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Archive for the ‘Adrian Zuidweg’ Category

Genealogy Can Be a Pandora’s Box

Posted in Adriaan Zuijdweg/Adrian Zuidweg Sr., Adrian Zuidweg, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Mulder, Netherlands history, Photography late 19th century, Richard DeKorn, Zuidweg on January 31, 2018| 33 Comments »

The more I peer into the past, the more I feel like Pandora. In addition to discovering wonderful information about my ancestors, sometimes I discover sad, tragic, or even disturbing events.

For instance, I have found out more about the sentencing of my great-great-grandfather Johannes Zuijdweg (Zuidweg).

Unfortunately, what I discovered is not positive.

Here it is cropped a bit to make it easier (thanks for the idea, Amy!). His entry is the third down on both pages.

 

 

According to this document and the kind translators on Facebook, Johannes did serve two months in jail for theft, from July 15 to September 13, 1895. Imagine how Jennie felt. She had just lost her youngest child (of three) to a gruesome accident and now, a year later, her husband was serving time in jail. Everyone in their neighborhood and at their church must have known.

I don’t know if I will ever discover what was stolen or what the situation was, but I will always believe that the death of Lucas had something to do with it–given that death, the older age of Johannes, and his otherwise respectable history.

Remember for that last document when Johannes’ hair and eyebrows were translated as blond? The translation I received for this document for his looks is this way:

I can only read the enlarged part…. sex: male father: Adriaan mother: Johanna Maria Mulder nationality: Dutch civil status: married religion: reformed lower basic education: yes age (at inclusion) 52 behaviour (in institute (?) : good lenght: 1.64 m hair: greyish eyebrows: same (greyish) forehead : low eyes: grey nose: large mouth: ordinary chin: round beard: none face: oval complexion: healthy language spoken (literally: ordinary language) special features (?): none

“Greyish” hair and eyebrows!

I’ve sponsored Johannes’ memorial at Findagrave. You can find it here. I discovered that someone had posted an obituary for him on the site. Since the paper had apparently misspelled two names, I put a note explaining what the spelling should have been.

JOHANIUS ZUIDWEG. Following a long Illness, Johanius Zuidweg, aged 68, died at his home, 214 east Vine street, 9 o’clock last night. He came to this country from Holland nine years ago. He is survived by a widow, a daughter, Mrs. Marleilus Van Liere, and a son, Adrian Zuidweg, all of this city. The funeral will be held at the residence 1:30 o’clock Friday afternoon and from the Fourth Reformed church at 2 o’clock, the Rev. Mr. Frost officiating. The interment will be in Riverside cemetery. Kalamazoo Telegraph-Press May 17, 1911 (copied as written in paper)

Note:Johanius should be Johannes. Marleilus should be Marinus.

I was sorry to see that Johannes suffered a long illness before he passed away. 

However, when I look at the death certificate, his illness appears to have been 20 days. The cause of death was broncho pneumonia. I wonder if he had another illness that then turned into pneumonia.

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Grandpa’s First Drive

Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Photography early 20th century, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , , , on January 24, 2018| 21 Comments »

My grandfather, Adrian Zuidweg, in a toy car in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Do you think this toy car was purchased or built? I searched images of these pedal cars from the era of 1913-18, and I didn’t see anything quite this “bare bones.” Notice that there aren’t any fenders, little touches like that. So I’m not sure, although it does appear to be the Packard logo.

It doesn’t surprise me that my grandfather would have a nice toy like this. He was an only child, and his father owned a fish market.

Look at his sweet little hat. And the clothesline out back.

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Looking at the Timeline for Clues

Posted in Adriaan Zuijdweg/Adrian Zuidweg Sr., Adrian Zuidweg, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Mulder, Netherlands history, Photography late 19th century, Richard DeKorn, Zuidweg on January 17, 2018| 37 Comments »

Up until now, I’ve written very little about my great-great-grandfather Johannes Zuijdweg (Zuidweg). He was married to Jennie Bomhoff Zuidweg. I wrote about her knitting skills for U.S. troops here. Johannes and Jennie were my grandfather’s paternal grandparents. He talked about Jennie to me, but he didn’t really know his grandfather who died when Grandpa was only three.

