Nicholas Korstange - I wish I knew more

When writing about my grandma's family I started with her parents and worked my way back.  I couldn't do that for my grandpa's family because I know very little about either of his parents.  Most of what I know about Nicholas comes from the "paper trail" I've found while researching, inserting little things my grandpa told me along the way.

When I was born I had 5 living great-grandparents.  My paternal grandma's dad and mom lived until I was 18 and 25 respectively, so I knew them quite well.  Both of my mom's grandmothers were alive, her mom's mom died when I was 5 and her dad's mom died when I was 9.  I remember her dad's mom (vaguely) and although I don't remember her mom's mom, there are several photos of us together.  I have photos with 4 of the 5 that were living when I was born........guess what one I don't have?  Yep, my grandpa Korstange's dad, who died when I was 5.  My dad remembers little of his grandpa and my grandpa said very little about his dad (and even less about his mom).  I'm not writing this to say that Nicholas was a bad guy because he wasn't.  Circumstances created a situation where there wasn't much contact and it saddens me how little I know about someone that could have been a huge person in my life.  I've asked my grandpa's half-brother to write his recollections and hope that someday he can do that for me and my children.  I want to know about him and I want my kids to know about him too.

So what do I know?  My grandpa told me that Nicholas was born at Lucas, Missaukee Co MI 19 Oct 1903.  He was the 4th of 5 children born to Jan Korstanje and Jeltje van der Ploeg.  In spite of Michigan birth records being available at familysearch.org after 110 years, I haven't been able to find his birth record to prove it.  I'm not in a hurry to drive to Missaukee County to look for a record that may or may not exist, especially given that it will probably be available online eventually.  He lists his birth as Cadillac (Wexford County) on his 1st marriage and as Wexford County on his 2nd.  Lucas isn't far from Wexford County so it's plausible.  I am confident he wasn't born in Kent County.

 I have a fair share of photos of Nicholas as a young man from the albums that his brother James had.  This picture was in my grandpa's possession and I'm glad I scanned it because I'm not sure where the original is.  This is from his 8th grade graduation - I don't know what school.  Nicholas is 2nd from the left in the 2nd row from the top.  The family picture on his dad Jan's blog shows Nicholas as a baby - this is the next photo of him chronologically by age.

He looks like a pretty typical teenager of that era to me.  In this 2nd photo he's in a plane that has a sign that says "JOIN THE NAVY", which is interesting because I find no record that he ever registered for WWI or WWII.  He'd have been too young for WWI but I would have expected one for WWII.


From 26 Aug 1923 thru 3 May 1924 Nicholas hopped a train and traveled to California, keeping a journal during the trip.  I'll blog that journal next in the interest of space for this blog.

Nick and Anna marriage - bottom entry

On 19 Dec 1925 at Grand Rapids Nicholas married Anna Burke.  I know nothing about how they met or where they married and there are no photos of their wedding.  To be honest, there's only one photo of Nicholas and Anna together, that appears to have been taken the summer/fall prior to their wedding.  There are no photos of them together with their son, my grandpa, who was born 25 Oct 1926 at Grand Rapids.





The city directories available at Ancestry.com have Nick and Anna at 621 Fairview Ave NE in 1927 and 2687 Alpine Ave NW for 1928 and 1929.  My grandpa never mentioned either of these addresses (which makes sense given he'd have been 3 in 1929).  It would appear that both of these houses are no longer in existence.  These contradict the address my grandpa thought he was born at.

In the 3 Apr 1930 census of Plainfield Township, Kent Co MI, Nick, Anna and Morris are enumerated in house #75 (the census taker failed here and didn't write the street name down for the entire 1-76 that I looked at).  My guess is that they were living at 709 Rudy St NE, as that's where my grandpa said he was born and there are a couple of photos of him as a child with this written on them.  Nicholas is listed as a shipping clerk in a furniture factory, which I believe was Williams-Kimp Furniture Company, which my grandpa mentioned and who sent flowers to Jan Korstanje's funeral in '45.


