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Posts Tagged ‘John DeSmit’

The Next Generation of DeSmits: The Other Grandchildren (or Biting Off Too Much)

Posted in DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Netherlands history, Richard DeKorn, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 22, 2018| 24 Comments »

For the first time (OK, maybe not the first), I bit off more than I could chew. The DeSmit family has been very time-consuming, and there were more children and grandchildren than I originally bargained for.  Therefore, this post is going to literally just scratch the surface. I’ve gone through the children of John DeSmit, Jr., and Mary DeKorn DeSmit previously, and I was careful to focus on baptism records, photos, and headstones. In this post, I am sharing what I know about John Jr’s half-siblings (children of John Sr and Jacoba Lamper) and their spouses and children. The further I dug my shovel into the past, the more children popped up. It got to the point with the second batch (Francis DeSmit and her husband Renier Van Delester) that I saw that this is a big job, and that I shouldn’t be spending much more time on it (this group is not related to me as the John DeSmit, Jr. family is). I’m sorry to say I have too much other unfinished business (er, branches) to attend to, so I present to you very preliminary and flawed findings on this group of DeSmits. I’m sorry if I have missed individuals, but it is very likely that I have.

THE CHILDREN OF ADRIAN DESMIT AND ANNA VERSLUIS

This is my most fleshed out group. I was aided by a DeSmit family researcher, Timothy Morris.

On 4 November 1858, Adrian was born. Now be careful if you are researching Adrian DeSmit. There are many Adrian DeSmits who have lived in Kalamazoo–many who were even related to this Adrian. Our Adrian here is the son of John Sr. and Jacoba. So be sure. It gets VERY confusing!

Adrian lived until 25 March 1938 when he died in Banks Township in Antrim County, Michigan. But during his lifetime, he married more than one woman.

In 1885, Adrian married Anna Versluis. Photos of Adrian and Anna can be found here. The couple had one daughter, Cora Mary DeSmit on 4 October 1888. I could not find Cora’s birth or baptism record. A descendant could order the birth record from Kalamazoo County.

This is one of Grandpa’s photos.

 

Adrian’s daughter Cora DeSmit married Bert Reno Nyland (1885-1941).  Although it doesn’t sound like it, Bert’s family was Dutch-American, also. This beautiful photo of Cora and Bert was shared with me by Timothy Morris who colored it for his family tree.

When Anna died in 1916, Adrian was left alone, but four years later, on 8 April 1920, Adrian married his son-in-law Bert’s widowed mother, Alice Zeedijk Nyland (born 1859 in the Netherlands and died on 14 June 1937 in Kalamazoo). Note that she died about 10 months before Adrian did–on Adrian’s death certificate his spouse is indicated as Anna Versluis–there wasn’t room for more than one name and they went with his first wife).

Cora and Bert ended up having six children that lived to adulthood and beyond. Their first child, John, died at birth of “prolonged labor.” Bert died on 2 May 1941 of a stroke. They were in living in Banks, Michigan. That must be why Adrian died there in 1938–perhaps he was living with his daughter and son-in-law after Alice’s death.

Here is a more casual photograph of four generations: Adrian DeSmit, Cora (DeSmit) Nyland, Howard Nyland (one of Cora and Bert’s children), Joyce Nyland (4 months old). Joyce was born in 1935.

Four Generations

Cora passed away 1 November 1953 and her headstone is found at Riverside Cemetery.

THE CHILDREN OF FRANCINA DESMIT AND RENIER VAN DELESTER

On Halloween (October 31) 1862, Francina was born. She married Renier Van Delester (many spellings of both first and surnames) on 19 January 1882 in Kalamazoo. Francina died 21 September 1900, still a young woman. Her death certificate:

The cause of death for Frances is heart-breaking. Ovariectomy with resulting shock. It could have been something as simple as a harmless cyst on her ovary that resulted in surgery that led to her death.

At first, I thought that the couple had two sons born in Kalamazoo. Renier was born 3 September 1883. Jan was born 6 July 1885. But then I discovered children, William, born 18 February 1888 and died October 1957, and Cora, born 4 March 1890. She passed away in 1982. It is possible that Francis, or Frank, was born around 1896, but all the other Francis research led to someone else.

Renier Jr. (who went also by Rine) married Johanna W. Dunning (1883-1957) on 9 September 1908. Their son Francis was born about 1910, and there seems to be a lot of documentation out there about him. If a brother Francis of Renier Jr. existed (born about 1896), he has been confused by this nephew (who, I believe, served in WWII). Rine passed away 4 December 1958.

The next son, Jan, came to be known as John. Here is his baptism. Note that the original spelling of his father’s name was probably Reinier Van de Luister.

He lived in [Hammond] Indiana with wife Clara and children John (b 1914) and Leona (b 1917). Clara, born 17 December 1889 and died on 12 July 1966, is buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Hammond, Indiana.

You can see that Leona Jacobs, his daughter, is mentioned on John’s death certificate: 17 February 1974. According to this record, John was self-employed in the cigar industry. If you on his mother’s death record above, her occupation was “cigar maker.”

William, born 18 February 1888 and died October 1957, married Etta Florence Dunning on 28 July 1915. They had at least one child, Mary Louise, born about 1925. According to the marriage record, William was a farmer.

I saw that William is buried at Mountain Home Cemetery in Kalamazoo, so I requested a photo of his headstone. I did the same for his wife, Etta. Within a few hours, my Findagrave volunteer hero Jeff had responded with a link to the shared headstone (photo was taken by another volunteer).

Only daughter Cora was born 4 March 1890. On 4 September 1948, in Kalamazoo, she married Orie A. Curtiss. Note that she was 58 and he was 48. Needless to say, they had no children.

Orie was born 9 August 1900 in Cleveland, Ohio. He died in Galesburg, Michigan, on 12 December 1985. When Orie was 20 he was a teamster in the ice industry in Flint, Michigan. In the 1953 city directory, Orie was a “Hd Loader” in Kalamazoo. What do you think that means? He was married before, in 1937, to Eliza V. Smith in Indiana. She was also almost 10 years older than Orie (Orrin?). I doubt they had children since she was already 46 when they married. But the question is: did Cora, Orie, or Eliza have children from earlier marriages? Obviously this is a very complicated history that would take a lot of work to rebuild. You can see from the headstone that the Curtiss’ grew old together.

THE CHILDREN OF ELIZABETH DESMIT AND JACOB HYCOOP

On 23 April 1866, Elizabeth was born. She married Jacob Hycoop (born abt 1865 in the Netherlands), and they had at least 2 daughters, Mamie (born 1889) and Cora (born 1892). Elizabeth lived until 18 May 1946. In fact, in one of the newspaper articles I’ve posted, it was her yard where John, Sr., hoed the celery on his birthday.

Mamie married Rene Bowers. They had at least one son, John.

Daughter Cora married Herbert Brink (1890-1947). I found a baptismal record for a daughter, Helen Elizabeth, for 20 April 1930. Helen was born 5 November 1930. Haha, that does not make sense. So am I reading this document incorrectly?

Cora died on 14 May 1986.

THE CHILDREN OF MARTIN DESMIT AND ADRIANA SCHIERECK

Finally, Martin was born 17 November 1870, and grew up to marry Adriana Schiereck. They had a son called Clarence Wynoble, so it is probable that Clarence was Martin’s stepson. Martin died 6 November 1942 in Plainwell, Michigan.

