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Posts Tagged ‘Peek family’

Do You Recognize Any of These Dutch Surnames?

Posted in Caledonia Michigan history, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Mulder, Netherlands history, Paak, Peek, Remine, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 7, 2013| 16 Comments »

This post has been edited to correct errors!!  I will continue to do so as necessary.

Just for fun I thought I’d post the Dutch surnames that pop up in my family tree.

  • Zuidweg or Zuijdweg
  • DeKorn or DeKorne
  • Peek or Paak
  • VanLiere (this one is not a direct ancestor, but we have relatives in the United States)
  • Mulder
  • Gorsse
  • Bomhoff
  • Hijman or Heijman
  • Vandewalle
  • Boes
  • Bataille
  • Van Nek
  • Bassa
  • den Besten
  • Kriger
  • Remijinse or Remine (this name is one ancestor line, but is also more recently by marriage)
  • Engelse
  • De Jonge
  • Kole
  • Stroosnijder
  • Antonisse
  • Van den Berger
  • Cornaaij
  • Swedijks
  • Machiels or Pieters

Only a few of these surnames are found on lists of common Dutch names.

Mulder is on every list as it means miller.

My grandmother told me that Remijinse is a name which originally came to the family from Spain.

Zuidweg, meaning south way, also might have similar origins–it’s unclear. The results of my 23andme test does show that I have Spanish ancestry, and the likely source would be the Spaniards that left Spain at the time of the Inquisition and made their way to Holland.

When I visited the Netherlands, a man told me that DeKorn meant that the first DeKorn came to the Netherlands from Switzerland.

Yvette Hoitink has another idea.  This is what she wrote about the name:

Boudewijn de Corne (sr.) was called De Corne and De Kooren. “De” is the Dutch word for “The” but can also be the French word for “From.” Since “Corne” is not a Dutch word and “Kooren” (corn) would have a different article (“het” instead of “de”), a French origin is possible.  One possible explanation for the name is that the family originated in a place called Corné. A village called Corné is located near Angers [on map it’s located in western France]. A lot of French Huguenots came to the province of Zeeland in the period after the Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685.

Yvette’s theory fits with the family story I heard very often that we were descended from French Huguenots.

600px-Famous_Dutch_People

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A Series of Disasters

Posted in Alice Paak DeKorn, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Paak, Peek, Richard DeKorn, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 28, 2013| 22 Comments »

I’m picking up here from my post All the Peek Girls.  In that post I showcased photos of my great-great grandmother Alice and her sisters.

The girls’ parents, my great-great-great grandparents, Teunis Peek (born on 5 Jun 1822 in Everdingen, Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands) and  Jacoba Bassa (born on 18 Jun 1824 in Lexmond, Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands) were married on 21 Dec 1848 in Everdingen, Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands.

At the time of their marriage, Teunis was a “farmer’s hand” in Everdingen.

On 23 November 1865, Jacoba died at the age of 41 in Lexmond.  At that time, Teunis was a farmer in Lexmond, Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands.

Teunis and Jacoba had the following children:

Joost Peek was born on 25 Aug 1850 in Lexmond, Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands.

Aaltje Peek, born 9 Sep 1852, Lexmond, Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands; died 5 May 1908, Michigan,
United States.  This is my great-great grandmother, Alice Paak/Peek, who married Richard DeKorn.

Anna Catharina Peek was born on 6 Jan 1855 in Lexmond, Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands.

Maaike Peek was born on 29 Jul 1859 in Lexmond, Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands.

Cornelia Peek was born on 8 May 1862 in Lexmond, Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands.

Willempje Peek was born 17 dep 1856 in Lexmond, Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands. [Additional info:  must do research to see if Willempje survived or not]

Teunis and his children emigrated in 1868 to the United States.

After reading this information on the family, I speculated that Joost probably stayed behind in the Netherlands.  He would have been eighteen and might have already started his own life.  I had photos of the four girls (Alice, Annie, Mary, and Carrie), but no information from my family about the oldest, the boy Joost.

I recently discovered a clipping tucked in with the family photos.

There is no date or newspaper name on this clipping.  Here is an excerpt:

The residence of George Paake at 1016 Trimble Avenue was burned this morning about 10:30 o’clock and a worthy family which has had a series of disasters, left without a home.  The house which Mr. Paake was paying for in the Building and Loan Association was entirely ruined although most of the contents of the home were saved. Mr. Paake receives no insurance whatever and the little which had been accumulated by the family was lost.

