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Archive for the ‘DeKorn’ Category

Catching My Balance–and New Info on Marjorie Sootsman Owens

Posted in DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Michigan history, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 14, 2023| 21 Comments »

I was contacted by a French cousin through Find-a-Grave. She is related to me through my paternal grandfather. Our lines are not only in France (via Alsace), but the Bouverat line goes back to Switzerland. I’ll be coordinating her research with mine. Now that I realize some of the French lines veer off into Switzerland, it might explain why some of the records have been unfindable in the French (Alsace) archives. In the meantime . . . .

If you want to skip the catch-up section and skip to my new information about Marjorie, please go down to the three asterisks.

It’s been a long time since I worked on my maternal family history, so I felt the need to take a step back and look at a larger view. This is my maternal pedigree–at least four generations of the family: grandparents, great-grandparents, great-greats, and 3x greats. When you look at this pedigree, the people on the right column are my 3x great-grandparents, and the portraits in my Ancestry account for them are pulled from paintings of individuals from the same time period and region, except that the portrait of Boudewijn deKorne is actually a photo of him. When I see that I have an actual photograph of every single great-great-grandparent on my maternal side I realize how extremely lucky I am (middle or second to right column). I really sympathize with people who do not even have photos of their grandparents.

I am going to extract places of birth and death in order to have it all on one page, so to speak.

GRANDPARENTS

Adrian Zuidweg was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan (1908), and died just a few miles away in Portage, Michigan (2000).

Lucille Edna Mulder was born in Caledonia, Michigan (1912) and died just a few miles away in Portage, Michigan (2000).

GREAT-GRANDPARENTS

Adrian Zuidweg was born in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands (1871) and died in Kalamazoo, Michigan (1929).

Cora DeKorn was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan (1875) and died in Kalamazoo, Michigan (1932).

Charles Peter Mulder was born in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands (1885) and died in Caledonia, Michigan (1967).

Clara Waldeck was born in Caledonia, Michigan (1884) and died in Caledonia, Michigan (1953).

Before I go on, please note that both my great-grandfathers on my mother’s side were born in Goes. Both great-grandmothers on my mother’s side were born in the United States. The only real difference is that whereas three of these people were of Dutch heritage, Clara was born to parents from what I now know is northern Pomerania (part of Prussia, on the Baltic Sea). Adrian was the oldest, born in 1871. Charles was the youngest, born in 1885.

GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS

Johannes Zuidweg was born in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands (1842) and died in Kalamazoo, Michigan (1911).

Jennegien Bomhoff was born in Zwolle, Overijssel, Netherlands (1838) and died in Kalamazoo, Michigan (1924).

Richard DeKorn was born in Kapelle, Zeeland, Netherlands (1851) and died in Kalamazoo, Michigan (1930).

Alice Paak was born in Lexmond, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands (1852) and died in Kalamazoo, Michigan (1908).

Pieter P Mulder was born in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands (1865) and died in Grand Rapids, Michigan (1953).

Neeltje Gorsse was born in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands (1868) and died in Grand Rapids, Michigan (1932).

Gottfried Waldeck was born in Prussia (most likely northern Pomerania) (1841) and died in Caledonia, Michigan (1913).

Alwine Noffke was born in Schwetzkow, Pomerania, Prussia (1846) and died in Caledonia, Michigan (1912).

A few notes: The oldest was Jennie Bomhoff Zuidweg, born in 1838, but her husband Johannes and Gottfried Waldeck were close in age. Goes, where Johannes, Peter, and Nellie were born, is less than five miles from Kapelle, where Richard was born. Peter died the same year as his daughter-in-law Clara. Grandpa’s relatives settled in Kalamazoo and Grandma’s in Kent County. 

3X GREAT GRANDPARENTS

Adriaan Zuijdweg was born in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands (1805) and died in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands (1851).

Johanna Mulder was born in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands (1807) and died in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands (1878).

