Brick Wall Comes Tumbling Down, Pt. 2

After locating the birth records of Jan De Vries and Luiktje Mulder, I felt fairly confident that this was the correct couple.  But how could I be positive since there had been mistakes made before?

Based on family naming practices in the Dutch tradition, the first born son would be named after the paternal grandfather, the first born daughter named after the paternal grandmother, the second born son named after the maternal grandfather and the second daughter after the maternal grandmother.  Looking at the children of Jan & Luiktje should reflect the family names that I found on the birth records.

Jan De Vries's father was Kornelis Geerts de Vries and his mother Jantje Geerts.  (The Geerts should reflect the previous generations first names.  I wonder why Jantje doesn't have a last name listed?  Maybe because it was 1816 and she was married before the whole "pick a last name" mandate came down?)  Jan and Luiktje did have a daughter Jantje born 1860 and died in 1881. She was the only daughter that we know about so that does fit with her grandmother's name.  There is also a son named Cornelius but very little is known about where he fits into the family.  Since there were no dates, he always fell at the end of the family but it makes sense if he was the first born son. The only record he can be found in is the burial records at the Beaverdam Cemetery.  There is no stone for him while Jantje does have one.  And he is not listed in any of the census records I have seen.  So he must have been born and died somewhere between census records.  Plus the couple immigrated in 1854 so there are a number of years between then and 1860 where a child (or two) would fit and there are very few records from that time.

Luiktje Mulder's father was Jakob Hendriks Mulder and her mother Pieterke Lammerts Jolman.  As soon as I saw her father's name I knew it fit!  My ancestor Jacob was born 1861 and died 1949.  His marriage record has his name spelled as Jakob.  He should be the second born son so having Cornelius before him works out with the naming practices.

My other ancestor is the third son, Johannes was born 1863 and died 1943.  He was probably named after his own father.  I will have to do more research around Kornelis and Jantje to see where the name Jan fits in.  Jan K. must have older brothers otherwise he would have been named after the grandfathers Geert.

Brick Wall Comes Tumbling Down, Pt. 1

I finally had a big break through on one of my double family tree lines after many years of frustration!  I am related through BOTH my parents to a pair of brothers, Jacob & Johannes De Vries.  From a family tree created by another family member, I knew their parents were Jan Kornelius De Vries & Luikje Ebels.  I never questioned that information.  Why not?  I guess I figured they had documentation to back it up.

But now I have new information and it came about because I wanted to correctly source my main tree.  As many newbies do, I was so excited collecting information that I didn't source anything.  Maybe this is because there is SO MUCH information coming at you at first that it is just so overwhelming.  Whatever the reason, I wanted to make sure my sources where documented.  I started with my own birth & marriage records and started going back, looking for birth, marriage and death records for each ancestor.  This finally brought me back to the Johannes De Vries & Jacob De Vries brothers.

Johannes De Vries's marriage record in 1887 to Gertrude Bos lists his parents as Jan De Vries & Luikje Mulder.    Jacob De Vries's marriage record in 1887 to Agina Marlink does not list parents.  It actually was a few years ago that I looked up the marriage records and I really hadn't given it much time since then.  I figured that it was a mistake.  But recently that old block was haunting me again.

In past years, I had done numerous searches on Genlias (now WieWasWie) for a De Vries married to an Ebels, coming up with nothing.  I looked for any name close to Luikje Ebels in birth records and found nothing.  Yes, there were a lot of Jan De Vries's but I only knew the father was Kornelius so I wasn't able to pin point the right record.  But guess what happened when I tried De Vries and Mulder?  Yep, it came right up!

From this record, it was an easy search to find both birth records.  Jan De Vries was born November 13, 1816 NOT February 1816.  (I think the February date came from his death record which listed is age as 75 years 11 months.)  Luiktje Mulder was born February 29, 1822 to Jakob Hendriks Mulder & Pieterke Lammerts Jolman.

