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.  :)

More that my great-grandfather (probably) didn't know

Last post I wrote about my great-grandpa's father and all the information I'd been able to find that I suspect he didn't know.  In this writing I'll share what I've found about his mother, Margaret Cook.

Margaret was born Margritha Kuis 20 Aug 1859 at Uithuizen, Groningen Netherlands, the illegitimate daughter of Johanna Kuis (1834-1907).  She was the 2nd illegitimate child born to Johanna, as their was a brother Hindrik born 28 Dec 1857, who died 8 Oct 1860 (both at Uithuizen).

Margaret's birth

Marriage that legitimized her birth.

Johanna married Bernardus Henderikus Kock 2 Nov 1859 at Uithuizen, and the marriage record states that it legitimized 2 children.  They had 10 additional children:

Hendrikus 1 Jul-9 Jul 1862 at Usquert
Hinderikus 13 Jun-18 Jun 1863 at Usquert
Gezina 15 Jul 1864-???, born at Usquert
Henricus 4 Jul 1867-??? born at Grand Rapids, Kent Co MI (as are the remainder of the children)
Lucinda 1868-Jul 1868 (at this point the family name is recorded as Cook)
Henry 1868-4 Jul 1868
Henry Aug 1868-3 May 1870
Bertram Sep 1869-29 Jun 1870
Henry 7 Apr 1872-28 Mar 1873
Catherine 21 Feb 1875-2 Dec 1942 - she married Louis "Luke" Denhof, son of Nicolaas' brother Jacob.

As you can see, Bernardus and Johanna had a hard time keeping their children alive.  The records for these children are spotty and most were obtained from the records of St. Andrews Catholic Church in Grand Rapids by another Denhof cousin.

As I wrote in my last blog, Margaret married Nicolaas Denhof 5 Nov 1877 at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Wright Township, Ottawa Co MI.  After his death in 1917 she remained widowed, heading the household with her younger children in 1920 and living with her son Peter and his family in 1930.

1920 census -I have no idea who the boarder is with the family.

1930 census with son Peter and his family

I have asked my grandma (who was just shy of 10 when Margaret passed away 5 Oct 1937 at Conklin MI) about her recollections of Margaret and she only recalls visiting her aunt "Rick" (Henrietta Denhof Torrey) on Spencer St NE (Grand Rapids) and seeing Margaret on the front porch using a Singer sewing machine.  Given my relationship with my grandparents I find it hard to fathom that that's all she remembers BUT I have to remember that she was born to the youngest child (her dad was an uncle to several people at birth) and that Margaret had 33 living grandchildren and 25 living great-grandchildren at the time of her death (in spite of her inaccurate obituary).  She had already buried 4 grandchildren and a great-grandchild as well.  To put it in perspective, my grandma only had 3 grandchildren.

Margaret passed away of chronic myocarditis and was laid to rest beside her husband and near her mother at the St. Francis Xavier church cemetery.

I wish I had more photos of the Denhof family, but was told by one Margaret's grandsons that the old farmhouse burned down and took the photos with it.  I do have a few scant photos of Margaret, all from around the same time frame.

The family picture is her and all her children, presumably on her 69th birthday (her clothing/appearance match that of the photo that has the 69th birthday sign).  The woman in the photos with her is her sister Catherine Cook Denhof.  My great grandpa Nicholas is seated in the front of the family photo, with a deck of cards against his shoe (he loved cards).

Stuff my great-grandpa probably didn't know

As I wrote in my first blog, my great-grandpa's refusal to answer my questions is what fueled my genealogy interest, resulting in 26 years worth of research.  Now that I'm changing directions in my "goals" I thought I'd start with what I was able to find about his parents.  I'll start with his father Nicolaas Denhof.

Nicolaas was born 30 Apr 1854 at Uithuizen, Groningen Netherlands, the 7th of 9 children to Jacobus Jacobs Denhof (1819-1896) and Lammina van Heuvelen (1817-1889).  I paid a researcher in 2006 to research this family and in his notes he wrote "in 1863, Lammina went to a hospital for the mentally insane in Delft. She died there on 6 October 1889."  There is no documentation in the file he sent me but I have no reason to doubt the validity of this.  Jacobus remarried a year after her death to Elizabeth ten Boer (1841-1928).  He also noted that the family was Roman Catholic.  Interestingly, although my great-grandpa took great pride in being Dutch, both of his grandfathers list Germany as their place of birth in their records.

