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Archive for the ‘Lucille Edna Mulder Zuidweg’ Category

Mulders Everywhere!

Posted in Caledonia Michigan history, Family History, Genealogy, Lucille Edna Mulder Zuidweg, Mulder, Netherlands history, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 20, 2016| 22 Comments »

In the midst of researching the Waldecks, I’ve been in contact with Elly, as you know, and Merry, who I haven’t told you about yet, from the Mulder branch of the family.

Elly found me through this blog, as I’ve mentioned. I found Merry through a DNA match. We both had our results stored at 23andme, and there it was, a fairly close match of 2nd-3rd cousin. When a match is that close, if both individuals have an idea of their family trees, you can usually find a match. It didn’t take us long at all.

Merry’s grandfather Henry (Heinrich Mulder) and my great-grandfather Charles were brothers! We are both descended from Pieter Philippus and Neeltje (Peter and Nellie) Mulder who arrived in Grand Rapids with two babies. One was Charles and the other was a baby named Jan who passed away shortly after the young couple arrived in the U.S. Henry was born in this country.

Peter and Nellie traveled on the ship Zaandam, which arrived in New York on August 29, 1887. They were able to immigrate because Peter had received a bequest when his grandmother Rosalie Melanie Bataille passed away.

I promise to get back to Elly’s findings in a later post. Today I want to share with you the photos of Peter and Nellie that Merry shared with me. And by putting them in the blog to share them with Elly and others as well!

 

In this formal portrait, how old do you think they are? Note that Nellie was 63 when she died. Mom says that Peter was a very small man, so it seems that Nellie herself must have been very short. I recently read an article trying to answer the question of how the Dutch became the tallest people in the world. My own relatives were sometimes, but not always, on the short side, so I was curious. What I learned is that in the past 150 years the heighth of Dutch people has dramatically increased. Until this growth spurt they were the shortest in Europe!

As to why the Dutch grew, the article makes a case for eating a lot of dairy (among other causes). My husband says he thinks it also has to do with the Netherlands claiming more land from the sea and being able to eat meat instead of relying on fish for a large portion of their diet. I’m sure there are many ideas on this subject!

In the next photo, Nellie’s dress is very long.  While Peter (born 1865) was 3 years older than Nellie (born 1868), she passed away in 1932 and Peter lived until 1953, two years before I was born. After his wife’s death, Peter traveled around to his children’s homes, living with one then another. I wonder whose cooking he liked best (I hope it was my great-grandmother Clara who died the same year as Peter)!

 

Merry says that this photo of Nellie taken in a porch rocker should be dated somewhere between 1925 and 1929. Since it’s the same dress as above, I’ll assume these photos were taken around the same time.

Here is a formal portrait of Peter:

 

In this photo he looks like he could be related to Colonel Potter (MASH), in my opinion. Or the shopkeeper on Green Acres (Frank Cady as Mr. Drucker).

More to come about the Mulders, both those in Netherlands and those in Michigan!

 

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The Waldeck Search Begins to Yield a Few Answers

Posted in Caledonia Michigan history, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Lucille Edna Mulder Zuidweg, Michigan history, Mulder, Noffke, Waldeck, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 13, 2016| 17 Comments »

Two and a half years ago I wrote a post explaining how I didn’t know anything about the Waldeck branch of my family. I’ll quote the post here and then give you an update, such as I have at this point.

Waldeck is a fairly common name.  There are two Castle Waldecks. Lots of places share the name Waldeck.  There are many Waldecks listed on Wikipedia, including the first Waldeck, who was a count, and some Waldeck princesses.  I bet there are a lot of paupers named Waldeck, too.

But so far I can’t find the town or region in Germany where my Waldeck family came from.

Look at the sorry state of the family tree:

Godfrey Waldeck family treeeGodfrey (Gottfried) and his wife Alvena (Alvina) immigrated to the United States with their family and then had more children. I don’t even know if all those children listed on this tree are theirs! Clara is.

And so is Godfrey (junior) because I remember him when I was young. He managed a grain elevator or something like that, but he also farmed his own land. He was blind from glaucoma when I met him, and he still walked down the road each day and drove his tractor in the fields. As an aside, glaucoma runs rampant in their family.

