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Archive for the ‘Zuidweg’ Category

Jim Van Liere, Dog, Goat, and Cart

Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , , , on April 24, 2019| 24 Comments »

Is this a goat or a ram? I thought goat, but the animal looks unusual to me. This photo is marked on the back. The boy is Jim Van Liere, grandpa’s first cousin, born in 1912. How old do you think he is here?

The Van Lieres lived in the Burdick-Balch neighborhood of Kalamazoo, very near Grandpa (Adrian Zuidweg).

For more information on where Jim fits into the family, check out this post: The Van Lieres of Kalamazoo Redux

Do you think this was a photo taken at an amusement place or staged by a photographer?

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More Birthdays–and An Update on Last Week’s Post

Posted in Adriaan Zuijdweg/Adrian Zuidweg Sr., Adrian Zuidweg, Cora DeKorn Zuidweg, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Leeuwenhoek, Michigan history, Mulder, Richard DeKorn, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , , , on April 17, 2019| 25 Comments »

My maternal grandmother, (Lucille) Edna Mulder Zuidweg, was born in 1912 on this day.  This is one of my favorite photographs of Grandma and me.

I’m about five and wearing my favorite violet striped dress. This was a time in my life that I was spending a lot of time at Grandma and Grandpa’s house because I went to kindergarten across the street at McKinley school and stayed the rest of the day at their house while my parents were working. In this photo, it is dark outside, and I think this photograph was taken at night when others were in the living room. I associate this photo with eating ice cream that particular night . . . .

Happy birthday, Grandma. You are very missed.

Last week I posted two old photos and didn’t have a lot of information about them. With the help of some people on a Facebook group, especially intrepid FindaGrave photographer Jeff Phillips, the two little kids have been identified as Alice Leeuwenhoek and Harold Remine. I’ve written about both of them many times.  My mother reminded me that yesterday was Alice’s birthday (1897).

The house in the other photograph has probably been identified as well.

Here it is at the address 110 Balch Street.

That is it with the fresh coat of gray paint. Now look to our right and you just can just the dark brown brick corner house between the trees. That is the Richard DeKorn house I’ve written about so much. This gray house is next door to that house.

Guess who lived in that house (where the four boys are standing) in those days? Take a look:

 

 

Yes, the Leeuwenhoeks lived there, right next to Alice’s maternal grandparents Richard and Alice, and possibly her aunt (my great-grandmother Cora and her husband Adrian who lived with Cora’s parents). It appears that sometime between 1900 and 1910 Cora and Adrian moved from a home on the other side of Balch to her parents’ house. It’s possible that Richard owned that home at 121 Balch, but I have not investigated land records.

Any ideas on how to go about doing so?

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Photos Over 100 Years Old: Kalamazoo, Michigan

Posted in DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Leeuwenhoek, Michigan history, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , on April 10, 2019| 35 Comments »

These two old photographs are in poor condition and not labelled. I don’t know who the boys are. The girl could be Alice Leewenhoek, born 1897.

It is likely that the photographs were taken in the Burdick-Balch neighborhood in Kalamazoo.

These boys do not look too happy to be at work. Although the pitchfork made me think gardening, there seems to be a building material stacked behind them. What do you think is going on?

Any insights would be greatly appreciated!

Make it a good week!

UPDATE: Jose challenged me to check out the book the little girl is holding. It looks like Cinderella illustrations to me. Cinderella or Ashenputtel or Cendrillon on our left and the stepsisters on the right. See what you think. I made a Pinterest board with illustrations of Cinderella with her broom: Cinderella with Broom

 

 

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Kids Out in Front of the House

Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo mid 20th century, Michigan history, Richard DeKorn, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 27, 2019| 37 Comments »

Here are two photos of my mother, Janet, and her brother, Donald. Take a look at the similarities and differences.

The one with Mom holding her doll shows a glimpse of their front porch on Burdick Street. Don is wearing short pants and long striped socks. They both have cute little hats on. The back of the photo is labelled April 1938. My mother was born in 1934 and Don in 1936.

Then this one:

In this photo they seem to be wearing the same outfits, although Don’s snowpants are now on and Janet has a scarf around her neck. There is melting snow in the yard.

So were they taken on the same day or is the second photo earlier than April? What do you think? Notice that little “trike” or whatever it is is in the same spot in both photos.

