The DeKorn and Zuidweg families of southwestern Michigan have documented the past through a collection of photographs and glass negatives. Many of the photographs were taken by family photographer Joseph DeKorn. Years ago, Adrian Zuidweg shared a portion of the collection with Western Michigan University‘s Archives and Regional History Collections. A larger portion is not at the archives, and my goal is to share the rest of the collection on this blog.
Additionally, the Charles Mulder family originally of Caledonia, Michigan, is also featured here.
Contact me at mlmmcastle@gmail.com.
The Family Kalamazoo 
I told you in a previous message that I started a tree using your info, in the hopes of finding other family trees who would like to read your blog.
I found eight (8) trees and the majority are for the Blandford Family.
You will see there are various last names that have your branch on them:
Here is a list of the trees:
———————
Armstrong Family Tree
Owner: nanarm56
………………….
RJD_Tree
Owner: RomanDowner
………………….
Private Tree
Owner: mlmmcastle
………………….
Korreck-Aman
Owner: jimkrrk
……………………….
Swart Family Tree
Owner: dlswart422
………………………..
Spellman Family Tree
Owner: kajispellman1
…………………….
Miller/Schmidt/Hyland – Feldstein/Leslie/Reeves
Owner: pfeldste
……………………….
karen blandford family tree
Owner: kkblandford1
……………………………………
AND OF COURSE MY TREE
Joseph DeKorn Blog Family Tree
Owner: josemunoz2546
http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/51240115/person/13168637784
These are fabulous, Jose. I can’t wait to connect to these trees!
I found a picture of Richard on a family tree for his step-daughter Marion Sootsman McQuigg.
What a fabulous project! Are you also digitizing these beauties? And if so, how are you organizing your work? What equipment do you find most helpful? I look forward to seeing more!
Thanks, Kay! By the way, I love your “research tool box.” What a great idea. I’m still putting the photos onto my computer, plus I took a lot of glass negatives to a professional and had those put on a CD. It’s a never ending project, I’m beginning to think, and just that alone takes away from doing the research that I need to do. But it’s all good :). My organization of the project is poor at this point. I am all ears for tips, though.
At first i thought I was the only one doing a project like this. What a wonder! Good job!
Thanks so much! I recently discovered your blog and really love it–both for the history of your family and because of the area your family is from. I lived in California for 25 years.
Hi. Thanks for the recent ‘like’ on my family photos. Your ‘like’ came in from you ‘unwanted’ blog but there was a Iink in it to this one so here I am. I too have two blogs which sometimes causes me problems but I don’t want to get rid of either (grumpytyke & grumpytykepix). Do you have the same email address for both of yours? If so, the answer might be to change the email address on the one you don’t want and then, hopefully, you could delete it. I’m no expert but it might work. This one is fascinating; my brother is into genealogy so I’ll refer him here.
And the names of your blogs are similar, too, so I imagine that gets even more difficult. I just changed the email address for one of htem, as well as the web address, so we’ll see what happens now. Thank you so much for your kind comment and your referral :)!
I commend you for putting your time to such good use. It is very generous of you. There could very well be other relatives in your family line seeking just the information you’re providing here.
EmilyAnn, I sure hope so!
Can you confirm a Culver branch on your tree? As you know I put in Jennie on the tree and I got two family trees where a Jennie is married to a John Culver. The two trees seem to have gotten their info off of the same ged file so there are no documents to confirm any of their data. There are two dau’s Lela and Reh. I found both their birth records on FamilySearch as well as the marriage between Jennie and John but there is nothing that links it back to the DeKorn family information other than the fact that she was born in Mich and lived in Kalamazoo. I just thought you might have some doc’s with Culver on them.
Thanks
Take Care.
Jose
Jose, I am getting ready to travel and hoping I have time to process some of this great info you’ve given me before I go, but in case I don’t I wanted to let you know that I’ve got another blog post coming up this week that shows that Jennie did marry John Culver. I have her photo and also a photo of her children which I will be posting! So you are competely on the right track. Now that you have shown me that Jennie is probably Adriana, that gives me a birthdate for Jennie which I never had. Who changes their child’s name from Adriana to Jennie anyway? I don’t see a connection ;)! Thank you thank you thank you!
Check out your Liebster Award on my blog 🙂
Shucks, Mom, that was so sweet of you! Congratulations to you on all your awards! I am going out of town, but when I get back I will do my duties for the Liebster. So kind!!!
My husband’s Day family came from Kalamazoo back in the mid 1800s. I love pictures. I would like to make his grandparents a book of the people and places in their ancestry. Would you mind if I borrowed some of the pictures of Kalamazoo?
That would be lovely. If you would like to give credit to the photographer, it was Joseph DeKorn.
Thanks for checking out my blog. I love family history and you have some great stories here!
Cheers
You’ve got a beautiful blog! Thanks for reading mine!
Love your photos and stories of your family. Thanks for checking out my blog…I will continue to watch yours!
Thanks so much for stopping by, Rachelle! I will keep reading yours!
Thank you for visiting my City Jackdaw blog, not been going long so appreciate it. And good luck with yours- it is important work you are doing.
Thanks, Andy! Good luck to you, too!
Thanks for visiting my blog. Great job on the genealogical work.
Thank you so much!!!
I have nominated you for the “Shine On Award”. I really enjoy following your blog, keep up the wonderful work! Emma. For more information visit http://addyourpieceofhistory.wordpress.com/2013/06/22/award-time
Emma, thank you so much! That is so kind of you! I really love your blog–so interesting! I’ve decided not to accept blogger award nominations any longer because of time constraints, but I appreciate the gesture so much. I will check out the other blogs on your post!
Pure awesomeness your blog is! I just wrote my grandmother’s story and thank you for Liking it. You’re way luckier. I have no such family photos this many.
My grandmother told the story quite randomly so I just had to guess when it happened. Still have her voice record on my phone so I will write it more and get the ‘herstory’ done. 😉
Hello. Thank you for liking my blog post. When I saw Caledonia, I had to see which Caledonia it was. I thought perhaps it may have been in Nova Scotia, but I see it isn’t. You have a lovely website.
Hello. Thank you for the like on my recent post. Good on you for this project you have on the go. It is the first blog I have seen dedicated to family history. The photographs and information is amazing. I am very impressed!
Thanks so much!
Would you mind contacting me through my blog? You don’t have a way for my to contact you privately! Thanks, Deborah
Yes, so sorry, Deborah. I’ve been on “hiatus.” Will do.
Not a problem, I understand with the holidays!
Hi
Thank you so much for finding my blog and liking a post. Hope you come back again soon
Trina
So thrilled to find you after you liked a recent post of mine (thank you). What a wonderful thing to do! I’ve been yearning to research my parents’ family histories; seeing your blog has inspired me to start a new blog site specifically for this reason. Then my family can join, and who knows what relations may appear as it progresses. Thank you for the inspiration 🙂
Oh, so great to hear, Sandra! I hope you enjoy the process as much as I do. It’s so much fun, and I have “met” so many people through my blog. Good luck with it!
[…] About post – https://thefamilykalamazoo.com/about-the-family-kalamazoo/ […]