Frank Tazelaar was married to one of the daughters of my great-great-grandmother’s sister. He’s the husband of my first cousin 3x removed. Yup, that is easy to remember, right? Remember the Paak/Peek sisters and brother? Mary Peek (the spelling she used) married Richard Remine. For decades I thought there were four Remine children: Jenny, Genevieve, Therese (Tracy), and Harold. I had information for all four. But after more work, I finally found a very important divorce record and now know that Jenny and Genevieve were the same person.
This is Jenny (when she was younger) or Genevieve (once she was married to Frank Tazelaar). My grandfather identified her as Jane, so she might have used that name when she was young also. Her grandmother’s name had been Jana. I will refer to her as Genevieve because that is the name she ended up using for decades.
Here is Frank:
But why am I writing about Frank Tazelaar now? Because Sharon Ferraro is researching the effects of the influenza pandemic in 1918 in Kalamazoo. And Frank’s name is on the list as someone who contracted the illness and survived. It does not appear that he was treated at a hospital. He was ill and off work for ten days and then was able to go back to “his store.” In the 1920 census he was listed as a salesman/buyer in a clothing shop (same entry in the 1930 census). On the influenza document, his wife is listed as Genevieve and they lived at 124 N. West. Although I have verified that this information is correct, I have never heard of that street in Kalamazoo.
Genevieve was born 24 June 1881 in Kalamazoo, the first child of her parents, Richard and Mary. She was first married to a man she might have met in Chicago. His name was Harry Cohn. They were married in Paw Paw, Michigan, on 29 January 1903, when she was 21 years old. Three years later, on 23 June, 1906, they were divorced. The grounds were listed as “desertion,” but who deserted whom? If that was really what happened. Apparently, though, they had not been together for quite some time because about two weeks later, on 9 July 1906, Genevieve and Frank married in Chicago.
Frank was born in Wissenkerke, Netherlands, on 18 January 1876, to Peter Tazelaar and Adriana Bek Tazelaar. When he was a boy, his family moved from Holland to Kalamazoo, Michigan. He was a few years older than Genevieve. His native tongue was Dutch, whereas Genevieve was American-born. It’s hard to imagine what happened with Genevieve’s first marriage or how she happened to marry Frank–and what the Chicago connection was between Genevieve, Frank, and Harry. In fact, unless she went away to Chicago to school, I can’t imagine her leaving her parents’ home by the age of 21. Was she sent away for some reason? Since she never had any children, it’s less likely that she was pregnant, although always possible.
Genevieve did not have children with either Harry or with Frank. When Genevieve passed away on 17 September 1930 of appendicitis (leading to gangrene and peritonitis), the couple was living at 423 S. Westnedge with her parents, Mary and Richard. That must have been awkward because on 21 March 1932 he married Bernice Dayton, the manager of “Lerner Shop.” Could this be the same Lerner store (part of the nationwide chain) that I grew up with? It’s likely because the Lerner Shops were first opened in 1918. (As a cool aside, the uncle of lyricist Alan Jay Lerner was one of the two founders).
Here is another photo of Frank Tazelaar, at the Whistle Stop in Kalamazoo, on 15 February 2014, four years before he contracted the flu.
Frank Tazelaar
near Whistle Stop
Kalamazoo
As with most of my other blog posts, this story is ripe for more research. In particular, I’d like to search City Directories for addresses and businesses, as well as the local newspaper for articles about the couple and, possibly, “his” store.
OK, I peeked. There are many Kalamazoo Gazette articles about Frank. In fact, there are over 50 articles! Let’s see what we can find . . . next time.
But it won’t be ready until after my son’s wedding, so I will post Frank’s shenanigans on May 1!
The Family Kalamazoo 
Interesting information and great photos.
I am so glad to finally know that the two sisters are really one person haha! So I finally knew who the photo of Jane was! The newspaper articles are great–can’t wait to share those, too.
