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Posts Tagged ‘Alice Paak DeKorn’

2020 Fill in the Gaps Project: My 2XGreat-Grandparents, Richard and Alice (Paak) DeKorn

Posted in Alice Paak DeKorn, Bassa, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Leeuwenhoek, Michigan history, Paak, Peek, Richard DeKorn, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , , , on April 8, 2020| 14 Comments »

This past week I organized my files and folders and Ancestry account for my 2x great-grandparents, Richard and Alice (Paak) DeKorn. I have written so much about them. He was a building contractor and mason in Kalamazoo who built many important buildings in town. She was the hero who ran into a burning home to help the family next door and sustained serious burns. Read about it here. She is the face of my chapbook Kin Types.

For Richard I noticed that I once again had not yet received the transfer of management on Findagrave to me. And because Alice died in her fifties, Richard married a second time–and I do not have the documents relating to that marriage. I contacted my buddy Grady who is related to Richard’s second wife, Jennie Jansen Sootsman. He gave me a transcription of the marriage record. When things start moving again, I will ask Wayne Loney if he can get a copy

For Alice I cannot find the 1870 census, which would have been just after she and her father and siblings arrived in the United States. I also do not have her obituary, although there were a lot of newspaper articles relating to her injuries in the fire.

Amberly is working on immigration and naturalization for both of these ancestors.

In this photograph, Alice is seated in the front center with her hands clasped together. Richard is seated directly behind her. On the left side of the photograph is their daughter Jennie (Janna) and son-in-law Lou Leeuwenhoek. I believe the other man is Richard Remine and his children are seated with Alice Leeuwenhoek, the daughter of Jennie and Lou. Richard was married to Alice’s sister Mary, so the children were actually first cousins of Jennie, not of Alice.

It would be nice to have a little relationship calculator on hand.

I actually have a good many more photos of Richard than of Jennie because she died in 1908 before most of the family picture-taking began in earnest.

Stay safe, everyone. I have been working really hard on business matters pertaining to the Thing going on (not fun being self-employed in this chaos), so I’m not going to write more here now. My focus regarding genealogy right now is to get as many gaps filled and everything organized and to give my daughter a copy of what I get done as I get it done.

 

 

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When They Write the Name on the Back

Posted in Alice Paak DeKorn, Bassa, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Netherlands history, Paak, Peek, Photography early 20th century, Photography late 19th century, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on November 9, 2017| 23 Comments »

Before I get started, just wanted to remind you that I now have a second family history blog called Entering the Pale. As I said last week: If you have any interest in following another part of our family, please head over there and follow. Also, you might want to follow if you have interest in history in general or history of the Pale of Settlement (Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, etc.) or Jewish history. Besides, I need more followers :).

Another photograph in the beautiful antique photo album was taken in the Netherlands, but unlike most of the portraits, this one is labeled on the back.

 

I had to ask a Facebook group for help with this, and then I also wrote to Adri van Gessel who has been so wonderfully helpful in all matters of Dutch genealogy.

The town is Gorinchem (none of my relatives seem to be from Gorinchem, so that was confusing), and the lady’s name is Annigje Haag.

It’s very confusing to see that an American family member has a 19th-century photograph possibly given by a woman in a town there doesn’t seem to be a connection to. I also couldn’t place her surname.

But eventually the truth revealed itself, thanks to these other people and a trip to wiewaswie.

Annigje Haag was born on 3 February 1858, in Nieuwland. She died on 2 December 1921, in Meerkerk.

On 15 January 1882, in Nieuwland, Annigje married Dirk Boer, who was born on 29 March 1854 in Meerkerk. By the way, he died on 27 September 1923 in Meerkerk. This means that the portrait was taken before 15 January 1882.

Who was Dirk? He was the son of Willem Boer and Teuntje Bassa. Bassa is a surname I know.

Teuntje Bassa, born on 20 November 1816 in Lexmond (a town I know), is the sister of Jacoba Bassa, the wife of Teunis Peek and the mother of Alice Peek/Paak DeKorn (the woman who grabbed the burning stove to remove it from the neighbor’s house). Therefore, Dirk, Annigje’s fiance or new husband, was Alice’s first cousin. They would have known each other.

For location, note that Meerkerk and Nieuwland are between Lexmond and Gorinchem.