The birth of Johannes is an important moment in the history of our family because his parents tie together the Zuijdwegs/Zuidwegs and the Mulders. Grandpa was a Zuidweg, and Grandma was a Mulder. Both families were from Goes, Netherlands, and they both are descended from Karel Mulder, the jailer’s hand.

The record of the marriage of Johannes and Jennie I found at wiewaswie. Here is a transcription of the marriage document:

BS Huwelijk met Johannes Zuijdweg

Groom
Johannes Zuijdweg
Profession
kruideniersknecht
Birth place
Goes
Age
26
Bride
Jenneqien Bomhoff
Profession
dienstbode
Birth place
Zwolle
Age
31
Father of groom
Adriaan Zuijdweg
Mother of the groom
Johanna Mulder
Profession
Arbeidster
Father of bride
Lúcas Bomhoff
Mother of the bride
Johanna Danser
Event
Huwelijk
Event date
04-11-1869
Event place
Goes

To read (in Dutch) the pages of the record, read the page on the right of the first image and the page on the left of the second image. If you look at the signers on the document itself you will see that one of the signers was a Van Liere. That is another family that has shared a path with my family.

Johannes was born in Goes on 23 December 1842. Here is the transcription on wiewaswie:

BS Geboorte met Johannes Zuijdweg

Child
Johannes Zuijdweg
Birth date
23-12-1842
Birth place
Goes
Gender
Man
Father
Adriaan Zuijdweg
Mother
Johanna Mulder
Event
Geboorte
Event date
23-12-1842
Event place
Goes
Document type
BS Geboorte
Institution name
Zeeuws Archief
Institution place
Middelburg
Collection region
Zeeland
Archive
25
Registration number
GOE-G-1842
Sourcenumber
171
Registration date
24-12-1842
Certificate place
Goes
Collection
Goes geboorteakten burgerlijke stand

birth record of Johannes Zuijdweg

In the Netherlands, Johannes worked as a grocer’s hand, a crier, and a merchant. Johannes and Jennie had three children. When Johannes was in his fifties, on 4 April 1894, the youngest child, Lucas (now a young man) was killed in an accident. According to Grandpa, he fell on a boat anchor.   Within a few months of the death of Lucas, there was an astonishing development in Johannes’ life. He was sentenced to prison!

 

On the Facebook group “Dutch Genealogy,” a kind person translated as much of the document as he could.

Column 1: (record number) 496 —
Column 2 (First Names and (last) names) Johannes Zuidweg —
Column 3: Occupation koopman (merchant) —
Column 4: (Location and date of birth) Goes on 20 December 1842 —
Column 5: (Place of Residence) Goes —
Column 6: (not sure, I guess date entered in the book?) 19 June 1895 —
Column 7: (again nit sure, I guess date of judgement) 31 May 1895, Jurisdiction Court Middelburg —
Column 8: (description of offense) Diefstal (Theft) —
Column 9: (Opgelegde Straf,, Punishment) twee maanden gevangenstraf (two month imprisonment) — \
Column 10: (dagtekening straf ingaat , start of punishment) 19 June 1895
Column 11: (dagtekening straf eidigt, end of punishment) 18 August 1895
Column 12: (again, nut sure. Date of transfer?) 19 June 1895 (and signatures)
Column 13: ( ) 19 June 1895
Column 14: () had te kenning gegeven dat hij een verzoek om gratie had ingedient ( he noted that he had requested clemency)
Column 15 (): Officier van Justitie, Middelburg, 19 June 1895 —
Column xx: () Geene (none)
Column xx () Geslacht (gender) Mannelijk (Male)
Vader (Father) Adriaan
Moeder (Mother) Johanna Mulder
Nationality : Nederlandse
Burgerlijke Stand (civil status): Gehuwd (Married)
Godsdienstige gezindte (religious affiliation): Gereform. (I think, reformed)
Lager onderwijs genoten (elementary education): yes
Ouderdom (bij opneming) (Age at time of entering prison): 52 years
Gedrag in het gesticht (behavior in institute): (not filled in; he may have served)
Column yy (): Length 1m 60 cm; Color Hair: Blond; Eyebrows: Blond; Forehead: low; eyes: grijs (grey) neus (nose): groot (large); mond (mouth) )can’t read; kin (chin) round; baard (beard) none, aangezicht (face) round; kleur (facial tint): gezond (healthy); gewone taal (ordinary language): (—) Byzondere teekenen: geene (none). Handteekening (signature) (blank space)

