One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about this blog and my Entering the Pale blog and genealogy in general is the sharing of information and making connections. This post documents another instance of information sharing and connecting.
Kalamazoo History
I am posting a historical article about two men who immigrated in the 1800s from Zeist, Netherlands, to Kalamazoo, Michigan. They were not related to my family, but since my family had Dutch Arnold’s portrait in the family collection, they knew each other. Thirteen years ago . . . can it really be? 2026 minus 2013 = 13. Yes, thirteen years ago, I posted a portrait from my grandfather’s collection of a man he identified as “Dutch Arnold,” a local Kalamazoo saloon keeper who turned out to be somewhat famous.
I wrote about it here: https://thefamilykalamazoo.com/2013/02/14/a-saloon-among-the-dutch/
Since that time I heard from a Dutch historian, Michael Hartwigsen, who was writing an article about Dutch Arnold, born Arnoldus Wijnand van Loghem in 1848 in Zeist (near Utrecht), Netherlands–and about his brother-in-law Gerard Meerdink.
Michael Hartwigsen used my photo and has sent me the pages of the article. He has given me permission to post.
Source: “Seijst 2025-IV, ISSN 1383-2867, publisher: Zeister Historisch Genootschap”.
The article was written in Dutch, but Michael was kind enough to translate the article into English using a translation program and making some corrections of his own. I intended to post both versions here, but I had difficulty doing so, so I am only posting the English. If someone wants to see the Dutch version, please comment below, and I will create a second post with the Dutch version.
The first half of Michael’s article is about Gerard. Since he was a mason and contractor, I do think he must have known my great-great-grandfather, Richard DeKorn. They may have been competitors or even worked together. The second half is about Arnold who was quite a character!
Side note about religion: I asked Michael what religion the men were. They belonged to the Dutch Reformed religion, Nederlands Hervormde Kerk in Dutch, which at the time was the state religion. My own relatives were mostly part of the splinter group that was more conservative although that did change over time.
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The Family Kalamazoo 