I know that Grandma used to like to go to the Waldeck family reunions, and I went to at least one myself, at a lake (of course).

Look at Alvina Waldeck above. The tree lists her as Alvina Neffka, as if that is her maiden name. But is it? I’ve also seen it listed as Noffke and on her death certificate her father was listed as Louis Koffler. Her mother was listed as Dora Couch.

Noffke is a German name, and so is Koffler.  Neffka is not German.  Neither is Couch.

One person I’ve spoken with has wondered if the family was more Polish than German, but I have no proof of that either.

I need some help with this and hope that somebody reads this blog and gives me some clues about the family!

 

I am going to take a stab at identifying the people in the photo.

Back row:  Fred (according to a rumor, he was in a terrible accident), Ada Steeby (who had a daughter Ruth), Anna (did she marry a Stewart or Christianson or both), August (died in WWI, a bachelor)

Front row: Gottfried, Clara (my great-grandmother), Alvina, Godfrey

Looking at this photo and the names, can we write off Adolph, Rudolph, Max, Herman? Are they not part of our family?  Or were they older, born in Germany, and already living their own adult lives when this photo was taken?  And why isn’t Fred even on the family tree?!

Here is what I’ve learned. The family names from this branch are WALDECK, NOFFKE, and KUSCH. I believe that Couch was written by a non-German speaker on a document, and that the name is Kusch. I believe this because there are Noffke families and Kusch families in one particular area of what was (sort of) Germany: Pomerania in East Prussia. My ancestors in this branch were most likely ethnic Germans living in East Prussia, a place that would become northern Poland, a change in borders that would result in their exile at the end of WWII in 1945. Because nothing can be tied up neatly in genealogy, Waldecks do not live in the same region as Noffkes and Kuschs.

I did find a Dorothea Kusch from East Prussia who travelled to the United States from Pomerania in the 1880s, but on further analysis believe that she is a different Dorothea Kusch from Dora Kusch Noffke. This info gave me the idea that “Dora’s” name probably was Dorothea because my great-grandmother named her 3 daughters after the Noffke family. She would have named her oldest daughter Dorothea (Dorothy) after her own grandmother, as she named her second daughter Lucille after her own grandfather, Ludwig/Louis.  Her third daughter was named Alvena, after her own mother Alwine Noffke Waldeck.

Fred (born Friedrich and later Frederick), the man above who was in a terrible accident, I found just where my grandmother had warned: the State Hospital in Kalamazoo. He was in a streetcar and wagon accident and was confined to the psychiatric hospital after that. His wife and young son Edward moved in with her mother in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Fred died at the State Hospital, so that is how I found his death certificate.

 

While Fred was gone from home at the hospital, his 14-year-old son, Edward Waldeck, perhaps while he was working or traveling to school, was hit by a car. I found an article in the paper dated July 6, 1912 about how the driver left the boy and didn’t take him to the hospital. He was lucky to survive after being left alone. Read the description of his injuries in the article and see if you think the driver should have left him!

I have also discovered that Adolph, Rudolph, and Herman passed away while the family still lived in Germany, but I have not found death records for them. Max passed away shortly after the family moved to Michigan. August died during the time of WWI.

One more thing. Late last night I got an Ancestry “hint” on Aunt Vena and Uncle Al’s wedding–that is Clara Waldeck Mulder’s daughter Alvena. Their marriage license was now available online. I noticed that they were married in the Portland Baptist Church by Pastor E. A. Waldeck. How odd that the name was Waldeck! And E.A. Like Edward? Could he be the right age? And was the A correct? Yes, it was. Edward Waldeck, son of Fred, and Aunt Vena and Grandma’s first cousin. The boy hit by the car had married a young lady named Cora. In the 1930 census, he was an accountant for an auto shop and she was a music teacher. But in the 1940 census, he was now a minister with the Baptist church! Another click of a puzzle piece snapping into place!

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A Mulder Connection!

