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Archive for the ‘Joseph Peter DeKorn’ Category

Who Were the Champions of Michigan? Kalamazoo or Ishpeming? BREAKING NEWS–UPDATE UPDATE

Posted in DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Joseph Peter DeKorn, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Photography late 19th century, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 4, 2013| 20 Comments »

Here is a photo which is in with all the other family photos, but I don’t know anything about it.  Somebody cared a lot about it, though, because the names of the boys are written at the bottom.  It’s titled “Champions of Michigan.”  On the right side, it says Lansing 0 Kazoo 30.  Maybe a game between Lansing and Kalamazoo determined the Michigan champions.  But on the left side of the photo it looks like it says Kazoo 21 Ishpeming 27.  Say it ain’t so.

I tried to research games to see which year this was, but the Michigan High School Football website only goes back to 1950.

Does anybody have any ideas on how to find more information about the photo? If this photo belonged to Joseph Peter DeKorn, who was born in 1881, it’s possible that the photo is from the late 1890s.

Get a load of the coach’s facial expression!  He’s at the back on our left.

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Here is the breaking news update.

I went to bed last night with this post set to publish early this morning.  When I woke up this morning, I suddenly thought of my “training” from Jose at Enhanced News Archive:  check the newspapers!  And since I recently found Genealogy Bank to be such a wonderful resource, I checked in there.  Guess what?  There are articles which show that I was wrong about the 1890s–it was 1901–and  unfortunately correct that Ishpeming won.  What a fabulous article that details the game (I hope it’s not too hard to read since I had to copy it in 4 parts):Michigan championship 1Michigan championship 2Michigan championship 3Michigan championship 4

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The Oldest Person I Remember

Posted in Adriaan Zuijdweg/Adrian Zuidweg Sr., Cora DeKorn Zuidweg, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Jennie DeKorn Culver, Joseph Peter DeKorn, Kalamazoo history, Leeuwenhoek, Paak, Peek, Photography early 20th century, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on January 28, 2013| 19 Comments »

When I was a kid, the oldest person in our family was “Aunt Jen.”  After the death of her only child, Aunt Jen went to live in a group home for elderly ladies run by the mother of one of the 4th grade teachers at Haverhill Elementary School (Portage, Michigan), Mr. Sweringer.  My fourth grade class was directly opposite that of Mr. S who made kids put a penny in a jar if they cussed.

My daughter’s middle name is Jennifer, and I gave her this name in honor of Aunt Jen.

Aunt Jen was born Jennie DeKorn in Kalamazoo, on March 8, 1873, to Richard and Alice (Paak) DeKorn.  She was the oldest of the three siblings, which included Cora (my great grandmother) and Joseph (the photographer).

At age 23, on May 20, 1896, Jennie married Lambertus Leeuwenhoek.

Lambertus, known to everyone in the family as Uncle Lou, was born in the Netherlands  on May 3, 1972.  He passed away April 20, 1949 in Kalamazoo.  Uncle Lou’s parents were Arie Leeuwenhoek and Mary Hoogedoom.  The story I was told by Grandpa is that Uncle Lou and his brother Gerard were orphans.   He told me that Uncle Lou was a very intelligent man.

Additional info added later:  I discovered a letter from Phil DeKorn, son of Joseph, to my parents, which says that Uncle Lou was a wizard at chess and checkers.

Gerard or Garret Leeuwenhoek

He also said that Uncle Lou was a direct descendent of Antony van Leeuwenhoek, the inventor of the microscope.

Uncle Lou and his brother-in-law, my great grandfather Adrian Zuidweg, spent a lot of time together.

Aunt Jen and Uncle Lou had one child, Alice Leeuwenhoek Moerdyke.  She was born in Kalamazoo on April 16, 1897.  I suspect she was quite spoiled because:

a.  I have so many photos of her!

b.  She had a lot of pretty clothes–much nicer than the rest of the family.

c.  My grandfather once told me so ;).

And look how cute she was:

Aunt Jen and Uncle Lou lived the rest of their lives in Kalamazoo.  They celebrated their 50th anniversary in 1946 and the Kalamazoo Gazette ran their photo.

