More Germans in the Dutch line

 So I just covered Johanna Kuis' mother's family and how they're a line of my great-grandpa's ancestry that was indeed Dutch (which is good since he thought it all was).  What about Johanna's father Bernardus Kuis?

Bernardus Kuis was actually born Bernardus Keuss 09 May 1791 at Neuenkirchen, Steinfurt, Münster, Westfalen, Germany to Bernardus Keuss (9 Aug 1753-3 Jun 1806, both at Neuenkirchen) and Anna Maria Adelheid Lanzing (10 Aug 1760-1 Jun 1806, again both at Neuenkirchen).  

I already linked his marriage record in the last post.  You'll note from the translation that it lists that both of his parents died at "Nienkirchen".  Robert was able to find this record (I believe at the archion website), which led him to being able to take my brick wall family back 3 full generations.  He was able to zero in on what town to check in spite of him stating this in an email to me:  Chuckled when I typed in Nienkirchen and it showed ZERO hits. I know for sure I have seen town referred to with this spelling in a few places, but here is a link so that you can see that there are well over 50 towns that have a N????kirchen spelling, a variant form of what was written on the Dutch record. And it stretches all over what is currently called Germany.  He was using the Meyers Gazetteer and as you can see, there are a LOT of possible towns.  So how did he do it?  He went to the FamilySearch website and found the supplemental marriage information and it listed Westfalen - and then he knew exactly which of the 50+ he needed to check and boom, there he was!

Since I mentioned Margarieta's siblings I'll mention Bernardus' that Robert was able to find (all born at Neuenkirchen):

• Anna Marie 3 Jul 1785
• Johann Hermann16 Mar 1787
• Anna Maria Catharina 8 Nov 1793
• Herman Antoon 7 Jul 1796 - he moved to the Netherlands and died at Uithuizen 13 May 1877.  He and his wife Bieuwke Hulscher had 6 sons, 4 that died young and 1 I can't trace.  

I don't know what caused Bernardus to move to the Netherlands but he and Margarieta raised their family there, and he passed away at Uithuizen 18 Jul 1861.  In the year 1861, the 20st July, appeared for us, Mayor, Civil Official of the municipality of Uithuizen, district of Appingedam, province of Groningen, Andreas Bulthuis, 64 years old, profession Inn keeper, living in Uithuizen, good acquaintance of the deceased, and Hendrik Boersema, 32 years old, without profession, living in Uithuizen, neighbor of the deceased, who have told us that on the 18th of July of the year 1861, in the morning at 7 o'clock, in Uithuizen is passed away, Bernardus Kuis, 70 years old, without profession, living in Uithuizen, born in Pruissen/Prussia, widower of Grietje Jans Graftema, being the names of his parents unknown.

Of which this document is registered in the two death records of this municipality, and after it has been read aloud to the declarants, it has been signed by them and by us, Civil Official of the Municipality.

So far I've covered all of my great-grandpa Nick Denhof's ancestors, with the exception of his maternal grandfather.  One more blog to go - will it be another German family he thought was Dutch?  

Another part of the Dutch Germans

 Sorry for the delay in continuing the Dutch/not Dutch posting - Robert the researcher that I've referenced in several posts started doing work on my wife's Italian genealogy, which had me fascinated and working on it as well.  I'll probably be blogging about that at some point, but for now.........

In the last post I alluded to the fact that Bernardus Kock and Johanna Kuis probably had German ancestry.   I'll start with Johanna first.  From the last post you saw Johanna's parents were Bernardus Kuis and Margarieta Graftema.  A good chunk of Margarieta's children and extended family came to America, which I'll write about a bit later in the blog.  By the way, I'm going to post links to the images for the vital records, instead of the images themselves.  Sorry, being lazy tonight.  :). I will post the translations (done by my stepmother) in italics.  

Margarieta was christened 03 Jul 1795 at Aduard, Netherlands, daughter of Joannes Hindriks Graft and Grietje Jacobs.  1795 Village of Op Den Ham, Municipality of Aduard, Province of Groningen, on the 03 of July, is baptized, legitimate daughter of Joannes Hendriks and Margarita Jacobs

godmother/witness Gesina Freriks in stead of Margarita Stoppij.

