Ettje Heeringa van der Ploeg, another great-grandparent of my grandpa

Well, 2 blogs in one day.  I don't expect that to happen much but I was prepared to write this one when my last blog popped into my head.  After several years of not blogging at all I'll take a 2 blog day.

On my dad's side I've blogged about my grandfather's grandpa and grandma and decided to blog about his paternal grandfather's father because I have a photo of him.  I decided that I should probably blog about his paternal grandmother's mother for the same reason.

Ettje Heeringa birth

Ettje Sjoerds Heeringa was born 8 Jan 1834 at Ee, Friesland Netherlands, the 2nd of 6 children of
Sjoerd Tjeerds Heeringa (1806-1848) and Folkjen Ruurds Nicolai (1806-1846).  She had the following siblings:

Tjeerd Sjoerds Heeringa (1832-1866)
Ale Sjoerds Heeringa (1836-1922)
Pieter Sjoerds Heeringa (1838–1915)
Baukje Sjoerds Heeringa (1841–1907)
Sake Sjoerds Heeringa (1844–1853)

Tjeerd married Jantje Jans Sloot  and had 3 children.
Baukje had no children but married Ale de Bruin.
Ale married Stijntje van der Pijp and had no children.




The only descendants of Sjoerd Heeringa and Folkjen Nicolai come from Ettje and her brother Pieter.

Her brother Pieter had 6 children, 3 that came to America:
Attje Pieters Heeringa (1862-1913) who married Jan de Jong and had 10 children.  Lived in Missaukee Co MI.
Jacob Pieters Heeringa (1866-1950) who married Bessie Vanderweide and had 7 children.  Also lived in Missaukee Co MI.
Ettje Pieters Heeringa (1877-1965) who married Eeltje Terpstra and had 4 children.  Her husband died in the Netherlands and she appears to have joined her children here in America in 1949.
Pieter also had a son Sjoerd Pieters Heeringa who had a son Wieberen "William George" Heeringa 1886-1955) who married Effie van der Werf and had 4 children.  He came to America in 1928 and settled in Kent Co MI.

Marriage pg 1

Marriage pg 2

Jan Folkerts birth

Jan Folkerts death

Ettje married Jan Folkerts van der Ploeg (1827-1879) 16 May 1861 at Dongeradeel, Friesland Netherlands.  Jan Folkerts was the son of Folkert Willems van der Ploeg (1789-1863) and Jeltje Joukes Jouksma (1790-1830).

As I wrote in the blog about my grandpa's grandmother, Jan Folkerts and Ettje had 2 daughters, Jeltje (1871-1918) and Folkje (1867-1941).  They arrived in America aboard the ship "Obdam" 15 Apr 1893.

In 1900 she's enumerated as "Effie Heeringa", living with her daughter Folkje and son in law Jan Gerbens van der Woude.  They are living at 513 North Lafayette, listed as Grand Rapids Township (although that address is well within the actual city limits).

11 May 1907 Ettje's son-in-law Jan Gerbens passed away, the only death she endured here in America

In 1910 she's with her daughter Folkje's family as Etta VanderPloege.  They live in the 800 block of North Union (unreadable number) again in Grand Rapids Township, even though the address is actually in the city.

Ettje passed away of cerebral apoplexy (stroke) 21 Nov 1917 at Blendon Township, Ottawa County Michigan and is laid to rest in an unmarked grave at Borculo Cemetery nearby.  Her daughter Folkje is buried next to her with her second husband Anne Machiela, who was the informant on Ettje's death certificate.  Given how many immigrant death certificates I've looked over, I am impressed by the recollection of her parent's names.  Her birth date is completely butchered though, as nothing can be perfect!

Ettje seated with Folkje to her right, granddaughter Ida Rauser to her left with great-granddaughter Virginia Rauser

This photo was given to me by John Rauser, youngest son of Ida.  His sister Virginia was Ida's 1st child, born in 1914.  Given how old she appears I'd say this photo was taken in the summer of 1917, just months prior to Ettje's death.  It is the only known photo of Ettje and I was given a copy in time to show my grandpa a picture of his great-grandmother that he'd never seen before.  For that, I'll forever be thankful to John Rauser, who probably doesn't know how important his help was to me.

A couple of interesting points about Folkje's family:

Folkje's youngest child with Jan Gerbens Vander Woude was Otto, born 4 Nov 1898.  He had a twin sister Jennie who was married thrice and passed away 24 May 1988 as Mrs. Menno Dykema.  Otto passed away 23 Jan 2000 due to complications from a stroke he suffered 16 years prior.  He lived to be 101 years old but was wheelchair-bound and unable to speak those last 16 years.

Folkje remarried to Anne Machiela (1865-1949) and had one son Richard (1911-1992).  Richard married Bertha Lievense (1909-2005) and what's interesting to me here is that I'm not only related to Richard but also to Bertha.  Her mother was Effie Siersema, daughter of Henderik Siersema and Bertha Kapenga.  Henderik was the son of Albert Siersema and Tryntje Dogger.  I wrote about the Siersema farm and Bible as Albert and Tryntje were my 4th great-grandparents.  To muddy the waters even further, Bertha Kapenga's grandfather Jemme Albert's Kapenga was a brother of Albert Siersema's mother Catharina Alberts Siersema (so she married her cousin and I'm directly related to both Henderik and Bertha).  So much intertwining...........