Lukas Bomhof was born in Windesheim, Zwollerkerspel, Overijssel (1788) and died in Zwolle, Overijssel, Netherlands (1847).

Jeuntien Dansser was born in Zwolle, Overijssel, Netherlands (1806) and died in Zwolle, Overijssel, Netherlands (1842).

Boudewijn deKorne was born in Kapelle, Zeeland, Netherlands (1816) and died in Kalamazoo, Michigan (1875).

Johanna Reminjse was born in Kapelle, Zeeland, Netherlands (1817) and died in Kalamazoo, Michigan (1864).

Teunis Peek (Paak) was born in Everdingen, Vianen, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands (1822) and died in Kalamazoo, Michigan (1893).

Jacoba Bassa was born in Lexmond, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands (1824) and died in Lexmond, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands (1865).

Karel Pieter Philippe Mulder was born in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands (1837) and died in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands (1881).

Johanna Maria Boes was born in IJzendijke, Oostburg, Zeeland, Netherlands (1835) and died in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands (1867).

Jan Gorsse was born in Goes,Zeeland, Netherlands (1840) and died in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands (1911).

Kornelia Hijman was born in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands (1840) and died in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands (1909).

Adolf Waldeck BRICK WALL

Mrs. Waldeck BRICK WALL

Ludwig Noffke was born in approximately 1820 in Prussia, possibly Pomerania. In the United States he went by the name Louis. He died before 1897 in Caledonia, Kent County, Michigan. His grave is at the Lakeside Cemetery in Caledonia. He is very close to being a BRICK WALL.

Dora (Dorothea?) Kusch was born around 1825 in Prussia, possibly Pomerania. I cannot find record of her death OR her grave at the cemetery with her husband. Could she have gone back home and died there? I don’t know. She’s a BRICK WALL.

For everyone listed here except the brick walls, I have the majority of main documents. Therefore areas of future research include:

  1. father’s maternal lines
  2. father’s paternal lines
  3. mother’s brick walls–after Ancestry directed me to north Pomerania for these people I can focus in that area, but it’s a difficult area. I have been in contact with a genealogist who specializes in this area, and he told me that many of the Pomeranian records were destroyed after WWII. And what is left is not in a central location, but very spread out. It might not be possible to break through this brick wall.
  4. mother’s ancestor’s sibling info–to clarify, I already went through my grandmother’s siblings, and my grandfather had no siblings. So the next step would be to look more thoroughly at my great-grandparents siblings, which to a certain degree I have already done but could do more systematically. After that, I could do the same for great-greats, etc. However, I think items 1-3 would be more important.

I’ve really tried with the brick walls, but now that I have the Ancestry DNA confirming that these Prussian ancestors were from Pomerania, it seems that it should narrow things down a bit. I’ve tried some websites that were suggested to me, but I think I’m at a point I probably need help with these Pomeranians as I have found nothing. Unfortunately, Waldeck appears to be a very common name, so I might have more luck with the Noffke branch eventually.

***

Several years ago I wrote about my great-great grandfather Richard DeKorn’s step-grandson, David Owens. Richard DeKorn’s Step-Grandson. I recently heard from someone who knew David later in life–as well as his mother, Marjorie/Marge Sootsman Owens, one of Richard’s two stepdaughters. She gave me this photograph of Marjorie with a mural she painted behind her, as well as an article about Marjorie.

 

This article, published in 1937, is a profile feature about Marjorie, Director of Occupational Therapy at Maybury Sanitorium, a TB hospital in Northville, Michigan. Clearly she loved reading, especially poetry, and animals. I’m sure I would have liked her a lot!!! I found an old photo of the place where she worked.

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FINALLY IDENTIFIED: A Lovely Gal in Kalamazoo: WHO IS SHE?