Margarieta married 19 Jan 1822 at Uithuizermeeden, Netherlands to Bernardus Kuis.  In the year 1822, the 19th of January, at 4 o'clock in the evening, appeared for me, Albert Pieters Bouma, Schout and Officer of the Civil Registry of the municipality of Uithuistermeeden, district of Appingedam, Province of Groningen, Bernardus Kuis, 30 years old and from profession Weaver, living in Uithuistermeeden, born in Nienkirchen, the 9th of May 1791, having fulfilled his obligation to the National Militia ... adult son of the late Bernardus Kuis, when alive he was a merchant and Anna Maria Lanzing, when alive: spouses, both died in Nienkirchen, according to extracts issued by the Parish and legalized by the Mayor there , on the one hand Margarieta Johannes Graftema, 26 years old, profession maidservant, living in Uithuizen, born Op Den Ham near the municipality of Aduard, the 3rd of July 1795, according to the extract issued by the Schout there, an adult daughter of the late Johannes Hindriks, profession when he was alive: day laborer in Zandeweer, according to the extract issued by the Schout van Kantens and Margarieta Jacobs profession day laborer, living in Uithuizen, here present to give her permission.

On the other hand, I was asked to perform the intended marriage between those two people. The announcements were made, here, in front of the main entrance of the City Hall.

Namely: the first announcement on Sunday the 6th, the second announcement on Sunday the 13th of January of the year 1822, each time at 12 o'clock (noon). These announcements are also published in the Municipality of Uithuizen, according to a certificate issued by the Schout there.

Since no objections are made, as far as I know, I have the pleasure of complying with their request, after reading aloud all the documents relating to this relation, and asked them, the sixth chapter of the Dutch Civil Code entitled: “About Marriage” . After asking the future husband and his future wife or they take eachother as man and wife, they both answered, individually, has given an affirmative answer, upon which I declared, on behalf of the Law, that declarants Bernardus Kuis and Margarieta Johannes Graftema are united by marriage.
Of which this document has been drawn up in the presence of Heere Bartels Vos, 52 years old and by profession farmer and Tidde Klasen Schenkhuis, 72 years old, profession innkeeper and bar tender, Luie Derks Huizinga, 37 years old, without profession, all living in Uithuistermeeden, and are no blood relatives of the married couple and Hindrik Jans, 55 years old, by profession day laborer, godfather of the bride.
Declared it is very likely to them that the husband's grandparents had died.
Furthermore, after reading aloud, this document was signed by them, along with the declarants and us, on the day, month and year as mentioned above.

The mother of the bride stated that she could not write.

Bernardus and Margarieta had the following children: 

• Johannes 1 Sep 1822 - 6 Sep 1829 (both at Uithuizermeeden)
• Harmannus 30 Sep 1823 Uithuizermeeden - 16 Aug 1897 Leighton, Allegan Co Michigan
• Margaretha 26 Oct 1825 Uithuizermeeden - 5 Dec 1924 Chester, Ottawa Co Michigan
• Margaret first married in 1857 to Hinderikus Dutmers 1819-1861 and had a daughter Trintje 25 Dec 1857 at Uithuizermeeden (who is in the 1870 census as "Trinky Dutmer" with Margaret, her 2nd husband Peter Raap and their daughter Margaret born 28 Apr 1868 in Chester, Ottawa Co Michigan).  I don't know what happened to Trijnte or Peter, and mention them in this blog in case someone does.  Margaret Raap married Paul Van Dyke and died 16 Mar 1956 at Chester.  Margaret and Paul had a son Robert who had a son George who married Barbara Denhof (yes, of the Denhof line of these blogs, distant cousins).
• Antoon 22 May 1828 Uithuizermeeden - 23 Feb 1906 Huntington, Huntington Co Indiana
• Anton used the name Anthony Skyes in America
• Anna Maria 19 Dec 1830 Uithuizermeeden - 14 Nov 1914 Dordrecht Netherlands.  She was the only child of Bernardus and Margarieta that didn't leave the Netherlands.  She married Lebertus Wieringa and had 11 children.  Although unlikely, I'd love her one of her descendants were to stumble on this blog post.  
• Johanna (from last blog) who married Bernardus Kock/Cook
• Jan (John) 3 Mar 1837 Uithuizermeeden - 30 Nov 1921 Norton, Muskegon Co Michigan

Margarieta died 8 Dec 1853 at Uithuizermeeden.  In the year 1853, the 10th of December, appeared for us, Mayor, Civil Registry Official of the municipality of Uithuizermeeden, District of Appingedam, Province of Groningen, Remmert Wieringa, 38 year old, profession day laborer, living in Uithuizermeeden, neighbor of the deceased, and Jan Nieman, 31 years old, profession day laborer, living in Uithuizermeeden, neighbor of the deceased, who have told us that on the 8th of the month of December 1853, in the morning at 2 am, within this municipality Uithuizermeeden, has passed away,
Grietje Graftema, 58 years old, without profession, last living in Uithuizermeeden, born in the village of Den Ham, municipality of Aduard, Province of Groningen, wife of Bernardus Kuis, weaver in Uithuizermeeden.