You can see that my research has been whatever has been the easiest pickens. There is no rhyme or reason here on what I am showcasing. This family needs a good year spent on it. But I hope I’ve given a headstart and that any one or more branches can be picked up and followed and filled in with more and more facts.

If you have DeSmit photos you wish to share, I might like to post them on this blog, so please email them to me.

 

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Is that John DeSmit Jr. in the Newspaper?

Posted in DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Netherlands history, Richard DeKorn, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 15, 2018| 8 Comments »

I’ll try to finish up John DeSmit Sr.’s other grandchildren next week. Pioneer Cemetery turned out to be a bust, though, for his first wife Jennie, as well as for two of the babies of John and Jacoba that passed away. There are not too many places they could have been buried in those early days if the cemetery was in the City of Kalamazoo. There are other cemeteries in areas around Kalamazoo, but not in the city. I might be too stubborn, but I can’t imagine them using a cemetery that wasn’t in town when they lived next to downtown.

This week I wanted to share a newspaper article from Joel Reeves. I have photos of Mary DeKorn DeSmit, but I had never seen a photo of her husband, John DeSmit, Jr. But here he is in the newspaper! The photo is from 1915, although the article is from 1981.

The boy in the photo, Edwin Reeves, is John’s grandson. I love seeing actual work with the celery that Kalamazoo was known for. What a fabulous photo. Notice that written on it says that the Model A capacity was 750 pounds loaded with 150 lb of celery. According to the writing, that put the weight at over 1,125 pounds!

I hope too many heavy people didn’t get into those Model As at one time . . . .

 

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The Next Generation of DeSmits: The Children of John and Mary DeSmit (updated with new photo)

Posted in DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Netherlands history, Richard DeKorn, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 9, 2018| 28 Comments »

John DeSmit, Sr., had one child with his first wife, Jennie, and the rest with his second wife, Jacoba. I have only scraped the surface of researching the DeSmit family, especially this generation of John Sr’s children. So much more can be done. I will not be doing it; however, if you are related to the DeSmits and need help researching your own branch more in-depth, please contact me, and I will be happy to give you ideas of where and how to search. I am also happy to help  if you would like to write more about the family for posting on this blog.

I’d also like to mention some stellar sleuthing on the part of Joel Reeves. He discovered that Riverside Cemetery, the cemetery of choice by the DeSmits (and also of my great grandparents, etc.) did not open until 1862. When Jennie DeSmit died in 1854 or 1855, she must have been buried some place. Here are some articles that Joel discovered about the possible site of her grave. I feel that the first article gives one big clue about the site of Jennie’s grave. This Pioneer Cemetery that is in the articles was in existence until Riverside opened. It was “bulldozed” later for a park. But the very last person buried at Pioneer was Rev. H. G. Klyn, who was the second pastor of First Reformed Church. I feel it’s very likely that the family belonged to First Reformed Church.

http://www.kpl.gov/local-history/cemeteries/pioneer.aspx

http://www.encorekalamazoo.com/dead-and-buried

https://www.kalamazoocity.org/cemeteries

This relates to two of John and Jacoba’s children, too. The first Adriaan and the first Francena died as infants in 1856 and 1857. They were possiby also buried in Pioneer Cemetery.

Today’s post will cover the children of John Sr.’s first born son, the son of first wife Jennie. The other children will be in next week’s post.

THE CHILDREN OF JOHN DESMIT, JR. AND MARY DEKORN

My great-great-grandfather’s sister, Maria Catharina “Mary” DeKorn, married John DeSmit, Jr., and they had far more children than any of John’s siblings.

Their first child, Janna (Jennie) DeSmit, was born 7 March 1873 in Richland, which is in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. She was baptized 3 August 1873 at First Reformed Church in Kalamazoo. (Oh, do I wish I could see a photo of that church in those days).

Notice what it says about her father on the baptism record. Keep in mind I don’t know her father’s baptism information.

On 14 June 1905, Jennie married Abraham Grofoert (1873-1926) in Kalamazoo.  Unfortunately, Jennie passed away three years later, on 14 June 1908 in Kalamazoo. She was buried at Riverside Cemetery on 17 June 1908. This was only one month after her uncle, Richard DeKorn’s, wife Alice passed away on 5 May 1908. Here is Jennie’s death certificate.

 

The spelling on Jennie’s headstone (and that of her husband was Grofvert).

The next child was Boudewyn (Benjamin) De Smit, named for Mary’s father, my 3x great-grandfather. He was born 10 February 1875 and baptized 4 April 1875 in Kalamazoo at First Reformed Church. His father was “off the hook” for this baptism record.

Ben was a mason like his father and grandfather before him. He had brown hair and blue eyes, according to his WWI draft registration. The year after his older sister died, Ben married Jennie Alphreta White (1869-1930) on 5 July 1999 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Their son, Benny DeSmit, was born 10 December 1909 in Kalamazoo. Wow, that was a short pregnancy. Jennie passed away on 10 December 1930 in Kalamazoo at age 55. Ben died on 28 April 1958 in Mattawan, which is in Van Buren County, Michigan. He was buried on May 1 at Riverside Cemetery in Kalamazoo. I do not have his death certificate.

Next up was Jan or John DeSmit III. He was born on 16 July 1877 in Kalamazoo. John, with brown hair and blue eyes, was a brick layer like his brother, father, and grandfather. On 20 July 1899 he married Pieternella Paulina (Nellie) Schrier (1879-1900) in Kalamazoo.

You can see their wedding invitation with questions that arose in this post What About the DeSmits?

Their daughter Nellie D. DeSmit was born on 30 April 1900 in Kalamazoo. Sadly, John’s wife Nellie died 10 days later, on 9 May 1900. I had more answers to this story of John and Nellie in the post Another Mystery Solved.

John married again, on 15 December 1926 in Goshen, Elkhart, Indiana. His wife was Grietje (Margaret) Riepma (1873-1933). Margaret died on 31 July 1933 in Kalamazoo. John died in April 1964 and was buried at Riverside Cemetery on 30 April 1964. I do not have his death certificate either. I have not found the baptism record for John.

I would be willing to bet that I own photographs of one or more of the older boys of John Jr.; however, they are not marked (sadly).

UPDATE: As it happens, I just received a beautiful photo of John DeSmit III. The year might be 1955, and he is with three of Edwin Reeves’ cute-as-a-bug’s-ear grandchildren.

The next DeSmit child was Jacoba, known as Cora. She was born on 12 October 1880 and baptized on 6 February 1881 in Kalamazoo.

On 7 June 1899, Cora married Charles Howard Pierce (1877-1971) in Kalamazoo.

This is Cora.

Their daughter, Eleanor Ruth Pierce was born on 2 September 1907 in Kalamazoo.

Cora passed away on 26 July 1954. She was buried at Riverside Cemetery on July 29.

After Cora, Franciena Geertruida, or Frances Gertrude, was born on 22 November 1882 in Kalamazoo.  She was baptized 11 February 1884 at First Reformed Church. This was a longer time period before her baptism, but since the baptisms were done in clusters, she could have been ill and had to wait for the next time the baptisms were performed.

