This week I discovered a photo from the bunch that Grandpa had identified that I had not yet scanned.
So I scanned it.
And then I scanned the back of it.
Here is what it says:
Bessie Klosterman / Pete DeBoer shot (and killed) her mother
The name Klosterman (Kloosterman) sounded familiar to me, so I looked on the census pages where my family lived. I found her family in the general neighborhood. Then when I went back to look again, I lost them. Now I don’t know which census I found them in–or on what street. This is what happens when I try to “skim” something in the middle of working! So that is going to take more searching.
In the meantime I went to Genealogy Bank, but I couldn’t find any stories relating to a shooting involving a Klosterman or a DeBoer (or denBoer either). I can’t even find Bessie in a search for documents on Ancestry.
This is obviously a very sad (and unknown to me) story, and the fact that Grandpa had her photograph shows that the families were close.
UPDATE:
A friend saw my post on Facebook and said Bessie might have been:
Elizabeth Klosterman born 13 Sept 1883 Kalamazoo died 27 Jun 1962
Husband Henry. Hindrik H Ouding
Parents: Louise Newhouse and Peter Kloosterman
Off to check on that tip!
Better yet: here is the 1900 census showing Bessie and her brother Peter living with their maternal grandfather!
Today I will update you where the search has taken me. I will post a page of the 1894 Michigan census.
To sum up my findings:
1894 Michigan census
At 1137 South Burdick St. lived:
CORNELIUS DEBOER, 40 years old
Wife MARY DEBOER, 33 years old
Step children (of Cornelius)
1880 Elizabeth, 14
John, 12
Peter, 10
Cornelius, 8
The children were all born in Michigan, the adults in Netherlands.
At same house lived John DeKorte (father, widower). Could be an error in spelling or could be another explanation.
Cornelius was a labor, Mary a housekeeper, Elizabeth “at home,” and the boys at school.
The census indicates that Elizabeth has not attended school that census year, though the boys have.
Cornelius has only been in the US for 6 years (1888 arrival) and Mary for 25 years (since 1869 when she was 8 years old).
1900 federal census:
At 1645 S. Burdick Street lived:
Peter Newhouse, born 1839, 61 years old, an invalid, arrived from Netherlands 1868
Peter Klosterman, grandson, born 1885 so 15 years old, working as “callander man”
1882 Elizabeth Klosterman, granddaughter, born 1882 so 18 years old, can’t read her occupation
Both children born in Michigan
According to Ancestry trees, Elizabeth Klosterman was born 13 Sept 1883 in Kalamazoo and died 27 Jun 1962. Her husband was Henry or Hindrik H Ouding. And her parents were Louise Newhouse and Peter Kloosterman. She could also be Louisa or Louiza.
I wondered if there could be errors involved and if John and Cornelius had died, but I found a Cornelius Kloosterman, born 1889, who died in1973 and is buried at Mount Ever-rest.
Either they are two different families or the children were split between two families. This is a possibility because Grandpa Newhouse was an invalid and maybe two of the kids were there to take care of him.
I have to leave the Klostermans for now as I must return to searches for my own family (not to mention work haha). But I feel that the answers about Bessie’s mother and family will eventually fall into place.
The Family Kalamazoo 