William Watson and Bertha Stanley. Louise was born in 1916.
Peter was married on July 2, 1948 at Kalamazoo (MI) (2) to Lorraine J. Mentor, daughter of Frederick C. Mentor and Irene Johnson. Lorraine was born on October 2, 1910 at Kalamazoo (MI), died in March 1981 at Lawton (MI).
6 Lucas Van Liere (Luke) was born on August 7, 1909 at Kalamazoo (MI), see III-F.
7 James Van Liere was born in 1912 at Kalamazoo (MI), see III-G.
8 N.N. van Liere was stillborn on August 25, 1913 at Kalamazoo (MI).
9 Marinus Van Liere (Renny) was born on September 23, 1915 at Kalamazoo (MI), see III-H.
There are some other details, but rather than getting too mathematical again ;), I will pass them on to the Van Lieres by email.
The Family Kalamazoo 
I found this a difficult thing to learn – that you never reach a ‘neat and tidy’ end to your search! You need to be prepared to constantly change and update family information, but it’s so exciting when some new details emerge! I try to think of my ‘family tree’ like a living tree, constantly evolving and changing!
Jackie, I love that image! and I think it helps because, no, it’s never neat and tidy and so it goes against my organization instincts!
One of the things that keeps me excited and engaged with family history is the way new information and mysteries continually appear.
Well, you’ve got me there, Sheryl. I do love a good mystery! Even if it’s the hunt for my missing coral shirt.
Bravo to your genealogical efforts. I’ve written extensively about genealogy, too, in a series called “Adventure on Road X,” which spans parts 1 through 11.
I really get the confusion about which person was mentioned in the paper. In my family there were four people with the same name, from the same family spread over five generations. Although I got tremendous information from the newspapers, it did sometimes get confusing determining which relative was being mentioned in the article.
[…] For more information on where Jim fits into the family, check out this post: The Van Lieres of Kalamazoo Redux […]
Great information, I am a 3rd cousin of this family and have 1220 names of Van Liere’s in my Ancestors. You are all welcome to check them out at
https://www.myheritage.com/site-49497342/wiersma
Bill
Hi Bill, I’ll go find you over there!