Posted in Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, tagged Bronson Park, family history, genealogy, history of Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Art Fairs, Kalamazoo Michigan, Michigan history on May 30, 2014| 9 Comments »
I shared a couple of photographs of my artist mother-in-law the other day. They were from the 60s and early 70s and had turned yellow. I was very frustrated with the damage to the photos.
Paula Taylor saved the day by converting them to black and white photos. Here you can see the changes:
And here:
Posted in Chicago history, DeKorn, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Photography early 20th century, Remine, tagged DeKorn family, DeKorn genealogy, downtown Kalamazoo, Dutch Genealogy, family history, Frank Tazelaar, genealogy, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo history, Michigan history, Train station on May 20, 2014| 21 Comments »
Although I’m in such a busy period that I can’t work on genealogy, I do have my daughter’s help right now to scan some old photos, so I will post some of them while I am too busy for research.
On the back of this photo it says Frank Tazelaar (near Whistle Stop).
Frank Tazelaar
near Whistle Stop
Kalamazoo
So I looked up Frank Tazelaar on my family tree. Sure enough, he’s on there. He was born January 17, 1876 in the Netherlands, to Pieter Tazelaar and Adriana Bek. The family immigrated to the United States when he was 12, in 1888. On July 9, 1906, he married Genevieve Remine in Chicago. Genevieve was my first cousin 3x removed. Frank died in 1950.
So what is “Whistle Stop”? It’s the train station. But when I tried to figure out if it was the same Whistle Stop where my friends and I used to go to eat and drink (and a building that my father owned) or if it was the other train depot (where we owned a concession stand with my father), I discovered that there were actually seven train stations in Kalamazoo. Here is a fascinating article that says that Kalamazoo may have had more train depots than any other city. I am going to tentatively assume that this photo was taken near what I knew as the Whistle Stop.
Here is a painting my mother-in-law did of the Whistle Stop. I apologize for the flaws in my copies on the computer for the next two photos.
The Whistle Stop
Kalamazoo
And here is one she painted of the other train depot:
Train depot
Kalamazoo
OK, dad correct me if I made any mistakes!
Posted in Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, tagged Bronson Park, family history, genealogy, history of Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Art Fairs, Kalamazoo Michigan, Michigan history on May 16, 2014| 18 Comments »
In the past few months I’ve been so busy with work that I haven’t had time to work at genealogy the way I wish. I have a lot of wonderful material on the Paak family, which has been given to me by Professor Edgar Lawrence. I also have some interesting material to share from Elmhurst research about the Klein and Van Gessel families.
But am I sharing any of it in this post? No. I want to do a good job of pulling it together, and I can’t do that now, as overworked busy as I am. Instead, I thought I would share a photo from the Kalamazoo of my youth. On the right side, you can see my mother-in-law, the artist Diana Dale Castle. I wrote about her in my post The Todd House.
She’s at Bronson Park, which is the town square of Kalamazoo. When I was growing up, the park was surrounded by the “First Churches” of Kalamazoo (First United Methodist, etc.) and City Hall. Its enormous oak trees had sheltered Abraham Lincoln when he gave a speech in Kalamazoo. The park had the best Christmas decorations every year, and everything from political rallies to art fairs were held there.
My mother-in-law used to show her art at the art fairs.
Here is my MIL painting in her New York City apartment in the 1950s. Look at how horribly yellow the photograph has turned! Do you know if this can be fixed–and how to fix it?
Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, Cora DeKorn Zuidweg, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Paak, Peek, Photography early 20th century, Zuidweg, tagged Adrian Zuidweg, antique photograph, DeKorn family, early 1900s, family history, genealogy, history of Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo, Michigan history, Zuidweg on May 14, 2014| 5 Comments »
Cora Wilhelmina DeKorn Zuidweg and her son Adrian Zuidweg
Kalamazoo, Michigan
circa 1910
Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Photography late 19th century, tagged Adrian Zuidweg, family history, genealogy, history of Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo history, Michigan history on April 8, 2014| 21 Comments »
Answer to my title question: the townfolk got their meat from a butcher!
Occasionally, in my collection, I find a photograph of someone who isn’t family. Quite some time ago, I posted a photograph my family saved of the local saloon keeper, the famous Dutch Arnold. I’m pretty sure there is a story there that didn’t get passed on–at least not to me.
I also have a photograph of the local butcher, Tom Richmond, and his family.
Tom Richmond and family
Butcher and slaughterhouse
Burdick and Balch area, Kalamazoo circa 1900
Apparently, he had a slaughterhouse and butcher shop close to where my relatives lived. Grandpa told me it was on Balch Street. But maybe it was just close to Balch Street.
I did find one of Tom’s ads in the Kalamazoo Gazette. It appeared April 9, 1898.
