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?
Johanna REMINE Bosman, the mother of Jeanette Bosman Harter (and John, Gerritt, and Cornelius, as well as others who died in childhood) and sister of Richard Remine and Jennie Remine. Richard is the father of Therese Remine who owned Ramona Park and Ramona Palace. He is also the father of Genevieve Tazelaar and Harold Remine (I’ve written posts about these people).
That’s my great-grandfather, Adrian Zuidweg, behind the counter. He had owned a fish market and then he switched over to this shop. In the 1926 Kalamazoo City Directory he is listed as “confectionery,” which means that he owned a sweets shop! He died in 1929. I believe my grandfather then took over the candy store and branched out into being a service station. In the 1935 City Directory Grandpa is listed under confr (confectionery) and filling station and the same in 1937, but by 1939 only the station is listed: ZUIDWEG’S SERVICE STATION.
The Family Kalamazoo 