Posted in Caledonia Michigan history, Family History, Genealogy, Lucille Edna Mulder Zuidweg, Mulder, Netherlands history, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 6, 2016| 18 Comments »

As you know, I get sidetracked by a lot of subjects. In 2016, I would like to focus on 3 family branches. No telling how many tangents I’ll go off on though. I’ve met some wonderful distant relatives and other new friends through the blog and my genealogical research, and I would like to incorporate some of the information I’ve gotten as well as sharing some of my research.

Today I’d like to mention the Mulders. I’ve written of them before, and you can find the other posts from the “Individuals and Topics” section on the right: Mulders link. This is my maternal grandmother’s father’s family from Caledonia, Michigan; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.

One Mulder I’ve (virtually) met is Elly, who lives in the Netherlands. She is descended from the same Karel Mulder, the jailor’s hand, that both my maternal grandparents were.  As she puts it, she is a descendant of Karel Mulder (1837-1881), the eldest son of Karel Mulder and Rosalie (Rose Melanie) Bataille.

Elly found a death announcement for Rose Melanie in the old local newspaper, de Goessche Courant.  It says that she died in the house of her son, Andries Mulder. Rose Melanie was a rather wealthy widow when she died. She had several houses and pieces of land in her possession.There is a statement of inheritance tax.
Let’s take a look at my genealogy results for this family from Yvette Hoitink.

Karel Mulder was born on 3 December 1812 at C 85 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.20 On 5 May 1836 he was a
shoemaker in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.21 8 On 21 February 1837 he was a shoemaker in Goes, Zeeland, the
Netherlands.8 Karel died on 3 January 1870 at the age of 57 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.22 He owned 3/8 of a house
and yard in the “Papegaaistraatje [Parrot Street]” district C nr. 97 on 3 January 1870 at section D nr. 278 in Goes, Zeeland,
the Netherlands.5 Rose Melanie Bataille and Karel Mulder were married on 5 May 1836 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.21
Rose Melanie Bataille was born about 1810 in Etaples, France.21 On 5 May 1836 she was a servant in Goes, Zeeland, the
Netherlands.21 She lived in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands on 22 April 1881.11 Rose died on 10 July 1887 at the age of 77 in
Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.23

Karel Mulder and Rose Melanie Bataille had the following children:
8 i. Karel Mulder, born 21 February 1837, Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands; died 22 April 1881, Goes,
Zeeland, the Netherlands. NOTE THAT KAREL IS ELLY’S ANCESTOR. HE IS ALSO MY ANCESTOR.
ii. Pieter Philip Mulder was born on 29 August 1838 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.24
iii. Kornelis Mulder was born on 4 September 1840 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.25 He died on 3 June
1887 at the age of 46 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.26 On 3 June 1887 he was a shoemaker in Goes,
Zeeland, the Netherlands.26
iv. Melanie Mulder was born on 21 January 1842 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.27 She died on 23 June
1884 at the age of 42 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.28
v. Johannes Mulder was born on 12 November 1843 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.29 He died on 7
January 1849 at the age of 5 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.30
vi. Andries Mulder was born on 23 January 1846 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.31 THE SON WHO ROSE MELANIE LIVED WITH WHEN SHE DIED AT AGE 77.
vii. Jan Mulder was born on 9 December 1848 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.32 On 22 April 1881 he was
a shopkeeper in paint and colonial goods in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.5
viii. Johannes Mulder was born on 10 February 1851 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.33 He died on 26
June 1876 at the age of 25 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.34 On 26 June 1876 he was a shoemaker in
Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.34
ix. Jacobus Mulder was born on 13 May 1856 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.35 He died on 17 June 1874
at the age of 18 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.36 On 17 June 1874 he was a shopkeeper’s assistant in
Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.36

NOTE that Elly discovered that Rose Melanie was quite wealthy when she passed away. See above that when she was married she was a servant. It appears that Karel was a shopkeeper and must have done well for his family.

When Rose Melanie died, her son Karel (born 1837) had already been dead for 6 years and his youngest children, thanks to the 2nd wife ;), had been sent to an orphanage. You can read that sad tale here. With the bequest that Karel’s son Pieter received from his grandmother’s death, he took his wife and two babies (including my great-grandfather) to the United States.

