I only knew that the Bosmans existed because Grandpa told me that this photo was John Bosman.
This is what I wrote on the back of this photo, at Grandpa’s instruction:
John Bussman
2nd Reformed Church
on Park Street
Aunt Jen went there
Hmm. I have no idea what that means. I spelled the name “Bosman” incorrectly because Grandpa pronounced it “Bussman,” and I either didn’t ask how to spell it or he didn’t know.
Aunt Jen is Jennie DeKorn Leeuwenhoek, Richard DeKorn’s daughter, the sister of my great-grandmother.
The matriarch of the Bosman family was Adriana (also called Johanna and Jennie–very confusing) Remijnse or Remynse. She was my first cousin 4x removed. She married Dirk Pieter Bosman, and John was one of their children. Grandpa told me that John was the oldest child, but according to the following information, there was another son, Garrett, who died between the ages of 7 and 12.
Dirk and Johanna/Adriana gave birth to eight children. At least four of them died as children.
In this photo, John looks like a boy who likes hunting. He was born 14 March 1876 in Kalamazoo. He grew up to marry Nellie Robb on 14 May 1903 in Windsor, Canada. On 30 April 1943, he passed away in Detroit. Please note that Windsor and Detroit are right next to each other, although they are in different countries.
Back to what I wrote on the back of the photo. Grandpa said Aunt Jen went to Second Reformed Church on Park Street, not that his mother did. The story he told me was that his mother donated a quilt to the church (Second Reformed or a different Reformed Church?) and saw a woman hanging it on her own clothesline, signifying that the woman had appropriated the quilt. Great-Grandmother Cora quit going to her church after that incident.
I’ve looked online for a photograph of Second Reformed Church on Park Street, but cannot find anything. It is probably gone, but I hope to find a photo eventually.
I love reading these stories! You are so lucky to have pictures that go back so far in your family.
Thanks so much, Amy! I feel very blessed by these photos. Also I feel a lot of responsibility ;)!
Very cool photo!
Thank you (I know haha)!!
I’m curious about the reference to Goshen Indiana. Did this young man travel 50 miles to have his picture taken?
I started a 2nd post about the Bosmans and will be asking this question. I have another photo I’ll be sharing, and that one is also Goshen. It seems the family must have lived there, at least for some time.
The little tidbits of family information can often lead to new information 🙂
I am constantly amazed how much I know without knowing it, just by little notes I took over the years or pieces of information I had forgotten I knew.
My thought is that the Second Reformed congregation moved to Stadium Drive. I find their website confusing, and I can’t find any church history. But check this out:
http://books.google.com/books/about/One_Hundred_Years_of_Caring.html?id=id9XNQAACAAJ
The old church may still be on Park but housing a different congregation. There’s a church so of behind the Congregational and First Baptist Churches that got a new tenant some time ago. It’s actually on Academy Street and called The River Church.
And maybe the church is gone.
Oh my, great book! I suppose it would be worth a phone call to the church to just ask them!
Try a K’zoo City Directory from around that time period for an idea where the church was. Might at least give you the address.
That’s an excellent idea. I wonder if it’s possible to look at Kalamazoo directories online . . . . I know that through Ancestry I can only search people, not other places like churches.
I know. It’s weird, because the people who transcribe, transcribe the businesses (at least they used to). But Ancestry doesn’t index them like the names.
Having just went through a webinar about Google Earth, Rumsey old map overlays, and Sanborn fire maps, you might try one of them. Lisa Louise Cook swears by Google Earth, says it’s the best FREE genealogy tool on the web!
I haven’t heard of those other two sources, but will check them out!
Great picture. It’s interesting how he is dressed in a suit–but the gun “prop” makes it look like he’s ready to go hunting.
My guess is that his mom brought him all dressed up for the portrait, and that the photographer wanted to show what he liked to do by using the gun as prop.
[…] 1st cousin 4xremoved Johanna/Adriana Remine) I posted in two posts. Part II listed the children and Part I was focused on John, Jeanette’s older brother. Jennie was listed as second to youngest. […]