Spring has Sprung

So that went by fast!  That is the time from my last post to this one.  I just didn't make the time to post anything and didn't have any inspiration either.  Plus I didn't get far into scanning since I still have hard drive storage space issues.  Now school is almost done and we will see what the summer brings!  Anyway, this is my daughter's tulip time picture from this year.

Goodbye GenLias

So my favorite dutch genealogy site is going to be replaced soon.  GenLias is being replaced by a new site that is currently in Beta, WieWasWie.  I did test out the new site and the search function is not as versatile.  But some of the records do have the original documents scanned and attached.  But I was not able to open them to get a better view.  Plus the site doesn't have an English option so it is difficult to figure out what is happening.

The new site supposedly has the ability to create online trees.  I didn't see if the records could be attached but the would seem to be a logical outcome.

In other news, my computer has used up all the disc space and I cannot seem to free up enough space.  This has slowed the scanning process down a LOT!

My SWEET Dutch Genealogy!

I was reading the newest issue of the Family Tree Magazine (August 2010) today and was on page 6, checking out the readers responses. The first one jumped out at me called "Dutch Sweet". This man in Lockport, Ill. (I won't put his name here since I don't know him but you can look in the magazine!) responded back with two websites covering Groningen and Friesland provinces which have SCANNED images of the ledgers recording birth, marriages and deaths! I was so excited! I went to the Friesland site, www.allefriezen.nl, and put in my maiden name since that family came from the Friesland area. WOW! I immediately found my 3rd great grandfather, Gerben Groenhof who died in 1871. I posted the copy I downloaded above. I totally cannot believe I have never heard of these sites before! The other site is www.allegroningers.nl and I feel to overwhelmed by the one document to look for more! (Maybe I will print it out so I can drool over it :) The genealogist work is never done, especially with the greatest invention on earth, the internet!

Organization Update

So I have been working hard(ish) on my files! I have one drawer emptied out, not the smallish drawers either, a very long filing cabinet. What I ended up doing was scanning the obituaries and miscellaneous stuff and filing them by family group.

But I put the internet stuff into folders by site. I already did the Holland Sentinel archives lookups and now I am starting on the GenLias. I have a LOT of dutch ancestors (and their families) so this file is kind of full. (The largest file is actually from a site called Digital Resources of the Netherlands but now I am wondering if I can just use GenLias instead.) Right now I am questioning the dates that are listed since they are labeled Registered. I wonder if the date is actually the event date or the day the event was recorded. Since I haven't been able to find the answer, I am plowing forward with inputting this information into my Bento file and linking to each person.

I do consider the information a primary source since it was recorded at the time of the event. Although I am bothered that the information I am looking at isn't a scanned image but transcribed which does leave room for error. Since I will probably never be able to actually see the documents, I will just have to work with what I have available!

16 Great-Great-Great Grandparents

If nothing else, Genea-Musings is giving me things to blog about!

So here is the list of my 16 G-G-G Grandparents & their nationality:

1) Minne Gerbens Groenhof: born 10 Mar 1850 @Hemelumer Oldeferd, Friesland, Netherlands, married 07 Jun 1878 @Hemelumer Oldeferd, Friesland, Netherlands, died 22 Oct 1895 @Olive Township, Ottawa, Michigan (Dutch)

2) Marijke Berends Kool: born 28 Apr 1852 @Hemelumer Oldeferd, Friesland, Netherlands, died 08 Apr 1932 @Blendon Township, Ottawa, Michigan (Dutch)

3) Jacob Harmens Steigenga: born 07 Apr 1853 @Hemelumer Oldeferd, Friesland, Netherlands, married 24 May 1877 @Workum, Friesland, Netherlands, died 30 Jul 1923 @Borculo, Ottawa, Michigan (Dutch)

4) Aukje Ruurds Vander Meer: born 30 Dec 1856 @Workum, Friesland, Netherlands, died 20 Mar 1916 @Blendon Township, Ottawa, Michigan (Dutch)