Baptismal names and further additional information of the deceased are unknown to the declarants.

The declaration and statement was immediately drawn up and registered in both death registers of this municipality, and this document, after it was read aloud to the declarants, was signed by them and us, civil registry official.
With the exception of declarants who stated that they had never learned to write.

So Bernardus and Margarieta had 7 children, 6 who lived to adulthood and 5 who came to America.  What about her siblings?  As stated above, my interest in the siblings lies with the fact that so many Graftema subjects came to America, particularly west Michigan.    Her parents Joannes and Grietje had the following children:

• Martje b. 1797 at Aduard - married Jannens (John) Dutmers.  I don't know when Martje passed away, but John is in Walker, Kent Co Michigan in the 1860 census.  They had 9 children and I've tracked 5 sons to Michigan.  2 sons and a daughter died young in the Netherlands, and a daughter Trientje is missing (something about Trientje Dutmers - 2 in my tree, both vanish).
• Jacobus b. 1800 at Uithuizermeeden and died 3 Nov 1858 at Uithuizen.  He married twice and had a son Willem 1826-1906 from his first marriage and a son Johannes 1836-1914 who both settled in Michigan.
• Nicolaas b. 1806 at Zandeweer and died 17 Sep 1834 at Usquert.  He had a son Johannes 1831-1853 and a son Hinderikus 1834-1916.  There were no grandchildren and neither son left the Netherlands. 
• Joanna - I can't say anything with certainty about Joanna as I can't prove anything yet but there is a burial at Old St. Joseph's Cemetery in Reynolds, White Co Indiana showing her 1806-1882 (apparently unmarried) and this individual is in several well-sourced Dutmers trees.  Problem is, I can't find any sources, so this is tentative.
• Hindrikus b. 14 Aug 1812 Zandeweer and died Jun 1888 at Reynolds, White Co Indiana (lending credence to his sister joining him).  I find a daughter Anna 1840-1906 who married Jan Boon, son John Henry 1844-1924, a stillborn son in 1849, and a daughter Grietje 10 May 1850 at Usquert (no records found for her after her birth).

So there you have it - Johanna Kuis' mother's family was solidly Dutch, and a large chunk of her extended family settled in the midwest.  As you can guess, her father's family may be a different story, probably for another blog.  :)

My not so Dutch great-grandfather part 2

So perhaps I'm being a little bit unfair to the Dutch side of my Denhof line, as there is more Dutch than German.  For me, it really boils down to growing up believing they were 100% Dutch and then finding out that it's just not true.  

On Nick Denhof's father's side I've shown that his father's Denhof line goes back to Germany.  The records I find for his paternal grandfather's mother's family all point to the Netherlands.  Switching over to his maternal grandmother (Lammina van Heuvelen), her father's records all point to Großwolde, Leer, Lower Saxony, Germany, using the name Höveling (Robert didn't find available records for that area so it's unconfirmed).  Her mother's family also all point to the Netherlands.  

Switching over to his mother's side:  I wrote about Nick's mother Margaret and wrote a follow-up post about the DNA test that proved Margaret's father (as her birth record shows she was born out of wedlock).  As you can probably guess, we're going back to Germany with at least one of these families, although today I'm going to write about the Dutch and American records I have for her parents.  

Her father was born Bernardus Henderikus Kock (Americanized to Bernard Cook), born 2 Nov 1830 at Uithuizen, Netherlands.   

In the year 1830, the 2nd of November, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, appeared for me, Derk Nanninga, Civil Official of Uithuizen, Hendrikus Kock, 40 years old, profession weaver, who reports to me that a child of the male gender is born, here, in the house on number 183, today in the early morning at 3 o'clock from him, declarant, and Gesina Jans Schreuder, his wife. He stated that he wanted to give this child the first name Bernardus.
Whose statement has been made, in the presence of Cornelis Jiltes Keiser, 70 years old, without profession, Roelf Sleumer, 37 years old, profession carpenter, both living here, being neighbors and not related to the declarant. After reading aloud, this document was signed by them and me, with the exception of the first witness, who stated that he could not write.