So, Elly, if you’re reading, which child of Karel (born 1837) are you descended from? See below. Perhaps Karel or Izaak?

i. Karel Pierre Philippe Mulder was born on 8 May 1862 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.13
ii. Izaak Mulder was born on 20 July 1863 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.14
iii. Rose Melanie Mulder was born on 12 August 1864 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.15 She died on 1
December 1864 at the age of 0 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.16 DIED AS AN INFANT
iv. Pieter Philippus Mulder, born 10 October 1865, Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands. My 2great grandfather.
v. Adrianus Cornelis Mulder was born on 7 October 1866 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.17 He lived at
the city orphanage in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands on 2 August 1881. He died on 15 March 1891 at
the age of 24 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.18 On 15 March 1891 Adrianus was a shopkeeper’s
assistant in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.10 DIED AT AGE 24
vi. stillborn child Mulder was born on 5 October 1867 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.19 He died on 5
October 1867 at the age of 0 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.19 STILLBORN
10.

The best news so far from Elly, besides meeting her, is that she sent me photos of the family Bible!

The family history was written in this Bible, according to tradition. It was begun by Karel Mulder who was born in 1812. He started it in 1867, three years before he died.
I hope that Elly and I can continue to share information about the Mulder family!

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Farm Life 100 Years Ago

Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, Caledonia Michigan history, Family History, Genealogy, Lucille Edna Mulder Zuidweg, Michigan history, Mulder, Netherlands history, Noffke, Photography early 20th century, Waldeck, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on October 13, 2015| 22 Comments »

Looking through my computer files (such a mess!), I found an old Word document I thought I’d share with you.

When my daughter was 10 she wanted to be a paperdoll centerfold for American Girl magazine. One of the requirements was to interview female living relatives about their childhoods. Her oldest female relative that we knew of (my daughter was adopted) was her great-grandmother, Lucille Edna Mulder (Zuidweg), who was born April 17, 1912. She passed away in 2000, just two years after my daughter interviewed her.

Here are the interview results.

Edna Mulder never wanted to be called Lucille, especially by her older sister, Dorothy, or her younger sister, Alvena.  They were called Dot and Vena, so she wanted to be called Edna.   Edna also had two younger brothers, Peter and Charles.  Her parents owned a farm in Caledonia, Michigan.  Her father came from a Dutch-American family and her mother from a German-American family.

 

Edna, Clara (holding Pete), Vena, Charles, and Dot

The farmhouse had a big dining room in the middle of the first floor.  The kitchen was out in back and had a coal-burning stove/oven.  The front room was tiny, with barely enough room for the big wood-burning stove and her father’s rocking chair.  He sat and smoked his pipes and cigars in the evening.  He played cribbage with a friend with a small chair pulled up to the fire.  All the downstairs had linoleum laid on it after Edna grew up and moved away from home; while she was home, it was a wooden floor.  The upstairs was two rooms:  a bedroom for her parents and one big bedroom for the five children.  They slept five to one bed, with the boys sleeping across the width at the girls’ feet.  It was COLD up there in the Michigan winters–with no heat.  Edna’s father had built the house; most of the furniture was handmade, too, some of it quite old.

Edna’s farm had a big family of cats, but they weren’t house pets.  They were kept to kill the mice in the barn.  Edna’s job was to put food and water out on the back porch for them.  The farm had lots of corn fields, cows, pigs, and an apple orchard.  It even had a small stream for fishing, but you had to drive the wagon down there, it was so far away.

But Edna and her siblings were used to long walks.  The three girls walked three miles to school everyday and three miles back home.  They kept each other warm by cuddling together as they walked.  Once in a great while, during the worst weather, Edna’s mother drove all the children to school in a tiny black Amish buggy.

Sometimes the girls were naughty.  For instance, they knew their parents had a store charge at the grocery store in Caledonia.  A couple of times the girls couldn’t resist and charged a giant candy bar or a banana.  (Fruit was a big treat; Edna only saw oranges at Christmastime).  When their parents found out later, they would “get bawled out.”

