Last week I wrote a Fill in the Gaps Project post for my 3x great-grandparents, Teunis and Jacoba (Bassa) Peek/Paak.
Since the publication of that post, I have been blessed with more information about Teunis’ life. Because there is so much, I am posting all the new info here, rather than just updating that post.
Amberly was as mystified as I was by who “Perina Pick” might be. She was listed on the 1870 census in Cooper Township (Michigan) in the wife position after Teunis. Then Amberly found a Findagrave memorial which must belong to her. PERINA PECK This page indicates she died in 1890. There is not a photo of a headstone or any other information, so this information might have come from cemetery records. Since the last name reads as Peck it seems unlikely that Teunis would have had the headstone engraved. Furthermore, she isn’t listed with the family in the 1880 census.
So who was she? An unknown relative? A housekeeper who happened to have a similar surname or took on the family surname? Amberly wondered if it had been a marriage of convenience. I questioned if he had met her on the ship to America since a mere two years after arriving he was already married.
I was almost falling asleep over my iPad when I decided to check out “Paak” on Genealogy Bank. Guess what popped up? Several notices dated 24-30 September 1881.
Tannis Paak vs Priera Paak, divorce; J F Alley for complainant, T R Sherwood for defendant. I don’t know what “Chancery–Fourth Class” means to this case, but it looks to me as if Teunis was the one to file for divorce. This makes him the first direct ancestor I have ever found who went through a divorce.
Therefore, I conclude that he did indeed marry this woman at some point after arriving in the United States (there is no marriage record in the Netherlands, where the records are much much better than the U.S. ones for the time period). That said, Perina/Priera does appear to be from the Netherlands, according to the census.
While I was in the newspaper files, I discovered a 10 February 1882 notice for a sale of farm equipment by Teunis and his son George.
I believe this is close to when Teunis moved from Cooper to Kalamazoo–effectively retiring. I was struck by the fact that he didn’t just farm celery, apparently, but also had cows and sheep.
You have to wonder where this left his only son George (Joost) because I think Teunis and George were in business together. There are several newspaper notices of buying and selling (especially buying) of land throughout this period. I do not know if they were all used for celery farming or for other purposes. They were generally somewhat sizable and expensive parcels. Also, the amazing genealogy volunteer Wayne Loney discovered a map of interest. Notice the “Paak & Son.”
This is an 1890 map of Kalamazoo Twp. At the top of the page the look at “Kalamazoo” and below the Z, in section 10 where the RR tracks become closer, you will find a 10 acre plot which says Paak & Son. The road at the west edge of the property is Pitcher St. and the area is currently (and it depends) either the now defunct Checker Motors or what was the Brown Co. It has been several different paper companies and I have no longer been able to keep up with its current name. But, at one time, it became very expensive property.
If you think that this map looks remarkably like the one where Jacob Verhulst’s farm was later located (the post about Annie Paak Verhulst), you would be right. It looks like property that might have belonged to Teunis and son George Paak ended up eventually with daughter Annie and her husband Jacob.
Another fact that Wayne uncovered has to do with where Teunis is buried. Here is a map of Riverside Cemetery.
Wayne remarked: “Tannis PAAK is buried in Riverside Cemetery and is the only occupant of the entire 8 grave plot, in Section U, Plot 87. There are 7
unused graves. U,087,01 is the City of Kalamazoo’s description.”
Wow, did he buy eight graves, expecting his children to be buried near him and then nobody was buried there? That is another mystery I can try to solve by discovering where all his children were buried. I can also try to contact the cemetery to see if I can get more information.
Back to the immigration of Teunis and his family. According to an index available on Ancestry which Amberly discovered, Teunis traveled with five children to “Port Uncertain” in 1868. Five children. Not six, which is what it would be if Willempje was with them. However, I can’t take it too seriously since Teunis is indexed as age 23! He was 46. There is no wife mentioned either, which I do think is accurate. I do know that 1868 is accurate because Yvette Hoitink was able to find that information in the Dutch emigration records.
Yet another area of future research is the probate records. Wayne knows where they are and will get them when he can. WOOT! Plus, I know they are worth reading because from the time of Teunis’ death in April until March of the following year (1894) probate dragged out. I know this because there are many notices in the newspaper. My great-greats Richard and Alice DeKorn are mentioned. It will be interesting to see what property was left at the time of his death and who inherited it.