Her mother was born Johanna Kuis 21 Nov 1834 in the neighboring city of Uithuizeermeeden.

In the year 1834, the 22nd of November, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, appeared for me, Albert Pieters Bouma, Mayor, Civil Registry Official of the municipality of Uithuistermeeden (nowadays Uithuizermeeden, Province of Groningen), Bernardus Kuis, 43 years old, profession weaver, living in Uithuistermeeden, who has introduced to us, a child of the female gender, born on November 21, 1834, at night at 1 am, from him, declarant and Grietje Jans Graftema, in the house at Number 93, in the village of Uithuizermeeden.
To which he has stated that he wants to give the first name of Johanna.This statement was made up in the presence of Bene Hindriks Baar, 38 years old, profession day laborer, and Jan Harms Deilen, 34 years old, profession weaver, both living in Uithuizermeeden.
This is how this document was drawn up, which after reading aloud, was signed by the declarant, together with the witnesses and us, on the day, month and year as mentioned above.

Bernardus and Johanna married 2 Nov 1859 at Uithuizen, making 2 of their children "legitimate".  

On November 2, 1859, appeared for us, Civil Registry in Uithuizen, District of Appingedam, Province of Groningen, in the town hall, to enter into a marriage;

Bernardus Kock, 28 years old, profession day laborer, living in Uithuizen, born in Uithuizen, Municipality Uithuizen, son of the late Hendrikus Kock, deceased in Uithuizen and Gesina Jans Schreuder, profession day laborer, living in Uithuizen, declarant has fulfilled his obligation to the national militia, according to the certificate attached to this.

Johanna Kuis, 24 years old, without profession, living in Uithuizen, born in Uithuistermeeden, municipality Uithuistermeeden, adult-daughter of Bernardus Kuis, without profession, living in Uithuizen and the late Grietje Jans Graftema, died in Uithuistermeeden.The two announcements have taken place here, without objections, on the 16th and the 23st of October 1859.  

And they have submitted to us, their birth certificates, the death certificate of the father of the groom, the death certificate of the mother of the bride, and a written consent/permit from the colonel commanding the second fortress artillery regiment. Furthermore, the fiancés told us, to acknowledge these two children, the first named Hendrik, born in Uithuizen on December 28, 1857, and the second named Margritha, born in Uithuizen on August 20, 1859, whose birth certificates are hereby submitted. The mother of the groom and the father of the bride, hereby present, declare to us, that they agree to this marriage.  After which we have publicly asked them whether they will take one another as spouses and will faithfully fulfill all obligations, that are linked by law, to the marriage, what they explicitly answered with YES, have we, in the name of law, pronounced that they are now married to each other, as husband and wife.  In the presence of Andreas Bulthuis, 62 years old, profession Inn keeper, living in Uithuizen, Willem Veldhuizen, 50 years old, profession secretary, living in Uithuizen, Roelf Pieters Hoff, 44 years old, by profession policeman, living in Uithuizen, and of Hendrik Bulthuis, 25 years old, baker's assistent by profession, living in Uithuizen.  And from this, we made up this document which, after reading aloud, is signed by the declarant, the bride, the mother of the groom, the father of the bride, the witnesses and us. The groom declared not to be able to sign the document because he has never learned how to write.

I don't know when Bernardus and Johanna came to America.  The first census record they're in is from 1 Jun 1870 in the 1st ward of Grand Rapids, Kent County Michigan.  On 10 Jun 1880 they're living in Chester Township, Ottawa County Michigan.  

1870 living with Bernardus' brother Henry's family.  Gesiena was Nick's godmother

1880 living next door to Nick's parents Nick and Margaret.  Their son Ben is incorrectly listed as a daughter.  

Bernardus passed away of heart disease 20 Nov 1891 at Grand Rapids.  I don't know if the family moved back to Grand Rapids, but he was buried at St. Andrews Catholic Cemetery. 

 

Johanna was living with Nick and Margaret in the 1900 census of Chester Township.  They lived next door to Ida Cook Vander Laan, niece of Bernardus. 

Johanna passed away 3 Oct 1907 at Chester Township, allegedly of epilepsy.  She's laid to rest near her daughter Margaret.  

You'll notice that both Bernardus and Johanna's death records indicate parents from the Netherlands.  As you probably guessed, that's only partially correct.  More on that in my next post.  