Edna’s family didn’t have much money, except for owning the farm, but her father collected a few hundred books.  He had several series of books for children which offered moral and religious instruction, as well as some adventure books.  Edna had plenty to read while she was growing up.  But she didn’t have a lot of time to read because she always had a lot of chores.  Farms need a lot of care!  Edna learned to cook basic meat, potato, and vegetable dishes while she lived at home with her family.  She also became a good baker, making delicious cookies, pies, and cakes.  She wanted to be a teacher or a writer when she grew up, but she also wanted to have a home and a family and to take good care of them.

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I’ve posted photos of the farm where Edna grew up before:

Final note: This turned out to be a great project for my daughter and for me because it was about our shared knowledge–some of what my grandmother taught my mother was taught to me and taught, in turn, to my daughter–and we both learned about history through the life of an ordinary girl. And, yes, my daughter did get to be an American Girl paperdoll. You can read the story and see the photos here: An American Girl’s Family Tree

 

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The Mulder Farm in Caledonia, Michigan, 1948

Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Lucille Edna Mulder Zuidweg, Michigan history, Mulder, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 19, 2015| 9 Comments »

I wrote about my great-grandfather, Charles Mulder, and his farm in Caledonia, Michigan here. That post also lists other links that pertain to Great Grandpa and the Mulders.

At the time I didn’t have a good photograph of the farm, but now I have discovered a good one of the farmhouse, just as I remember it. Facing this way, the apple tree the swing hung from was to the left. The fields were also to the left, the road to the right. Because of the porch, you can see that the front of the house is on the right side.

Look at that! Is it the same swing I swung on or a different one? This is Mom’s cousin Elaine playing at the farm.

Do you have any fond farm memories?

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Grandma’s School Work, late 1920s

Posted in Caledonia Michigan history, Family History, Genealogy, Lucille Edna Mulder Zuidweg, Michigan history, Mulder, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on August 5, 2015| 28 Comments »

As a high school student at Caledonia High School in Michigan in the 1920s, my grandmother, Lucille Edna Mulder, was a good student. As I have written about before, she was Class Historian at graduation–and kept a beautiful graduation scrapbook.

She also kept a meticulous notebook for botany class. Here is a slideshow of the entire book. I will post a few still images below the slideshow.

Did you ever record precise information like this for a homework assignment? If so, do you think you learned from it?

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

These dried flowers look like nature prints! I wish I had been required or encouraged to keep a notebook like this.

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The Mulder Girls Grownup and With Children of Their Own

Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Lucille Edna Mulder Zuidweg, Michigan history, Mulder, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , , , , , on June 25, 2015| 14 Comments »

I am digitizing some photographs for my mother, and I found this picture that I just love. It’s my mother’s mother (in the middle) with her two sisters. They are standing with their children–the ones who were born at this point. By the age of the children here, I would say that the picture was taken around 1939-40. What is a little confusing is that nobody looks pregnant and two of them should have been pregnant around that time, unless there are tiny babies asleep just outside the boundaries of the pic!

The photo would have been taken somewhere in southwestern Michigan. CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO ENLARGE!

From left to right: Vena with her two oldest daughters, then grandma (Lucille Edna Mulder Zuidweg) with my mom (Janet) and Uncle Don, then Dorothy with her two oldest. Each of them had another child after the first two.

I’ve written posts about my grandmother. Dorothy showed up a bit, too, because the girls graduated high school together. You can read about their graduation here and here and here. In this post, Grandma, Dorothy, and Vena are shown as children with their parents and one brother (again, the youngest had not yet been born).  Grandma’s teaching contract from 1931 can be found here.

If you never read my posts about Grandma’s high school scrapbook, check out the links. It’s a gorgeous scrapbook from her graduation in 1929. She was Class Historian and her older sister Dorothy was salutatorian.

If anybody in the family wants me to post the names of the children here, I will add them to the post. Just let me know.

Isn’t my mom, the tallest one here, a cutie in her double-breasted coat?