The fire is only an incident in the history of the family. Mrs. Paake died a short time ago leaving five children, the oldest being fourteen years old. Since the mother’s death the little girl has had entire charge of the house and the four little children and has had all the responsibility of the family except the support which Mr. Paake gave as a laborer.  Recently he has been unable to work and was ill this morning when the fire occurred.

The neighbors have taken in the little ones and are doing all that is possible to alleviate the sufferings of the family. Mrs. Carrier has been responsible for raising a sum of money to which the neighbors have liberally contributed.

So many facts here.  But more questions.

Since the clipping was in with our treasured family photos, was this my family described in the article?

The size of the family seems to fit with the family of Teunis Peek, as is the recent death of the mother.  The impression is of an immigrant family who has been beset with many tragedies: the death of the mother, either the death of the first son (or him staying behind), the illness of the father, the loss of their home and the value they had in it.

Is Teunis George?  Most of the family changed their first names from a Dutch first name to an “English” first name.  It’s possible.

Although the Dutch records show the last name as Peek, my grandfather told me that the family was Paak or Paake.

However:  Jacoba, the wife of Teunis, passed away in 1865, and the family emigrated in 1868.  Alice, my great-great-grandmother, was born in 1852.  She would have been 16 when they arrived in Kalamazoo and caring for the household and her four younger siblings.    The very ancient clipping is now a deep gold color and very crisp.  If it’s from 1869 or 1870, and the family was that of Teunis, then Alice was probably 17 or 18, not 14.

In a 1906 City Directory, George is still listed at the same address (a rebuilt house?) and Cora W. Paak is listed as a boarder.  I wonder if that is his sister because Alice named one of her daughters Cora W (for Wilhelmina). Could be Cornelia (Carrie).

Or was George a brother of Teunis? (NO)

I’m waiting with bated breath for Yvette Hoitink to find me a little more information which might shed light on this mystery.  As of now, I don’t have any information on siblings of Teunis Peek.

EVENTUALLY we discovered that the fire happened to George (Joost) and his family.

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Living by Long Lake, Portage, Michigan

Posted in Family History, Genealogy, Paak, Peek, Remine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on March 25, 2013| 14 Comments »

Over two months ago I posted about The Park with a Literary Name , Ramona Park in Portage, Michigan. This lake property was in my family for many years.

It was owned by Carrie Paak/Peek Waruf and her husband Henry Waruf. These photos are of their home, which was situated on Sprinkle Road in Portage, about a block from the Long Lake shore.  The above photo is a side view–Sprinkle to the left, Long Lake to the right.  The porch was eventually remodeled to a large enclosed porch.

Any car experts can tell us a date by looking at the automobile here?

The photo below is the front of the house.

This house was inherited by Therese Remine, Carrie’s niece, and became part of the Ramona Park estate. In more recent years, it was relocated. My Kalamazoo sleuths (aka Mom and Dad) are working on its location.

When I was a little kid, we hunted for arrowheads in the field behind the house. The vintage (at the time) dining room furniture was beautiful.

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The Blog Will Now Come to Order

Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, Caledonia Michigan history, Family History, Genealogy, Lucille Edna Mulder Zuidweg, Mulder, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on March 4, 2013| 7 Comments »

This gavel belonged to my great-grandfather Charles Mulder of Caledonia, Michigan.

He was my maternal grandmother‘s father and his name at birth, in 1885 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands, was Karel Pieter Phillipus Mulder.  His great-great-grandfather was Carel Mulder, born March 8, 1780 in Goes, the Netherlands.  His occupation was a jailor’s hand.

This same Carel Mulder is also an ancestor of my maternal grandfather.  I wrote about the discovery of this coincidence in an earlier post.

Great Grandpa was a working farmer for many years.  I remember his farm with great affection because it had a rope swing from an apple tree, a barn, a chicken coop, outhouse, and fields where we once went on a hayride. Across the country road, a the thick woods nurtured a colorful assortment of wild flowers.

Great Grandpa, me (the first great grandchild), and Margaret

Great Grandpa, me (the first great-grandchild), and Margaret

In the above photo, Great Grandpa is with the only “great-grandmother” I knew, his second wife, Margaret, a very sweet lady.  My great-grandmother Clara passed away from uterine cancer two years before I was born.