Writing about the lack of pictures of Nicholas and Anna together and realizing that the photo above is the only photo of my grandpa with his dad as a child and that there are NO photos of my grandpa with his mom (at any age) just saddens me.  I know Nicholas and Anna did not have a happy marriage but they were married for 11 years so it's shocking to consider that nothing survived.  I get that both of them probably threw photos away (if they existed) but one would think that Anna would have kept photos of her and her son.  It was less shocking after I read their divorce papers, from their divorce 9 Aug 1937, which paints Anna in a not so flattering light.  My grandpa said very little about his mom, and I will blog about her soon, but even knowing he had virtually no relationship didn't prepare me for what I read about her philandering ways.  That may be a strong term given no actual proof of physical infidelity but given what's written here, that's my guess.  When I talked about circumstances and Nicholas, this man put up with 8 years of his wife drinking and running around with other men and ended up divorced with full custody of a 10 year old boy during the Great Depression.

For the record, I debated whether to post the divorce papers or not.  I decided that since nobody involved in the divorce is still living and nobody in my direct family has any memory of Anna that I would do so.  I've stated before that genealogy isn't just about the good and that sugar-coating stuff doesn't do anything any justice.  I will always respect privacy but in this case I don't believe there's a privacy case to make.

Nicholas found love again, marrying Lois Violet Rubringer, who was 12 years his junior on 3 Sep 1938 at Grand Rapids.  His brother James signed for him and her sister Dorothy for her.  I knew Lois and she was always sweet to me.  She had to have been a good woman, taking on an 11 year old stepson as her own.  She and Nick had 2 children together as well, giving my grandpa 2 half-siblings.  Given his age when his 2nd and 3rd children were born and his physical job combined with my grandpa being out of the house in WWII and coming home and marrying and starting a family it created a situation where there was a bit of a separation.  I only say this as an "outsider looking in" but I do feel that my grandpa's relationship with his dad wasn't what he would have wanted it to be.  Again......circumstances.
One great thing that came out of this is that my grandma was babysitting my grandpa's half-sister when he came back from the war, and that's when they met.

In 1940 Nick, Lois and Jerry are living at 451 Webster St NW, Nick still working as a shipping clerk in a furniture factory (again, I believe Williams-Kimp).

In 1942 Nick was a member of the Grand Rapids Police Auxillary Police Force.  In the missing steamer trunk that I've referenced several times this paperwork and certificate were there with the baton Nick carried.  It's not a flattering picture of me but it's a good photo of the baton. On the 1st page it references a picture ID but I don't recall seeing that in the trunk.  He lists his address as 451 Webster St NW, which jives with the city directories from 1940 and 1941.  The city directories from 1948-1954 list his address as 1534 Cole Ave NE and that jives with my grandpa's separation from the Navy 21 May 1946 in which he lists the Cole address.

Nick and Lois abt 1942	Jerry and Devonne, Lois and Nick 1955
Nick and Jerry w/Lois' brother Charles Rubringer	Nick and Lois late 50s?
Nick, grandson and Jerry 1967	Nick 1968
Nick w/great-granddaughter Amy abt 1971	Nick and Lois 1980 I don't know where Nick ended up retiring from or when and I don't know anything about what he did in retirement.  He passed away a few days after a car accident that he and Lois got into while on their way to their cottage on Hess Lake.  He was driving their Chevette and ran a stop sign and was t-boned.  He ended up at Saint Mary's Hospital for a few days.  My grandpa said he was bruised from head to foot.  My dad remembers being told that he was going to be coming home and then he passed away before he could be released, on 23 Oct 1981 at the age of 78.  My dad remembers that when my grandma visited him he said "you have to suffer before you die".  Perhaps he knew that he wasn't going to survive his injuries.   At the time of his death he and Lois were living at 2022 Melita Ave NE.  He was cremated and his ashes scattered in the memorial garden at his church, St. Andrew's Episcopal.  Lois survived him for 29 years, passing away at the age of 94 in 2010 and her ashes are also at the church. I know I started this blog by stating I wish I knew more and then I wrote a lot.  I guess what I mean is that this ancestor is someone that hasn't been passed away that long ago.  I've written (and have more to write) blogs about people that there is nobody that I know alive that personally knew the subject of the writing.  In this case there are quite a few people that knew him and yet I had to put his life story together based on documents and a couple of snippets, as though he died in the 1920s or something.  As my direct Korstange ancestor I just wish I had more details about who he really was, not just what the paper trail says.  I hope that makes sense.  :)