I will be moving forward–I mean backward!–to other ancestors in my efforts to fill in the gaps. However, I’ve been gone for awhile, and I haven’t had a chance to do any research.
That said, Amberly did find records for me, and I will be posting about the results in the future. Also, the social security app I ordered for Charles Mulder arrived, but it did not give me any information I didn’t already have. The date on the application is 21 November 1955. Since Great-Grandpa was born in 1885, why would he apply at that late date for his social security number?
Ever so often I have wondered if being left-handed, as I am, is genetic, as I had been told. My mother isn’t left-handed, and neither was my father. But my grandfather, Adrian Zuidweg, was left-handed. I get my long-term memory and storytelling from him. I am good at math, and I believe he was, as well. So we have a lot in common.
Grandpa Adrian Zuidweg with my son Marc
Apparently, they have discovered the gene that causes left-handedness, although it’s not a cut-and-dried case of who gets to be left-handed, as it is with right-handers.
For me, the most interesting article about left-handedness is one that argues that the Netherlands has the highest percentage of left-handers in the world. I’m not presenting this as “gospel,” but it is fun. Click here or click on the image:
Here is a very clear image of Grandpa with his cousins Dick and Phil DeKorn in the 1920s (the boys were born in 1920 and 1922). This could possibly be Long Lake in Portage, Michigan, but my family was associated with several different lakes, so it is impossible to know for sure.
The Family Kalamazoo 
My mother and two girl cousins were/are lefties. Mom said it was one of her ammunition playing basketball! I’m becoming ambidextrous as I still cannot feed myself (and other skills) with my right hand (after reverse shoulder replacement).
What a precious picture of the boys in a boat.
Yes, being a leftie can be an asset in sports! Or to be president haha.
Wow, when was your surgery, Joy? I thought you would be healed by now! It must be very extensive surgery.
I love the pic of them in the boat. It’s so clear for being 100 years ago. And it’s fun having a pic of the boys so young, too. And the pic of my grandfather with my son is also precious because Grandpa loved playing with Marc. And they both liked gadget type toys.
Fabulous photo, Luanne! One of my favorites that you’ve shared!!
I know, right? Left-handedness is a mystery with no definitive explanations. Very interesting, though.
That’s, Sheila. Haha, it really is a mystery. Different articles contradict each other a bit. I just saw another article that confirms the thing about being good at math and left handedness. And now that I think about it, my future son-in-law is left-handed and good at math.
Aha. Very interesting.
Jackie and her mother both left handed.
I knew Jackie was special!!!! 🙂
🙂
One of the Jan (John) DeSmits lived for a while on the south end of Long Lake near the now demolished roller rink
Oh, that’s cool, especially since the Paaks/Warefs and DeKorns had a fair chunk of property there. All in the family . . . . 😉
Hi Luanne ~ welcome back! So funny, I woke this morning thinking about you and missing your posts and here you were. Great lake photo and precious photo with your son and grandpa. Those are some expressions on the boys, not sure if they’re upset to being coming to shore or having gone out 🙂 No one in our family is a lefty!
Awwww! Missed you, too! I thought that, too, about the boys. Sometimes it looks like people back then were not having the fun they should have been having! Oh, interesting. So there are whole families of righties. Mind-boggling! 😉
This is really interesting. I always thought left handedness was a constant at 10% across humans and many apes. Lefties are often thought to be better at things, but I suspect this is mostly at sport as they can catch people off guard, esp in tennis etc. Mostly the world is designed for right hands so left handers have a bit of a struggle. Think there are a few cultures where they are seen as unlucky or worse. Inheritance often seems to skip generations. Most of our family have dark eyes but my brother and mum’s dad have blue.
Yes, left-handedness was seen as dirty or devil, that sort of thing. Even my father-in-law, in NYC, was switched to right-handed when he was a little kid. My husband is also left-handed. Our kids are adopted, so no lab experiment there haha. I think that’s true about inheritance. It can skip one or two generations and then boom, it’s not “diluted” at all.
Left-handedness is a recessive gene, so a left-handed child has only that trait to pass on. Righties can either have two right genes, or one of each. My dad was left-handed, as am I. My mother was right-handed, and so was my sister. Lynn had two sons, one of each.. Daddy and I could use each other’s fountain pens, but my sister and Mum couldn’t. The entire British Royal family is left-handed, passed down from Victoria. George VI probably did more for lefties than anybody else in the world.
When I started first grade I came home trying to use my right hand. The teacher told me it would be easier, but she didn’t try to force me. My dad, who was from Australia, and a Church of England clergyman, went with me the next morning, and explained to the teacher that “M’daughter is left handed, y’see. If it’s good enough for the King, it’s good enough for her, you understand” Mum told me he came home chuckling. “They didn’t know if they should salute or genuflect.” I remain totally, utterly left-handed.
The Squire is naturally left-handed, but he grew up in the rural south, and was forced to use his right hand. As a result he is ambidextrous; you can’t read what he writes with either hand!
