Try to keep this in mind as you read: I am having a lot of trouble dating this photograph. Maybe with the dates of the people in the photo, you can help me date it.
Great-Grandpa Charles Mulder was born Karel Pieter Philippus Mulder on 6 March 1885 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands. He was the son of Pieter Philippus (son of Karel, Karel, Carel, Johannes, in that order).
He emigrated in 1887 from Kloetinge, Zeeland, Netherlands and arrived in New York City on 29 August 1887 . Note that he was 2 years old.
Great-Grandpa was the oldest child of Pieter and Nellie (Neeltje) Gorsse.
Pieter (1865-1953) and Nellie (1868-1932) are in the middle of the front row. If you have ever heard about the wonderful furniture that used to be made in Grand Rapids, Michigan, you would be hearing about some of the furniture made by Pieter, a cabinet-maker.
Great-Grandpa, with the curly dark hair, is next to his mother. I will try to identify the others, but I cannot be absolutely certain.
Back row: Peter, Cora, Henry
Peter was the father of Rod Mulder, who I knew when I was younger. He married Alida, and they had at least four boys: Rod, Willis, Richard, and Robert.
Cora married John Gerow and was the mother of Eleanor, a lady I knew when I was a kid.
Henry engraved stone monuments and developed emphysema. His married Mae and raised his family in Hastings, Michigan. According to the 1930 census, they had 4 children: Eloise, James, Mary, and Judith.
In the front row, the girl with the glasses on our left is Nellie. I believe she might have had some sort of disability. Nellie was still living at home with her parents in the 1930 census, when she was 27 or 28 years old.
Then there is Jennie who married Edward Kooistra or Koistra. They had a son, Karl.
Rose (Rosa) is on the other side of Great-Grandpa. She contracted TB. But then so did Great-Grandpa; I remember visiting him in the sanitarium or hospital. Rose was living at home with her parents in the 1920 census; she was 14.
Sadly, I discovered that there were also two children who passed away. Jan was born after Charles–in 1886–and passed away the following year, four months after the family arrived in the United States! Imagine: a young couple, ages 22 and 19, immigrate to the United States with a 2-year-old and a 1-year-old (two babies). Then in a few months, the younger baby is gone.
Then there was another Rose who was born in 1892, after Cora. She passed away in 1904, two years before her namesake was born.
What year do you think this photo was taken? It’s a little confusing to me. Great-Grandpa got married in 1910, when Rose would have been four years old. She’s clearly older than that here. I wonder if both Charles and Jennie were already married when this photo was taken. My grandmother was born in 1912, so if the photo was taken when Rose was about ten (1916), then Great-Grandpa would ALREADY HAVE FOUR CHILDREN.
Here’s an alternative view: that I was told wrong about which child is which. What if this photograph has the Rose in it that was born in 1892–and if it was that Rose who had TB and in fact died of it? Then the names were assigned wrong. But is there a way that the people here fit the dates if that is the case?
How about the clothes? Any ideas on the date of the photograph from the clothing?
In order the children were:
Charles (1885)
Jan (1886-1887)
Jennie (1887)
Cora (1890)
Rose (1892-1904)
Henry (1897)
Peter (1900)
Nellie (1902)
Rose (1906)
My grandparents told me that Great-Grandpa’s family (this is my grandmother’s father) lived in Goes very near the Zuidwegs (my grandfather’s father’s family). They were printers, engravers, and machinists. However, genealogical research shows that, in the old country, Pieter was a fisherman, a laborer, and a shoe maker. I would guess that when the family came to Grand Rapids, that Pieter learned the furniture trade. After all, he was only 22 when he got to this country.
I do know that the printer and engraver part was true at least for my grandfather’s father, Adriaan Zuijdweg. The Mulders and Zuidwegs were city people, not farmers, so it’s curious that my great-grandfather became a farmer.
Great-Grandpa died on 27 April 1967, when I was 11 years old. I used to imagine that the family line began with him at his farm in Caledonia, not realizing that he was brought up in Grand Rapids or that his father made furniture or what hardships his parents must have gone through.