Another thing of note in the second photo is the phenomenal neighborhood view. This is the best neighborhood view down Burdick Street I can remember seeing. In fact, you see that brick house in the distance to the left of the tree? That is the Richard DeKorn house where Grandpa himself grew up. There are a couple of houses in between, then the service station Grandpa owned, and then Balch Street. The house is across Balch from the station. Grandma and Grandpa’s house where Mom and Uncle Don grew up was at the corner of Burdick and Emerson.

 

 

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Happiness is A Labelled Photograph

Posted in Adriaan Zuijdweg/Adrian Zuidweg Sr., Family History, Genealogy, Kent County history, Michigan history, Netherlands history, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , on March 20, 2019| 26 Comments »

In the latest batch, I found a portrait of a man.

And I was thrilled to see an identification on the back.

So a man named Jacobus Zuidweg was living in Grand Rapids on or around 7 January 1901! And he was a cousin of Grandpa’s father, Adrian Zuidweg, Sr. Woohoo!

This made me go to my family tree on Ancestry and see who he would be related to. The only sibling of Adrian Sr’s father, Johannes Zuidweg, to immigrate to the United States was the youngest, Willem.

Then what did I see? I had connected with a man some time back who was related, but his family had changed their surname to Southway. Yes, that is what Zuidweg means in Dutch! And the ancestor that we had connected on was JAMES WILLIAM SOUTHWAY, born 16 August 1880 in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands. He passed away on 12 December 1922 in Detroit.

Funniest thing: my connection had used this exact portrait for James’ “headshot” on Ancestry. I wonder if he knows his name? Going to message on Ancestry!

It looks like Jacobus/James had a brother named Adriaan/Adrian who did keep the surname Zuidweg. He passed away in 1949 in Kent County, Michigan.

I am guessing that James moved from Grand Rapids to Detroit some time between 1901 (when he was 21) and 1914 (when he was 34) because he married and had children in Detroit, plus as I mentioned above, he passed away in that city. James is my first cousin, 3x removed.

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1940s Children

Posted in Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo mid 20th century, Michigan history, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , , on February 28, 2019| 34 Comments »

I’ve been spending time with Mom this week, so I thought I’d post a photo of her as a little girl. Here she is wearing a cute hat and with her little sister Alice and her best friend Marion Van Dam.

And, yes, Mom and Marion are still good friends.

Kalamazoo history

I am guessing that this photo was taken in Kalamazoo around 1942 because Aunt Alice was born in 1941. What kind of car is that behind them? Is that a tiny purse in Mom’s hand?

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Sunday School: Bethany Reformed Church, Kalamazoo: c1918

Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Photography early 20th century, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 29, 2019| 27 Comments »

When I scan old family photos I always think it’s particularly cool when photos include other people in Kalamazoo (or elsewhere) because if I post them online, there is a chance the descendants of these people can find their relatives’ photos. This has happened before, and I hope it continues to happen.

The photo for today is of a Sunday School class of young “men” at Bethany Reformed Church in Kalamazoo. If you click on the next photo you can be taken to the church history on the church’s website.

The church began as a tiny chapel near the corner of Burdick and Maple in 1905. By 1907, the building above was built to house the rapidly growing congregation. By 1910 there were 69 member families, all of the Reformed denomination (and presumably Dutch or of Dutch ancestry).

As you can see by the back of my photo, it was taken around 1918 (so imagine the church growth by then).

The sticker was put on in the 80s, I imagine, by my grandparents.

Here is the front:

Let’s look at it a little closer:

The church was probably right by houses, but I don’t know whether the photo was taken outside the church (with a house behind the boys) or if it was taken in someone’s yard. They do look dressed for church here.

Do you think my grandfather was one of these boys? He would have been about ten in 1918.

Mom? Uncle Don? Anybody? There is only one boy here who I think looks at all like Grandpa.

About the church: although it was the Great Depression, the new building that still stands today was dedicated in 1932. It continued to be added on to for many years. In the 1960s, I attended Vacation Bible School for one summer. My grandmother was babysitting while my mother was working, so it was easy for me to go to Bible School across the street, although our church was out in Portage. Unfortunately, in 1972, vandals set fire to the sanctuary, which was completely destroyed. It was rebuilt within a year.