Now – you can tell if a person is lefthanded or right by looking at their thumb nails. The nail on the dominant hand is broader and squarer, and this is true in the cradle.
What a wonderful story about your dad!!
Of course I looked at my thumbnails immediately. You know what? You are right! The left is broader, squarer, and a bit flatter.
That is such a great anecdote about your dad! Wonderful story! Haha. I didn’t now that about the royal family, so I looked it up. Seems that the Queen herself is not a leftie, but so many others are, starting, as you say, from Victoria. Wow. I guess I’m in esteemed company ;).
Thanks for your thoughtful comment (as usual!).
My paternal grandfather was “ambidextrous” with a preference for left. My maternal grandmother had a stunted left hand so was forced to be right-handed, but I suspect that she was innately left-handed. Not one of their children was left-handed, but six of their twelve grandchildren were. One of these married a left-hander and their three children are all lefties. It’s genetic.
Maybe the Netherlands and the US are more tolerant of left-handedness in the 21st century so lefties are allowed to be lefties, while in other countries, lefties are forced to switch to right. ICK.
Yes, all those lefties in your family had to “come” from somewhere. Half the grandchildren!
I agree about the tolerance issue, which is sort of an old story about handedness. So maybe the 10% used for years was as “off” as the “normal” temperature of the human body (no longer 98.6). But whether the Netherlands has more than other European countries because of the tolerance or because of genetics might be difficult to figure out.
Such a cute picture — the boys look like they’re ready to do anything except be in that boat!
LOL, I know. So on looking closer, see how the little one is holding his arms? He might be cold. Maybe it was too brisk out there for them.
You’re right about how remarkably clear the photograph is after all these years. Sometimes when I see frowning or scowling pictures taken outdoors I wonder if the subjects are squinting against the sun.
Liz, it definitely could be an attempt to keep the son out of those light eyes. Or maybe it’s a bit windy (the choppiness?) and chilly out there so they are unhappy and just want to get out of the boat?
It’s hard to say, all these years later.
Well, it seems that someone by the name Zuidweg really ought to be a south-paw!
LOL! I love it! For those who don’t know, zuid means south! Zuidweg = south or south way or from the southern direction.
Luanne, nice writing on this post, and the picture of your relatives in the boat, is very nice, it was not taken at Long lake, the water is too choppy and there is no back ground that matches this picture even for the 1920’s.
Ah, thanks, Paula. I sort of thought that about the water myself, but couldn’t get it to the front of my head. Although if it was a storm, I suppose the water could look like that and the littlest one looks cold. But you would know about the background for sure!
In my experience there seems to be a tendancy for engineers and many creative people to be left-handed. You are obviously creative, as a writer and left-handed too. I am very right-handed and have never found any left-handed people in the family. My ex showed some evidence of being ambidextrous however.
I have heard that too about creatives (and presidents haha). Yes, I’m a creative person, but also good at math and logic, so when people ask what I might want to “be” if I could go back and live a second life (or some other phrasing of same question), I often say architect or engineer. It is so interesting to me that you and Sharon both have no lefties in your families. I sort of thought every family had some.
I have never heard of any left-handed people in my family. I am good at maths and logic too. My father was an engineer, I did used to notice quite a few left-handed maths and science oriented boys in my classes.Both my children are maths and science people but they are both right-handed.
Yes, no way do lefties corner the market on math ability!
My mother is left-handed, my father was right handed. All three of their children are right-handed, though my brother is somewhat ambidextrous, but still predominantly right-handed. Both of my daughters are right handed (as is their father). But my grandson is a leftie like his great-grandmother even though all four of his grandparents and his parents are right handed. So somehow that recessive left-handed gene snuck through.
My mother has always complained that the world is designed for righties—especially ironing boards and irons, so she hated ironing. But she also believes that lefties are more creative thinkers and smarter because they have to survive in a right-handed world.
It sounds like a similar gene pattern as ours. My father always told me it was a recessive trait. Scientists are starting to say though that it’s a little more complicated than that. I can’t wait until they figure it all out! Ironing hahaha, I think she was pulling your leg a bit on that one. The way good scissors were made was a real issue, but today we don’t tend to use good quality scissors, do we? I learned to turn my hand at an angle when writing as a kid so that I didn’t drag my hand through the soft lead. The right-handed desks were the worst. I wonder what others think about this notion: that today there are more “ambidextrous” tools and utensils available, making it easier for lefties than years ago.
Certainly using a keyboard solves some of the issues—like smearing what you’ve just written or right handed desks. My mother’s issue with the iron and ironing board was real (I think) because the cord was placed on the side of the iron that got in her way and the board had to be set up so that the outlet was on the other side, meaning the iron’s cord crossed over the board. Or something like that. (I don’t iron because she never taught me how!)
Yes, I remember those issues with an iron. But I couldn’t resist because everyone needs an excuse not to iron! I do know how to iron, and I have an iron for the occasional wrinkled mess. But it isn’t a right-handed iron. It’s completely ambidextrous. I think they have changed a lot of things like that.