The Kock/Cook/Kuis lines have frustrated me greatly due to the lack of photos.  If you're reading this and have any photos, please let me know.  

My not so Dutch great-grandfather - part 1

Five years ago I wrote a blog about my great-grandpa Nicholas (Nick) Denhof's father Nicolaas Denhof.  I mentioned that Nick was proud of his Dutch heritage but that his grandfathers listed Germany as their place of birth on some of their records (I doubt he ever knew that).  Having not been able to verify the German with actual records I included what was listed on the records, but I've always kind of discounted it, especially since I couldn't find the alleged cities listed anywhere.  

I have mentioned in multiple posts working with Robert Albert Jr. of California for several of my German lines (he's done some amazing work for me and broken down several brick walls).  I decided to work on the Denhof line some more and reached out to him to see if he would be able to find anything.  I (again) couldn't have been happier with the results.  I titled this post "part 1" because I couldn't possibly squeeze everything he found into one post.  There is so much German in my grandma's (Nick's daughter) ancestry, that I hesitate to even claim her "Dutchness".  

Let's start with the direct Denhof line.  I've been able to establish with actual records that Nicolaas Denhof was born 30 Apr 1854 at Uithuizen, Groningen, Netherlands to Jacobus Jacobs Denhof and Lammina van Heuvelen.  I briefly mentioned them in the above blog link.  Jacobus was born 17 Apr 1819 to Jacob Klaasens Denhof and Elisabeth Hendricks Sprik.  He married Lammina 24 Apr 1841 at Kantens, Groningen Netherlands, and died at Uithuizen 12 Feb 1896.  So we have Nick's grandpa Denhof completely Dutch.  What about his great-grandpa Denhof?

Jacob Klaasens Denhof was found in the Dutch records when he married Elisabeth 5 Jun 1812 at Uithuizen, and when he died at Kantens 29 Sep 1840.  So his birth?  We're back to the 1700s and birth records aren't available in the Netherlands but his marriage record lists his birth at Uithuizen 8 Feb 1772 at Uithuizen.  Then why does his death record list birth at "Waan Duitsland"?  I searched high and low for "Waan" and never found anything.  He listed his parents as Klaas Jacobs and Aaltje Stevens when he married Elisabeth and I had a bit of information about them in my tree as well.  

I hired a researcher in the Netherlands in the late 1990s (before the records were so readily available online) and they had Klaas' death 4 Jan 1823 at Uithuizen (having been born at Zandeweer, Netherlands).  His wife was listed as Hindrikje Harms, and that marriage record was also found.  As I paid a reputable researcher in the Netherlands I took this information as gospel, added it to my tree, and moved on.  

When Robert and I started discussing this Robert found a possible city in Germany called "Wahn" (which from this post doesn't exist anymore).  Of course a possible city doesn't mean anything without records.  Robert hunted down the marriage bann for Jacobus and Elisabeth and noted if you go and look at the MARRIAGE BANN record from 1812 for Denhof/Sprik, you will see that it states that his father is Klaas Jacobs, and he is living in Werlte, a town near Sögel in Germany, and that his wife Aaltje Stevens is deceased by 1812. Will keep you posted. I am hoping to find some more clues, and fyi, the Werlte parish has lots of folks from Sögel and Wahn and area listed in that church, so I may have to expand catholic church searches in this area. Fortunately they list when catholic churches were built over time, so for instance on the Sögel main page it tells me that Wahn got a catholic church in 1869. Werlte is an oldie that goes back to the 1600's too.

So now we have a likely town, we just need records to prove it's correct.  Given that I already had a death record for Klaas Jacobs I was finding it odd that Klaas was born in the Netherlands, moved to Germany and had a family, lost his wife and moved back to the same area of the Netherlands and remarried.  We're not talking a simple road trip in the late 1700s - it wasn't making sense to me.  Then Robert found the actual birth record:

BIRTH1772JacobKlaasensSögelCathChurchPg33of66

Even if I'd have had access to these records I'd have never found this one as I can't read it without it being pointed out to me but there it was: I went back and just started to go through the entire year of 1772, when I got to the SEVENTH of OCTOBER I found it. Jacob Klassens and his wife Adelheid Steffens are the parents, and Joannes Steffens and Catharina Nordberg are the witnesses. You will see on the entry above his, that person's record is the 30th of a month. Right below you see 8ber. That is Acht ober, or October. They use this abbreviation frequently for 7ber, 8ber, 9ber, 10ber, for Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec. It was also on the next to last page of the records of births for that year, so no clue as to how they got February out of it, and the day is clearly listed as the 7th. I'm just glad it was there.

