My maternal grandmother, (Lucille) Edna Mulder Zuidweg, was born in 1912 on this day. This is one of my favorite photographs of Grandma and me.
I’m about five and wearing my favorite violet striped dress. This was a time in my life that I was spending a lot of time at Grandma and Grandpa’s house because I went to kindergarten across the street at McKinley school and stayed the rest of the day at their house while my parents were working. In this photo, it is dark outside, and I think this photograph was taken at night when others were in the living room. I associate this photo with eating ice cream that particular night . . . .
Happy birthday, Grandma. You are very missed.
Last week I posted two old photos and didn’t have a lot of information about them. With the help of some people on a Facebook group, especially intrepid FindaGrave photographer Jeff Phillips, the two little kids have been identified as Alice Leeuwenhoek and Harold Remine. I’ve written about both of them many times. My mother reminded me that yesterday was Alice’s birthday (1897).
The house in the other photograph has probably been identified as well.
Here it is at the address 110 Balch Street.
That is it with the fresh coat of gray paint. Now look to our right and you just can just the dark brown brick corner house between the trees. That is the Richard DeKorn house I’ve written about so much. This gray house is next door to that house.
Guess who lived in that house (where the four boys are standing) in those days? Take a look:
Yes, the Leeuwenhoeks lived there, right next to Alice’s maternal grandparents Richard and Alice, and possibly her aunt (my great-grandmother Cora and her husband Adrian who lived with Cora’s parents). It appears that sometime between 1900 and 1910 Cora and Adrian moved from a home on the other side of Balch to her parents’ house. It’s possible that Richard owned that home at 121 Balch, but I have not investigated land records.
Any ideas on how to go about doing so?
The Family Kalamazoo 
Wow, how did Jeff Phillips identify the girls in the photo? As for searching for the history of the house’s ownership, the Registry of Deeds in Kalamazoo should have those records. I’d contact them and ask how you can research it. The records might even be online.
And happy birthday to your grandma!
Thank you, Amy. I miss her every day. Hahaha, I doubt they are online, but I will follow your instructions!
In our county, all deeds and land transactions are at the County Courthouse and are accessible to the public. It’s fun to find out facts like this!
Yes, I think county courthouse is right. Too bad I am in Arizona and not Kalamazoo :(. Thanks, Ruth!
That does present a problem!
WOW! Amazing detective work by everyone! It’s amazing you have the postcard from 1909 to add to this great story ~ and picture too….I love this whole 2 part posting 🙂
Me too. The postcard really makes a mere census record come alive with meaning–and verification, ya know? Thanks, Sharon!
Hi, Luanne! Have you checked any census or land records yet? I have Ancestry World Explorer, if you need my help. let me know!
Mary, I have the census info, but I have never seen land records for Kalamazoo on Ancestry. Have you ever found anything online for that?
Wonderful
Thanks, Derrick!
Good job by the Facebook friends for helping you – that picture of you with your grandmother is one of my all time favorites!!
Thanks for the pictures of the houses today, too. Wow!
I remembered that you like that photo! It’s such a good one. So much of our time was spent alone or when Grandpa got home from work and Aunt Alice got home from college, so not a lot of photos were taken of the two of us.
Great post – our grandmothers are special people I had a favorite one as well.
Very special! I’m so glad you are also blessed!
Such a lot of detective work here! My mother’s birthday is today and she is 89 years old. Happy birthday to your grandmother ❤
Happy birthday (a day late) to your mother, Clare! Thank you so much. The detective work was solid. And the postcard really supports the census records, which makes me very happy.
Looks like Granma had light upper cabinets and darker colored lowers. Way ahead of her time!
Haha, that’s true! Maybe it was in style back in the day!
I did this a long time ago, so I might not remember it right, but I went to our local Mormon library and looked up on the microfilm/microfiche records deeds for the last name of Brown in the Ontario County, NY area. It gave the year, grantor and grantee’s names and then the liber and page number. Many years later I wrote to the Recorder of Deeds (I think) for Ontario County, gave them the above information and they sent me photocopies of the deeds. Because I had the information of where to quickly find the deeds, it was an easy job for them and I got the deeds back very fast. I’m assuming the same would be true for Kalamazoo County. Also, loved the pic of you and your Grandma!
Thanks, Barb. We have a very small LDS library close by. I didn’t have a lot of luck when I went there once before, but I could ask them if they do have that info!!! Thank you!!!
Hope you are able to find what you’re looking for. Good luck!
Thank you!
What a great photo!
Thank you!