Charles and Clara (Waldeck) Mulder

Charles and Clara (Waldeck) Mulder

My father told me that Great Grandpa held the position of Township Supervisor years ago and that is where he used this gavel.

On pages 252-256 of Ernest B. Fisher’s 1918 book, Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan: historical account of …, Volume 1, I discovered more specific information about Great Grandpa and Caledonia.

Fisher explains that Caledonia was a “wilderness” with narrow trails by the local Native Americans (“red men,” according to Fisher) when Europeans first arrived there.  He states:

At the mouth of Coldwater river was a great Indian camping ground and burial place. The Indians did not leave there entirely until a comparatively recent date. One of them, old Soh-na-go, or “Squirrel,” was seen at quite a late day visiting the burial place and the hunting grounds of his fathers, but the “white man’s axe” had been there and it was no longer a home for him.

He goes on to say:

Caledonia, situated on Section 29, is a prosperous village of 600 people. It was settled in 1850, the first plat was made in 1870, and it reached the dignity of an incorporated municipality in 1888. It is situated on the Michigan Central railroad and hence has good shipping facilities which make it the center of trade for a wide extent of fertile country. It has one Methodist and two United Brethren churches, a bank, and a weekly newspaper, the News, and the requisite number of mercantile establishments and general industries.

The township of Caledonia is one of the best agricultural districts in Kent county, and the thrifty farmers are profitably engaged in all classes of diversified farming.

What interested me is that I saw that inside one of Great Grandpa’s books he went to a (Dutch) Reformed Church in 1903.  He was so ensconced in life in Caledonia by 1915 that he was Township Supervisor (and Grandma was born in 1912 in Caledonia).  The quote above says that there was one Methodist and two United Brethren churches, and I do know that my grandmother was a Methodist and that we used to have family reunions in the basement of the Methodist Church in Caledonia when I was a kid.  So where did he go to the Reformed Church?

According to records I found through ancestry.com, he immigrated to the United States with his family when he was two or three and grew up in Grand Rapids, not out in the country on a farm, after all.

Back to what Mr. Fisher had to tell me about my great-grandfather:

Below is given a list of the supervisors of the township from its organization down to the present time: 1840, John P. McNaughton; 1842, Norman Foster; 1844, Roswell F. Tyler and William Gibson; 1845, John A. Cornell; 1846, Justus G. Beach; 1848, Reuben H. Smith; 1849, William H. Brown; 1854, Lyman Gerould; 1857, Zabin Williams; 1858, William H. Brown; 1860, Warren S. Hale; 1861, William H. Brown; 1863, William J. Wood; 1865, Adam B. Sherk; 1868, William J. Wood; 1869, Marcus Buell; 1870, Adam B. Sherk; 1871, Robert S. Jackson; 1872, William J. Wood; 1873, Martin Whitney; 1877, Austin W. Hill; 1878, Marcus Buell; 1879, Sherman T. Colson; 1889, Alfred W. Stow; 1891, Sherman T. Colson; 1895, Eugene Ward; 1900, Joseph E. Kennedy; 1901, Alfred Newman; 1904, EugeneWard; 1906, Alfred Newman; 1907, Frederick W. Ruehs; 1912, Merrill M. Kriger; 1914, John J. Luneke; 1915, Charles R. Mulder, present incumbent.

Great Grandpa was the Supervisor of the Township of Caledonia.  He used this gavel to call the meetings to order.  Maybe this desire for order comes to him from his great-great-grandfather, the jailor’s hand.

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All the Peek Girls

Posted in Alice Paak DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Paak, Peek, Remine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 11, 2013| 21 Comments »

Last post I told you about my great-great-grandmother Alice Paak (Peek) DeKorn. She had three younger sisters, who all grew up in Kalamazoo, as well.  There were two brothers, but I have not tracked them down yet.  To clarify about the last name: Grandpa first identified the name to me as Paak, but genealogical research in the Netherlands shows that the name is actually Peek.

As a reminder, this is Alice:

Alice Paak DeKorn

Alice Peek DeKorn

Here is her sister Annie, born Anna Catharina Peek on January 6, 1855 in Lexmond, Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands.

Here is her sister Mary, born Maaike Peek on July 29, 1859 in Lexmond, Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands.

Mary Paak Remine

Mary Peek Remine

Here is her sister Carrie, born Cornelia Peek on 8 May, 1862 in Lexmond, Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands.