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Home on the Farm

Posted in Caledonia Michigan history, Genealogy, Lucille Edna Mulder Zuidweg, Michigan history, Mulder, Noffke, Waldeck, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 11, 2015| 18 Comments »

I’ve written before about my great-grandfather, Charles Mulder, of Caledonia, Michigan. He was born in 1885 in the Netherlands, but moved with his parents and younger brother to Grand Rapids, Michigan, when he was only two.  His baby brother Jan passed away within a few months.

Although Great-Grandpa was raised by his parents in Grand Rapids, where his father built furniture, he ended up starting his own adult life in Caledonia–as a farmer. He came from town folk. They weren’t farmers. What would have made him decide to become a farmer? And how did he purchase his farm?  These are good questions, I know, and I wonder if there is anybody who can answer them. Maybe his daughter, my grandmother, didn’t even know the answers.

I used to love to visit GG and his 2nd wife Margaret on the farm. My great-grandmother had passed away a couple of years before I, the oldest great-grandchild, was born. So I grew up knowing Margaret, a very nice lady, as my GG.

I’m guessing that in this photograph, I am with Great-Grandpa at his farm. He’s very comfortable in his undershirt and suspenders, and I see the hint of a dark colored (red?) outbuilding behind him. I remember the barn, the corncrib, and the henhouse. And let’s not forget the outhouse!

This photograph, as you can see, was taken in July 1957, which means that I was just turning two.

Message to my family: if anybody has any photos of the farm, please scan and send to me!

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Here are links to other posts about Charles Mulder of Caledonia, my great-grandfather (the 1st two are my favorites):

The Blog Will Now Come to Order

I Raided Great-Grandpa’s Library

Great-Grandpa’s Family: The Mulders of Grand Rapids

The Mulders Pre-1917

Pieter the Orphan

 

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Treasures from My Grandmother

Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, Caledonia Michigan history, Family History, Genealogy, Lucille Edna Mulder Zuidweg, Michigan history, Mulder, Photography early 20th century, tagged , , , , , , , on April 17, 2014| 23 Comments »

My grandmother, Lucille Edna Mulder (Zuidweg), was born April 17, 1912. If she hadn’t passed away in 2000, she would be 102 today. I miss her every day.

Grandma holding me

Grandma holding me 1955

Last year I posted about Grandma’s high school graduation scrapbook. Here is the link. There are a lot of photos in that book; in most of them Grandma is hanging out with her friends and classmates.

Below, Grandma is in all but the lower right photo. One of the girls is her best friend, Blanche Stauffer. Grandma and Blanche are in the upper right photo together–that’s Grandma in front. Blanche has the straight dark bangs. In the lower left Grandma is with another friend.

 

The scrapbook has an autograph page, and the words from Blanche are front and center:

Grandma and I have a lot in common. One thing is that a best friend was very important to us growing up. I looked up Blanche on Ancestry, and I was amazed to learn that she, like my grandmother, was the second child in the family. Blanche’s older sister was one year older. That was the same with Grandma: her older sister Dorothy was one year older.

Blanche was class valedictorian, Dorothy was salutatorian, and Grandma–with the 3rd highest GPA–was class historian. I read a list of Grandma’s classmates, and Blanche’s older sister was not in their class. At least Blanche didn’t have the sisterly competition that Grandma had to put up with ;).

Writing is another commonality between Grandma and me. When she was elderly and had just gotten sprung from a very negative experience with a rehabilitation nursing center, she made me promise I would never give up writing. I promised her, and I have kept my word. I remember Grandma submitting funny stories and occasionally getting them published when I was very young.

Recently, my mother told me an anecdote that made me realize that Grandma and I share another interest. When I was little and my mother worked full-time, Grandma babysat me. We sang Ethel Merman songs like “Anything You Can Do.”  I could always manage to sing louder and higher than Grandma.

Any note you can reach
I can go higher.
I can sing anything
Higher than you.
No, you can’t. (High)
Yes, I can. (Higher) No, you can’t. (Higher)
Yes, I CAN! (Highest)

What I didn’t realize is that when my mother and her siblings were little, my grandmother (who was always with my grandfather, to my memory) went to New York City with her sister Dorothy. They saw Ethel Merman in Annie Get Your Gun.  She actually saw this song performed live by Merman. My mother says it was one of the highlights of her life, and I believe it because I remember this music around Grandma often when it was “just us.”  I still love musicals and so does my daughter, who performs in professional productions.

