The Family Kalamazoo

Now we come to the parents of Lukas Bomhof, the Waterloo musketeer, and the grandparents of my 2x great-grandmother, Jennie Zuidweg, who died in Kalamazoo at age 85. The library in Kalamazoo must have opened back up because they sent me Jennie’s obit that I had ordered at the start of the pandemic. It doesn’t say anything new, but it is nice to have. For now I will post it here, but eventually I plan to move it to Jennie’s fill-in-the-gap post.

This image was enhanced by the My Heritage program to clear up the blurry newsprint. Here is what it says about Jennie:

Mrs. Jennie Zuideweg (sic), 85, died at the home of her daughter, Johanna Van Liere, 1208 S. Burdick Street, Saturday. Funeral services will be held from the home Tuesday afternoon at 2:00. The Reverend William Van Vliet will officiate, and burial will be in Riverside Cemetery.

Mrs. Zuideweg (sic) is survived by a son Adrian; her daughter, and nine grandchildren.

Jennie’s grandfather, Albert Hendriks Bomhof, was originally known as Albert Nijentap. Around 1812, Albert changed the family surname (including that of his three adult sons) to Bomhof (in Windesheim, Overijssel). According to Yvette Hoitink, “in the province of Overijssel, it was common to be named after the farm you lived on. It was only with the French occupation that people were obliged to take a hereditary surname. Nijentap may be the name of the farm that the family lived at.” I need a little more understanding of that because I believe the French occupation lasted only until 1813, so 1812 is a pretty late date to change the name.

Albert was born about 1756, based on his death record which states that he was sixty when he died on 8 May 1816 in Windesheim. So Albert changed their name only four years before he died.

You see where this leads with Albert’s son Lukas, my 3x great grandfather. Since he was born Lukas Nijentap, maybe I wasn’t looking for his baptism record under the right name; I will have to revisit the search for the birth information on Lukas.

Albert married Zwaantje Janssen (possibly Janssen van Rijssen). The couple had the following children: Lukas Nijentap/Bomhof, born 9 Dec 1788, Windesheim, Overijssel, the Netherlands; Jan Nijentap/Bomhof (born about 1786); and Hendrik Nijentap/Bomhof (born about 1787).

This information was found by Yvette Hoitink in these two places:

1. Zwolle, Overijssel, the Netherlands, marriage supplements, 1825, 75, Lucas Bomhof-Jeuntien Dansser, 13 October
1825; digital images, Familysearch
(https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-15331-25133-30?cc=1831469&wc=10704236 : accessed 24 December 2012)
2. Zwolle, Overijssel, the Netherlands, marriage record, 1825, 75, Lucas Bomhof-Jeuntjen Dansser, 13 October 1825;
digital images, Familysearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-11514-26006-7?cc=1831469&wc=10704172 :
accessed 23 December 2012)

I do not have a marriage record for Albert and Zwaantje, nor do I have birth/baptism records for either one of them. I don’t even have their exact dates and places of birth.

So many of my Dutch ancestors seem to have been people from towns with the sort of occupations that were found in towns. My conjecture about Albert is that he was a farm laborer, perhaps more like a peasant. Since his son Lukas became an innkeeper and then a shoemaker it seems likely that Lukas may have somewhat improved his situation by his time as a soldier.

While I don’t have Zwaantje’s death record, I do have one for Albert (as I mentioned, age sixty on 8 May 1816).

I thought a map to locate Windesheim and Zwolle, or the province of Overijssel, would be useful.

See where Overijssel is on the east side of the country? That is where Windesheim and Zwolle are. But most of my ancestors lived in Zeeland (far southwest of the country) and even South Holland and Utrecht–all in a row. Albert’s granddaughter, my great-great-grandmother Jennie Zuidweg, who died in Kalamazoo, traveled all the way from Zwolle to Goes where she married Johannes Zuijdweg (later John Zuidweg). She apparently followed her brother to Goes, but how he ended up there I don’t yet know. Jennie also was probably not like the town people in Goes. She traveled the farthest that I’ve found so far in terms of distance and probably lifestyle.

Here is arguably the most famous building in Windesheim.

By Onderwijsgek at nl.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 nl, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=635630

What is now the Reformed Church was a famous monastery, known as the Windesheim Canons. This place was known for people like Thomas a’ Kempis, Johann Busch, Gabriel Biel, and Erasmus. Eventually the Reformation brought destruction to part of the campus. The property was owned by a farmer in the 19th century, before becoming the home of the Reformed Church in Windesheim. I’m sure that the complete history of this building would make an exciting book or movie.

Knowing this about Windesheim and also that it is now the location of The Windesheim University of Applied Sciences makes it harder to swallow that Albert Bomhof was a peasant. All that education so nearby. All that fascinating history evolving within walking distance. All happening while he was working in the fields for someone else.