MAR1771JacobsSteffensSögelCatholicChurchPg32of63

DEATH1823NicolausJacobsWerlteCatholicChurchPg41of63

Nicolaus Jacobs and Adelheid Steffens married 26 Nov 1771 at Sögel.  He can't find a death record for Adelheid but he did find that Nicolaus remarried to a Gesina Kuper/Cuper 18 Nov 1778, also at Sögel.  That remarriage was key to proving the death record was the correct subject.  

Nicolaus Jacobs died at Bockholte 4 Jan 1823 and was buried 7 Jan 1823 at Wertle, the town his son listed him living in in 1812.  His death is the bottom listing at age 96 (which is ironic as my grandmother, his 3rd great granddaughter is currently 96).  The name of his 2nd wife is clearly listed there, proving it's him.  Does anything strike you odd about the death record?  This "Klaas Jacobs" (actually Nicolaus Jacobs) ALSO DIED 4 Jan 1823???  What are the chances that my Dutch researcher got this wrong so many years ago but had the right death date?  Seems implausible to me but having been witness to it, I can't deny that it happened.  When I noticed the death date I mentioned it to Robert (I was not questioning him as we'd discussed this evidence and I was convinced he's correct).  I re-sent him the Dutch Klaas Jacobs death record and he sent the following: 

Thanks for sending that. Of course I had seen the record before and looked at it, just never realized that the two folks had the same date of death and for all intents and purposes the same name as well. The difference between the 2 records is that nothing on this record is obviously connected to your ancestor. The witnesses submitting the information 2 months after that man died in the Netherlands, or the wife, etc. etc. Your original tree had the date and the wife added, but nothing on it really links it to your tree other than the name.

On the German records, as you know we have:

1- place of birth (Wahn) in Germany of his son which we have from the Netherlands docs

2- son's marriage bann where it says the very town that his father was living in 1812

3- the marriage of the father to Adhelheid Steffens and children born to them in Sogel

4- the second marriage of his father and children born in Werlte

5- the death record for the father listing his second wife's name

6- the death record for the father.

If I had seen in that first record anything at all that really linked him to your tree, I would maybe have paused even longer, but there is just so much evidence that the latter is the correct one for sure and this is just one of those freaky coincidences.

So my great-grandpa Denhof's dad was Dutch, and his grandpa Denhof was Dutch, but the great-grandfather and likely way beyond has now been confirmed as German.  That's only one of Nick's ancestors - was Robert able to prove more?  Stay tuned.......

As an aside - my youngest was named Jacob Nicholas (both of my dad's grandfathers were named Nicholas).  Robert finding that "Klaas Jacobs" was actually Nicolaus Jacobs means that the name Nicholas or Jacob goes straight back in this line until at least about 1727:  Nicholas Paul>Nicolaas>Jacobus Jacobs>Jacob Klaasens>Nicolaus Jacobs.  It wasn't deliberate but I think it's pretty neat.   

It's been almost 10 years (and only 74 blog posts)

 My wife asked me the other day "why don't you blog anymore"?  She thinks I'm a good writer and knows I enjoyed doing it.  I don't have a good answer other than I guess I always find something else to do (and it's not reading the growing book collection I'm building when thrifting, much to her chagrin).  I keep renewing my ancestry.com membership because they keep giving me a deal.  With my job it's nice to have something "mindless" to do at night and quite frankly those little 'shaky leafs' are pretty mindless.  You do have to pay attention to them to make sure they're the correct record, and often there are transcription errors but for the most part, it's click-compare-add-done.  So much so that I've currently got 430,612 of those records attached to people in my tree.  You read that right - I've matched a little short of a half million records to people in my tree.  My order history at Ancestry shows my first subscription 7/21/2012.  The Google tells me there have been 4,252 days since then meaning I'm averaging 101 records/day.  Doing the math on that shocks me as I've taken a few significant breaks during this time and I don't have time to work on it daily.  

