In the midst of researching the Waldecks, I’ve been in contact with Elly, as you know, and Merry, who I haven’t told you about yet, from the Mulder branch of the family.
Elly found me through this blog, as I’ve mentioned. I found Merry through a DNA match. We both had our results stored at 23andme, and there it was, a fairly close match of 2nd-3rd cousin. When a match is that close, if both individuals have an idea of their family trees, you can usually find a match. It didn’t take us long at all.
Merry’s grandfather Henry (Heinrich Mulder) and my great-grandfather Charles were brothers! We are both descended from Pieter Philippus and Neeltje (Peter and Nellie) Mulder who arrived in Grand Rapids with two babies. One was Charles and the other was a baby named Jan who passed away shortly after the young couple arrived in the U.S. Henry was born in this country.
Peter and Nellie traveled on the ship Zaandam, which arrived in New York on August 29, 1887. They were able to immigrate because Peter had received a bequest when his grandmother Rosalie Melanie Bataille passed away.
I promise to get back to Elly’s findings in a later post. Today I want to share with you the photos of Peter and Nellie that Merry shared with me. And by putting them in the blog to share them with Elly and others as well!
In this formal portrait, how old do you think they are? Note that Nellie was 63 when she died. Mom says that Peter was a very small man, so it seems that Nellie herself must have been very short. I recently read an article trying to answer the question of how the Dutch became the tallest people in the world. My own relatives were sometimes, but not always, on the short side, so I was curious. What I learned is that in the past 150 years the heighth of Dutch people has dramatically increased. Until this growth spurt they were the shortest in Europe!
As to why the Dutch grew, the article makes a case for eating a lot of dairy (among other causes). My husband says he thinks it also has to do with the Netherlands claiming more land from the sea and being able to eat meat instead of relying on fish for a large portion of their diet. I’m sure there are many ideas on this subject!
In the next photo, Nellie’s dress is very long. While Peter (born 1865) was 3 years older than Nellie (born 1868), she passed away in 1932 and Peter lived until 1953, two years before I was born. After his wife’s death, Peter traveled around to his children’s homes, living with one then another. I wonder whose cooking he liked best (I hope it was my great-grandmother Clara who died the same year as Peter)!
Merry says that this photo of Nellie taken in a porch rocker should be dated somewhere between 1925 and 1929. Since it’s the same dress as above, I’ll assume these photos were taken around the same time.
Here is a formal portrait of Peter:
In this photo he looks like he could be related to Colonel Potter (MASH), in my opinion. Or the shopkeeper on Green Acres (Frank Cady as Mr. Drucker).
More to come about the Mulders, both those in Netherlands and those in Michigan!
Nice photos and stories. You are too young to know the guy who came to mind for me when I saw his photo – Mr. Peepers – https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=Mr+Peepers&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-003
Wally Cox! He used to be on Hollywood Squares and was the voice of Underdog. I loved him!
It’s exciting to see you make these connections!!
WJ, so exciting!!
Amazing! I can’t believe you found such a close cousin through DNA who actually proved to be a real cousin. All mine end up being complete and utter mysteries (the curse of endogamy among Ashkenazi Jews). I am delighted for you and for Merry. Such astounding photos!
I feel so blessed to have received copies of these photos from Merry. As you can see, these were photocopies, but so much better than not having any pictures of them. It does make them come “alive” for me. My kids are Korean and their DNA results have much the same situation as hubby’s. TONS of matches, but most of them distant. Truly, most of mine are distant, too, but I am starting to find a few matches who want to connect. So happy for Merry!
Trying to connect this story to my relative Kaul or Karel Mulder (1839-1876). He was married to Teuzina Mulder Trompen Bouwens-Bosch Bosch. They are my 2nd great aunt and uncle. I know you have written about them. I just can not connect them to your current story.
Mary, I’d like to talk to you about this. Would you please email me at luannecastle@gmail.com? Thanks so much!
Nellie looks younger in the formal photo than in the two where she’s wearing the same dress. I’d guess that she’s in her later 40s or early 50s in the first photo.
Thanks, Sheryl. That does help, and looking at the photo from that perspective I can see that that must be correct.
That’s so neat that you found relatives through 23andme. I didn’t realize you could do that! I’d like to try it too.
Oh yes, if you want more info, email me about it, Patti!
Thanks!
What a wonderful collection of family photos you have. I love the shy smiles on the first one.
Yes, I love those smiles, too!! Thanks, Cathy!
[…] my post, Mulders Everywhere, I wrote about finding Merry, my 2nd cousin, 1x removed. I mentioned that Merry is the […]
[…] Until I was contacted by Peter Mulder from the Netherlands! He has the same name as my mother’s Uncle Pete who I knew as a smiling man and a farmer. He also has the same name as my great-great-grandfather who immigrated to the U.S. I wrote about that Pieter Mulder finding himself an orphan after the death of his father and about his move across the ocean. […]
[…] Mulders Everywhere This post has a lot of photos of Nellie and Peter […]
Great photos of Peter and Nellie!
Thank you, Liz! I was thrilled to receive them!
I can imagine! When we’re researching our ancestors, seeing their faces really helps bring their stories to life.
It sure does!