I dug into the bottom of a file drawer and pulled out a book I forgot that I had. It was put together by the Kalamazoo Gazette and featured photographs sent in by individuals of Kalamazoo from the past up to the early 1960s.
My grandfather, Adrian Zuidweg, is listed as one of the contributors, so I went through and tried to find the photos he might have sent in.
Definitely these two photos. The little boy in the check dress and straw hat is grandpa himself. And the little girl on the hammock is his cousin Alice Leeuwenhoek.
Those are the relatives sitting on the front porch. Gosh, I own that photo! I didn’t realize that was Richard Remine (though I can see right now that it is, of course, him)–or his children Therese, Harold, and Jane either. It would fit that the two little girls are Alice (next to her grandma Alice Paak) and Therese. With Harold behind the children. But Jane doesn’t really look old enough in this photo. According to my records, Jane was 14 years older than Therese. Something is off here. That big gap in age between Jane and Therese bothers me, and it always has. And if you recall when I wrote about Frank and Jane Tazelaar, I had been confused for awhile about if there had been 4 Remine children and 2 girls of similar names. This photo must be somewhere around 1901, based on the assumed aged of the 3 little children. Jane was born in 1881 and is not 20 here!
The known people: back row is Aunt Jen DeKorn Leeuwenhoek, Richard DeKorn, Richard Remine. Front row is Lambertus (Lou) Leeuwenhoek, Alice Paak DeKorn, and then the little girl next to Alice definitely looks like Alice Leeuwenhoek, Jen and Lou’s daughter. It would seem plausible that the three other children belong to Richard Remine, but Jane could not have been that small.
What else? Here is Harold Remine big enough to go fishing at Long Lake. The other photo is not from my family, but it does show off a great collection of hats!
This is the Ladies Library building that Richard DeKorn was the mason contractor for.
But I don’t think that is one of our family photos.
One of these photos could have been taken by Joseph DeKorn and been submitted by Grandpa. It is very similar to the ones that I own.
Take a look at the captions for the downtown views. Does it make sense? It doesn’t make sense to me for some reason.
Most importantly, Grandpa autographed this book!
Here is a bonus photo. It isn’t from my family, but isn’t it a cool reminder of the kitschy business architecture popular in those days?
The Family Kalamazoo 
Is it possible there was a Jane who died and a younger sister born later named for her? That is quite mysterious.
What a wonderful find! Lovely old photos.
Haha, please don’t bring me back to that! That was my dilemma for years with the Remines! But then it seemed that it wasn’t so. And besides, Genevieve was born so early, so much earlier than her siblings, that another Jane doesn’t really make sense. OY. This was a distressing find, I admit.
Sorry! I can certainly sympathize with your frustration. How confusing!
Thank you for your sympathy because I know you get it!!!
What a treasure. I especially like the photo of Harold fishing.
I do, too! Thanks so much!
What a fabulous collection! And to be able to see your family included in the history is especially wonderful!
Grandpa loved to share his old photos. I think he would LOVE this blog :)!
What a wonderful book to have. It is amazing how we find clues to things in the oddest places. I remember reading somewhere about old movies reels and how so many were lost or destroyed by time… then they found this guy in Argentina who collected old movie reels and he had rare copies of films the professionals thought were lost for ever. Thank You for the post.
That is a really cool story. This is the kind of thing that tends to happen today with the internet more than it happened previously (I think). I found a new clue this past week and will be blogging about it eventually. It was pretty exciting ;)!
A lovely book to have indeed… What a treasure! And signed by Grandpa to boot!
I loved seeing his autograph on here! He was a leftie, like me.
There is something altogether special about an ancestor’s handwriting, IMHO, so I can imagine how happy you were about that.
All the more reason for us to leave something handwritten for our children and grandchildren as well.
It’s true. We rarely think of these things: handwriting, voices, even in these days the body in motion via video because that’s where we see the gestures, the way one carries oneself, etc.
Wonderful. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for stopping by, Barb!
Always worth the trip
Oh, thank you!
A treasure indeed!
I think so, too!
What a delightful treasure to find in your drawer! I love it when I find something special I had forgotten about. $20 in a pants pocket is fun, but a genealogy treasure is so much better. 😉 Oh, and that Ladies Library building is beautiful!!
It is such a gorgeous building. One of the prettiest I’ve seen. I know what you mean about finding a $20 in your pocket. I love that. But nothing beats these genealogy treasures!
What a great book! It’s fun to see your family in it in their own photos! I can’t answer questions about the little girl….except to say could she be another girl with the same name? That’s happened a lot, for whatever reason — cousins with the same name or one sister dies and another “replaces” her with the same name. I also can’t answer questions re: downtown Kalamazoo. It looks utterly different today.
You have such wonderful genealogical treasures.
I do! I can’t wait until the younger generation starts to show me who needs to carry the torch for the family.
Excellent Photo-history! Well done!
Thanks, Richard! It’s a wonderful book–very revealing of Kalamazoo’s past.