In my first post I posted that I had 44,993 people in my tree.  Fast forward to today and it's 136,222 (see, I am actually doing something with the shaky leafs)!  One thing that's helped is that most of my family stayed in Michigan and the Library of Michigan now has a ton of newspapers available online (do you know how many people you can add to your tree when you're able to look up birth and marriage announcements and obituaries while sitting on your couch?).  In the past I had to drive downtown, usually with a list of items to find, then find what microfilm I wanted to search (hoping the record was indexed in their books) and then search for the page.  Now?  I put a name in and hit search and it brings the pages to me in seconds.  In another early post I posted a list of links that I used back then.  Looking that list over about half of them are still valid (some have just changed urls, which seems silly to me).  I'd add newspapers.com and the aforementioned Library of Michigan site.  Seriously, if you live in Michigan and are interested in genealogy (or history in general) sign up for a library card (another thing you can do from your couch) and get to searching - it's FREE!

The one thing I wrote back then that I absolutely disagree with now is use of the www.familysearch.org family tree.  Their idea is wonderful - have people collaborate on one world tree.  Unfortunately there are so many people that are so careless that the information is almost useless.  I have tried to fix errors in "my part" of the tree and I have given up.  I regret giving that recommendation, but one regret isn't bad at all.

Why am I posting this tonight?  I think it's neat to look back and see how things have changed.  I also think I'm going to try to heed her advice and try some blogging again.  I'm a tad bored with what I've been doing in my tree and I enjoy telling the stories about the people and how information came together.  Who knows if anyone will read it or how long I'll stick with it but I'll give it another try.  Wish me luck!

Mind BLOWN - another ThruLines discovery

 I haven't blogged in over a year and am not going to make excuses - just haven't felt like it.  Perhaps with the ridiculous price of an ancestry.com membership I'll start blogging instead of working on my tree.  

Anyway, I have been working on my tree and occasionally checking ThruLines to see if there are any new discoveries.  I had previously blogged about my 3rd great grandparents John and Minnie (Helm) Freiheit If you haven't read the previous blog it boils down to the fact that the researcher I paid found John and Minnie's marriage in 1857 but also found that Minnie had been previously married to Johann Friedrich Theodor Springborn in 1854 and had a son Heinrich Carl Christian Springborn in 1855.  Given her remarriage and no records found for her first husband and son, I figured they both died, Minnie remarried and came to America.  I believed that until 12/21 when I found this:

I have 3 connections via Charles Springborn?  Who is Charles?  I looked at one of the trees and found that Charles IS Heinrich Carl Christian Springborn.  He came to America with his dad and stepmother in 1864, where they settled in Manistee County Michigan.  Charles' dad John Springborn also had what appears to be his 2nd wife Marie, a son Frederick and a daughter Fredericka with him.  Looking at the tree and other records online and Fredericka was also Minnie's daughter with him, and Frederick was born as an illegitimate child in 1852 as Frederick Helm.  

It seems impossible that Minnie was married, had 3 children and ended up remarried and moving to America with her 2nd family and settling in the same area as her first family?  I have Minnie's probate record and it only lists her Freiheit children, furthering the case in my mind that this tree has to be wrong.  The problem is, DNA doesn't lie.  I match 3 different people descended from Charles Springborn.

I reached out to Robert Albert, the researcher that I hired over a decade ago that busted down this brick wall and he was still at the email address I had.  He took a look and concurred with the tree, and that Minnie's first family did indeed come to America.  He found the ship record and there's a youngest daughter yet to be placed, that could be Minnie Helm's daughter, or the Marie that John Springborn remarried to.  His guesses as to what happened are as plausible as any:

Yeah, as to that youngest child, I haven't looked to see how she is connected. According to the Hamburg list it says she is a child, presumably of Johann Friedrich Springborn, but if he had a "fling" with Marie, who would have been say 20 at conception, and he being 31, this "could" have been the spark that dissolved the family. Or perhaps even more likely is that Minnie had an affair with Mr. Freiheit, and so J. F. Springborn leaves her and takes the children with him because she is "unfit", and meets up with Marie.  Maybe Minnie getting pregnant was the straw that broke the camel's back. Wish we could go back in time and visit this household to get the story that I agree has been lost to eternity. I am sure no one living post emigration wanted to retell it for sure. But then to think that she brings her new beau and kids to the same spot in the USA is just... wow! WOW!!!!! Yeah, this is maybe the best unknown story I have ever heard of in all my years of researching. Remarkable.

Of even further intrigue is that sailing with the Springborn family is a Dorothea Kehnscherper.  Minnie Helm Freiheit's mother's name was Maria Dorothea Kehnscherper.  I don't know anything about Maria Dorothea yet, but the age on the ship log makes it unlikely that she's Minnie's mother but there has to be a connection.  