The attached page is a telegram from the courthouse in Middelburg to the Prison in Goes, stating that “Nu Zuijdweg verklaart gratie the hebben gevraagd moet hij niet worden opgenomen, doch moet de beslissing op zijn verzoek afgewacht worden” (Now that Zuijdweg declares that he asked for clemency, he must not be taken in, but await the decision on his request), signed by the officer of the court, Van Hoek.

Johannes was 5’4 1/2 inches tall. While this seems short for a Dutch man by today’s standards (today the average height for a Dutch man is over 6′ tall), it probably was not that unusual in the 1800s.

According to the translation, Johannes was sentenced to two months in the penitentiary. The person who translated the document believes that Johannes was given clemency and did not serve the time. There might be other documents relating to this issue, and I will keep probing to try to find out more information.

I have been told by several Dutch people that times were very different then, and that it was very “easy” to end up in jail over minor infractions. I believe that this had something to do with the death of Johannes’ youngest son a few months before, but that is just a guess. I do wonder if this happening had something to do with the decision of Johannes and Jennie, both older people, deciding to emigrate.

In 1901, Johannes and Jennie followed their son Adriaan to Michigan. Three years later, their remaining child, Johanna Zuidweg Van Liere, immigrated with her husband, Marinus, and son to Michigan. Marinus owned a shoe store on Burdick Street.

In Kalamazoo, Michigan, Johannes and Jennie lived in at least two different homes, if not more. For a while they lived in one of the houses owned by Richard DeKorn. Sometimes Johannes’ name is spelled John. He passed away after living in the United States for ten years.

In one of the many changes in birthdates I’ve found in researching family history, Johannes’ birth record shows that he was born in 1842, but his headstone states that he was born in 1843. I believe the birth record, as the Dutch records are astonishingly well documented. I wish I knew more of what Johannes’ life was like in that last decade of his life. He was surrounded with male grandchildren as Grandpa was the only child of son Adrian and daughter Johanna and Marinus had eight boys!

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Photo Identification Isn’t Always Helpful!

Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, Bassa, Cora DeKorn Zuidweg, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Jennie DeKorn Culver, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Netherlands history, Paak, Peek, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on December 28, 2017| 20 Comments »

These photos have been a mystery to me since the 1970s. On the back of the woman’s photo it says “Mother’s aunt.”

 

Notice that the photo says the photographer was in the city of Groningen. This is the largest city in the north of Netherlands, and a very old city. But it’s not where my family came from. And here is another photo that was right next to the lady’s photo.

 

These are the only photos I have from Groningen, to my knowledge. The people don’t show any familial resemblance, but that–as we know–doesn’t necessarily mean anything.

What is more confusing is whose aunt she is. I have to assume that “Mother” means Cora DeKorn Zuidweg, Grandpa’s mother. It couldn’t be Grandma’s mother. Not only are most of our photos from Grandpa’s family, Grandma’s mother wasn’t Dutch, but Prussian.

So Cora. Or Cora’s mother? Or Grandpa’s father’s mother?

First, I looked at Cora’s aunts. Her aunts all came to the United States. They were the Paak sisters–none of whom look ANYTHING like the woman in this photo. And then on her father’s side, Mary DeKorn DeSmit and Jennie DeKorn Culver were her aunts. NOT these ladies.