Nicolaas' siblings included:

Jacob 1841-1910 - came to America in 1866, coming to Grand Rapids MI before settling in Chester Township, Ottawa Co MI (Nicolaas followed him here).  Was married to Margaret Drieborg.
Klaas 1843-1847
Jan 1844-1869 - also came to America in 1869, also to Grand Rapids but died there 12 Mar 1869.
Albertus 1846-1848
Bernardus 1848-1860
Trientje 1851-1909 - married Hans Diemers Veenstra and had 7 children in Uithuizen but ends up in Buenos Aires Argentina prior to the birth of their last daughter Paulina in 1892.  Trientje died as Catalina Fenstra and her husband as Juan Fenstra.
Willem Guillelmus Fredericus 1857-???? - appears to have followed his sister to Buenos Aires.  He married Geessiena Nieman and had 2 children at Uithuizen before having a son Federico in 1892 in Argentina.  In census records Geessiena is married to Federico Stoffel by the birth of their daughter Cherina in 1894 so I'm guessing Willem is deceased by then.
Petrus Jacobus Frederikus - 1858-1883 (never married).

Nicolaas left the Netherlands, and came to America via Liverpool on the "SS Nevada", arriving in America May 1873.

This is the manifest from when Nicolaas left the Netherlands.  Interesting that Jan Kuis is with him - more on that in a bit.........

 This is the manifest that was turned in in New York.  The snippet with Nicolaas' name gives no further useful information.

So why did Nicolaas leave the Netherlands?  I don't have any definitive proof but I have to guess it's related to this snippet below:

1119. Amongst others Nicolaas Denhof was mentioned in the “Politieblad”, a kind of paper, which was sent to the police stations as a kind of “wanted” paper.

Mentioned he was living in Uithuizen and probably left for North America.

He was sentenced for 3 days imprisonment or paying 25 guilders because  he didn’t show up for his military service.

Still wanted in 1875 and 1878.

It's interesting that Nicolaas fled the Netherlands to avoid a 3 day imprisonment and even more interesting that his brother Willem appears to have fled to Argentina for a petty issue as well:

Wilhelmus Fredericus Gulielmus Denhoff.

Inprisoned in (hard to translate) a kind of prison in which mostly poor people are placed for little crimes. I guess just want to put them away.

Willem was deserted the 5^th of July 1888 and was wanted. Description: farmhand, length 1 meter, 74 centimeters, face: round, hair, blond, nose and mouth ordinary, chin round

Nicolaas married Margretha "Margaret" Cook 5 Nov 1877 at Wright Township, Ottawa County MI.  I have misplaced that marriage record so will have to see about getting another copy.  I do know that the marriage was found in the parish records only, not at the county clerk.  Remember Jan Kuis from that ship log that was with Nicolaas?  His sister Johanna (Kuis) Cook was Margaret's mother.  I'm only speculating at this point but I'd bet that's how they were introduced.  I'll blog about Margaret next.

On Feb 4, 1888 Nicolaas became a naturalized citizen in the Kent County Circuit Court at Grand Rapids:

Nicolaas and Margaret settled in Chester Township and attended St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church, which his brother Jacob's family was one of the founding families of.  Nicolaas was a farmer and lived the typical farmer life of the day.  Between 1878-1901 the he and Margaret had 10 children, my great-grandfather Nicholas being the youngest.  

1880 Chester Twp - living next door to Margaret's parents Bernardus and Johanna (Kuis) Cook

1900 Chester Twp - living next door to Ida (Cook) VanderLaan, 1st cousin of Margaret

1910 Chester Twp (not in order due to split pages)

I don't know much about Nicolaas but the little bit that my grandma's brother told me stands in stark contrast to what his obituary tells about him.  From what I was told he drank quite a bit and could have a terrible temper, so bad that my great-grandpa and his brother Pete buried his pistol somewhere on the farm to keep it away from him.

Nicolaas passed away 4 Sep 1917 at his home in Chester of carcinoma of the liver and was laid to rest in the church cemetery at St. Francis Xavier.

Nicolaas was even tough in his will, leaving everything to his wife until her death, at which time the children were to split everything unless of course, she had the gall to remarry (instead of spending her last 20 years as a widow like she did) then everything was to go straight to the children.  I guess this wasn't that uncommon back then so perhaps I'm judging the time he lived in more than his words.  I'm thankful to live in an age where women aren't treated like this.