Kalamazoo Gazette ad
April 9, 1898
Notice that this ad gives a North Burdick address. My relatives’ homes and businesses were mainly congregated near the intersection of Burdick and Balch in Kalamazoo. Maybe as a small boy, Grandpa thought the shop was on Balch, but it was on Burdick. Or maybe he remembered incorrectly (unlikely–his memory was amazing). Or maybe the shop moved.
Someday when I have all the time in the world ;), I’ll try to put together a map of the area with my relatives’ homes and businesses, as well as the surrounding ones. Create a little village on paper, in a way. At that point, I’ll have to use the City Directories to figure out precisely where Tom Richmond’s butcher shop was. What makes it hard, though, is that the address numbers have been changed since that time.
This is what I don’t really understand: what kind of custom would be responsible for my family winding up with portraits of neighbors, friends, or merchants they frequented? I am entertaining the thought that maybe somebody’s somebody married into this family. I’ll have to keep searching.
Posted in DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Netherlands history, Paak, Peek, Photography early 20th century, Photography late 19th century, Remine, Zuidweg, tagged Dutch Genealogy, genealogy, history of Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo history, Michigan history, Paak genealogy, Peek family on April 1, 2014| 30 Comments »
The other day I posted a photo of a couple I had not yet been able to identify. Once I got it posted and readers started pointing things out to me, I began to wonder if it could be George Paak.
On the advice of some readers, I pulled the original photograph out of storage and looked at the back and at the sleeve. The back is blank, but the sleeve itself says this:
PATENTED MCH 271917
I still have a lot of work to do on the research, but I thought I’d post the photo with a concentration on the man’s face along with photos of the women I suspect could be his sisters. See what you think.
What I want to eventually find out is if this is George Paak.
Alice Paak DeKorn
Alice is my great-great-grandmother. Look at their mouths. The hairline, forehead, and sparkling eyes. Don’t they look alike?
Carrie Paak Waruf
Mary Paak Remine
The ones above are sisters Carrie and Mary. They don’t look quite like Alice or the man. Or do they?
Annie Paak
There’s another look alike. I think Alice and Annie look a lot like each other–and they look equally as much like the man. What do you think?
Teunis Peek immigrated to the United States from the Netherlands with his children.
He was the son of Joost Peek and Annigjen den Besten, born on June 5, 1822 at Zijderveld. (He died on April 24, 1893, in Kalamazoo, Michigan).
Teunis was married on December 21, 1848 at Lexmond to Jacoba Bassa, daughter of Dirk Bassa and Aaltje van Nek. Jacoba was born on June 18, 1824. She died on November 23, 1865 at Lexmond, before Teunis took the kids and left the country.
From the marriage of Teunis and Jacoba:
1 Joost Peek (George Joseph Paak) was born on August 25, 1850 at Lexmond. He died December 9, 1925, in Kalamazoo, Michigan.*
2 Aaltje Peek (Alice Paak) was born on September 9, 1852 at Lexmond. She died in Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 5, 1908, a few months before her grandson, my grandfather, was born.
3 Anna Catharina Peek (Anna or Annie Paak) was born on January 6, 1855 at Lexmond and died on October 6, 1933 at Kalamazoo (MI). She married Jacob Salomon Verhuist.
Anna was married on March 20, 1890 at Kalamazoo (MI) to Jacob Salomon Verhulst, son of Jacob Verhulst and Cornelia Strijd. Jacob was born on May 1, 1848 at Kortgene, died on June 20, 1923 at Kalamazoo (MI).
4 Willempje Peek was born on September 17, 1856 at Lexmond (alive in 1870, as William ??).
5 Maaike Peek (Mary Paak) was born on July 28, 1859 at Lexmond. Mary married Richard Remine. She died in 1954 in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
6 Cornelia Peek (Carrie Paak) was born on May 8, 1862 at Lexmond, died in 1957 at Kalamazoo (MI). Cornelia was 95 years old. Cornelia was married on June 2, 1882 at Kalamazoo (MI) to Hendrik Waruf (Henry). Hendrik was born in 1863, died in 1945 at Kalamazoo (MI).
Later, Teunis was married on January 8, 1869 at Kalamazoo (MI) (2) to Prina Adriana Schoonaard (Perena), daughter of Jan Schoonaard and Tannetje Servaas. Prina was born on August 1, 1814 at Borssele.
The other day another Paak descendent found this blog. I am looking forward to comparing notes with him about the family. He is the grandson of George Joseph Paak (Pake).
Posted in Alice Paak DeKorn, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Paak, Peek, tagged DeKorn genealogy, early 1900s, family history, genealogy, history of Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Gazette, Kalamazoo history, Paak genealogy, Peek family, Yvette Hoitink on April 1, 2014| 15 Comments »
Mystery solved!!!!
A newspaper clipping, saved by my family, reported the story of a house fire. A George Paake of Trimble Street in Kalamazoo, Michigan, lost his house. He was ill, his wife had recently died, and he had 5 children ages 14 and under at home. The unidentified paper called their recent lives a “series of disasters.”