On 26 November 1902, Frances married Charles Reeves (1876-1938). Their son, Edwin R. Reeves, was born on 19 March 1904. (DOD 1978). In 1911, the couple divorced, and on 17 September 1914, Frances married Jacob Flipse Jr. (1868-1940), who was forty-six years old and had been married to Frances’ Aunt Christina DeSmit who had passed away without leaving any living children.

On 29 May 1916, the couples’ son Richard Jacob Flipse (DOD 2001) was born. His father, Frances’ husband, was 47. He waited a long time to have a son! On 11 August 1940, Jacob passed away.

If you want to read more about the Flipse family, check out these posts:

The Mystery of Mrs. Jacob Flipse (about Frances Flipse)

 

Do You Remember the Mystery of Mrs. Jacob Flipse (this one gives a lineage of the Flipse family)

 

Frances’ older son, Edwin, passed away in Pasco, Florida, on 28 May 1978. Right around that time is when I met her at her home. Here is a photo of her from Joel Reeves from the 1970s.

 

Four years later, Frances passed away at age 96 on 15 January 1980 in Kalamazoo. She was still living in the Burdick and Balch neighborhood as of the time I met her in the late 1970s. She was buried on 18 January 1980 at Riverside Cemetery. I put in a request for a photo of her headstone, and less than ten minutes later I got an email letting me know it had been accomplished! I have to give a shout out to Findagrave volunteer Jeff Phillips who then went on to make sure all branches of the DeSmit family in that section were photographed and loaded onto Findagrave! Jeff is a real credit to Findagrave!

The next DeSmit child lived to adulthood, but died quite young. Dirk (Richard) was born 12 June 1887 in Kalamazoo and passed away on 29 April 1913, at the age of 25 in Detroit. He was buried on 2 May 1913 at Riverside Cemetery.

Geertruida, or Gertrude, was born on 3 September 1889. She died at age 13 on 29 July 1903. Or was she? She was buried on 23 July 1903 at Riverside Cemetery.

Look carefully at the dates on the death certificate. What do you think about the date of death?

Cause of death: Acute rheumatism with endocarditis.

I have this photo of three of the DeSmit sisters.

Note that the middle woman (in age) is clearly Cora who has a very distinctive look. Jennie was 1873 to 1908, married in 1905. Cora was 1880-1954, married in 1899. Frances was 1882-1980, first married in 1902. Gertrude was 1889-1903.

I have posted this photo in the past, and I couldn’t decide the date of the photo and why there are three sisters instead of four. The truth is that if the photo was taken after Gertrude’s 1903 death, Frances would have been married and not the little girl she appears in this photo. So what if the photo was taken much earlier. What if the youngest in the photo was Frances and she was 14? Then Cora would be 16 and Jennie would be 23. Those are plausible ages for this photo, I think. That would date the image to about 1896, and Gertrude would have been 7 and not in the photo.

Maybe Gertrude wasn’t in that photo because she as in another photo. What if the previous photo was meant to be the “young ladies” of the household, and this photo was meant to be the children? This would be about right to be Gertrude, Richard, and the youngest child Adrian (who I haven’t yet introduced). The date on the photograph is 1895 and WAS IDENTIFIED BY GRANDPA AS GERTRUDE, RICHARD, AND ADRIAN DESMIT!

Because both Richard and Gertrude died so young, Adrian was the only remaining sibling of this photo throughout much of the 20th century.

Lastly, Adriaan, or Adrian, was born on 9 December 1891 and baptized on 7 February 1892 in Kalamazoo.

Adrian was a sailor with the U.S. Navy at the time of WWI and after. He enlisted 12 June 1918 and was released 30 September 1921.

On 6 June 1923, he married Minnie Brondyk (born Groefsema) (1896-?). Minnie had been married to Jacob Brondyk and divorced him.

I see Adrian had a daughter born years before his marriage, on 30 March 1917–Dorothy Marie DeSmit. So was he Dorothy’s stepfather or did he adopt her?

Adrian died on 5 September 1988 in Gardena, Los Angeles County, at age 96. He was buried a week later, on 12 September, in Kalamazoo at Riverside Cemetery.

 

To sum up: I only looked for certain documents: photos, death certificates, baptism records, and headstones.

I am missing these items:

  • Death certificates for Ben, John, Cora, Richard, Frances, and Adrian (these can be ordered from Kalamazoo County, if DeSmit family would like to do so)
  • Baptism records for John, Richard, and Gertrude (more searching of Reformed records needs to happen)
  • Photos for Ben and John (gosh, I wish)
  • Graves for Jennie, John Sr.’s first wife–as well as the graves of the babies of Jacoba and John who passed away.  If they were buried at Pioneer, this will not happen, most likely.

There are many other records which can be search for, including records for spouses and children.

Here is a special photo from around 1950 from Joel of my great-great-grandfather’s sister, Mary DeKorn, and the mother of all the children I’ve written about in this post. She lived to be 98 years old.

 

This is the same woman:


And now for a super special photo from Joel. Five generations!

From left to right: Mary DeKorn DeSmit, Donald Reeves, David Reeves, Edwin Reeves, and Frances Flipse.

Mary DeKorn was John Sr.’s DIL, who was gone decades before this photo was taken around 1950. Frances Flipse was Mary’s daughter. Edwin was the son of Frances. Donald was the son of Edwin. And David was the oldest son of Donald. Joel, who gave me the photos, is the brother of David.

Next time I will write about the other grandchildren of John DeSmit, Sr.

 

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More on Jacoba and John DeSmit . . . and Jennie

Posted in DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Netherlands history, Richard DeKorn, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 1, 2018| 22 Comments »

Two weeks ago I wrote about a pioneer of Kalamazoo, Michigan, John DeSmit, Sr., and last week I wrote more about his family.

I mentioned that it appears that his first wife was Jennie (perhaps Van Sluis) and she was the mother of John’s oldest child, John Jr. Then he married Jacoba Lamper. But I really didn’t have too much information sorting out the wives.

I know I said I would write about the next generation next, but before I do that, I want to clarify a little more about Jacoba and Jennie.

Adri Van Gessel has been very helpful in this matter. According to Adri:

Jacoba Lamper emigrated to the USA in 1855, together with her mother Christina de Bart and her brothers Marinus, Adriaan (Adrian) and Lauris (Louis). Her father died in 1840.

Marinus was never married. Adrian married on May 31, 1860 at Kalamazoo to Hermania (Minnie) Reidsma (in the presence of a.o. Jan Smith). Louneres (Louis) married on September 9, 1858 at Kalamazoo to Gertrude Elizabeth VanEst (in the presence of a.o. Jan Smit).

In the book “Emigranten naar Amerika……” all emigrants are listed in alphabetical order.

So there’s no Jennie listed on the page of Jannis.

Only Jannis is listed as emigrating. No wife and no four other couples are listed with Jannis, although his newspaper interview account states that five couples traveled together. Adri then did more painstaking work on this to try to locate Jennie’s emigration information by scanning an entire 200 page book. No luck. He also considered other first names. For instance, Jennie is a common nickname for Adriana in the Netherlands.

Interesting that Jacoba married 7 August 1855. She must have married the minute she stepped off the boat! Also intriguing is her mother immigrating to the United States with her children, although her husband had been gone for fifteen years. It makes me wonder if there was some connection between the Lampers and either the DeSmits or another Kalamazoo family. Since Jacoba married so soon after arriving, I wonder if the wedding was planned ahead of time. Of course, John would have been eager to remarry with a baby to take care of.