When I was little, she attended our family get-togethers, and she wasn’t a mother or aunt of anyone from my generation or my mother’s.  I couldn’t grasp that she was my grandfather’s aunt, as that seemed to me impossible.   My parents took me to visit her regularly, and I always respected them for their attention to her.

On March 15, 1968, at the age of 95, Aunt Jen passed away.

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Richard DeKorn, Brick Mason and General Contractor

Posted in Alice Paak DeKorn, Cora DeKorn Zuidweg, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Jennie DeKorn Culver, Joseph Peter DeKorn, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Paak, Peek, Richard DeKorn, tagged , , , , , , , , , on November 18, 2012| 13 Comments »

My great-great-grandfather, Richard DeKorn, was a brick mason who worked on many public buildings in the Kalamazoo area.  He was a brick mason on the beautiful Ladies’ Library Association in 1878-79 and lead brick mason on theKalamazoo Psychiatric Hospital Water Tower  in 1895. According to his obituary he was the contractor for the Pythian building and the Merchants Publishing Company building.

Richard was born on August 21, 1851* in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands to Boudewijn and Johanna (Remijinse) DeKorn.  When he was four or five years old, the family immigrated to Zeeland, Michigan.  I have not yet discovered when or why Richard moved to Kalamazoo.

Richard was sometimes called Dick or Dirk, but more importantly, his birth name was Derrick and it’s likely that Richard was actually his middle name.

On May 10, 1872, at the age of 20, Richard married Alice Paak in Kalamazoo.  They lived in Kalamazoo, in the Burdick and Balch Street area, for the rest of their lives.  For much of the time, they lived in a house which Richard built with his characteristic style:  dark brown brick with stripes of light brick or stone.

Richard and Alice had three children: Joseph, Cora, and Jennie.  After Alice’s death in 1908, he married Jennie Sootsman who had two daughters, Marian and Marge.

The family refers to him as “Richard DeKorn” with great respect for the reputation he achieved as a wonderful craftsman and contractor.  Richard did a little gardening on the property, but he really enjoyed relaxing with a pipe and spending time with his family.  His door was open to any friend or family member and he was a good stepfather to his 2nd wife’s daughters.

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*On his marriage document, Richard’s birth date is given as 1852, not 1851, and it states that he was born in Kapelle, not Goes.

Richard DeKorn’s home at the corner of Burdick and Balch, Kalamazoo, Michigan

Richard surrounded by family, including son-in-law Lou Leeuwenhoek (L), daughter Jennie (to Richard’s right), wife Alice in front.

Richard picking strawberries

Richard with his beloved pipe

Richard holding unidentified baby

Richard with his granddaughter Alice Leeuwenhoek (Moerdyke)

Richard DeKorn crew at work in an area which would become The Kalamazoo Mall

Lou Leeuwenhoek and Richard DeKorn

Ladies’ Library Association, Kalamazoo, MI
Photo from LLA website

KPH Water Tower, Oakland Drive, Kalamazoo, MI

KPH Water Tower article, February 2010

Here’s a video which shows a climb up the inside of the tower!

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Downtown Kalamazoo early 1900s by Joseph DeKorn

Posted in DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Joseph Peter DeKorn, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Photography early 20th century, Photography late 19th century, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 16, 2012| 15 Comments »

Since this blog is called The Family Kalamazoo, I’d like to introduce you to the Kalamazoo, Michigan, downtown as it was 100 years ago. Here are some photographs taken by my great-grandmother’s brother Joseph DeKorn.

The information I have on the location of these photos was shared by Mark Johnson:

The first downtown photo:  Looking west on East Michigan Ave. from Edwards St… Michigan Ave. jogs to the right at Portage St. The building furthest in the distance is the Kalamazoo Bldg. To it’s right in the foreground is the Haymarket Bldg. and further to the right is what became Shau Powell Sporting Goods.

 

Mark Johnson says:

The second downtown photo:  Looking west on East/West Michigan from Portage St. The tallest building is the Kalamazoo Building (see window detail) and one of the buildings foreground right is what would become Stanwoods [Luggage and Leather].

My favorite thing about these photos are the wires in the sky!

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This post is a combination/revision of the first original post and a later reblog in 2014.

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