Folkje's eldest daughter Ettje "Etta" (1891-1967) married Matthew Vander Boegh (1891-1964).  In my grandpa's uncle Jim's photo albums there were a couple of photos of Etta.  My grandpa didn't seem to know anything about his great-aunt Folkje or any of his dad's 1st cousins (Vander Woude or Machiela) but obviously there was contact between the families as Etta was in photos taken by her cousin Jim.

My great-grandfather Nicholas Korstange, who I plan to write about next, was allegedly (I need to track down the birth record to prove it) born at Lucas, Missaukee County Michigan.  To have him born in Missaukee County made absolutely no sense to me when my grandpa told me.  His parents lived and died in Kent County and his random birth there wasn't something that I could figure out, until I started researching Ettje's family.  Given that she had a niece and nephew settle in Missaukee County, 1st cousins of Nicholas' mother Jeltje it's plausible he was born on a visit north.

Grand Rapids Herald 5 Oct 1924 front page

Folkje's 1st born child Gerben Jans "Gerrit" Vander Woude and his son John Simon were killed when his delivery truck was struck by a train 4 Oct 1924.

Jeltje "Jennie" van der Ploeg Korstanje - my 2nd great grandmother

I was going to stick to my Perkins family theme from my last blogs but after Memorial Day and making a trip to the cemetery last night to give a badly needed cleaning to Jennie's headstone I decided I'd write what little I know about her.  I'll start with her headstone as that's fresh in my head:

 I've always kept an eye on Jennie's headstone as she and 3 of my grandpa's uncles are buried in close proximity at Greenwood Cemetery in Grand Rapids MI.  They are right as you pull in the cemetery and close to the road so easy to find.  My dad remembers finding them when he used to work at the cemetery (he didn't know who they were).  My grandpa took me here once to visit them and after my grandpa's health started to slide (and he's now since passed) I've taken it upon myself to be the caregiver.

As you can see, Jennie's stone was in pretty bad shape.  The top photo is actually easier to read than it really was because I soaked it down in preparation for cleaning before I took the "before" photo. 

I brought my grandma with me and as we were leaving the cemetery I told her I like to think my grandpa smiled with his approval that I came and did this.  Jennie has very few descendants and even fewer that know she existed so I don't believe anyone else is going to do it.

Jennie was born Jeltje van der Ploeg 2/16/1871 at Hantum, Friesland Netherlands to Jan Folkerts van der Ploeg (1827-1879) and Etje Sjoerds Heeringa (1834-1917).  She was one of only two children born to them, the other being her sister Folkje "Florence" (1867-1941) who married 1st to Jan Gerbens van der Woude (1862-1907) and 2nd to Anne Jans Machiela (1865-1949).

I know very little about Jennie's life.  In 1861 her father's occupation is listed as farmer - in 1871 (at her birth) he's listed as a "roadworker".  I'd assume they were just your average family.  Upon his death the family stayed in Hantum until 3/27/1893 when they embarked (as steerage passengers) for Grand Rapids MI aboard the ship "Obdam" under the family name "van der Woude".  Folkje and her husband had their children Gerben Jans and Ettje Jans, Jeltje and their mother Etje traveled with Jan Gerbens and his mother and 3 of his siblings.  I'm unsure why they left the Netherlands or chose Grand Rapids as their new home.  They arrived in New York 4/15/1893. 

ellisisland.org

ellisisland.org

Ship "Obdam" - source of photo unknown

 Jennie married Jan Korstanje (of Wolphaartsdijk, Zeeland Netherlands) 4/8/1896 at Grand Rapids MI.  This photo is from their wedding.  It was in an old steamer trunk that was in my grandpa's half-brother's possession (it has since vanished under despicable circumstances).  The trunk had a bunch of old family memorabilia in it including Jan's funeral book, my great grandpa's (Jan and Jennie's son) auxiliary police effects and these 2 photos.  I believe it belonged to Jan, was passed down to his son James and upon James' death became the property of my great grandfather Nicholas.  As you can see this photo was folded in half (it was a hard cardboard photo).  Luckily I scanned this before the belongings were stolen.  I had seen a head shot of Jennie from this picture from an album my grandpa had but for years didn't know it was her wedding photo or that any other photos of her existed. 

 When I met with my grandpa's half brother he also showed me this photo that was in the trunk.  Luckily this one wasn't folded in half (it probably would have ruined Jennie's face).  This is the only other known photo of Jennie.  My great grandpa Nicholas (1903-1981) is the baby so this is circa 1903-1904.  The older boy is their son John (1898-1919) and the 2nd youngest is James (1900-1954).  I'll blog about the Korstanje boys at a different time.  Their son Edward (1906-1923) hadn't yet been born. 

Jennie died 3/24/1918 at Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids. Due to the butchering of the Korstanje name (that I still deal with myself to this day with Korstange) it took me years to find the death record or an obituary.  The Western Michigan Genealogical Society (wmgs.org) has it indexed as Korseanje (I've sent them a request to update).  It's indexed even worse at www.seekingmichigan.org as "James Koestarve".  Looking at the obituary I can understand the error there - the death certificate, not so much. 

Jan went on to remarry but didn't have any more children.  He's buried with his 2nd wife but Jennie's 2 young sons are buried near her and her son James within a few lots.  My grandfather always told me that she died during the flu pandemic of 1918 which made him guess that's how she died.  When I finally found her death certificate it showed she died of uterine cancer.  I've been in touch with grandchildren of her sister Florence but I don't know of much contact between the families otherwise.  I wish my grandpa could have known his grandmother and that I had a better story for Jennie.