Posted in DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Joseph Peter DeKorn, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Photography early 20th century, Photography late 19th century, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 2, 2022| 34 Comments »

I first posted this photo years ago, wondering who the girl could be. Then I found a photo of her with Alice Leeuwenhoek, which gave a bit of context regarding her age. However, now I can finally post the name of this beautiful girl. Her name is Ruth Case and she was born around 1906. She lived in Ross Township in Kalamazoo County, according to the 1910, 1920, 1930, and 1940 censuses. In 1940 she was still single, living with her parents, her brother, and most likely her sister-in-law and niece.

The Case home was apparently a farm in Augusta, Michigan, which is Ross Township, owned by Ruth’s father, Charles Case.  Their property was just a bit north of W. E. Upjohn property (sections 28 and 27), which you can see on the map (C. M. Case in sections 16 and 22). The Upjohn estate was called Brook Lodge and eventually became a retreat for the Upjohn Company (pharma). I have photos that Alice took at Brook Lodge, including some with my grandfather.

These photos could have been taken in Augusta or in Kalamazoo.

If you have any further information about Ruth or her family, please let me know and I will update this post again.

***

Over two years ago I published this post, asking for the identity of a girl in a photo I discovered. I have another clue now, which I will post at the end.

***

The photograph was created from a glass negative taken by Joseph DeKorn. All of his photographs were taken between approximately 1895 and 1918, and the majority were shot in Kalamazoo.

Although I don’t know who this lovely girl is, I have hopes that I can eventually discover her identity. The juxtaposition of the two houses might lead to a solution, for instance.

Any ideas on the time period of the dress, hair, and shoes (within that 1895-1918 range)?

I remember wearing tights that bagged at the knees like these stockings. Do you think they are cotton?

I’ll put Balch Street and Burdick Street in the tags for this post, just in case it was taken in the neighborhood where Joseph lived.

***

OK, THE NEW CLUE.

I found another photo of the girl, taken probably at the same time, at the same place, but with the addition of an adult Alice Leeuwenhoek, but most likely before her marriage to Clarence Moerdyk.  The above photo was made from a glass negative, but this one was an actual photograph I found in a different family collection.

Alice was born in 1897, so can we say that this photo is somewhere around 1917?

 

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A Family Treasure from Ebay

Posted in Adriaan Zuijdweg/Adrian Zuidweg Sr., DeKorn, family heirloom, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Richard DeKorn, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , , , on July 28, 2021| 27 Comments »

Mary Ann S., who runs the Facebook group Reconnecting Kalamazoo, made a big find relating to this blog and my family. Thank you so much, Mary!!! She emailed me that she had found something on ebay I might be interested in.

Let me catch you up on something first.

Four years ago, I published a post on some of my research into Frank Tazelaar. I had found dozens of newspaper articles about Frank. Check out my post, After Reading Fifty Newspapers about Frank Tazelaar. Frank was the husband of my 3x removed 1st cousin, Genevieve Remine Tazelaar. Actually I’m related to Genevieve through two branches of the family so that isn’t reflected in the “3x removed 1st cousin” label.

In that post I wrote about a fish supper held by the Knights of Pythias. Here is a quote:

On June 25 [1911], there is a somewhat humorous article about the fishing teams of the Knights of Pythias lodge. Frank is one of the team captains.  This article is notable for sharing Frank’s photo. He was about 39 here . . . .

This article is ALSO notable for mentioning my great-grandfather’s fish market! Referring to the fish caught in the contest, the article says, “All fish must be delivered at Zuideweg’s [SIC: should be Zuidweg’s] market in Eleanor Street by Monday noon . . . .” So you know the connection, Genevieve Remine Tazelaar was the first cousin of my great-great-grandfather Richard DeKorn whose son-in-law was my great-grandfather Adrian Zuidweg who owned the fish market. Now the most important part: Richard DeKorn built the Pythian building known as Pythian Castle and, earlier, as the Telegraph Building. The link explains about the building.

I’ve posted a photo of the fish market in the past.

Fish Market on Eleanor Street with Adrian Zuidweg and helper

Now, what is the big find?

A mailer/flyer about the fish dinner!!!!!! Yes, I definitely ordered it from ebay.