Second, I went back a generation. Alice Paak’s aunts were the Bassas–no Groningen there–and the Paaks–no Groningen there either.

What about Richard DeKorn’s aunts? His mother had a lot of brothers, but only one sister–and she remained in Kapelle her entire life. His father had one half-sister (and a lot of half-brothers and one brother), Pieternella DeKorn. That family is still a bit of a mystery. She might have been born in Kruiningen, but I don’t know where she lived or when she died.

So how can the lady in the photo be “Mother’s aunt”??? The only other possibility that I can think of would be Jennie Zuidweg (Jennegien Bomhof), Grandpa’s grandmother. Let’s say his mother Cora wrote “Mother’s aunt” and meant her mother-in-law’s aunt. Is that possible? Jennie is from the only branch that was completely outside of Zeeland (until she came to Goes and married Johannes Zuidweg). She was born in Zwolle, Overjissel. That is 66 miles from Groningen, whereas Goes is 205 miles away.

BUT!!! Before we get too excited, what years did Reinier Uges have a photography studio? 1889-1914!!  How can that be the aunt of a lady (Jennie Zuidweg) who was born in 1838 (and died in the U.S. in 1924). This lady would have to be a generation younger than Jennie, wouldn’t she?

All in all, I’m pretty sure that “Mother’s aunt” meant Grandpa’s mother’s aunt, thus an aunt of Cora DeKorn Zuidweg.

But that is impossible.

You see how frustrating this is?!

Any ideas about the age of the woman and the age of the man would be helpful!!

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Grandpa’s Sunoco Station 1939

Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo mid 20th century, Lucille Edna Mulder Zuidweg, Michigan history, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 19, 2017| 4 Comments »

At the corner of Burdick and Balch, Adrian Zuidweg’s Sunoco Station in 1939, looking much as it did when I was a kid in the 60s–except for the car in the garage!

I am taking a little blogging break this week. Hope you enjoyed the peek into 1939 and “see” you soon!

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Are Family Heirlooms Part of Genealogy?

Posted in Adriaan Zuijdweg/Adrian Zuidweg Sr., Adrian Zuidweg, Cora DeKorn Zuidweg, family heirloom, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Photography early 20th century, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on September 27, 2017| 40 Comments »

I organized my paper files into bins by family branch. It struck me again how “up in the air” I am with most branches. So many leads, so little time.

And then, on top of documents and photos, there are a few objects to catalog. My assumption is that family heirlooms are definitely part of family history and genealogy. They can give us clues to the lives of our ancestors, and they also can make us feel closer to them.

This bowl was given to me by my grandmother shortly after I married. It was “in the family,” but that is all I know. If anybody in the family remembers seeing it in a cabinet or in use, please let me know!

It’s about the size of a serving bowl, but slotted. From searching Google, I think this is a dessert bowl or a serving bowl. It’s probably Prussian or German. Did it come from the “old country” with Grandma’s grandparents (who were Prussian) or was it purchased in the U.S.? I can’t figure out the mark on the bottom and don’t know what the nub thing is on the bottom either. It’s beautiful and different from the typical floral patterns seen online.

Another family heirloom is the ice cream scoop from the Zuidweg candy and soda shop at the corner of Burdick and Balch in Kalamazoo.

That’s a lot of ice cream scoops. But which one is from Adrian Zuidweg’s soda shop? Right! It’s the top one! My husband got a little carried away by locating other scoops on his visits to antique malls!That’s my great-grandfather, Adrian Zuidweg, behind the counter. He had owned a fish market and then he switched over to this shop. In the 1926 Kalamazoo City Directory he is listed as “confectionery,” which means that he owned a sweets shop! He died in 1929. I believe my grandfather then took over the candy store and branched out into being a service station. In the 1935 City Directory Grandpa is listed under confr (confectionery) and filling station and the same in 1937, but by 1939 only the station is listed: ZUIDWEG’S SERVICE STATION.