Years ago I wrote blog posts about the fire at George’s house in 1902. His wife Lucy had passed away two years previously, leaving him with five young children. At the time of the fire, George did not have funds or insurance on his home. He also had been ill and had not been working because of his health. This is only nine years after the death of “prosperous celery farmer” Teunis. I can’t wait to read the probate record! By the way, my chapbook Kin Types also has a story called “The Weight of Smoke” based on the fire at George’s house.
Additionally, Wayne gave me Teunis’ death record, which I did not have. He died of cancer of the stomach.
Although Teunis immigrated before many of my other ancestors, there are so many documents relating to his life. I suspect that eventually much of his story will be clear. I just wish I had a photograph of my 3x great-grandfather.
The Family Kalamazoo 
Wow ~ walls crumbling down and tons of information and rabbit holes to tumble into. haha great collaboration with Amberly and Wayne. This was a great exciting post. That is odd about the 8 grave plots with the 7 left unused. I’ll be looking for what you discover about his children on this. It did remind me of my grandfather purchasing a block of plots in the 1950’s on Long Island that were never used, still unused. My mother and I tried at one time to sell them and were not able to due to some archaic law or something. So the plots remain…
Hehe, I’m glad you enjoyed this. It was a lot of fun to see all this come out after poking around the week before! That is so frustrating about your grandfather’s plots! How stupid to just keep them like that. Did you know that in the Netherlands, they just rent plots and so after nobody wants to pay for them any more they are used for somebody else?! There is only so much land for cemeteries, I guess.
The reference to Chancery, Fourth Class, is to the type of court in which the hearing would be held. It’s a now obsolete term (for the most part) borrowed from England when courts were divided into law courts and chancery courts. Law courts were limited to very specific types of suits defined by a system or writs. Because of those limitations, many claims were not heard. So a second court, the Chancery court, a court of equity, was created. For example, law courts could only give monetary remedies. If you wanted an injunction, you needed to go to the equity court, the chancery. So a divorce decree was probably relegated to the chancery. Probably much more than you wanted to know!
I am not sure what the “fourth class” reference means. Probably something specific to the Michigan court system at the time.
When I wrote that I was so hoping you would chime in with an answer!!!! Thank you, Amy. So interesting, isn’t it? A way to keep courts from being too crowded, I guess. Maybe we need to go back to that!
Well, it wasn’t so much crowd control. It was to grant access to the courts to people who didn’t have claims that checked off the right boxes for the law courts. The chancery courts were known as courts of equity because they provided relief to those who otherwise would have had no adequate legal remedy. For example, let’s say you entered a contract for a specific piece of property. Getting money for breach of contract might not be a satisfactory remedy since if you hadn’t paid anything, you hadn’t suffered monetary damage. But you might feel that that piece of property was unique and want the contract enforced. A law court couldn’t do that, but an equity court could.
Now this law professor will shut up!
I love it when you start spouting off like that. 😉 out of curiosity in today’s world are people that don’t have monetary damage SOL then? Are their cases not heard?
Oh, not at all. In the US at least—law courts and equity courts merged a long time ago in the federal system and in at least all the state court systems I know, and so you can sue for either kind fo relief. There are still courts for specific purposes—e.g., bankruptcy court, probate courts, in MA there is a housing court, juvenile court, etc. But the hard line between equity and law is pretty much a thing of the past. (I could go on and give a few exceptions, but ….) 🙂
I’m finding this information about the legal system very interesting!
I’m glad to be helpful!
🙂
That’s why she was a law professor!
🙂
Fascinating that you found a record of the divorce, Luanne.
Don’t you hope one day someone will be thrilled to preserve the results of your incredible detective work?
That’s a concern. People come to genealogy a little late in life usually. So it is hard to know which young person is going to develop an interest. The best I can do is get it all digitized and give everybody a copy.
You are right – seems we don’t get interested in genealogy until we’re afraid no one’s keeping track!
That’s a lot of information to uncover in a short time. Lots of new leads. I’ve come across unused cemetery plots before. Once you prove kinship to the owner, you can usually claim them, but not sell them. In one case, claiming involved pre-paying burial costs. Have fun chasing all the new info to where it leads!
Interesting! George was the oldest child so would they go to his family? Unless of course the probate record says something different.
Usually it’s just whoever shows up. Check with the cemetery.
So many fascinating details in this post! The pieces are falling into place.
Thank you, Liz! Yes, so exciting to see them fall into place!
[…] I wrote a couple of blog posts about their son, Teunis, who was a pioneer of Kalamazoo, Michigan: 3x greats Teunis and Jacoba (Bassa) Peek, part I and 3x greats Teunis and Jacoba (Bassa) Peek, part II […]