Friday, November 05, 2010

Funeral Card Friday: Hendrik "Henry" Binnes DeVRIES



Funeral card of Hendrik DeVries, Kalamazoo, Michigan, citing services on 30 January 1968; DeVries Family Papers, digitized and privately held by Miriam Robbins Midkiff, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Spokane, Washington. This item was passed from the estate of Adrian and Ruth (Hoekstra) DeVries to their granddaughter, Miriam Robbins Midkiff in 2008.

This is the funeral card of my (step) great-granduncle, Hendrik "Henry" Binnes DeVRIES. He was born 4 January 1890 in the municipality of Smallingerland, Friesland, the Netherlands. The specific location of his birth was probably the city of Drachten, since I know his eldest brother (and my great-grandfather), Jarig "George" DeVRIES was born there.

On 29 March 1897, Hendrik arrived at Ellis Island on the ship Spaarndam with his widowed mother Adriaantje, his brother Jarig, and his younger sister, Kornelia. His mother was on the way to Grand Rapids, Michigan to marry John HOOGSTRA. Henry grew up at 502 (later renumbered to 1065) Caulfield Avenue with his two DeVRIES siblings and his three younger HOOGSTRA half-siblings, another Henry (nicknamed "Harry"), Walter, and Sybleinal ("Lena"). He married Tillie ELMAN (b. c. 1890) on 3 July 1913 in nearby Olive Township, Ottawa Co., Michigan and they lived for a while with his mother and step-father. Henry and Tillie had at least one child, a son named William (1914 - 2006).

I'm not certain at what point Henry and his family moved to Kalamazoo, but that is the city in which he passed on 27 January 1968. He was buried in Grand Prairie Cemetery, Kalamazoo.

Thanks to Dee Akard Welborn for this great Friday theme! Dee encourages others to highlight their funeral card collection on the first Friday of each month.

3 comments:

Elisabeth said...

Hi,
Your blog was a featured blog from the csgenealogy newsletter this week -
I really enjoyed looking through it, and I came upon some familiar names:
1. Hoekstra - my grandmother was also a Hoekstra, as well as my grandfathers maternal grandmother was a Hoekstra as well - even though they came from the Westergeest area, I could not find a connection.
De Vries - my paternal grandfather's name is Berend, and he comes from the Berend the Vries line that you mentioned as well.
All my ancestors are from Friesland; we still speak Frisian at home, so to stumble upon your blog was a treat. Best wishes from P.E.I.
Elisabeth
Preserve Your Family History

Miriam Robbins said...

Elisabeth, I am sorry I did not respond to your comment sooner. The link to your blog does not work, and I would like to correspond with you about the DeVries family. Please contact me at kidmiff@gmail.com.

Elisabeth said...

I just revisited your blog, and I am sorry that I never got your message,
regarding the De Vries family,
let me know what you are interested in,
Elisabeth
bb_ventures@hotmail.com