It’s very hard to get the color right in a photograph or a scan, but it is actually fire engine red. Notice that my great-grandfather’s fish market is mentioned on here, as well as Frank Tazelaar as one of the captains.

I think this card might have been addressed to Vernon G. Bellows, a nurse at the Kalamazoo State Hospital in 1911. I found him in the City Directory. I realize the initials are switched, but that would be an easy mistake or even the way Bellows sometimes signed his name. Maybe he was a member of the Pythians.

Imagine finding a family treasure on ebay!

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Was This Doll from Aunt Tena?

Posted in DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Joseph Peter DeKorn, Kent County history, Michigan history, U.S. military, tagged , , , , , , , , , on June 3, 2021| 24 Comments »

I found this photo in my mom’s childhood photo album. She’s holding a very large doll. So I asked her about it, and she told me that somebody from Grandpa’s side of the family gave her that doll. She remembers the doll very well, but some of the details surrounding the doll were a little hazy, as with most memories from long ago.

Mom’s guess was that maybe it was Aunt Tena’s doll. Aunt Tena was married to Grandpa’s Uncle Joe DeKorn, and they lived in Grand Rapids. Their sons, Grandpa’s cousins, were Philip and Richard. So I examined the background in the photo. The rock garden is probably the most distinctive feature.

Phil DeKorn’s album that Sue sent me has several photos of the outside of their house in Grand Rapids. But was there a rock garden? Every photo is from a little different angle and cuts off the sides at different places. Some of the photos led me to believe Mom’s photo was taken at the DeKorn home. Then I found this one with the rock garden, and I was sure. It’s Phil just before enlisting in 1943.

It might even have been Uncle Joe’s camera that took both photos. I’m guessing Mom’s photo was taken a few years earlier, perhaps 1939.

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Hiding In Plain Sight

Posted in Alice Paak DeKorn, Cora DeKorn Zuidweg, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Kin Types, Leeuwenhoek, Michigan history, Paak, Peek, Photography late 19th century, Richard DeKorn, tagged , , , , , , on May 13, 2021| 25 Comments »

There is a tintype in a beautiful family album that I scanned with the other photographs. Since then, I’ve passed by that unidentified photo many times. Something always struck me as familiar; in fact, the woman looked like one of my great-great grandmother Alice Paak DeKorn’s sisters–perhaps Carrie or Mary. Carrie had no children. Mary had two girls and a boy and this woman is standing with two girls.

But it wasn’t right and I knew it. One of Mary’s girls was born much too late to be in a tintype.

So I let it go.

Until I saw it again the other day and it all snapped into place for me.

I focused on the girl with the face in clear image, and I knew who she was. That led me to consider the woman and the other girl.

Bingo. I thought to myself, “We have a match.”

The girl on our left (the woman’s right) is Janna DeKorn, aka Aunt Jen who I knew until I was twelve years old. Aunt Jen was born in 1873. Her younger sister, my great-grandmother Cora, was born Jacoba Wilhelmina DeKorn in 1875.

Alice, Lou, and Jennie (DeKorn) Leeuwenhoek

That means that the woman is Alice Paak DeKorn, their mother. No wonder she looks like her sisters. Gee whiz. Why did I not recognize her? There are a couple of reasons. For one thing, the photos I have of her when she’s older tend to be snapshots, and she had the loveliest smile. In this studio portrait, she is non-smiling, probably because she had to hold still for at least six minutes for a tintype. That would explain why Cora’s face is blurry. She must have moved while the image was being captured.

The other reason Alice looked different to me is that she has darker, curled hair here. She does not have curled hair in other images, and most of the photos show her with light hair, which I  now realize was gray.

If we look back at the image on Kin Types of the tintype of her as a teen or young woman, we can see that her hair was brown and that this woman is, indeed, Alice Paak.