5) Symon Harmens Stremler: born 11 Dec 1843 @Wonseradeel, Friesland, Netherlands, married 05 May 1925 @Wonseradeel, Friesland, Netherlands, died 08 May 1925 @ Olive Township, Ottawa, Michigan (Dutch)

6) Pietje Wiebes Hiemenga: born 19 Oct 1845 @Wonseradeel, Friesland, Netherlands, died 06 Aug 1920 @Olive Township, Ottawa, Michigan (Dutch)

7) Jacob De Vries: born 23 May 1861 @Zeeland Township, Ottawa, Michigan, married 23 Mar 1887 @Michigan, died 29 May 1949 @Zeeland, Ottawa, Michigan (Dutch)

8) Agina Jannetina Marlink: born 25 Nov 1867 @Zeeland Township, Ottawa, Michigan, died 11 Aug 1949 @Zeeland, Ottawa, Michigan (Dutch)

9) Johannes Jans Naber: born 06 Mar 1855 @Holland Township, Ottawa, Michigan, married 06 Mar 1876 @Holland Township, Ottawa, Michigan, died 13 Oct 1904 @Holland Township, Ottawa, Michigan (Dutch)

10) Aaltje Hellenthal: born 31 Oct 1854 @Fillmore Township, Allegan, Michigan, died 22 Oct 1919 @Holland Township, Ottawa, Michigan (Dutch)

11) Gradus Lubbers: born 01 Dec 1872 @Fillmore Township, Allegan, Michigan married 14 Mar 1896 @Fillmore Township, Allega, Michigan, died 20 Jan 1947 @Holland, Ottawa, Michigan (Dutch)

12) Dina (Sneller) Bol: born 26 Dec 1875 @Olive Township, Ottawa, Michigan, died 08 Nov 1960 @Holland, Ottawa, Michigan (Dutch)

13) Otto Ottos Brand: born 09 Nov 1860 @Zuilchem, Gelderland, Netherlands, married 31 Dec 1890 @Bedum, Gelderland, Netherlands, died 03 Jul 1947 @Holland, Ottawa, Michigan (Dutch)

14) Willemke Jans Meulenbelt: born 02 Feb 1863 @Aduard, Groningen, Netherlands, died 14 Jul 1947 @Holland, Ottawa, Michigan (Dutch)

15) Johannes De Vries: born 23 Jul 1863 @Zeeland Township, Michigan, married 05 Oct 1887 @Zeeland, Ottawa, Michigan, died 01 Oct 1943 @Zeeland, Ottawa, Michigan (Dutch)

16) Gertrude Boes: born 04 Oct 1866 @Beaverdam, Ottawa, Michigan, died 28 Apr 1936 @Zeeland, Ottawa, Michigan (Dutch)

So it looks like my "nationality" is...Dutch! Big surprise!

3s of Me

The Genea-Musings posted a little fun 3s of Me questions about genealogy so here are my responses:

* Three genealogical libraries I frequent
1) Herrick District Library
2) Grand Rapids Public Library
3) The Michigan Library

* Three places I've visited on genealogy trips
1) Montcalm County
2) many cemeteries in Ottawa Count
3) Boyne City, Michigan

* Three genealogy societies I belong to (or want to)
I don't belong to any society but I would consider joining the West Michigan or the Holland one

* Three websites that help my research
1) Ancestry.com
2) Genlias.nl
3) Seeking Michigan.org

* Three ancestral graves that I've visited
Okay, I have visited a lot of graves, all of grandparents & great-grandparents plus many many more

* Three ancestral places I want to visit
1) The Netherlands
2) Rhode Island
3) Maine

* Three brickwall ancestors I want to research more
1) Joseph Green, father of Weaver Green (1793-1870)
2) Duncan Livingston's (1856-1945) parents, Hugh & Margaret
3) Ida Cook's (1884-?) parents, William & Jane
(and yes these are all my husband's ancestors)