Carrie Paak Waruf

Carrie Peek Waruf

While the Peek girls are all pretty, clearly my great great is the prettiest of all!

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How Did My Great Great Grandmother Stay Warm and Stylish?

Posted in Alice Paak DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo history, Paak, Peek, tagged , , , , , , on February 7, 2013| 17 Comments »

Alice Paak (Peek) DeKorn's shawl

This fine woolen shawl was owned by Alice Paak (Peek) DeKorn.  The predominant color is a dark green.  My great great grandmother passed away in 1908, so this family artifact is over 100 years ago.  It is in perfectly pristine condition.

Close-up of Alice's shawl
Close-up of Alice’s shawl

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Meet the Mother of Cora, Jennie, and Joseph

Posted in Alice Paak DeKorn, Cora DeKorn Zuidweg, DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Jennie DeKorn Culver, Paak, Peek, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on February 4, 2013| 14 Comments »

Alice Paak DeKorn

Alice Paak DeKorn (Aaltje Peek)

This lady was my great great grandmother, Alice Paak DeKorn.

She died May 5, 1908.  My grandfather, her grandson, was born October 31, 1908, so she never even saw him.  I think she has a kind face, but I don’t know any stories about her.

Yvette Hoitink observed that Alice’s marriage certificate states that she was born in Leymond.

Yvette says that this is “presumably Lexmond in Zuid-Holland. The Lexmond birth records are indexed on Genlias.nl. A search for Peek children born between 1850 and 1855 showed one candidate for Aleye Peek: Aaltje Peek b. 9 September 1852, daughter of Teunis Peek and Jacoba Bassa. The birth month and year match perfectly with Alice’s listing in the 1900 census.”

I noticed that Alice lived for 55 years.  Her daughter Cora, my great grandmother, died at the age of 57, so I can’t help but wonder if they both died of the same cause.  Cora died of leukemia or “cancer of the brain.”  Alice’s other daughter, Jennie, who was in last week’s post died at the age of 95.  Alice’s own mother died at the age of 41.

If you are working on your own family history, you might have noticed that you are interested in the age at death of your ancestors–for reasons of self-interest.

Although she was known as Alice for most of her life in the U.S., her American marriage certificate shows Alice as Aleye, which would have been Aaltje in the Netherlands.  I’m going to guess that some of the people filling out the documents in Kalamazoo were not Dutch.

Growing up in Kalamazoo, I had no idea that one of the family lines of my ancestry was Paak/Peek.  I went to school with kids with names like Peek and Peake, and I wonder if there is a connection.

Yvette discovered that Alice’s father, Teunis Peek, was found in the lists of emigrants at the National Archives website and that he left Lexmond for the U.S. in 1868.  She shows Alice emigrating in 1869, but it’s possible that they came together.

Jacoba had passed away in 1865, before her family emigrated.  Alice was one of six children, and I am guessing that Teunis brought all his children to the U.S.–or at least most of them.  The eldest was Joost, and he was 19 when the family moved.  It’s possible he stayed behind.

I’ll pick up the story of the Peeks in a future post.

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Richard DeKorn and His Bride Tied the Knot in Kalamazoo

Posted in DeKorn, Family History, Genealogy, Kalamazoo late 1800s - early 1900s, Michigan history, Paak, Peek, Richard DeKorn, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 21, 2013| 10 Comments »

As I continue to sort through the boxes of photos and other memorabilia I have collected from my mother’s family, I see that I have the original Certificate of Marriage belonging to my great great grandparents.

According to his marriage certificate, my great great grandfather, Richard DeKorn, was really named Dirk de Korn.  On May 10, 1872, at the age of 20, Richard married Alice Paak, 19,  in Kalamazoo.  Her name was actually Aleye Peek, if I believe this document.

Alice Paak/Aleye Peek

Alice Paak/Aleye Peek

I thought Richard was born in Goes, but on his marriage document, where Richard’s birth date is given as 1852, not 1851, it states that he was born in Kapelle, not Goes.

Yvette Hoitink at Dutch Genealogy wrote in her report:

The 1872 marriage record of Dirk DeKorn and Aleye Peek was retrieved to check their places of birth and parents names. Dirk De Korn was listed as born in “Kasselle Netherlands” and Aleye Peek as born in “Leymond, Netherlands”. No such places exist but Kasselle suggests Kapelle (in Zeeland) and Leymond suggests Lexmond in Zuid-Holland. The parents of bride and groom were not listed.