What I need to do is to try to get more information about the family from Holland, Erie County, New York. Or Long Island. Because therein lies a big problem. While Jannis/John talked about working on Long Island to the newspaper and his son’s death certificate says he was born there, there is another record, the marriage record of John DeSmit, Jr. and Mary DeKorn that indicates he was actually born in Holland, which is the far western part of New York State, about 400 miles from Long Island! Holland is 30 miles SE of Buffalo. Must be pretty cold there in the winter . . . .

Death Certificate of John DeSmit, Jr.

Marriage Record of John DeSmit Jr. and Mary DeKorn

(Yes, you read that right. Mary’s brother, my great-great-grandfather Richard DeKorn’s marriage record is right above John and Mary’s!)

According to Wikipedia:

HOLLAND, NY

The town of Holland was established in 1818 from part of the (now defunct) town of Willink, which once included all the southern part of Erie County. The name was derived from Willem Willink, one of the original investors of the Holland Land Company, which owned most of the land in western New York and sold it off to cities and townships that exist today. The name “Holland” is one of many surviving remnants of the Dutch investors who once owned this region. As with the town of Willink, the locations named after these investors have been given new names. Many of the original town buildings met their fate due to fire. Today the Holland Historical Society resides in the original fire hall on Main Street.

LONG ISLAND, NY

In the 19th century, Long Island was still mainly rural and agricultural. Suburbanization started modestly on Long Island when reliable steam ferry service allowed prosperous Wall Streeters to get to new Brooklyn Heights homes in time for dinner. Rural traffic was served by the new Brooklyn and Jamaica Plank road through Jamaica Pass, among others. After the American Civil War, streetcar suburbs sprawled out onto the outwash plain of central and southern Kings County. Trolleys also brought workers from other parts of western Queens to Long Island City jobs.

The Long Island Rail Road was begun as a combined ferry-rail route to Boston via Greenport. The predecessor to the Long Island Rail Road began service in 1836 from the ferry terminal (t o Manhattan) through Brooklyn to Jamaica in Queens, and completed the line to the east end of Long Island in 1844. Other rail lines to Coney Island, the Rockaways and Long Beach serviced the beach resort towns. The growing and merging railroads opened up more than 50 stations in (present-day) Nassau County and over 40 in Suffolk Country, laying the foundation for the future suburbanization of the island.[9]

From 1830 until 1930, population roughly doubled every twenty years, and several cities were incorporated, such as the City of Brooklyn in Kings County, and Long Island City in Queens.

I am not used to researching the mid-19th century in the United States because most of my ancestors were not here that early. I’ve learned that birth records were not required before 1880 in New York State, so the hope of finding that record for John, Jr., died a swift death. That is no excuse for not finding his baptism in the Reformed records, though. It seems that everything that has to do with the DeSmits between arrival in the United States and John, Sr., marrying Jacoba Lamper is missing. Where is Jennie buried, for instance?

Missing (or what I wish I could find)

  • Ship manifest
  • Emigration records of Jennie and the other four couples
  • Any Dutch records on Jennie at all
  • Birth record and/or baptism of John, Jr.
  • Jennie’s death record
  • Kalamazoo record of John’s marriage to Jacoba Lamper (what we have is a church record only)

Well, this brick wall isn’t even truly one of mine since Mary DeKorn married into the DeSmit family. I’ll continue my tangent, though, by writing about the next generation of DeSmits (I hope).

I really was trying to imagine what Kalamazoo was like when John DeSmit, Sr. brought his family to the town. A population of 1,200. What were the streets and houses like? When I tried to research 1854, this is what I found: the Kalamazoo State Hospital (asylum) began being built in 1854!

My own earliest relatives in Kalamazoo were the DeKorns–Mary DeKorn’s family. Her father, Boudewin, and mother, Johanna, arrived in the United States in 1855 or 56, right when Jacoba arrived and married John. The DeKorns, however, first settled in Zeeland, Michigan. Within a few years they moved to Kalamazoo with their three young children. Johanna was unfortunately gone by 1864 and Boudewin by 1873. They were my 3rd great-grandparents.

Therefore, Boudewin and Johanna were the same generation as John and Jacoba DeSmit. John’s oldest child, John Jr., would marry Boudewin’s middle child, Mary.

In my first post about the DeSmits there is a newspaper article about how John, Sr., worked on Bronson Park. Here is a great article with photos that show the history of Bronson Park.

I requested photos of John and Jacoba’s headstones for their Findagrave memorials a couple of weeks ago, but no response yet.

Speaking of Findagrave, the person who has my OWN FATHER’S memorial page has not responded to my two demands for management of it. We’ll see about that . . . .

UPDATE ON FINDAGRAVE: Findagrave responded to my request immediately and transferred my father’s memorial page to me. They were very accommodating even if the original site creator was not.

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John DeSmit’s Family

Posted in DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Netherlands history, Richard DeKorn, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 26, 2018| 18 Comments »

Last week I wrote about a pioneer of Kalamazoo, Michigan, John DeSmit, Sr. I had learned that he was actually at least John DeSmit III because his father and grandfather who lived and died in the Netherlands, were also Jan or Jannis.

Now I want to give you an idea of John’s wives and their children.  This post was almost published without some very important information sent me by Adri Van Gessel indicating that John DeSmit, Sr. actually had two wives and that the first wife is the mother of only his oldest child, John DeSmit, Jr. Also, I was helped by Hubert Theuns. An enormous thank you for their help!

John Sr. must have married his first wife in the Netherlands. I have not yet found the marriage record, but according to the newspaper, it was probably between 1848 and 1851, when they emigrated. Her name is listed on the death certificate of her one child, John Jr.

The certificate says his mother was Jennie Van S…… Could be Sluice or Sluis or Sh something. I do believe she was still alive when John moved to Kalamazoo with her and their son.

According to one of the newspaper articles published on my last post, the family came to Kalamazoo on 2 May 1854.

The next time we find the family “on paper,” is a marriage record between John Senior and Jacoba Lamper. Jennie must have died between 2 May 1854 and the date of the new marriage, 7 August 1855.

Jacoba was born 18 November 1827 in ‘s-Gravenpolder. Her parents were Adriaan Lamper and Christina de Bart (Lamper). This name is also elsewhere seen as de Bat and de Bath.

Note for DeSmit and Lamper family members: Hubert found documents for other Lamper family members, as well as for John DeSmit’s parents, etc. If you are interested in these documents, please email about them as I am not going to post them all on here.

IMMIGRATION

Regarding their immigration, Hubert also found the following emigration information in http://www.zeeuwengezocht.nl/. Remember that this is emigration, not immigration, so it has to do with John leaving the Netherlands, not actually entering the United States.