Look at the sweet little metal tables and chairs in the photo. In front of Adrian do you see the cone-shaped metal cup/bowl with a paper liner? I remember those from my childhood. And is that a straw holder? In the back of the photo are glass bowls of candy and a window with little half-curtains and a trimmed valance. Do you think the ice cream is behind the counter where Adrian stands? Or is it somewhere else? What is the round black “pot” in the foreground on the right side?

Have you thought about the family heirlooms you might have laying around the house?

 

 

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Grandma and Grandpa Got Hitched

Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, Caledonia Michigan history, Cora DeKorn Zuidweg, DeKorn, family heirloom, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kent County history, Lucille Edna Mulder Zuidweg, Michigan history, Mulder, Photography early 20th century, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on August 30, 2017| 39 Comments »

When my grandparents, Adrian and L. Edna (Mulder) Zuidweg got married on 21 May 1932, Grandpa’s mother, Cora DeKorn Zuidweg, was dying of cancer. He was staying home to take care of her because his father had died in 1929 and he was an only child.

In 1931, Grandpa had asked Grandma to marry him as he drove her in  the car from Kalamazoo to her parents’ farm in Caledonia. But Grandma had to wait a year to teach and give the money to her family who were struggling financially because of the Great Depression.

So there was no big celebration for my grandparents. Aunt Jen, Cora’s sister stayed with Cora while they got married. They drove to South Bend, Indiana, although Grandpa was from Kalamazoo and Grandma from Caledonia, two southwestern Michigan towns. They could get a marriage license and marry immediately in South Bend.

Traveling with them were Grandma’s sister Vena and her boyfriend Al Stimson’s cousin, Herb Thorpe. They had forgotten to get flowers, so they plucked spirea along the way.

On the way back, they ate dinner at a restaurant in Cassopolis.

Grandma immediately moved into the house at 1520 S. Burdick Street. She helped take care of her mother-in-law who died on 16 September 1932.

When the school year began, Grandma continued to teach that first year and would come home on the weekend. So that Grandpa wouldn’t be alone, Al Stimson moved in with him. Al was a student at WMU. His job was to help Grandpa with the housework. His way of handling the dishes was to load the dirty ones under the sink all week and then just before Grandma was due home for the weekend he would wash them all.

I imagine Grandma was happy to quit teaching and get rid of living in the “frat boy” atmosphere haha.

I’m happy they managed to send out some engraved wedding announcements.

And their portrait, too.

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Senior Portrait Perhaps

Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, Caledonia Michigan history, Family History, Genealogy, Lucille Edna Mulder Zuidweg, Michigan history, Mulder, Photography early 20th century, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 3, 2017| 24 Comments »

I’ve written several posts about my grandmother, Lucille Edna Mulder (married name Zuidweg), who was born April 17, 1912, and her high school graduation scrapbook. She graduated from Caledonia High School (Michigan) in 1929.

In those posts, I mentioned that Grandma’s best friend Blanche was class valedictorian, Grandma’s older sister Dorothy was salutatorian, and Grandma–with the 3rd highest GPA–was class historian.

Visiting Mom, I recently found this photograph of Grandma and Dorothy. It’s a tinted photo, and it appears to be the right age to have been taken around the time they graduated high school. It shows the girls with movie star hairstyles.

You can see from the list below (from the scrapbook) who else graduated from CHS in 1929. Look at the proportion of girls to boys! Why was that? Were the boys working the farms and no longer attending school? If so, that’s a shame. What else could account for so few boys graduating? I trust the list because Grandma was, after all, class historian and quite meticulous about recording information.

Maybe this list will help out someone else researching their own family. Good luck!

###

Who Put the Ring Stain on the Scrapbook?

April 17 Always Reminds Me of Grandma

Grandma’s School Work, late 1920s

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Now the Work Begins

Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Joseph Peter DeKorn, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on July 27, 2017| 32 Comments »

This past week I was back in Michigan for a visit with Mom who was having surgery. Surgery went very well, and Mom is doing great!

I came home with some vintage and antique photos. Eventually I will share some of them.

