Jan Korstanje, my most direct immigrant ancestor

My last post was about my grandpa's grandfather's papers so I think I'll write about him tonight.  I call him my most direct immigrant ancestor because he's my direct male Korstange ancestor, and the generation that came to America.

 Jan Korstanje was born 4 Jun 1864 at Wolphaartsdijk, Zeeland, Netherlands to Janus Korstanje (1841-1922) and Jozina Westerweele (1842-1870).  His birth record was signed by his father Janus.  He was the 2nd of 7 children born to Janus and Jozina, and the only one with living descendants.  His father remarried twice after Jozina's death so Jan had 7 half-siblings as well.  I'll blog about Janus later and write about those siblings then.






Maddeningly I can't find any reference to when Jan came to America or any ship record.  In the 1900 census he lists that he'd been in America 8 years which lines up with his discharge from the Dutch military 30 Apr 1891.  My guess is he left shortly after that, but I don't know why.

Jan married Jeltje "Jennie" van der Ploeg 8 Apr 1896 at Grand Rapids, Kent Co Michigan.  Their marriage was witnessed by Jennie's brother-in-law Jan Gerbens "John" van der Woude.

As I mentioned in my blog about Jennie, the wedding photo was found in an old steamer trunk that my grandpa's half-brother had.  The trunk and it's contents are now MIA, although we all know how that happened.  Perhaps someday the property will be returned to it's rightful owner so that family can have the family heirlooms that were in it. Jan and Jennie had 5 children: Jozina (14 Jul-24 Sep 1897) John (1898-1919) James (1900-1954) Nicholas (1903-1981) my g-gpa Edward (1906-1923) This photo is also from the steamer trunk and is now missing.  Jan, John Jr, Nicholas (baby), James and Jennie c. 1904.  These 2 photos are the only known photos of Jennie.  Fortunately Jan's son James appears to have had quite a thing for photography and had a couple of photo albums of photos that appear to have been taken in the 1920s.  I'll share some of them at the end of this post.

 In 1900 Jan and Jennie are living at 318 East Leonard St in Grand Rapids, Jan a "day laborer".

In 1910 Jan and Jennie are living at 166 Shirley St NE in Grand Rapids, with Jan listing that he's a wagon driver at the coal yard.

Upon Jennie's death in 1918, Jan was left with 2 adult sons and 2 minor sons.  Unfortunately he lost John Jr. in 1919 and Edward in 1923 so since his marriage he's buried a daughter, 2 sons and his wife, all at Greenwood Cemetery in Grand Rapids.

In 1920 Jan is a laborer in a factory, living with his surviving children in Walker Township instead of Grand Rapids.  The census record doesn't list an address but my grandpa took me to a house on Bristol Ave that's across the street from the west end of Greenwood Cemetery (and Jennie's obituary lists the funeral from her residence on Bristol av).  I'll elaborate on this a little later.

                   
Jan found love again with the widow Anna (Beamer) Koster, who lost her husband Albert in 1919.  They married 9 Jun 1921 at Middleville, Barry Co MI.  My grandpa was born 5 years later and remembered visiting at Jan and Anna's home at 1427 Alpine Ave NW in Grand Rapids.  He said children were not to talk and that Anna was quite stern so he'd sit in the corner and listen to them talk in Dutch.  His only other recollection that he passed along was that Jan used to sit on the bus bench at Alpine/Leonard by the bank and he'd sometimes see him when he drove past.

These are 2 studio photos of Jan and Anna found in the photos of my grandpa's half-sister Jennifer.  The first one we guess is from about 1940.  I'd guess the 2nd one is a little newer, from around 1925-1930 or potentially from their marriage in 1921.

In 1930 and 1940 Jan and Anna are living at the 1427 Alpine Ave NW address.  In 1930 Jan lists that he's a "street cleaner" for the city and by 1940 I presume he's retired, having listed no occupation.

Jan passed away 29 Aug 1945 at his home on Alpine Ave of arteriosclerotic heart disease.  My grandpa was off to war so he wasn't home to attend the funeral.  Jan was laid to rest at Georgetown Cemetery where Anna's 1st husband was buried and where Anna joined him in 1959.  His headstone, death certificate, obituary and funeral book list a middle initial of "W" but I can't find any actual records to support that where he provided a middle name/initial.
I mentioned that I'd talk more about the home on Bristol Ave.  My grandpa gave me a photocopy of the land transfer paperwork that lists the address and I'll update the blog when I pull it out next.  I vividly remember going to Greenwood with my grandpa to visit the graves of his grandmother and his uncles (we didn't know about his aunt Jozina and her grave is unmarked).  When we left he turned right out of the cemetery instead of left and I didn't know why.  He pulled in the driveway of the Bristol house, where someone was outside working on it.  He got out and walked right up to the owner of the house and struck up a conversation about the house.  He had the transfer paperwork with him and a photo album of his uncle Jim's photos from the 1920s, which had several shots of the Bristol house.  The owner was thrilled to see these, as he was working on trying to restore the home to it's original look and the photos gave him some good insight into how the home looked.  My grandpa could strike up a conversation with anyone and had none of the hesitation I do about walking up to someone that I don't know and chatting it up with them.

Here are some photos of the house and the barn.  It's interesting that "John Korstanje" is painted on the barn and that he ran out of room and had to split Korstanje into 2 lines.  I feel that pain when I have to sign forms that aren't long enough for my name :).
I mentioned that James Korstanje took quite a few photographs.  My grandpa had 2 albums full of them that were absolutely falling apart.  I ended up taking them apart and putting the photos into an acid free album.  1920s photo quality left something to be desired but these are some of the better ones that I scanned.

Jan and Anna	Jan and Anna 1924
James clearly liked Anna, calling her "Ma"	Jan looks so little with Anna here
Jan with Edward	Jan with James Jan and his wagon (delivering coal?)
	Jan on right, grandson Jerry in front, daughter-in-law Lois in the middle, from day of son Nicholas' 2nd marriage 3 Sep 1938.  The other guys are Koster boys.
Gertrude Koster, Anna, Nick and Jan Korstanje with Albert Koster in the front.	Jan on right, 1921