Have a great time at the wedding.
Thank you so much! I intend to!
You’re right; there are so many questions. I really hope you find answers — and have a wonderful time at your son’s wedding 🙂
Thank you so much for both sentiments!
You always have such wonderful images. I hope some answers come your way soon.
Some more fascinating research. Love some of the names. Desertion – unlikely to be by her unless she had independent income. Men were financially & legally responsible for wives so in UK at least, desertion was a criminal offence. A lot of heart searching went into prosecutions though, as putting a man away meant no money for his family so were cared for by poor laws, in effect the wife and community had to pay for man’s perceived crime. I find a lot of marriage with no children in the 19th century. Maybe the women were working so didn’t want to take time off. Have found cases of young children left home unsupervised, only found when they set fire to themselves or similar tragedy. Hope this helps and good luck with your ongoing research.
First, congratulations on your son’s wedding! When is it? Second, I remember Lerner Shops—there was one in the town where I lived when I was a teen. I never knew of the connection to Alan Lerner! Third, those are great photographs. I look forward to seeing what you learn from the newspaper articles. Enjoy the wedding!
Thank you so much! Really looking forward to it! Yes, my girlfriends and I loved shopping at Lerner’s because they had very cute clothes that were very inexpensive. When every single girl in town had to have a short leather jacket, that is where I got mine. I thought that was pretty cool about the connection to the lyricist. I love Broadway musicals, and we have a law firm in town called Lerner & Rowe, so of course I can’t hear it without thinking of Camelot hahaha. Re the Tazelaar articles, wow, there are so many that I am wishing we had these articles for every person we research!
Great post! It’s not often you find someone who had the flu and lived. Very cool. Congratulations on your son’s wedding! Enjoy. 🙂
Sharon has a document that shows who lived and who died from the flu in Kalamazoo. Fascinating info and so sad. Thank you so much!!!
That is fascinating!
Good afternoon,
We saw your site looking for traces of out two great-great-aunts Hemmes who went in 1886, with their widowed mother, from Assen, the Netherlands, to Kalamazoo and married there with two brothers Tazelaar from Wissenkerke, the Netherlands. (We are from one of their elderly brothers who stayed in the Netherlands.) We suppose they are in a way related tot Frank Tazelaar? Can you inform us in any way, We thank you.
Youre sincerely, family H-O
Adriana Genevieve Jennie Beck Bek family tree
Born in Netherlands on January 27 1834 to Jacobus Bek and Elizabeth Bruiningshof. Adriana Genevieve Jennie Beck Bek had 6 children., all born in Wissenkerke, the Netherlands.
She passed away on July 9 1921 in Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Parents
Jacobus Bek
1786 – 1850
Elizabeth Bruiningshof
1796 – 1884
(Husband Pieter Tazelaar 1835 – 1901
Children
Frank W. Tazelaar
1876 – 1950
Albertus Albert John Tazelaar
1866 – 1946
Jacobus Tazelaar
1865 – 1948
Adrian Tazelaar
1864 – 1954
Henry Tazelaar
1864 – 1931
Born in Netherlands in 1864 …
Joseph Jozias Joe Tazelaar
1870 – 1923
One of my great-great aunts married tot Hendrick/Henry.
Looks like perhaps Frank married a niece/cousin? His mother i also called Genevieve, a very uncommon name in Dutch circles.
\We are very interested if you know anything more about our side of the trea like houses, graves, story’s of my far cousins.
Leuk om te lezen. Ik heb twee oud-oudtantes Hemmes die, na het overlijden van hun vader, met hun moeder (dus dus betovergrootmoeder van mij) naar Kalamazoo emigreerden en daar trouwden met twee broers Tazelaar uit Wissenkerke. (Ik ben dus van een oudere zoon Hemmes die hin Nederland bleef.) We lijken dus familie te delen? Mocht u meer weten over hun leven daar of waar ze begraven zijn dan hoor ik dat graag.