Genealogische Afschriften 810/2 Emigrant Jannis de Smit
Woonplaats:
Zuidzande
Rol:
Emigrant
Leeftijd:
26
Beroep:
Landmansknecht (profession: farmer’s apprentice)
Kerkelijke gezindte:
Nederlands-hervormd (religion: Dutch Reformed)
Toegangsnummer:
164 Verzameling Genealogische Afschriften (GA), 1600-2017
Reden:
Verbetering van bestaan (reason for emigration: Amelioration of existence)
Datum vertrek:
1851
Bestemming land:
Noord-Amerika
Betreft:
Staten van landverhuizingen (archief Provinciaal Bestuur Zeeland)
Nummer:
Genealogische Afschriften 810/2
Pagina:
27
Inventarisnummer:
810
Prijs fotokopie:
€ 5,00

Organisatie: Zeeuws Archief

laatste wijziging 17-02-2016

Although it doesn’t give much more information than the newspaper accounts did, it confirms that the couple immigrated to the United States in 1851 (and not 1850). We know they left from Rotterdam, so now it remains to be seen if I can find them through ship manifest/immigration records.

According to the newspaper article, John and Jennie traveled with four other young married couples. Perhaps that will help locate them.

JOHN DESMIT, JR.

Once John and Jennie arrived in the United States (John in wooden shoes and corduroys, as the newspaper affirmed), he sought work on Long Island, New York, where their first child, John, Jr. was born on 18 July 1853. He would live a full life and die 30 October 1928 in Kalamazoo. He was married to Mary DeKorn (the sister of Richard DeKorn, my great-great-grandfather). Mary was born 4 January 1855 in Kapelle, Zeeland, Netherlands. She died 28 March 1953 in Kalamazoo. They had eight children who lived past infancy.

 

I am not sure if I have a photo of John, Jr. But the motivation for beginning this series on the DeSmits was because I found a little newpaper article in the Telegraph dated 11 March 1892 that mentioned John, Jr., and Richard DeKorn, my great-great-grandfather. They apparently were in partnership together until this date. Since they were both brick masons, did they work together? Or was it a realty partnership? I do not know. But it’s fitting that the brothers-in-law were partners.

In 1854, John, Sr., Jennie, and John, Jr. moved to Kalamazoo. Soon after, Jennie must have died, but I can find no proof of this as of yet. I cannot find her death record, a grave record, nothing. Keep in mind that until I do all this information about the two wives is as yet unverified.

As with Johns Sr. and Jr. I will mainly use the American version of the names for the rest of the children in this post. These are the children John had with Jacoba Lamper.

TWO BABES TAKEN TOO SOON

Adrian was born 17 May 1856 and, sadly, died 9 November 1856.

Francena was born 4 July 1857 and, though the couple might have celebrated the birth of a baby born on Independence Day, she died over a month later, on 27 August 1857. The death of these two children early on must have been real “dog’s weather” and “black snow” for the DeSmits. (Those are expressions he used to refer to hard times in a newspaper interview.

ADRIAN DESMIT

On 4 November 1858, Adrian was born. This baby survived, living until 25 March 1938 when he died in Banks Township in Antrim County, Michigan. Adrian married Anna Versluis, and they had one daughter. Eventually, Adrian would marry Alice Nyland.

 

The photo of Adrian is from Tim Morris.

This photo was from my grandfather, Adrian Zuidweg.

FRANCINA DESMIT

Halloween (October 31) 1862, Francina was born. She died 21 September 1900, still a young woman. She married Renier Van Delester (many spellings of both first and surnames). They had two sons.

CHRISTINA DESMIT

Christina was born, most likely, in September 1864. The date has not yet been discovered, other than in the Dutch Reformed Church records, where it states she was born 31 September 1864. Unless, the calendar has changed since the 1860s, there is no September 31. Christina married Jacob Flipse, Jr. They did not have children. She passed away 15 February 1914.

ELIZABETH DESMIT

On 23 April 1866, Elizabeth was born. She married Jacob Hycoop, and they had 2 daughters. She lived until 18 May 1946. In fact, in one of the newspaper articles, it was her yard where John, Sr., hoed the celery on his birthday.

ANOTHER BABE GONE TOO SOON

Baby Catharina was born 2 July 1869, but passed away on 16 January 1870.

MARTIN DESMIT

Finally, Martin was born 17 November 1870, and grew up to marry Adriana Schiereck. They had a son called Clarence Wynoble, so it is probable that Clarence was Martin’s stepson. Martin died 6 November 1942 in Plainwell, Michigan.

 

All except John, Jr. were born in Kalamazoo, and they all died in Michigan–most of them in Kalamazoo. In a future post I will discuss the next generation of DeSmits–the children of John, Jr., Adrian, Francina, Elizabeth, and Martin.

 

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Another Mystery Solved! Here’s Our Nellie . . .

Posted in DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 16, 2014| 25 Comments »

After I posted the wedding invitation for John DeSmit and Nellie Squares, the mystery of Nellie was solved by Adri van Gessel.

Nellie was born Pieternella Paulina Schrier on Sunday, October 5, 1879, at Kortgene, the Netherlands. She immigrated to the United States in 1891 with her mother, the widow of Paulus Schrier, and 5 siblings.

On Thursday, July 20, 1899, Nellie married John DeSmit in Kalamazoo.

Wedding dress circa 1900

On May 9, 1900, Nellie died in Kalamazoo. She was a 20-year-old housewife, according to her death record.

But the story does not end here.

Adri found the birth of a girl, Nellie D. DeSmit, born April 30, 1900, in Kalamazoo. The daughter of Nellie and John. Sadly, Nellie must have passed away from giving birth.

Baby Nellie was not listed on the 1900 census with her father, John, who was living at home with his family. Instead, the baby was listed as an adopted daughter in the family of Christopher (Christiaan) Schrier, Nellie’s brother and baby Nellie’s uncle.

Baby Nellie, no longer a baby, was married on June 13, 1918, in Kalamazoo, to Garret Johnson, son of J.G. Johnson and Nellie Groenhuizen. Garret was born on May 11, 1895 at Hilversum, the Netherlands. He died August 18, 1961, in Kalamazoo.

It appears, though, that baby Nellie still considered herself the daughter of John DeSmit because in the 1940 census she, her husband, and son Robert (born 1935) lived in the household of John DeSmit and was listed as daughter.

One of the biggest mysteries has been why Nellie’s parents are listed as Mr. and Mrs. A. Ver Sluis.  At first I thought, well, Nellie’s brother Christiaan  married Nellie Ver Sluis in 1898, only a year before our wedding invitation for Nellie Schrier and John DeSmit. Does this have something to do with the fact that there was not a living father to give Nellie Schrier away?

No, it does not!

Nellie’s mother Pieternella de Looff Schrier was married on Wednesday March 2, 1892, in Kalamazoo, to Abraham Jacob Versluis, son of Willem Versluis and Pieternella de Lange.  Abraham had been previously married to Cornelia Verburg and had two children by her. He immigrated to the United States in 1891. Abraham was born on Sunday October 13, 1850 at Kortgene and died on Tuesday November 1, 1938 in Kalamazoo.

Look at the timeline:

1891, Pieternella and her children, including Nellie, arrived in the United States AND Abraham Ver Sluis and his two children, including his Nellie, arrived in the United States

1892, Pieternella married Abraham Ver Sluis (they got married in March, which is quite early in the year–is it possible that the two families traveled together, intending to marry in this country?)

1898, Christiaan married the daughter of Abraham Ver Sluis and his deceased wife Cornelia Verburg

1899, John DeSmit married Nellie Schrier, daughter of Pieternella and the deceased Paulus and stepdaughter of Abraham Ver Sluis

Was it customary to marry step-siblings, as Christiaan did?

Ring any bells?