Grandma and I shared other songs, too. She used to hold me on her lap while we sang “She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain” and “This Old Man (Knick Knack Paddy Whack).” My memories of my grandmother are treasured heirlooms.

Happy birthday, Grandma.

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A Familial Occupation

Posted in Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Lucille Edna Mulder Zuidweg, Michigan history, Mulder, Netherlands history, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on January 14, 2014| 16 Comments »

When I posted my genealogy to-do list, I asked if you could guess what occupation I found a few of my Mulder relatives engaged in during the 19th century in Holland. I said it was one I have had–and so have my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.  Emily Ann at Child Out of Time wondered if it was teaching, which was a very good guess, based on our family history, but isn’t correct.

What I am talking about is retail.  My family was engaged in retail business for a long time.  My husband and I owned stores, and so did my parents. My grandfather owned a gas station. His father owned a fish market and a soda shop.

My 3rd great-grandfather, Karel Mulder, was born 21 February 1837 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands. He married Johanna Maria Boes on November 1861, also at Goes. On 27 August 1868, he married Klazina Otte at Goes. He died on 22 April 1881 in Goes.

His parents were Karel Mulder and Rose Melanie Bataille (remember the Bataille family?).  These are the children of Karel and Rose Melanie–namely, Karel and his siblings:

  • Karel Mulder, born 21 February 1837, Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands (Witnesses: Carel Mulder and Adriaan Zuijdweg). On 7 November 1861 he was an apothecary’s assistant in Goes. On 27 August 1868 he was an apothecary’s assistant in Goes. On 22 April 1881 he was a shopkeeper in Goes.Karel died on 22 April 1881.
  • Pieter Philip Mulder was born on 29 August 1838 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.
  • Kornelis Mulder was born on 4 September 1840 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.25 He died on 3 June 1887 at the age of 46 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.26 On 3 June 1887 he was a shoemaker in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.
  • Melanie Mulder was born on 21 January 1842 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.27 She died on 23 June 1884 at the age of 42 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.
  • Johannes Mulder was born on 12 November 1843 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.29 He died on 7 January 1849 at the age of 5 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands. [died at age 5]
  • Andries Mulder was born on 23 January 1846 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands. [shop’s financial partner]
  • Jan Mulder was born on 9 December 1848 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.32 On 22 April 1881 he was a shopkeeper in paint and colonial goods in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.5
  • Johannes Mulder was born on 10 February 1851 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.33 He died on 26 June 1876 at the age of 25 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.34 On 26 June 1876 he was a shoemaker in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.
  • Jacobus Mulder was born on 13 May 1856 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.35 He died on 17 June 1874 at the age of 18 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.36 On 17 June 1874 he was a shopkeeper’s assistant in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.

My 3rd great-grandfather owned a “paint and colonial goods” store.

According to genealogist Yvette Hoitink:

Karel Mulder had a company in paint and colonial goods together with his brother Jan, called the “Gebroeders Mulder [Mulder brothers]”. This company owned a house at the Korte Kerkstraat (property tax registration section D nr. 377). The most important financer of this company was Andries Mulder in Goes, for a total of fl. 4000 (1/3 of the value of the company). This Andries is probably their brother Andries Mulder, son of Karel Mulder and Rose Melanie Bataille.

Here is a map of where the Mulder Brothers shop was located:

That means that at least 3 of the brothers were involved in the paint and colonial goods shop: Karel, Jan, and Andries. Two other brothers are shoemakers, one died at age five, and the professions of Pieter Philip (we don’t have a death date, so I’m not sure if he lived to maturity) and Melanie, the only girl.

Here are some photos taken by Yvette Hoitink of the building at the location of the Mulder Brothers shop. We don’t know if this is the original building or not. The houses adjacent to the building are original.

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What do you imagine a “paint and colonial goods” shop would have sold?

Finally, do you remember (from this blog post) what happened to Karel’s son, my great-great-grandfather Pieter?  He ended up in an orphanage!

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