For now, I have to go through the process I use for all these photos.

  1. Scan each photo, using the scanner attached to my computer. I originally bought it for business, but it’s just a simple home scanner. I scan them into .tiff so that the best quality is preserved.
  2. The originals are then put into acid-free clear (plastic) sleeves and sometimes then into acid-free photo boxes for storage, preferably in a fire safe (locked file cabinet that can withstand fire up to a certain temperature).
  3. Then I use my zamzar.com account to convert the .tiff files into .jpg. Jpeg is easier to use as I wish because it’s a very accepted file type. Each new jpeg has to be downloaded to my computer individually. This takes a bit of time. Zamzar is the best program I have found for file type conversions, and it is well worth the subscription.
  4. I create appropriate folders and store the .tiffs and the .jpgs together in the folders.
  5. Photos from the 60s and 70s sometimes need a little TLC as they are already turning yellow or even brown. I use Picmonkey not because it’s better than photoshop (it isn’t), but because it is extremely user friendly and doesn’t take up too much time.
  6. I create another folder for each new folder. These use the same folder names, but add the term “watermarked.”
  7. Then I use Water Marquee to create a watermark for thefamilykalamazoo.com and watermark one full set from each “watermarked” folder.
  8. At this point, I have both watermarked and unwatermarked jpegs for sharing.

That’s it! Then I’m done. What is your process for saving old photos?

From a Joseph DeKorn glass negative

Adrian Zuidweg (Grandpa) on the right

The dog is Bobby

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Kalamazoo in Photos

Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, Alice Paak DeKorn, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Joseph Peter DeKorn, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Leeuwenhoek, Michigan history, Netherlands history, Paak, Peek, Photography early 20th century, Remine, Richard DeKorn, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 21, 2017| 26 Comments »

I dug into the bottom of a file drawer and pulled out a book I forgot that I had. It was put together by the Kalamazoo Gazette and featured photographs sent in by individuals of Kalamazoo from the past up to the early 1960s.

My grandfather, Adrian Zuidweg, is listed as one of the contributors, so I went through and tried to find the photos he might have sent in.

Definitely these two photos. The little boy in the check dress and straw hat is grandpa himself. And the little girl on the hammock is his cousin Alice Leeuwenhoek.

Those are the relatives sitting on the front porch. Gosh, I own that photo! I didn’t realize that was Richard Remine (though I can see right now that it is, of course, him)–or his children Therese, Harold, and Jane either. It would fit that the two little girls are Alice (next to her grandma Alice Paak) and Therese. With Harold behind the children. But Jane doesn’t really look old enough in this photo. According to my records, Jane was 14 years older than Therese. Something is off here. That big gap in age between Jane and Therese bothers me, and it always has. And if you recall when I wrote about Frank and Jane Tazelaar, I had been confused for awhile about if there had been 4 Remine children and 2 girls of similar names.  This photo must be somewhere around 1901, based on the assumed aged of the 3 little children. Jane was born in 1881 and is not 20 here!

The known people: back row is Aunt Jen DeKorn Leeuwenhoek, Richard DeKorn, Richard Remine. Front row is Lambertus (Lou) Leeuwenhoek, Alice Paak DeKorn, and then the little girl next to Alice definitely looks like Alice Leeuwenhoek, Jen and Lou’s daughter. It would seem plausible that the three other children belong to Richard Remine, but Jane could not have been that small.

What else? Here is Harold Remine big enough to go fishing at Long Lake. The other photo is not from my family, but it does show off a great collection of hats!

This is the Ladies Library building that Richard DeKorn was the mason contractor for.

But I don’t think that is one of our family photos.

One of these photos could have been taken by Joseph DeKorn and been submitted by Grandpa. It is very similar to the ones that I own.

Take a look at the captions for the downtown views. Does it make sense? It doesn’t make sense to me for some reason.

Most importantly, Grandpa autographed this book!

Here is a bonus photo. It isn’t from my family, but isn’t it a cool reminder of the kitschy business architecture popular in those days?

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