In case the name Schrier rings any bells for those from Kalamazoo, there have been many residents with that surname.  The name comes from the Zeeland province of the Netherlands. Paul J. Schrier was the mayor of Kalamazoo from 1967-1969. He was the son of Peter Schrier, who was a brother of Nellie Schrier DeSmit. Therefore the mayor was our Nellie’s nephew, although he never knew her since she died at the age of 20 from giving birth to her daughter.

Paul J. Schrier Mayor of Kalamazoo 1967-1969

Paul J. Schrier
Mayor of Kalamazoo
1967-1969

What I don’t know:

 

If baby Nellie ever had any half siblings. Her father apparently married Margaret when he was between 42 and 52.

When baby Nellie passed away.

If baby Nellie perhaps lived with her uncle so that she would be raised with his two children. Did Christiaan and his wife already have their babies when Nellie was born or did they come after?

This still doesn’t explain the Corliss home for the wedding.

And we think families are confusing today . . . .

 

 

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What About the DeSmits?

Posted in DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 9, 2014| 22 Comments »

Let’s take a little break from Theresa’s story this week. We can return to it next week.

Another branch of the family that I have not yet spent any time investigating begins with Richard DeKorn’s other sister Mary. His sister Jennie is the one who married John Culver, had two little girls, and took off for Seattle. It wasn’t until Joyce sent me the photo album that I began to learn more about that branch. But Richard’s other sister, the one who stayed put in Kalamazoo, I still haven’t spent any time with.

Mary DeKorn DeSmit

Mary DeKorn DeSmit

 

Mary died at age 98, two years before I was born. 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 seven children–3 boys and 4 girls. That means that there are a lot of children to investigate. I wonder how many of their descendents are living in the Kalamazoo area.

In order to begin researching the DeSmits, I looked through my documents to see if I already had anything, and I discovered a wedding invitation from 1899. It amazes me how much it resembles a contemporary wedding invitation. It lists the names of the bride (Nellie) and groom (John) and her parents, although not his parents. The place is a residence with an address. I don’t know the connection of the location to the bride and groom.

The wedding was on Thursday evening, which seems like an odd time to me. Also, I wonder if it wasn’t the residence of the bride’s parents because perhaps they weren’t from Kalamazoo? Or perhaps their home wasn’t large enough? I wonder why the bride has a different last name, Squares, from her parents, Ver Sluis.

I found a newspaper announcement which lists Nellie’s surname as Squires, which makes more sense, but wouldn’t the printed wedding announcement be correct? Also, the newspaper lists John’s home as Battle Creek and Nellie’s as Kalamazoo.

But what is the bigger mystery is this. I show that a John DeSmit, the son of Mary and her husband John, and born approximately June 1877, was married to a woman named Margaret. The age would be right for John to be marrying in 1899, as he was 21 or 22. But who was Margaret?

On closer examination of the 1900 census, I see that John was listed as 22, living at home with his parents and siblings, and already a widower! Poor Nellie?! It seems that Margaret was a second wife, later in John’s life.

 

You can see that this invitation brings up more questions than I had to begin with, but it does give me some information to pursue.  The next thing I went to check out was the address listed: 702 East First Street, Kalamazoo, Michigan. According to Google Maps, it doesn’t exist.

BIG SIGH.

 

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Do You Remember The Mystery of Mrs. Jacob Flipse?

Posted in DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Richard DeKorn, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 7, 2014| 14 Comments »

Last July I posted about the Flipse family. I grew up knowing that we were related to them, but I didn’t understand the connection.

When I got married, we bought my wedding flowers from the Flipse family flower shop. In 2007 the Flipse business was bought out by the VanderSalm flower shop. Here is an article about the new business, ValderSalm’s-Flipse Flower Shop and Garden Center. I also discovered that in 2010, the former location of Flipse flowers burned down. Here is an article about the fire. You will also find a map of the location of the business, on Burdick Street, just north of my grandparents’ old house and in the same area where many of my grandfather’s relatives owned homes and businesses.

Click the photos for another article and the photo credits.

I met the elderly Mrs. Flipse when I was around twenty. Her name at birth was Frances DeSmit, and her mother, Mary DeKorn DeSmit, was Richard DeKorn’s sister. Richard is my 2nd great grandfather, so that makes Frances my first cousin 3x removed. As I mentioned at the time, Frances was near the end of her life when I met her; she died at the age of 97.

When I researched Frances, I discovered that Mr. Flipse had been married before he married Frances and was, in fact, a widower.  But I couldn’t figure out who was his first wife.

My friend Adri has helped me out once again and located more information about the Flipse family. The family patriarch was Flip Flipse. That’s right: Flip. Like Flip Wilson. I looked up this name, and apparently it is the diminutive form of the Dutch name Filip or Filippus.

Flip Flipse was born in 1787 at Colijnsplaat and died on July 25, 1842 at Wissenkerke.

Flip was married on July 20, 1814 at Colijnsplaat to Maria Leendertse.  Maria was born in November 24, 1792 at Colijnsplaat and died on  September 13, 1828 at Wissenkerke.

The children of Flip and Maria were:

1 Pieter Flipse was born on September 9, 1817 at Wissenkerke.

Pieter was married on October 14, 1842 at Wissenkerke to Cornelia Blazina de Smit, daughter of Eduard de Smit and Anna van der Maas.  Cornelia was born on October 14, 1822 at Wissenkerke.

2  Izak Flipse was born on January 3, 1821 at Wissenkerke, died on July 17, 1875 there.

Izak was married on August 2, 1848 at Wissenkerke to Pieternella Spruit, daughter of Adriaan Spruit and Geertruid Buis.  Pieternella was born on January 29, 1826 at Wissenkerke, died on March 8, 1896 at Goes.  Pieternella was before married (1) to Johannes de Dreu.

3  Marinus Flipse was born on April 3, 1822 at Wissenkerke.

4  Iman Flipse was born on January 25, 1827 at Wissenkerke, see II-A.

Flip was married on June 4, 1829 at Wissenkerke (2) to Maria Dorst, daughter of Jan Dorst and Maria Boer.  Maria was born in 1809 at Ouwerkerk, died on January 14, 1834 at Wissenkerke.

From this marriage:

5  Jan Flipse was born on January 8, 1830 at Wissenkerke.

6  Pieternella Flipse was born on June 11, 1831 at Wissenkerke, died on December 21, 1831 there.

7  Jacob Flipse was born on November 14, 1832 at Wissenkerke, died on January 15, 1833 there.

8  Maria Pieternella Flipse was born on November 9, 1833 at Wissenkerke, died on April 24, 1836 there.

When Flip married for the third time, he waited a decent amount of time.

Flip was married on March 18, 1836 at Wissenkerke (3) to Janna Dorst, daughter of Jan Dorst and Maria Boer.  Janna was

born on March 19, 1811 at Ouwerkerk, died on February 21, 1878 at Wissenkerke.  Janna was married on April 9, 1846 at

Wissenkerke to Pieter Verhulst, son of Willem Verhulst and Pieternella Flipse. Pieter was born on July 14, 1816 at Kats, died

on June 23, 1891 at Wissenkerke.

