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Archive for the ‘Remine’ Category

Uncertainty about Boudewijn’s Kids

Posted in DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Remine, Richard DeKorn, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 21, 2013| 13 Comments »

Last post I showed you the photo of my great-great-great-grandfather, Boudewijn de Korne.  I just discovered new information about him written by his grandson Joseph DeKorn.  Boudewijn, his wife Johanna, and their two children travelled to the United States with Gerrit Remine (Gerrard Remijnse), who was Johanna’s brother.

They travelled on a sailing vessel and arrived at Kalamazoo, Michigan on June 22, 1856.  However, “they located in Zeeland, Michigan” for several years.  “The voyage across was bad and long.”  Joseph’s father Richard and Aunt Mary told him it took 90 days, but Joseph didn’t believe it was actually that long.

I mentioned that Boudewijn and his wife Johanna had two living children when they left the Netherlands.  The older is Richard DeKorn; I have introduced him several times before.  Note that Richard’s generation appears to have dropped the final E from their last name.

Richard:  Dirk de Korne, born 21 Aug 1851, Kapelle, Zeeland, the Netherlands; died 26 Jan 1930, Kalamazoo,
Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States.  Also known as Richard and, when younger, Derrick.

Richard DeKorn (Dirk de Korne)

Richard DeKorn (Dirk de Korne)

Mary:  Maria Catharina de Korne was born on 4 Jan 1855 in Kapelle, Zeeland, the Netherlands.  Mary married John DeSmit in Kalamazoo in 1873 and they had at eight children.  Her daughter Frances married a Flipse.  When I got married in 1975 my mother took me to Flipse Flower shop to order my bridal bouquet because they were “shirt tail relatives.”  It’s hard to imagine it from this photo, but Mary only died two years before I was born.

Mary DeKorn DeSmit

Mary DeKorn DeSmit

After the family moved to the United States, Boudewijn and Johanna had another daughter, Adriana, in 1959, who is one year old in the 1860 census.   Nothing after that.

However, a 10-year-old daughter Jennie shows up in the 1870 census, which Jose from Enhanced News Archive was kind enough to find for me.

Joseph DeKorn’s documentation mentions Jennie, but not Adriana.  My grandfather identified the woman in this photograph as Jennie, Richard’s sister, who married a man named John Culver and eventually moved to Seattle, Washington.  She died in Pierce, Washington, on July 4, 1947.  According to her death record, she was born around 1861.  One difficulty in searching is that there is another Jennie Culver (married to Earl) who lived in Kalamazoo during Jennie DeKorn Culver’s lifetime.

So the question remains: was there an Adriana born in 1859 as well as Jennie born in 1860 or 1861?  Or are they the same person?  If Adriana had lived and kept her name, she would have been mentioned in Joseph’s statement.  So either she passed away as an infant or she became known as Jennie or, perhaps most likely, the census got her name wrong to begin with.

UPDATE: IT IS NOW 2018, FIVE YEARS LATER, AND I STILL DO NOT HAVE BIRTH OR BAPTISM INFORMATION ABOUT JENNIE OR ADRIANA. I AM GOING TO ASSUME FOR NOW THAT JENNIE IS ADRIANA–UNTIL I FIND OUT TO THE CONTRARY. THIS IS BECAUSE JENNIE IS A COMMON NICKNAME FOR ADRIANA.

Jennie DeKorn Culver

Jennie DeKorn Culver

This is a photo of Jenny and John Culver’s children:

The Culver Children

The Culver Children

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All the Peek Girls

Posted in Alice Paak DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Paak, Peek, Remine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 11, 2013| 21 Comments »

Last post I told you about my great-great-grandmother Alice Paak (Peek) DeKorn. She had three younger sisters, who all grew up in Kalamazoo, as well.  There were two brothers, but I have not tracked them down yet.  To clarify about the last name: Grandpa first identified the name to me as Paak, but genealogical research in the Netherlands shows that the name is actually Peek.

As a reminder, this is Alice:

Alice Paak DeKorn

Alice Peek DeKorn

Here is her sister Annie, born Anna Catharina Peek on January 6, 1855 in Lexmond, Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands.

Here is her sister Mary, born Maaike Peek on July 29, 1859 in Lexmond, Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands.

Mary Paak Remine

Mary Peek Remine

Here is her sister Carrie, born Cornelia Peek on 8 May, 1862 in Lexmond, Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands.

Carrie Paak Waruf

Carrie Peek Waruf

While the Peek girls are all pretty, clearly my great great is the prettiest of all!

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The Park with a Literary Name

Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, Cora DeKorn Zuidweg, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Paak, Remine, Richard DeKorn, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 14, 2013| 23 Comments »

The property at Long Lake in Portage, Michigan, known as Ramona Park and featuring a pavilion called Ramona Palace was in my family for many years.  Ramona was named after the “Indian Princess” in Helen Hunt Jackson’s popular novel Ramona, which was published in 1884.

When I was a little girl, my father Rudy Hanson tried to re-create the heyday of Ramona Park and its pavilion.  He was  young and ambitious and wanted to restore the place.  Although Ramona Palace had a magnificent ballroom, the owner had sold the liquor license in 1956 or 1957 to Airway Lanes (according to my father).

So my parents held teen dances and concerts; The Association performed there. I remember my parents taking tickets out front, seated at a table.  One time a kid broke in when a dance was going on.  Dad took off running after this high school “track star,” caught him, and turned him over to the police.  It was mentioned in the paper.

My father preferred booking picnics because he could obtain a one day liquor license.  Continental Can held their company picnics at Ramona.  Sometimes I helped out or hung out during events.  The German-American Club held a dance, and I remember a couple dressed in lederhosen, the girl’s thick blonde braid swinging to her dancing.

My father had invested in this property and lost money on the deal.  It was actually owned by a relative named Therese Remine.  Therese’s mother was Mary Paak (Peek), the sister of my great great grandmother, Alice Paak DeKorn.

Therese had inherited the property from Henry and Carrie Waruf, who had owned it for years.  Carrie was born a Paak, and I believe she was one of the Paak sisters: Mary, Alice, Annie, and Carrie.  This is an area for future research.  I don’t know why only Therese inherited and not her brother, Harold.  Or why the cousins, such as my grandfather Adrian Zuidweg, did not inherit it.

Therese Remine

Therese Remine

At some point after my father no longer was affiliated with the property, Therese sold and donated it to the City of Portage.

My father has many other memories of the park.  He says Ramona was used as storage for years for ice, which was cut from the lake and packed with straw.  It lasted throughout the summer and was hauled to town by a train.  The tracks ran halfway between the pavilion and Sprinkle Road.

In that front lot off Sprinkle, in the 10s and 20s, was a building and home field for various ball teams.  Later on, Airstream trailers held their annual meetings.  The circus was set up on the Ramona property; I remember the circus billboard which was up for weeks ahead of time.

When I was young, a row of cottages on the property were leased out to renters by Therese.  Sixty years before that, Richard DeKorn, my great great grandfather, had leased his own summer cottage from the Warufs.

Therese’s summer house was on Sprinkle, and a gravel road led back to the park, pavilion, and the lakefront.  My friends and I found arrowheads in the cornfield behind her house.

Ramona Park is a thriving park in Portage, Michigan, still today.

Possibly Long Lake, according to Adrian Zuidweg

Cora DeKorn at her father Richard DeKorn's cottage on Long Lake

Cora DeKorn at her father Richard DeKorn’s cottage on Long Lake

Richard DeKorn enjoying the lake

Richard DeKorn enjoying the lake

 

 

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