I wasn’t sure if this was Teunis Peek, the father of my great-great-grandmother Alice Paak DeKorn (are you confused yet by Paake/Peek/Paak? I am!! Oh, and there is Pake, too. They are all the same name . . .) or someone else as I had no idea when the fire took place.
Through Yvette’s research, she was able to determine that George Paake who lost his house was actually Joost, the “missing” son of Teunis and brother of my great-great-grandmother.
His wife Lucy passed away in 1900, leaving 5 young children. George/Joost was 50 at the time he was left a widower.
With Yvette’s research results, I was able to get a better notion of George who had married a Dutch woman Lucy Kliphouse and had five children with her and was buying the house with a mortgage with the Building and Loan Association.
In Genealogy Bank I had not been able to locate a Kalamazoo Gazette article about the fire, but after Yvette narrowed the fire down to just past 1900, I used the search terms “fire” “Kalamazoo” and “Trimble,” rather than using George’s name. In that way I did find the Gazette article, which deems Mr. Paake “a worthy man.”
The fire happened on Wednesday, September 3, 1902, and the Gazette reported it the next day.
Within two years (1900-1902) George lost his wife and then his house.
Is it any wonder that in 1906 he married Ester Cook? Unfortunately, after living in Kalamazoo for one year with George, Ester too passed away. One more disaster in the series for George (and for Ester).
In 1908 he married Addie Amelia Giffos (probably Gifford) Wilder. When he married Addie his children were ages 10-20. I have no idea if this was a love marriage or a marriage of convenience, but it would be understandable that he would have liked some help raising these children. Also, it appears that Addie had at least a 5-year-old daughter at the time of her marriage to George.
One last comment: if you have family history trails that run back to the Netherlands, you will want to contact Yvette. She can break down those research barriers you think will never open to you.
Posted in DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Netherlands history, Paak, Peek, Photography early 20th century, Photography late 19th century, Zuidweg, tagged DeKorn, DeKorn family, DeKorn genealogy, Dutch Genealogy, early 1900s, family history, genealogy, history of Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo history, Paak genealogy, Peek family, Zuidweg surname on March 28, 2014| 38 Comments »
One of the most frustrating aspects of this whole family photo/genealogy project is not being able to identify some of the photos. It’s bad enough to see the names and not know what the people looked like, but to actually have a photo in hand and not know which person or persons it represents is just maddening.
Take this one, for example.
This photo is from my the photographs my grandfather gave me, so these people were part of the Zuidweg/DeKorn/Paak family. But who were they? Is there a way to collect clues from the photo?
Posted in Adriaan Zuijdweg/Adrian Zuidweg Sr., Adrian Zuidweg, Cora DeKorn Zuidweg, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Photography early 20th century, Photography late 19th century, Richard DeKorn, Zuidweg, tagged Adrian Zuidweg, DeKorn, DeKorn family, DeKorn genealogy, early 1900s, English Springer Spaniel, family history, genealogy, history of Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo, Michigan history, vintage dog photos, Zuidweg surname on March 25, 2014| 16 Comments »
When I was a little girl, my aunt was in college and still lived at home. Her dog, the family dog, was an English Springer Spaniel named Sandy. That dog had bitten me near the eye when I was a baby so everybody was always warning me not to go near the dog and to be careful of the dog. In kindergarten, my grandmother babysat me and I had to negotiate my way through the house with Sandy. I tried to make peace with him by making him a meat pie (with Grandma’s help) for his birthday.
What I didn’t realize was that dogs had been part of the family for generations.
Grandpa shared these photos and told me which dog was which. They belonged to Richard DeKorn, and Grandpa and his parents lived for some time with Richard (Grandpa’s grandfather). It means that they lived well over 100 years ago. I’m sorry the quality of the following photos isn’t better.
TOM AND CARLO DEKORN
BOBBY DEKORN
Is the dog running toward Richard DeKorn? Adriaan Zuijdweg in the background.
The dogs with Cora, Adrian, and Alice
That’s Grandpa as a baby in his mother’s lap, so he grew up with the dogs.
Bobby in the yard
For those of you who know about dog breeding or shows, can you tell me anything about the following?
I’ve owned dogs, too, but now I have four cats. Did my family have cats 100 years ago? Here’s the answer:
Is that baby Alice playing with the kittens?
I sense that you want to know about my cats ;), so here is a slide show of my beautiful cats, as well as my grand-cats.
Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, Cora DeKorn Zuidweg, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Jennie DeKorn Culver, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Photography late 19th century, Remine, Richard DeKorn, tagged Adrian Zuidweg, Bosman, DeKorn family, early 1900s, family history, genealogy, history of Kalamazoo, John Bosman, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo Michigan, Michigan history, Remijnse, Remine, Remynse on March 4, 2014| 19 Comments »
The Family Kalamazoo 