I thought you would enjoy the details of the clothing in the tintype of Alice and her daughters. The photo would have been taken most likely after 1881 when the youngest DeKorn, Joseph, was born. Jennie looks 10-12 here and Cora 8-10. That would place the year as between 1883 and 1885.

I had a thought about the “picket fence” as it seems an add-on since it doesn’t match the possible banister behind them. It looks as if it was used for subjects to “lean on” to help steady them for the long wait for the image to develop.

Here is another photo that was given to me by Professor Lawrence of Jennie DeKorn as a child. Although the photographer’s name is cut off here, I recognize that this photo was taken by John Reidsema who was a professional photographer in Kalamazoo from at least 1888. If this was 1888, Jennie would be 15 years old, which could be right. Notice that the photo I posted above of Jennie with her husband and child was also taken at Reidsema’s studio.

And this one is also from Professor Lawrence of Jennie and Cora.

So I have three good images of Jennie as a child, but only one of Cora because of the blurred face in the tintype. the tintype is especially precious because it shows Alice Paak DeKorn when she was a young mother, whereas our other shots of her are when she was younger and, mainly, much older.

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Toddler in Kalamazoo, circa 1882-1899

Posted in Alice Paak DeKorn, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Joseph Peter DeKorn, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Paak, Peek, Photography late 19th century, Remine, Richard DeKorn, tagged , , , , , , , on May 6, 2021| 27 Comments »

Here is an unidentified photo from a family album. The album is from the Remine/Paak branch. Because the subject is a toddler, it is almost impossible to identify the photo. But let’s see what we can figure out.

The most important clue comes from the photographer.

According to the well-researched list of photographers found HERE, I can calculate that this photo must have been taken between 1882 and 1899. See the screenshot below to see how I figured that. Abbey was at the East Main location during those years.

So the fact that the baby looks a little bit like Grandpa is irrelevant because it isn’t him as he was born in 1908. In fact, the child would be at least 11 or 12 years older than Grandpa.

Are we sure it’s a boy? I’m going to say it is a boy, based on the outfit. But if you disagree, let me know!

Could it be Harold Remine? He was born in 1897.

This is Harold:

I don’t see the resemblance. To me the baby pic and the young man pic look alike, but the baby/toddler unidentified pic looks more like Grandpa or even my mother. Does anybody else think the pic does look like Harold?

If it could be a girl, we have Therese Remine, born 1895, and Alice Leeuwenhoek, born 1897, but that baby is not Alice who had a very distinctive look as a baby and child. Here is Therese:

Therese Remine

Another possibility is that the child could belong to one of George Paake’s children. I don’t really think so, but their ages are all within the right time frame except the only boy was born in 1898 and would be too young. And the children would be photographed together, so it could only be the oldest, Cora, and I do not see a resemblance.

Front row: Theresa and Cora
Back row: Frances, George Jr., Jennie (Jane)

The only other child of the right age range from the Paak family (which is the broader branch associated with the photo album this image comes from) would be Joseph DeKorn, son of Richard and Alice, Grandpa’s Uncle.

If the child isn’t Joseph, then I’d have to look a little further afield. Keeping in mind that the Remines were related to Grandpa twice over–through both his maternal grandmother and maternal grandfather–I could look at some other families. However, I have two roadblocks to doing so. I cannot see that Ancestry, which is where my tree is located, has the ability to search by birth dates, for instance. Does My Heritage? i do have my tree loaded there as well. I’d like to be able to search through categories like that. Does anybody know a program that sorts like that?

The second roadblock is that farther out, my tree is still a little too sketchy or spotty to do a good job, especially when I would have to do it individual by individual.

What I can hope for is that one day I can make a good guess as to the identity of this baby. As you probably have experienced yourself, looking like Grandpa or mom is meaningless. My mother and her next door neighbor/good friend are often mistaken for sisters and they do look so much alike, much more than my mother does with her own sister. Mom and her friend just explain to people that they’re both “Dutch” hah. The reality is that we can compare unidentified photos with other photos to search for exact features, but when a child grows and becomes an adult some of those features can change remarkably. We can’t even begin to compare unidentified photos with family branches by examining features.