I took a screenshot of the church as it looks today on Google Maps. Same building where I went to class 55 years ago.

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Grandpa’s Baby Pictures

Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, Cora DeKorn Zuidweg, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Photography early 20th century, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , , on January 2, 2019| 33 Comments »

In scanning this newest batch of antique and vintage photos, I ran across these two photos of Grandpa (Adrian Zuidweg, Jr.) as a baby! They are set in this handmade paper frame, and his name is written on the back, so there is no doubt as to who it is. Plus those blond curls are a big giveaway.

Grandpa was born in 1908 in Kalamazoo. How old do you think he looks here? These photos are clearly before the accident with the needle that blinded his one eye. That happened when he was three. But I don’t think he’s very far into “being two” either.

It might help to know what in the world he is “in” or standing with in the photo on the right. It appears to have rockers at the bottom. Any ideas?

Click once and then once again should make the image large.

I’ll repost the other photos I have where he is young so you can see the comparison. I think that by comparison with these others, that he is strictly a baby in the photos above. So less than two. But let me know if you disagree!

Cora and little Adrian circa 1910

Adrian Zuidweg 1908-2000

Adrian Zuidweg

I know I’m pretty lucky to have all these wonderful photos of Grandpa and many other relatives. The curse, though, is that I am responsible for scanning and organizing digital images, organizing actual photos, and then deciding and implementing how these photos will be passed on to future generations! I may have mentioned before ;): I need an assistant!

 

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New Info Makes Me Smile

Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Michigan history, Remine, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , , , on December 27, 2018| 40 Comments »

Of all the amazing antique and vintage photos of my family that I now have in my files and on my computer, perhaps the majority are of the Remine branch. I could post their photos every day for a year most likely and you wouldn’t see the same one twice. But photos only tell part of the story of a family. The other day I stepped into Ancestry and ended up clicking on a leaf-hint for Grandpa’s cousin Harold Remine (1st cousin, 1x removed). I discovered a page from a book of graduates of the University of Michigan from 1923.

I’ve written about Harold a few times. His career as an engineer for Montreal is touched upon in An Update on the Career of Harold Remine. A photo of his wife Lillian in her wedding dress is Lillian Heddle Remine. There are many more about Harold, as well as his sisters Therese (owner of Ramona Park at one time) and Genevieve Tazelaar.

Here is the entry about Harold.

B.S.E.E. I know means Bachelor’s of Science in Electrical Engineering. But the rest? Was he in the navy? OK, I looked that up. United States Naval Reserve Force. 1918. So he was in WWI. I wish I knew more about his service! What does “With Detroit Edison Co.” mean? That he got a job there and will now work there? That he already works there? And is the address where he lived or where he worked?

Take a look at the full page so you can see how others are listed. Many do not have addresses. I think if you click twice the photo will enlarge. (But I am not an engineer).

In another exciting genealogical discovery, someone read one of the posts here and confirmed an identity for me.

Do you remember me writing about my grandfather’s girlfriend before Grandma? Check this post out: Grandpa’s Girlfriend.

I figured out she had to be Margaret Christine Garthe, but of course I couldn’t know for sure. Well, her granddaughter found the post and gave a positive identification! How exciting is that! The best part is that I have more pix of her than I have posted on this blog that I can give to Margaret’s granddaughter! Events like this make me love the internet.

 

Here’s one of the other ones:

Margaret was such a cute girl.

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A Moody Antique Photograph

Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Leeuwenhoek, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , on December 12, 2018| 58 Comments »

While I haven’t done much genealogy research lately, I have scanned some antique photos. I am eager to get back to the research, but haven’t yet had the time. In the meantime, here is one of the “new” photos I’ve scanned.I love this photo for its moody quality with the reflection of the trees on the house and in the windows, how the closeup of the house almost looks gothic, and his little lace-up boots.

So who are these people and when was it taken? Did they just step outside for the photo? I don’t see warm coats or hats.

This is what the back of the photo says:

Alice Leeuwenhoek and her little cousin, my grandfather, Adrian Zuidweg.

Was somebody using this photo as scrap paper to do a little sum? 232 + 94 = 326

So 1914 or 1916? Grandpa was born 31 October 1908. Do you think this photo is 1914, 1915, or 1916?

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