After reading this, I am not certain where I got the idea that Richard (Dirk) was born in Goes.  Now I see that both his parents were born in Kapelle, as was he. So I looked up both towns on a map and found that they are very close to each other.

Kapelle is located at the A flag and Goes is just to the left

Kapelle is located at the A flag and Goes is just to the left

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Intriguing Coincidence or An “Of Course” Moment?

Posted in Adrian Zuidweg, Family History, Genealogy, Lucille Edna Mulder Zuidweg, Mulder, Netherlands history, Zuidweg, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on December 28, 2012| 25 Comments »

This post is dedicated to Yvette Hoitink at Dutch Genealogy.

Two wonderful events have occurred recently which add to my treasure trove of genealogical information and old family photos.  One is that my mother sent me my grandmother’s high school graduation (and beyond) scrapbook.  In my last post I showed off my grandmother’s teacher contract from 1931-32 and a photo of my grandparents two years before they married.  These were from the scrapbook.   I will be posting more of these treats in the future.

The other event is that Yvette Hoitink, a Dutch genealogist, quickly and easily found a wealth of information about the Zuidweg family–my grandfather’s Dutch ancestors.  Dutch Genealogy is a site which describes Yvette’s services.  You can contact her through that site.  What would have taken me years of effort and a good knowledge of the Dutch language, took Yvette a few hours.  In the next few posts, I’ll be examining some of the information Yvette found.  Among other tidbits, she discovered incorrect information I had catalogued, information which discredited family stories, and an intriguing coincidence.

Today’s post is to share the coincidence.  My grandfather, Adrian Zuidweg, born in 1908 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, married my grandmother, Lucille Edna Mulder, in 1932.  See the last post for a photo of them as a young couple.  Here is a wedding photo.

Adrian Jr. and Edna (Mulder) Zuidweg

Adrian Jr. and Edna (Mulder) Zuidweg, 1932

Grandma’s father was Charles Mulder, of Caledonia, Michigan.  His name at birth, in 1885 in Goes, the Netherlands, was Karel Pieter Phillipus Mulder.

My great grandfather Charles Mulder with his parents and siblings. He's front row, second from the right.

My great grandfather Charles Mulder with his parents and siblings. He’s front row, second from the right, with the curly dark hair.

In the 5th generation of the Zuidweg family, Yvette discovered a Carel Mulder, who was born about 1781.  She writes, “On 5 May 1836 he was a jailor’s hand in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.  He died on 19 May 1847 at the age of 66 in Goes, Zeeland, the Netherlands.”  I’ll hazard a guess that this is a common name, but the same town name is certainly intriguing.

Looking back a little further, I see that my great grandfather’s grandfather was Karel Mulder, born February 21, 1837 in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands.  He died in April 22, 1881, also in Goes.  Obviously not a match.

Not his father either.

But look!  Another generation back was yet another Karel Mulder, born March 8, 1780 in Goes, Zeeland, Netherlands.  He died  May 19, 1847, also in Goes.  HE’S A MATCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  And now I know that this ancestor of my GRANDMOTHER and of my GRANDFATHER was a “jailor’s hand.”  Whatever that is.

My husband isn’t as excited about information like this.  He says, “Do you know how many people were alive in those days?  It’s not that big a coincidence to have that happen.”  And actually today, in the land of Facebook, where I’m two degrees removed from almost every other American Facebooker, it might not be that big of a deal either.  But to me it was fascinating to see that name which is a “staple” of my grandmother’s line show up on my grandfather’s!

According to Ancestry.com the “jailor’s hand” is my “5th great grandfather”:

Karel Mulder (1780 – 1847)
Son of Karel
Son of Karel
Son of Karel
Son of Pieter Philippus
Daughter of Charles Peter (Karel Pieter Phillipus)
Janet Ann Zuidweg
Daughter of Lucille Edna
Moi
You are the daughter of Janet Ann
This is the marriage which connected the Zuidweg and Mulder families back then: Adriaan Zuijdweg, a tailor who was born about 1801 in Goes married Johanna Mulder on 5 May 1836 in Goes.  She was born about 1807 in Goes.  She worked as a maid and a laborer and died on 11 June1878 at the age of 71.

This is a family rumor which proved to be true.  My mother has always told me that my grandparents were cousins of sorts.

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