BUT WAIT.

Belatedly I see something that I didn’t notice before. In the same album there is a portrait of another child which has the exact same advertising from the photographer on the backside. The “setting” looks the same with the same chair. I suspect these are photos of siblings that were taken at the same time.

With the two photos, here side by side, it becomes important to narrow in on the genders and the ages because with the answer to those questions, I might be able to figure it out.

At this point, I really need help figuring out if these are boys or girls or one of each. My feeling is that the older child is a girl and the younger a boy, but that is a guess. And what age would you say each one is? I suspect that if they were considered babies they would be wearing white dresses, no matter what the gender, but the littler one certainly looks young enough for the white dress treatment, so that’s a little confusing. In a word, help!

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Did Dutch Immigrants to Michigan Celebrate Pinkster

Posted in DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Leeuwenhoek, Michigan history, Netherlands history, Photography early 20th century, tagged , , , , , , on April 21, 2021| 37 Comments »

I have no idea at all if the Dutch in Michigan celebrated Pinkster 100 or more years ago. Pinkster (Pinksteren is Dutch for Pentecost) is a holiday connected with Pentecost and loosely related to May Day and spring festivals. It typically occurs in May or June. Here is a photo from the very limited Wikipedia article about Pinkster.


Notice how the children hold ribbons around a pole, much like what we tend to think of as a traditional Maypole.

The reason I started thinking about this is because I found this very damaged photo which I believe belonged to Alice Leeuwenhoek, born 1897 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Her family, like all my grandfather’s family at that time, belonged to the Reformed church where all the Sunday School children were likely to be Dutch.

If you look carefully at this photo, you will see these children are all holding what looks to be a ribbon of some kind. At first I thought maybe a paper chain, but I don’t think it is. Also, notice the flowers. The children are dressed in their Sunday best and so is the woman standing behind them. This would not be a regular school day, then, but Sunday School or a holiday. I do see the American flag near the woman’s right shoulder which does seem to indicate a schoolroom. Would public school have celebrated a religious holiday if the student body was fairly homogeneous? Click on the photo to enlarge.

Look carefully at the girl third from our left. What is in front of her? Is that a doll on the ribbon? Or, is it what my daughter suspects, a ghost?

If you read more about Pinkster you will see that Africans in the United States took over the holiday and made it their own–and why. It has to do with being enslaved and that it was a holiday where they got “time off” work and could see family and friends.

Do you have other ideas about the photo or see something that I missed? I’d love to hear!

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Another DeKorn Treasure

Posted in DeKorn, family heirloom, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kent County history, Michigan history, tagged , , , , on February 3, 2021| 20 Comments »

Phil and Marianne (Haadsma) DeKorn’s niece Sue Haadsma-Svensson has once again sent me a family treasure. This binder looks to have been put together by Phil DeKorn and shares photos and history of both his father’s family, the DeKorns, and his mother’s family, the Blandfords.


I can’t wait to scan all the items in the binder!

Also, I have been working on the histories of my grandmother’s siblings and will be posting about them soon.

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What was Kalamazoo Like for My Family in 1884?

Posted in Alice Paak DeKorn, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Paak, Peek, tagged , , , , , on November 25, 2020| 21 Comments »

My family first arrived in Kalamazoo, Michigan, between 1860 and 1864, when the immigrant Boudewijn DeKorn(e) family moved from Zeeland, Michigan. Their residence was still Ottawa County in 1860, but the mother, Johanna Reminse DeKorn, was buried in Kalamazoo in 1864. This nails the time period unless, of course, Johanna was first buried near Zeeland and then her body later buried in Kalamazoo. I find that to be highly unlikely for many reasons.

In 1869, Alice Paak and her family (her father Teunis and her siblings) immigrated from the Netherlands to Kalamazoo.

In 1872, Richard DeKorn, the only son of Boudewijn and Johanna, married Alice Paak in Kalamazoo.