The Family Kalamazoo 
I will take a stab at this. According to your dates, Rose is sixteen years younger than Cora. In this photo, Cora looks like a young woman, at least 16. The boys in the back row look like they could be between 13-17—gangly teens. If they were born 1897 and 1900, that would make the photo around 1913, no earlier to me. If so, Cora would be 23, making Rose seven. She looks a little older than that to me, maybe 8 or 9. So I’d guess that the photo is 1915. Rose is nine, Cora is 25, Peter is 15, Henry 18, your great-grandfather thus would be 30 and quite possibly the father of four. Jennie certainly looks like she could be 28 in the photo. Your ggf just might be a very young looking thirty. Pieter and Nellie certainly look like they could be approaching fifty. So I am going to guess 1915!
Amy, I will use your timeline as my hypothesis and test it out, starting with Deborah’s idea to check the Sears catalog. Thank you so much for your calculations!
Wish i could connect the dots. My family connection is through
Kaul or Karel Mulder
Birth: February 16, 1839
Death: May 7, 1876 (37)
Zeeland, Ottawa County, Michigan, United States
Immediate Family:
Son of Johannes Mulder and Henderika Johanna Mulder
Husband of Teuzina Mulder Trompen Bouwens-Bosch Bosch
Father of Johannes Karel Mulder; Elizabeth van Koevering; unknown Mulder and Johanna Hendrika Mulder
Brother of Marinus Mulder; Leendert Mulder and Johannes “John” Mulder
Mary, i can get out my records this weekend and see if I have the connection for you!
A quick guess for me would be between 1910-1915 without looking at the dates of the people. The women’s skirts are still long. Two of the girls have white shirts with a vest like bodice. I would recommend looking through the Sears catalogues at Ancestry to pinpoint what years that style was fashionable.
You also have a typos on the dates of the first Rose (1892-2004).
Deborah, what a great idea. I will do that! Thanks for alerting me to the typo, too. When you date clothes do you use some kind of guideline for how “behind” the year’s fashions a family might be? I know I wear clothes I’ve had for years. Do you think hemlines are one of the best guides?
I don’t really have a guideline that I use for how behind the fashions clothes are, other than to realize that the potential is there. I do look at the clothes and say if this style if present it can’t be before. In the years 1900-1925 I definitely use skirt length as a guide because there was a rapid change. Younger women shortened their skirts more quickly. Also the two younger girls in the picture had shorter skirts so that may be more an indication of their ages. I would say 14-16 would be the range from switching from short skirts to longer ones. Dover books is a company that publishes lots of books of old fashion catalogues. When I was working in the theatre and studying costume design, we all loved adding the Dover books to our book collections. Spend some time looking at the old catalogues and you will get a feel for the fashion trends.
Dover books is another great suggestion. I might even have one or two. Now to finding them!
I’m not good at dating pictures, but I’d also guess that it was taken sometime during the 1910s.
It is a stretch but Karel Mulder is my first cousin twice removed’s husband’s wife’s sister’s husband’s second great uncle’s wife’s first cousin twice removed’s wife’s nephew’s wife’s father. LOL Here is the information I have:
Karel Pieter Philippus Mulder
Birth: March 6, 1885
Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands
Death: 1967 (82)
Immediate Family:
Son of Pieter Philippus Mulder and Neeltje Gorsse
Husband of Clara Waldeck
Father of Lucille Edna Mulder
Do I have the correct guy?
Mary
Mary, yes, my grandmother was Lucille Edna Mulder, my great-grandfather the Karel Pieter you mention–who died in 1967. Haha, re the connection! So I guess you’re not blood related ;)! But I admit I had a hard time following your connection!!!! Pretty cool, though.
Thanks, Sheryl. I would guess you’re pretty good at that, considering your fashion blog!
Interesting reading on your blog, I help my sister with our family history some of our family is from Delaware in the U.S. but we are the Australian link, surname McAvaney
Family history is great fun, but a lot of work. I’m sure she appreciates your help. Do you read the other Australian bloggers who blog about family history? Su Leslie comes to mind.
Will have to check it out thank you
That’s a lotta history. I’m curious about the interior, how it’s furnished and smells. Seems like many a stories can be written from that house.
Oh, I agree–lots of stories! I am so curious about the interior, too. I wonder if any of the original trims etc of the house are still in there.
[…] Great-Grandpa’s Family: The Mulders of Grand Rapids […]
I am very late to the party!! I have been so gratified to find this blog. My great grandmother was Cora Mulder, middle back row in the above photo. Her oldest daughter Ruth Florence Gerow, was my grandmother. She married Marinus Hendricks (second marriage) My father, Ramon Marinus Hendricks was her second child. I am his oldest daughter. The Hendricks side came from Amsterdam!