Here’s an interesting little tidbit. Notice her belt? There is a woman in an old photograph on a website wearing the exact same belt! Go here. Isn’t that wild?

 

 

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A Christmas Gift From Mother: 1907

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, Netherlands history, Paak, Peek, Richard DeKorn, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 18, 2016| 28 Comments »

I’ll be taking a blogging break for the holidays, so I’ll leave you with this gift (that I first posted three years ago)  from Alice Paak (Richard) DeKorn to one of her children, possibly her daughter Cora, my great-grandmother. What a family and genealogy treasure–now 109 years old.

1907

Merry Xmas

from

MOTHER

In case you’re wondering about the use of the word “Xmas” instead of “Christmas,” this is what Wikipedia has to say:

There is a common belief that the word Xmas stems from a secular attempt to remove the religious tradition from Christmas by taking the “Christ” out of “Christmas”, but its use dates back to the 16th century.

I’m sure that this was just a way to fit it all on the tiny shell. What a lot of work to paint and letter this shell. I wonder if she made three, one for each of her children.

Happy holidays to you and yours! See you in the new year!

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Aunt Carrie Paak Waruf’s Countenance

Posted in Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Michigan history, Paak, Peek, Photography early 20th century, Remine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 6, 2016| 24 Comments »

I’ve written before about my great-great-grandmother’s sister, Carrie Paak Waruf, and her husband Henry Waruf: Who Was Hank Waruf, Kalamazoo Gunsmith, Tennyson’s Words for Henry Waruf’s Funeral, and All the Peek Girls (note that Paak can be spelled Peek, Paake, etc.). And when they traveled to Cuba.

But I’d like you to look at some photos I have that Grandpa had me mark Aunt Carrie.

The first one is a favorite. Carrie and Henry Waruf were well-off merchants. They had no children. And Aunt Carrie did like to spend money on her outfits. Is that a fur piece or a feather boa around her neck here? And what about this hat? On what planet was this popular? I assume it was expensive. That almost looks like a Minnie Pearl price tag on it. Is that a ribbon? Overall the hat mystifies me. I’d place her at around 40 in this photo. What do you think? By the way, she was born in 1862, so that would make the year of this photo around 1902.

Photo #1

Here is another photo of Aunt Carrie.

Photo #2

These are obviously the same woman, although the 2nd photo seems to be a much younger photo. This brings up the mystery of her age that arose in the post What Can the Photographer Tell Me When He’s No longer Here. The evidence on the 2nd photo about the photographer made it seem as if this photo was also around 1900. So now I am more confused than before. But it makes me wonder if that successor craziness went on more than once. I still think she looks under 35 in the 2nd photo, maybe even much younger than that.  Look at the differences in wrinkles with the first photo.

Now, if anybody has an idea on the date of that peculiar hat, it would help assign dates to these photos!

I’m very satisfied with the identity of the woman in photos one and two because I have another photo or two of her with her husband. There is no doubt.

Here is the bigger mystery. Grandpa also told me that this next photo was Aunt Carrie. I don’t see how that is possible. What do you think?

Photo #3

Is this Aunt Carrie? Or is it one of her sisters? There were Alice, Anna, Mary, and Carrie. This is not my great-great-grandmother Alice. But could it be Mary or Anna?

Here is Mary:

Photo #4

Mary Paak Remine

Mary Paak Remine

Here is Anna:

Photo #5

Annie Paak

Annie Paak

And here is Alice:

Photo #6

Alice Paak DeKorn

Can you hear me screaming? She almost looks like a sister. She looks enough like them that Grandpa called her Carrie. But who is she?

 

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The Virtual Cemetery

Posted in Alice Paak DeKorn, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Paak, Richard DeKorn, tagged , , , , , , , on April 8, 2013| 16 Comments »

I’m still thinking about Alice’s terrible accident.  She died in 1908, 17 years after it happened.  I looked through my photos to see if there are any of her after the accident, and this is the best one to see that her hands did recover.

Alice Paak DeKorn with her granddaughter Alice Leeuwenhoek (born 1897)

Until I have a chance to do some work on FindAGrave for my ancestors, I am paying my respects through this blog.

Here are photos of the gravestones of Alice Paak DeKorn and Richard DeKorn.   The grave sites are at Riverside Cemetery in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

The photos were submitted to Find A Grave by “Barbara from Michigan,” and I’m indebted to her for this service.

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