From this marriage:

9  Maria Janna Flipse was born on February 11, 1837 at Wissenkerke, died on February 27, 1837 there.

10        Janna Flipse was born on August 2, 1838 at Wissenkerke, died on June 12, 1839 there.

11        Jacob Flipse was born on December 20, 1839 at Wissenkerke, died on April 21, 1840 there.

12        Pieternella Flipse was stillborn on December 20, 1839 at Wissenkerke.

13        Jacob Flipse was born on May 11, 1841 at Wissenkerke, see II-B.

NEXT GENERATION (if you’re falling asleep skip down to the next bolded passage):

Iman Flipse, son of Flip Flipse (I) and Maria Leendertse, was born on January 25, 1827 at Wissenkerke, died on February 11, 1886 there.

Iman was married (1) to Catharina de Moor.

Iman was married on May 4, 1853 at Wissenkerke (2) to Adriana Susanna Meulenberg, daughter of Dirk Meulenberg and Tannetje van der Weele.  Adriana was born in 1829 at Wissenkerke, died on July 28, 1864 there.

From this marriage:

1  Maria Flipse was born on October 15, 1853 at Kamperland, died on December 28, 1921 at Kalamazoo (MI).

Maria was married on August 16, 1876 at Wissenkerke to Cornelis Kallewaard, son of Pieter Kallewaard and Jacoba Rademaker.  Cornelis was born on November 18, 1851 at Nisse, died on March 12, 1931 at Kalamazoo (MI).  Cornelis was married on August 10, 1922 at Grand Rapids (MI) (2) to Adriana Gillesse, daughter of William Gillesse and Adriana Bolier. Adriana was born in 1859.

Jacob Flipse, son of Flip Flipse (I) and Janna Dorst, was born on May 11, 1841 at Wissenkerke, died on March 15, 1870 there.

Jacob was married on May 18, 1859 at Wissenkerke to Cornelia Kallewaard, daughter of Pieter Kallewaard and

Jacoba Rademaker.  Cornelia was born on July 27, 1839 at Wissenkerke, died after 1900.   Cornelia was married on March 1, 1871 at Wissenkerke (2) to Adriaan Boot, son of Cornelis Boot and Lena van der Maas. Adriaan was born on  November 30, 1838 at Kortgene.

From this marriage:

1  Flip Flipse was born on August 28, 1859 at Wissenkerke, died on September 30, 1859 there.

2  Pieter Flip Flipse was born on December 22, 1860 at Wissenkerke, died on January 18, 1861 there.

3  Flip Pieter Flipse was born on January 17, 1862 at Wissenkerke, died on December 15, 1897 at New Haven (CT).

4  Pieter Flipse (Peter) was born on April 2, 1863 at Wissenkerke, see III-A.

5  Janna Jacoba Flipse (Jennie) was born on September 23, 1864 at Wissenkerke, died on January 10, 1932 at Kalamazoo (MI).

Janna was married on January 18, 1888 at Wissenkerke to Johannes Boot (John), son of Iman Boot and Maria Albregtse.  Johannes was born on October 18, 1858 at Wissenkerke, died on November 7, 1922 at Kalamazoo (MI).

6  Jacobus Flipse (James) was born on March 14, 1866 at Wissenkerke, see III-B.

7  Jacoba Pieternella Flipse was born on May 28, 1867 at Wissenkerke, died on August 1, 1877 there.

8  Jacob Flipse was born on August 19, 1868 at Wissenkerke, see III-C.

9  Pieternella Flipse was born on October 2, 1869 at Wissenkerke, died on October 13, 1870 there.

III-A      Pieter Flipse (Peter), son of Jacob Flipse (II-B) and Cornelia Kallewaard, was born on April 2, 1863 at Wissenkerke, died on May 25, 1935 at Kalamazoo (MI).

Pieter was married on November 29, 1882 at Wissenkerke to Sophia Maria Meulenberg, daughter of Pieter Cornelis Meulenberg and Jannetje Verschuur.  Sophia was born on February 2, 1862 at Kats, died on March 11, 1918 at Kalamazoo (MI).

From this marriage:

1     Jan Flipse (John) was born on May 11, 1879 at Wissenkerke, see IV-A.

2     Cornelia Flipse was born on October 17, 1885 at Kalamazoo (MI), died on February 17, 1900 there.

3     Sofie Flipse was stillborn on December 31, 1886 at Kalamazoo (MI).

4     Peter Flipse was stillborn on January 24, 1887 at Kalamazoo (MI).

5     Peter Cornelius Flipse was born on August 6, 1888 at Kalamazoo (MI), died on August 7, 1888 there.

6     Peter C. Flipse was born in 1890 at Kalamazoo (MI), died on February 26, 1890 there.

7     Jennie Flipse was born on September 24, 1890 at Kalamazoo (MI).

Jennie was married on July 15, 1910 at Kalamazoo (MI) to Tour Grobsky, son of John Grobsky and Torrey Mozzes.  Tour was born in 1891.

8     Nellie Flipse was born on September 20, 1893 at Kalamazoo (MI), died on January, 22 1971 there.

Nellie was married on April 5, 1916 at Kalamazoo (MI) to William Van Zee, son of Aart Van Zee and Martha Immerseel.  William was born on October 11, 1882, died in April 1965.

9     Adah Flipse was born on March 16, 1896 at Kalamazoo (MI), died on April 15, 1948 at Grand Rapids (MI).

Adah was married on July 29, 1920 at Kalamazoo (MI) to Roy J. Wiarda, son of John Wiarda and Jennie Huyser.  Roy was born on April 8, 1896 at Grand Rapids (MI), died on October 8, 1979.

10   Jacob Peter Flipse was born on June 4, 1898 at Kalamazoo (MI).

Jacob was married on February 28, 1919 at Muskegon (MI) to Phoebe Stanbaugh, daughter of John Stanbaugh.  Phoebe was born in 1900.

11   Marnie Flipse was born on July 24, 1899 at Kalamazoo (MI), died on June 27, 1931 at Dowagiac (MI).

Marnie was married on September 7, 1918 at Kalamazoo (MI) to Cornelius Hiemstra, son of William Hiermstra and Jessie DeYoung.  Cornelius was born on August 16, 1896.

Cornelius was before married (1) to Harriet Stafford, born in 1909.

12   Cornelius Flipse was born on February 5, 1902 at Kalamazoo Twp (MI), died on July 13, 1902 at Kalamazoo (MI).

III-B      Jacobus Flipse (James), son of Jacob Flipse (II-B) and Cornelia Kallewaard, was born on March 14, 1866 at Wissenkerke, died before 1949.

Jacobus was married on July 21, 1892 at Kalamazoo (MI) to Joanna VanBrussel, daughter of Cornelius VanBrussel and Pieternella Faasse.  Joanna was born on February 7, 1870 at South Haven (MI), died on October 25, 1949 at Lansing (MI).

From this marriage:

1  Cornelia E. Flipse was born on February 9, 1893, died in August 1976 at Cuyahoga (OH).

Cornelia was married (1) to Ernest A. Armbrest, son of Gideon M. Armbrest and Mary Gharkey.  Ernest was born on  February 22, 1878, died in September 1957 at Palm Beach (FL).

Ernest was married on September 30, 1906 at Columbiana (OH) (2) to Nettie C. Taylor, daughter of Ira M. Taylor. Nettie was born on July 15, 1883 at Columbiana (OH), died on August 7, 1922 at Cleveland (OH).