This is all developing and I have Robert on the project again.  He doesn't have his business website anymore but if he's officially doing research still I'll try to get his information into a blog.  He is friendly, thorough, reasonable, and honest.  I very much enjoy working with him.  He's already added to my Freiheit family, as records are available online now that weren't a decade ago.  I could probably find the records, but I can't read them so hiring him to ensure I don't miss anything or record it incorrectly is absolutely worth it.

As promised, the start of the Siersema letters

So I blogged on 12/3 promising to blog more and then vanished for 16 days.  I guess that's par for the course.  I do have a pseudo-excuse though!  I got to looking through the letters written by Albert Siersema to see what ones I wanted to post.  I read Albert's letter from 21 Jul 1866 where he mentions to Paulus den Bleyker that "nephew Klaas Vlaming has died in Halifax, Canada".  I knew that his wife Tryntje's sister Pietertje married to Biem Vlaming so I went to find Klaas.  Klaas was born 4 Nov 1832 at Texel to Biem and his 1st wife Antje Bakker.  I started to write him off as not actually related until I noted that the marriage record of Biem and Antje 19 Dec 1830 listed Antje's parents as Cornelis Bakker and Trijntje Dogger.  Klaas was indeed related, just in a different way.  (The number of cousins from Texel that married is mind-blowing, in today's day).  I got down the rabbit hole of working on Cornelis and Trijntje's family and then the siblings of Trijntje. With the records available online I found (in the last 16 days) 711 new people to add to my tree.  These kinds of rabbit holes are a big reason I end up not blogging.  

Anyway, since I mentioned that letter I'll start the Albert Siersema letters with that one.  The translation at the end is courtesy of my stepmother, who has been a godsend when it comes to translations.

North-Holland, Michigan, USA

July 21st, 1866
Dear Brother-in-law,

We have received your letter in good health and from it we also learned, to our delight, about your well-being.  Nowadays it is with us and the here living family also well, except for our little Duwertje, who is suffering with the reed in the front finger of her right hand for 4 weeks and suffered a lot of pain.
After a long wait, I can inform you that here, in the previous week, we received the message from Pella, Iowa, that nephew Klaas Vlaming has died in Halifax, Canada, but which day we don't know yet.
A. Eelman has received this message on his letter from a man, who arrived with him and who knew nothing else to report. We will further investigate the time and circumstances via a man, who stayed behind with Klaas at Halifax and arrived eleven days, after the first in Pella.
A. Eelman bought 80 fields of land for a thousand dollars. It is on the same road where Sakom Dogger lives. Just a mile north of him. There is 40 fields between Aris (Eelman) and that what Paul now owns.
It is, as far as I know, very beautiful and a good field. I would not be able find a better field here in North-Holland, Michigan.
Paul already offered him 100 dollars in profits when he was here with his goods.
Paul also has a good piece of land, but has with his experience deteriorated a lot, but this is how it goes, if man is so unsatisfied with the appreciation of God's benefits.
The crop are generally good here and if there isn't much weevil (an insect) in the wheat, which have been detected initially, it can yield good results as far as the crop is concerned.
There is also quite a lot of grass.
Warm greetings from us to you and your wife and children and friends.
With respect and wishing you good health.
Written in haste.

brother-in-law,

Albert Siersema.

I was hoping to discover who was in Pella Iowa that would have written Albert but I didn't make a connection. When Trijntje Dogger's husband Cornelis Bakker died in 1812 she remarried to Meijert Boon. She had a daughter Cornelisje who married Jan Eelman and had a son Arie Eelman, who is possibly who Albert is referring to. His family appears to settled in New Jersey, not Iowa, so that mystery isn't solved yet.

In a letter 14 Dec 1866 he informs Paulus the following update about Klaas Vlaming's death:

Since I wrote to you last, we have also received further information from Pella (Iowa) about Klaas Vlaming. Namely that he died on the night between April 22 and 23.  He also came to his end under sad circumstances.  While the Dutch, who looked after him a bit during the day, left him alone at night, so that they found him dead in the morning and already robbed of what was still valuable to him.  His money, that he still had with him because he still had hope for a better future.
Still a sad situation, so abandoned of everyone. To die alone under a piece of canvas.

These finds are really cool because in all of the online trees Klaas exists in, none of them had a death date for him. This letter is probably the only existing proof of what happened to him, although I don't know why he was in Canada. His wife Neeltje Boon and his daughter Antje both died in 1864 so he had no immediate family at the time of his death.

More letters to come.