Richard DeKorn
picking strawberries
on Maple Street

In 1878-79, Richard was brick mason for the new and gorgeous building for the Ladies Library Association. In 1895 he would be lead brick mason on the Kalamazoo Psychiatric Hospital Water Tower. According to his obituary he also was the contractor for the Pythian building and the Merchants Publishing Company building.

Richard built the brick house at the corner of Burdick and Balch Streets in Kalamazoo for his family in the early 1880s.

In the beautiful video I am posting here, Kalamazoo is “seen” during 1884, the year the village of Kalamazoo (the largest village in the entire country) became a city. My relatives are not mentioned in the video, but the Ladies Library Association and the “asylum” (where Richard would build the water tower 11 years later) are mentioned. To give you an idea where my family fits into the city at that time, using the terminology of the film, they had arrived in the United States from the Netherlands, but quickly could be classified as “middle class.” They were literate people as they could read and write. In some cases, they had trades, although I think they mainly learned their trades on the job as young men. Teunis became a successful farmer and land owner. Boudewijn’s son Richard became a successful building contractor and brick mason.

Kalamazoo was founded by mainly English settlers, beginning in 1829, but the Dutch began to immigrate to southwest and west Michigan in increasing numbers in the 40s and 50s and 60s. My ancestors were part of this group that ended up becoming a sizable chunk of the Kalamazoo population. If I have any quibbles with the video it is that other than mention of the first Reformed church in town, it is that there is no recognition of how the Dutch would help shape the City of Kalamazoo, but in all fairness it’s possible that the influence wasn’t yet felt in 1884.

(This film lasts about a half hour. If your interests are not with the city, I won’t be insulted if you decide to skip it; however, it gives a nice overview of the time period, as well). Either way, Happy Thanksgiving and please stay safe!

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A Christmas Salute to Veterans Day

Posted in DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, U.S. military, tagged , , , , , , on November 11, 2020| 43 Comments »

I was so intrigued to see the project that my 4x cousin Joel’s wife, Peggy Davis Reeves of Williamsburg, Virginia, undertook. Joel, who is descended from Boudewijn DeKorne (1816-1875) as I am, wrote, “Peggy decided to do a research project on family members that served in the military. She called this ‘My Family Heroes’ and collected information on 100 individuals that represent the period from 1746 (Virginia Militia) to 2020 (West Point graduate). This represents only a small sample of the number of our relatives that have served in the military.”


Peggy first spent six months doing the research through Ancestry and Fold3. Joel sums it up this way: “She learned a lot about these brave individuals. Some families were divided during the Civil War – 2 brothers on the Union side and 3 brothers on the Confederate side. A set of twin brothers enlisted together. Other were prisoners of war, wounded or lost their lives. Some died of disease, such as bronchitis or rubella. Some won medals of honor, such as the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and Oak Leaf Cluster. Other received land grants for their service. All these individuals took a stand to join the military to serve their country in war time and peace. We are proud of these service men and women that protect this country and our freedom. This is our way of saying thanks to all of them on this Veterans Day.”

When she was ready to create the ornaments, Peggy used Dollar Store plexiglass magnetic refrigerator frames and removed the magnets from the back. Then she set up a template in Photoshop with a red-white-blue border and added an image of the individual or tomb stone or flag on one side and military information on the person on the other side.

Charles is the husband of my first cousin three times removed

After getting the pictures printed, she added a ribbon bow which varies by when the individual served or the branch of service. I particularly love that special touch. Peggy also created a Shutterfly book so that the family would have access to this wonderful work throughout the year.


I love the anchors on the ribbon for those that served in the Navy.

Isn’t this inspirational? What a great way to honor the military members of our genealogy family trees! Thinking of making a tree like this? If you have done a lot of research on your ancestors who were in the military you might be able to pull together at least a small tree by Christmas. If not, you can do what Peggy did and take a year to do the research and create the tree.

Peggy, thank you for letting me share your inventiveness and hard work.

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