Cornelia was married on June 17, 1916 at Cuyahoga (OH) (2) to Lucien Perry Shepard, son of Ralph C. Shepard and Alice J. Shaylor.  Lucien was born on December 22, 1889 at Cleveland (OH), died on February 16, 1920 at Warren (OH).

2  Nellie A. Flipse was born on October 2, 1894 at Kalamazoo (MI), died in February 1980 at San Marcos (TX).

Nellie was married on July 2, 1915 at Cuyahoga (OH) (was divorced before 1930) (1) to Claude G. McKim, son of J.C. McKim and Lillie Willett.  Claude was born on October 29, 1890 at Pratt (KS).

Claude was married before 1930 (2) to Marion N.N. Marion was born in 1895.

Nellie was married on March 25, 1922 at Kalamazoo (MI) (2) to Ernest Hermon Forth, son of Herman Forth and Julia Schuman.  Ernest was born on February 14, 1893, died in November 1970.

3  Cora A. Flipse was born on September 10, 1896 at Kalamazoo (MI), died in June 1987 at Lansing (MI).

Cora was married on June 16, 1915 at Cuyahoga (OH) to Hardy Brabbs, son of John Brabbs and Mary Holsteiner.  Hardy was born on April 6, 1890 at Flint (MI), died in February 1973 at Boyne City (MI).

4  Florence R. Flipse was born in July 1898 at Flint City (MI).

Florence was married on July 2, 1921 at Cuyahoga (OH) to Floyd George Brightbill, son of George B. Brightbill and Elizabeth Sowden.  Floyd was born on June 10, 1891 at Harrisburg (PE), died on November 5, 1958 at Lakewood (OH).

5  Mildred H. Flipse was born in 1906.

Mildred was married to Charles T. Halier.  Charles was born in 1899 at Harmony (IN).

Charles was before married (1) to Hulda Deway.Hulda was born at Cleveland (OH).

6  Aileen M. Flipse was born in 1907 at Flint (MI).

Aileen was married on July 3, 1923 at Birmingham (MI) to Leland Stoll, son of George Stoll and Edna Spicer.  Leland was born on September 20, 1901 at Birmingham (MI).

The bolded section explains the first and second Mrs. Jacob Flipse–the second being my relative, Frances.

III-C      Jacob Flipse, son of Jacob Flipse (II-B) and Cornelia Kallewaard, was born on August 19, 1868 at Wissenkerke, died on August 11, 1940 at Kalamazoo (MI). 

Jacob was married on January 10, 1895 at Kalamazoo (MI) (1) to Christina Desmit, daughter of Jannis de Smit (John Desmit) and Jacoba Lamper.  Christina was born in September 1864 at Kalamazoo (MI), died on February 15, 1914. 

 

Jacob was married on September 17, 1914 at Kalamazoo (MI) (2) to Frances Gertrude DeSmit, daughter of John DeSmit and Maria Catharina de Korn (Mary DeKorn).  Frances was born on November 22, 1883, died on January 15, 1980. Frances was before married on November 26, 1902 at Kalamazoo (MI) (was divorced in 1911) (1) to Charles Reeves, son of Foster Reeves and Theresa Jewell. Charles was born in 1879 at Ann Arbor (MI).

Frances and Jacob had one child:

1      Richard Jacob Flipse was born on May 29, 1916. He died on June 10, 2001 at Kalamazoo (MI). Richard was married in 1940 at Kalamazoo (MI) to Florence Helen Jordan.  Florence was born on August 18, 1917, died on January 10, 1993 at Portage (MI).  Richard and Florence had three children.

I suspect that Richard Jacob is the man who helped me pick out my white orchid wedding bouquet.

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The Mystery of Mrs. Jacob Flipse

Posted in DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Richard DeKorn, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 2, 2013| 19 Comments »

My senior year of college and first year of grad school, I studied history.  I had two specialties.  One was Reformation history. I have no idea why that period captured my interest, but I spent months working on a long paper about John Knox.  One reason it took so long was that in those days we typed papers with a typewriter.  We followed the Chicago Manual of Style, which I detested, and had to use footnotes at the bottom of most pages for our citations. I’d start out a page determined to remember when to stop typing paragraphs and when to start the footnotes, but by the time I got to that point I would always forget and just keep typing.  Over and over I repeated the same mistake.

Is it any wonder that I switched to my second specialty, local and family history?  I didn’t have a lot of textbooks to cite for that research. It was fun to check out the local cemeteries and talk to local people, when possible.

During that period, my grandparents took me to visit a woman relative named Mrs. Flipse. Her family owned a florist shop closer to downtown, but on the same street as my grandparents’ house. She lived behind the shop.

I already knew this family was somehow related to us, but it seemed like a myth or a fairy tale. When I was little Grandma would point out the store as we passed by.

A couple of years before, my sophomore year of college, I had planned my wedding. Mom suggested I get my flowers from the relatives, so I ordered traditional rose bouquets for myself and my bridesmaids. I wanted roses to match my rose point lace dress which had been designed and sewn for my mother by my paternal grandmother twenty-two years before. Grandma was Head Fitter of the very exclusive 28 Shop at Marshall Field’s flagship store on State Street in Chicago, so she knew how to handle a needle.

Grandma had passed away a year before I was married, so we had a tailor add fabric at the waist because I was two inches taller than my mother. She added long sleeves because I was married in January, not June as my mother had. 

In the photo you can see the beautiful dress and my bouquet, but you can’t see me.  I learned to scratch out my face in my junior high yearbooks, so you can see that I still have that skill.  The florist did a beautiful job on the flowers.

Mrs. Flipse seemed ancient to me.  Her house seemed ancient, too, much older than the house my grandparents built when they were a young couple. We entered the kitchen eating area from the back of the house and sat at the table with her. Grandma asked her some questions about family history, but I don’t remember her answering a lot of the questions. She had forgotten much and what she remembered was more specific to her own life.

Until I started working on my family tree on Ancestry, I didn’t really “get” how Mrs. Flipse was related to me.

Her name at birth was Frances DeSmit, and her mother, Mary DeKorn DeSmit, was Richard DeKorn’s sister. Richard is my 2nd great grandfather, so that makes Frances my first cousin 3x removed.

What is clear from looking at her Ancestry profile is that Frances was near the end of her life when I met her; she died at the age of 97.

She married her first husband, Charles Reeves, in 1902, and had a son, Edwin, with Charles.  The marriage license lists Charles as a cigar maker; he was 23 and Frances was 20. According to the newspaper archives, Frances secured a divorce from Charles in 1911 because he wouldn’t support his family. She said, “He would rather go fishing, and he spends most of his time at it,” indicating he was in debt from tobacco and liquor bills.

Jacob Flipse was her second husband, and she married him on September 17, 1914, at the age of 30. I notice that she is listed in documents from that period on as working as a florist.

I went back through newspaper articles, looking for an obituary, but what I found instead was that Mrs. Jacob Flipse had died February 18, 1914 (another article listed February 15, and I think that might be accurate). I thought, wow, she married him pretty quickly after that.  Then I noticed something strange. The deceased Mrs. Jacob Flipse was the daughter of John DeSmit of 1017 S. Burdick. Well, so was Frances. Did she marry her sister’s widower? No, she married the widower of her Aunt Christina.

Mrs. Jacob (Christina) Flipse died in 1914 at age 48 of a stroke which paralyzed her, according to one obituary.  She was born in 1864.

 

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